HISTORY OF MUNIN
The Viking Ship Idea
According to the Statistics Canada 2001 Census, approximately 7% of British Columbians claim Scandinavian or Nordic descent (on one or both sides). The Scandinavian Community Centre in Burnaby is made up of Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish House Societies with Iceland as an Associate Member. In 2000, one millennium after Leif Erikson had landed in Canada; the Norwegian House Society initiated the BC Viking Ship Project, bringing a longtime dream a little closer to reality. A ½-scale replica of the 80’ Gokstad was considered of practical size (40’ long with 9’6” beam width and 20” draft) for both local sailing and trailering. Construction was to use authentic materials, techniques and equipment wherever possible with donations to cover the projected $60,000 cost coming from individuals, businesses and societies. The technique used to build Viking ships is called lapstrake (or clinker-built, as opposed to carvel) with plank edges overlapped and ends scarfed (mitered) together to extend their length. Master boat builders Kristian Frostad, Arne Frostad and Raymond Bardsnes accepted the arduous task of design and construction, aided by numerous volunteers and organizers. All three shipwrights had emigrated from the same town in Norway and in the words of one of them; the Viking Ship is “the ultimate symbol of our heritage.” A boatbuilding shed would be required and ground breaking began in July of 2000 at the Scandinavian Community Centre. Built using mostly recycled and donated lumber, it was 64’ long and 24’ wide with a plywood floor, oriented strand board walls and a tarpaulin roof supported by trusses and battens.
Building the Longship
Starting with a small scale plan of the original ship, the lines were transferred to the shed floor in full scale and then to templates for the keel and temporary station moulds in a process called lofting and ‘picking up the lines’. Once the 4” x 8” keel was assembled to the fore and aft stems, a keel raising ceremony was held on September 10, 2000, attended by local politicians from the city of Burnaby. A 4” x 6” keelson was bolted above the keel for extra strength and to hold the first lapstrake, known as the garboard. Big Rock Homes of Mission, B.C. had donated the 1” x 10” Douglas Fir used for the hull. Nine station moulds were placed along the length of the keel to give shape to the hull planking. The overlaps and scarfed joints on each strake were first lined with pine tar and cotton for sealant. To secure planks together, copper rivets were pounded from the outside and then peened flat on the inside over top of roves (washers) while a counterweight was held on the outside. The rudder was attached as per tradition to the right side of the ship (the term ‘starboard’ derives from steer-board; and to avoid hitting the helm, ships were docked with their left side to ‘port’). The 1500 lbs of lead ballast, in 100 lb ingots beneath the floor boards, came from the Teck Cominco smelter in Trail, B.C. Separate groups of volunteers were put in charge of making shields, clothing and fourteen 14½’ long oars. Shields were cut from plywood, painted in sundial patterns and to cover the handholds, metal bosses were pounded into shape using a semi-spherical indent in a stump. The two dragon heads for the bow and stern were carved by a local artist named Moon. Major construction was completed by June 23, 2001 in time for unveiling at the 6th annual Midsummer Festival at the Scandinavian Community Centre. The Midsummer and winter Yule solstices are more noticeable in Nordic countries and this traditional celebration marks the longest day of the year, one weekend each June, with the replica Viking ship on display. The 28' mast was made from a tree cut down near Maple Ridge and ropes were spliced to make the shrouds (stay lines). The 400 sq. ft. red and white striped sail was made from Dacron by a local sail maker and in August 2001 was raised for the first time. The Viking longship became a fully working model one year after inception (and 1111 years after Gokstad) using all volunteer labor, working mainly on weekends.
