History

The Leif Erikson Ship was built in Korgen, Norway by local boat builders to replicate the type of ship sailed and the route used by the Vikings in their settlement of North America around 997 A.D. The 42 foot vessel was completed in April of 1926. Captain Gerhard Folgero and his crew of three left Bergen, Norway for North America on May 23rd of that same year.

On the voyage to Duluth, the ship stopped at the Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and landed at St. Johns, Newfoundland on July 20, 1926. While crossing the Atlantic, the crew encountered heavy seas of hurricane proportions and became ice-locked near Greenland.

After landing in Newfoundland the crew and ship set sail for Boston, Massachusetts and arrived in August of 1926.  They had traveled a distance of 6,700 miles, the greatest distance for a ship of its size in modern history, logging 10,000 miles, arriving in Duluth, Minnesota on June 23, 1927

The goal was accomplished, reenacting Leif Erikson’s route taken in 997 A.D., proving that the Vikings traveled the Atlantic to North America.