Roar Ege 1982 - 1984
In 1982 Roar Ege, the reconstruction of the small trading ship was built.
The ship is the best preserved of the five Skuldelev ships with 75 % of the hull intact. Aldready during the excavation, the dream of recreating Skuldelev 3 arose and it was the first reconstruction to be built in the Viking Ship Museum's Boatyard.
To avoid preconceived attitudes towards ship design and construction methods, the museum did not employ professional boatbuilders. The construction team had to be open to a shipbuilding tradition more than 1,000 years old. The museum therefore engaged a group of young people who, two years earlier, built Imme Skinfaxe, a 9:10 scale reconstruction of Skuldelev 3.
The building of Roar Ege was carefully documented. All the details were discussed, and for each decision, a memorandum was drawn up with descriptions, drawings and references. When the reconstruction was launched it had consummed 20,000 working hours - the rope work and hand-wowen wool sail alone accounted for 5000 working hours.
When reconstructing the Skuldelev ships the museum faces several challenges. One of the most difficult is to explain how the Vikings, unlike us, built by eye, using rules-of-thumb that were passed down. We have chosen to build reconstructions that are as close to the original ships as possible. Consequently, we use models and drawings while examining the Viking building tradition.
Roar Ege is lying in the Museum Harbour. The reconstruction is treated with a mixture of wood tar and linseed oil that gives the beautiful dark brown colour. And yo can find mythical patterns carved into the deck.