The Launch of Munin
The launching ceremony took place on July 7, 2001 at Vanier Park with Norwegian ambassador Ingvard Havnen and members of the local media in attendance. A contest had been held to name the ship and the winner was Munin (pronounced mew-nin), after the raven associated with memory that perched on Odin’s shoulder. In the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology inhabited by Dwarfs, Elves and Trolls; Odin is the chief god of the Æsir pantheon (separate from the Vanir) who had one eye and rode the 8-legged horse Sleipnir. He is a grandson of the first Æsir Buri, licked from the frost by the magic cow Audumla, whose owner the Ice Giant Ymir had emerged from the primordial Yawning Void, Ginnungagap. The three sons of Borr; Vili, Ve and Odin spill the Giant’s blood but spare Bergelmir who builds a boat with a roof and survives the ensuing flood with his wife and children. Odin (or Woden, Wotan) has numerous offspring by mortal maidens, Giantesses and his goddess wife Frigg (or Fricka) including the mighty Thor the Thunderer with his dreaded hammer Miolnir and the brave Tyr who sacrificed one hand to chain the Fenris Wolf [In Romance languages, weekdays come from Roman gods (or planets); Luna, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and weekends are from the Judeo-Christian; Sabbath and Domini, but in Germanic languages like English they are named for Norse gods; Sunna (Sol), Mani, Tyr, Woden, Thor and Frigg (or maybe Freya) with some exceptions like the Roman god Saturn and German Mittwoch meaning mid-week]. Loki, the mischievous Giant and cousin of Odin adopted by the Æsir, is banished when he tricks the blind Hodur to inadvertently kill his twin brother, and Odin’s most beloved son Baldur, with the Mistletoe. At the great hall of Valhalla the Valkyries gather slain Heroes to feast and drink mead (a fermented honey beverage; the term honeymoon comes from mead given for one lunar cycle after marriage to a groom by the bride’s father) while awaiting Ragnarok, the final battle between Good and Evil vs. the Giants of Utgard and the land of Jotunheim. Odin the Allfather created Ask and Embla, the first man and woman of Midgard, and tries to save mankind by; hanging from the World Tree Yggdrasill to acquire knowledge, and trading an eye for one drink from Mimir’s Fountain of Wisdom. From Asgard, across the rainbow bridge Bifrost, Odin would dispatch the twin ravens Hugin and Munin (thought and memory) to gather information. Thus the new ship was christened Munin, by the daughters and granddaughters of her builders, with mead from horns thrown onto the hull. Outfitted with shields, it was rowed on its maiden voyage a short distance to its new home in front of the Maritime Museum. The oarsmen and other participants got into the spirit of things in Viking costumes. As a functioning replica of an archeological and historical artifact Munin is launched, like Odin’s raven, to gather information.
History of the Gokstad
The Viking longship Gokstad was build around 890 A.D., buried with a prominent person about 900 and unearthed a thousand years later south of Oslo, Norway in 1880. Wooden artifacts can be accurately dated by dendrochronology; the process of measuring the variations in tree rings and matching them to an established sequence from the same region. Also found in the burial mound were three smaller faerings (rowboats), twelve horses, six dogs and a peacock. The oak hull was preserved in blue clay and its dimensions were 76 feet long, 17 feet wide and 7 feet high from the bottom of the keel to the gunwale at midship. The Gokstad being twice the linear dimensions of Munin, would have had four times the seating area and eight times the cubic displacement and cargo carrying capacity. There were no seats, but capacity was about 70; enough for two shifts of 32 oarsmen who would have sat on their sea chests to row. Using wool sails Viking longships could have reached an impressive 12 - 14 knots and with a shallow keel they could navigate up rivers in water a meter deep or be beached and portaged over land to bypass waterfalls. The Vikings built longships for war and raiding but they also constructed a shorter, wider and deeper mercantile cargo ship known as a knarr for trading. Another 72’ Viking ship built around 820 A.D. was excavated from a burial mound in 1904 at Oseberg, not far from the Gokstad find. It is thought to have been a pleasure craft since it is more ornamental and less seaworthy. Both ships had long ago been looted by grave robbers for their silver, jewelry and weapons. The restored Gokstad and Oseberg ships are now on permanent display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. On Denmark’s island of Zealand a ring-shaped Viking fortress was excavated at Trelleborg in the 1930s and several longships were found at Roskilde in the 1950s. The first Gokstad replica, originally named Leif Erikson but renamed Viking, was built full scale in 1893 at Sandefjord, Norway and sailed from Bergen to the World’s Fair in Chicago to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the discovery (as was supposed at that time) of America by Christopher Columbus (1451-1506).
