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Londoners, the Vikings are coming! Well, sort of.
A 1,027 year old longboat replica will be travelling to London later this month as part of a voyage across Europe, so don’t be alarmed if you see a group of Nordic sailors floating along the Thames – no one is here to pillage your town or raid your gold.
On Tuesday August 26, a modern reconstruction of a viking ship will be sailing up the River Thames. Named Saga Farmann, the 20-metre-long boat will glide under London Bridge at 10am, having spent the last few years retracing the Vikings’ old trade routes across Europe.
With a capacity of 18 crew members, the boat first set sail in 2023 from its Nordic home in Tønsberg and so far has travelled the Aegean, Adriatic, and Black Seas, stopping at various ports in Greece, Croatia, and Italy. The Saga Farmann crew have already made an appearance on The Seine in Paris and are crossing the English Channel to reach London, the final destination in the Saga Lundenwic voyage.
The Saga Farmann is only swinging by for a short pit stop, spending the day in London before leaving on Wednesday at 4pm. You should be able to spot the impressive longboat from Bankside on the south of the river and Oystergate Walk on the north, as well as from nearby bridges such as Tower Bridge and Southwark Bridge between 3.45pm and 4.15pm.
Similar to how the Vikings once travelled, the crew has paused its journey at several points to move the boat over land. Instead of dragging their ship across the countryside by hand, as the Vikings did in the 10th century, they’ve been using lorries to transport the 25-tonne Saga Farmann across different countries.
Another modern comfort the sailing crew have been enjoying is the ship’s four electronic motors, sparing the sailors from relying on the traditional Viking method of rowing.
Made by the Oseberg Viking Heritage Foundation, using an ancient Nordic clinker technique recognised by UNESCO as a cultural heritage where thin wooden planks overlap each other and fastened to a central stem, the Saga Farmann is a modern reconstruction of the Klåstadskipet ship from 998 AD. The original boat was found near Klåstad farm in Vestfold, Norway, and was excavated in 1970 during an archaeological dig. It’s currently on display at the Slottsfjell Museum in Tønsberg.
It’s been a good summer for historic ship nerds in London. A 1600s replica of the Andalucia, a Spanish galeón replica, docked in the capital earlier this month.
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