About the boatswain's diary
The web version of the boatswain's log contains excerpts from the more detailed log kept by the boatswain during the expedition.
Søren Nielsen and Tom Nicolaisen, both shipwrights at the Viking Ship Museum Boatyard, are responsible for keeping the boatswain's log. They have both participated in the building of full-scale reconstructions of archaeological shipwrecks since 1982 and have extensive experience in building and sailing traditional clinker-built boats. Søren Nielsen was chief shipwright on the Sea Stallion from Glendalough project. Tom Nicolaisen is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of the ship.
Among other things, the boatswain's log will provide invaluable data for analysing the reconstruction's credibility. From a scientific point of view, the reconstruction represents an hypothesis on the original ship (Skuldelev 2). It is an experimental setup, reflecting our interpretation of the wreck and its missing parts. Testing the hypothesis is therefore of great importance to the continued analysis of the original vessel and is crucial for the credibility of all the other experimental results.
To test the hypothesis, the Sea Stallion from Glendalough will be sailed under realistic conditions in the waters for which the original vessel was built. During the voyage, the ship will be assessed as a functioning entity. If we have added parts which do not function in the entirety of the ship, they will fail, either by breaking or not working as intended, and may cause damage elsewhere in the ship. If the ship is unable to function as an entity, or if individual parts fail, we must revise the hypothesis. The validity of our interpretation will be strengthened if the entirety of the ship and its many individual parts function as intended. The reconstruction can then be considered as being representative of the original ship – although still with the proviso that we can never create an exact copy of the original.
In practice, the ship will be systematically inspected on a daily basis by the boatswain (one of the two shipwrights mentioned above). The assessment will cover 43 individual points concerning the ship's hull, rigging, sail and rudder system. All parts will be inspected for functionality, wear, strength, fracture, need of repair and change in size. All observations will be recorded in the boatswain's log for subsequent analysis.