From early Thursday until Friday morning there has been heavy activity around the Sea Stallion with the preparations for the transport from the River Liffey to Collins Barracks. The crew removed the eight tonnes of stone ballast and "left over’s" from the 60 men and women's seven week long voyage!
Thursday afternoon the ship was lifted out of the river and placed on a truck. Now it was possible to clean the outside as well as the inside so the ship could look its best for the arrival at Collins Barracks where it is going to be the main artefact in the National Museum of Ireland's Special Exhibition called "The Sea Stallion from Glendalough".
The exhibition area Collins Barracks is some way from where the Sea Stallion moored tree days ago, and the Irish authorities has decided that the easiest way to move the Sea Stallion is on a large truck through the narrow streets of Dublin.
The transport was carried out in the middle of the night to make as less disturbance as possible and was escorted by the police all the way. Even though the mast was already removed from the ship is was still not possible to transport it under the bridges and the power cables due to the more than four metre high stem and stern. The boat builders from the Viking Ship Museum removed them very carefully and mount them again after the transport through the city.
But the ships voyage was not over yet. The court yard where the Sea Stallion is going to be on display is surrounded by four storey high houses on all sides over which the Sea Stallion had to be lifted! Only one of Ireland's larges cranes could do the job and for this special occasion it was equipped wit a large sign saying: "Welcome Home"!
At 7.30 the ship was lifted the many meters into the air and it was certainly some nerve-racking minutes for all the spectators and the crew until the crane driver carefully placed the ship on yet another truck which took the ship to the right corner of the exhibition court yard.
The Director of the Viking Ship Museum, Tinna Damgård-Sørensen tells that she was very impressed with all the crane drivers, their professionalism and the calm way they handled the pressure. Even though the crane driver obviously has tried to lift many different things there is not doubt that they will not forget "The world's largest Viking Ship"!
As soon as the ship was well in place in the court yard, the teasing started from the Irish side. The Technical Manager said "Now it is in its FINAL resting place!" And he was supported by many more comments like: "We do not think we have the money to lift it out aging next year!" and "It is not likely an Irish crane drive will help you get it back in the water!” There is no doubt: The Irish people does not see this as a Danish ship visiting Dublin, but as an Irish ship that’s come home!
But it is not going to be so; the ship shall sail back to Denmark after 11 month as part of the exhibition. The mast is raised and the rudder and shields are mounted to give the best impression for the visitors. The Special Exhibition will tell about how the ship was build, about the Viking in Ireland and items from the ship e.g. the 112m2 large sail will be on display.
The Ship is certainly an amazing presentation in it self, but it is important to remember that such a large reconstruction project is not carried out to end up as an exhibition: The real value of the ship lies in the fact that it can be sailed and tested to give all of us new knowledge on the Viking World and expansion which very much depended on the Viking ships.