The Era of the Vikings
The Viking Age was a period of Scandinavian expansionism from the 8th to 11th centuries when traders and settlers reached new lands and raiders looted and demanded tribute. Most historians say it begins on June 8, 793 A.D. in northeast England with the Viking raid on the island monastery at Lindisfarne, Northumbria. The term Viking which is used nowadays to denote any Scandinavian originally meant pirate raid in the Old Norse language which they spoke. To the south the Vikings of Denmark, Norway and Sweden made settlements in Scotland, Ireland, northern France and the region of England known as the Danelaw. To the east, where they were known as Varangians, they navigated the Volga River to the Caspian Sea and the Dnieper through the Black Sea to Constantinople (now Istanbul) and served as mercenaries to the Byzantine Emperor. Notable Viking kings of Denmark, England, Norway and Russia include Rurik of Novgorod (circa 830-879), Harald I Fairhair (c.850-933), Erik Bloodaxe (c.885-954), Vladimir I the Great of Kiev (c.958-1015), Harald II Greycloak (c.960-968), Svein I Forkbeard (c.960-1014), Olaf Crowbone Tryggvason (969-1000), Canute the Great (994-1035), St. Olaf II the Stout Haraldson (995-1030) and the kilt-wearing Magnus III Barelegs (1093-1103) and one colorful nickname has resurfaced in the 21st Century. A wireless technology that connects electronic devices with their peripherals is named after the ruler who unified Scandinavia’s many islands and warring clans; King Harold I Bluetooth of Denmark (r.958-986), and the company logo bears his initials in runes. Vikings used a 16 letter runic alphabet, called the younger Futhark after the transliteration of its first 6 letters, condensed from the 24 letter elder Futhark. The vertical straight lines and diagonals, of the long-branch Danish version and the short-twig Swedish / Norwegian style, could be carved on stone or grained wood. The Viking Age ended where it began, in Northumbria, on September 25, 1066 when King Harald III the Ruthless (Hardraada) of Norway (1015-1066) was killed by King Harold II Godwinson of England (c.1022-1066) at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, near York. The victorious English king marched his troops back south and was killed less than three weeks later on October 14th at the Battle of Hastings by William the Conqueror (c.1028-1087), beginning the Norman Conquest of England. Ironically the Normans (short for Norseman) were also descended from Norwegian Vikings. William of Normandy was a direct descendent of Rollo (c.860-932) aka Hrolf the Walker (because he was too large for any horse); who acquired settlement land in a 911 treaty from Charles III the Simple of France (879-929) in exchange for a promise to assimilate. Folklore and history were recorded after the Viking Era in the (Poetic) Elder Edda and by Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson (1178-1241) in the (Prose) Younger Edda and Heimskringla (Sagas of Viking Kings). English translations of these works didn’t make it from Iceland to Europe until the late Victorian period. The Norse mythology of the Eddas retells legendary deeds of semi-mortals originally passed on through oral tradition and skaldic poetry. Scandinavia was Christianized, beginning in the latter part of the Viking era, often by the conversion of a king who then forced his subjects to do likewise.
The Vikings in Vinland
From Scandinavia, a string of islands, the Shetlands, Faeroes, Iceland, Greenland, Baffin and Newfoundland link Europe with North America. Explorers may have been aided by refracted light known as the hillingar effect (Arctic mirage), caused by thermal inversions which allowed distant land to become visible even though it was far over the horizon. Viking mariners also observed the migratory patterns of sea birds or whales and one legend says they released ravens to see if they would return to the ship or find land. The Norwegians began colonizing Iceland after about 870 A.D. preceded only by a few Irish monks. Erik the Red Torvaldsson (950-1003) was born in Norway, grew up in Iceland and was banished around 982, when he founded a settlement on the southwestern shore of the land he named Greenland. In 985 the trader Bjarni Herjolfsson got lost looking for the Greenland camp and was the first European to see North America, likely near Labrador, although he didn’t come ashore. Using the same ship and retracing the route, Leif the Lucky Erikson (c.980-) was the first European to set foot in the New World in 1000 A.D. The first flat region his party came to he called Helluland (probably Baffin Island), then the forested Markland (maybe Labrador) and finally Vinland. The name Vinland may come from the Old Norse word for meadow (vinja) or from a German, Tyrkir the Southerner, who found a berry he took for a grape. The exact location of Vinland isn’t known but it’s estimated to be somewhere near New Brunswick or northern New England based on Leif’s measure of the day length at the winter solstice and the northern boundary of wild grapes or cranberries. In 1960, Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad of Norway discovered a Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows on Newfoundland’s north coast which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Butternuts, which only grow south of the St. Lawrence, were found at the archeological excavation site, which also suggests that the Vikings made it farther south. The Vikings encountered Skraelings (their word for Native Americans) with whom they traded and fought with. In search of timber and furs, at least three more groups attempted to colonize Vinland shortly after Leif. First led by Thorvald, another son of Erik, who was killed by an arrow, then Thorfinn Karlsefni who married a widow Gudrid and had a son Snorri (the first European born in North America), and finally by Leif’s half-sister Freydis Eriksdottir. The source of the Vinland voyages are the Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red, which weren’t written until the 13th century, with the former considered to be more reliable. The Greenland settlements survived until the 15th century when the Medieval Warm Period turned into the Little Ice Age. A King Olaf III silver penny minted after 1065, found by a coin collector in 1957 at a Native American site on the Maine coast might indicate later Viking contact, but these coins were on the market after a Norwegian find in 1878. The Kensington Runestone found under a tree in Minnesota in 1898 with the ‘Year 1362’ inscription is considered by many experts to be a hoax. The Vinland Map that appeared in 1957 inside the front cover of the 15th century Tartar Relation is considered a forgery because the ink contains titanium dioxide, not produced until the 20th century. Only in comic strips like Hagar the Horrible, Halloween costumes and the NFL do Vikings wear horns on their helmets although they and their Æsir gods did drink mead from them.