Visiting the Draken

[fbhjr]

It’s fall and the leaves are turning.


That means that the Vikings must be migrating.
The Draken Harald Hårfagre is at Mystic Seaport for the winter and open to visitors this weekend.
http://www.drakenexpeditionamerica.com
http://www.mysticseaport.org

We had thought about seeing it at one of the other stops, but it didn’t work out. And, after Monday it isn’t going to be on display for at least six more months.
I don’t have Monday off. Tomorrow is sword practice and we have a show next week.
So, it pretty much had to be today.

It was pretty foggy when we set out.


But, soon we were at Mystic Seaport.


Mystic Seaport is a very nice museum. But, it’s not really my thing.
I’m not even sure how to fully describe it. It’s almost like it is too recent.
Some of these ships they have there were still in use when my father was in 3rd grade.
One of my mother’s uncles we used to visit when I was young was a sailor before 1900.
To me it is a bit less like history and a bit more like old family stories.
It’s things like having people role-play being in the 1800’s with you:

Too much for me like hanging around with old relatives and listening to them tell the same story again…

But, they do excellent work. They restore and maintain a bunch of cool ships.


It was also "chowder weekend". I do like food.


And, they have benches.


And, they have a ton of pokestops…


But, there was only one reason I was willing to pay the fairly high price to get in.



It was parked way up at the end of the museum.




It was nice to see they did cross the ocean in a mostly safe way.

And, they had their own wifi station…

The rudder will come into the story again later:


They had other ships too.

Some where visitors could join in…

(I doubt they let you climb up. Maybe you pull from below. It was over by the time we walked over.)



We really liked this dug-out canoe.


And, we found a mini-me Draken too:

It had its own rudder that does not reoccur in this story.


We did go into a few of the historic "shops" were folks show you how they were used.
The print shop was nice.

The guy there was trying to impress us with how recently movable type like that was used.
(I saw it at the local paper when I was in the cub scouts in the early 70’s. Like I said, not historic enough for me…)

The blacksmith had an impressive collection of hammers.


You can tell it is a historical museum because the shop sells film. That’s certainly not 21st century…


Being chowder weekend, we got some good food.


It was apparently dog weekend too.


After lunch, we went on the harbor tour.


One of the most impressive things about the tour guide was his ability to drive the boat around while talking with his hands.


Seriously, he’s just point the boat in a direction and turn and start waving his hands at us.


We did get good looks at the ships from the water side.




Their whaling ship was being repaired, so wasn’t in the water.



There he goes again.


When we got off, we walked over to the whaling ship to take a closer look.

Because it is out of the water, and quite tall, you have to climb up a fair bit to get on the deck.


But, we made the climb.


Nice deck prisms.


Nice view up there.


But, things kept reminding me of why we were there.


Even though we were told "get there 15 minutes early" and it was 90 minutes early, we went over anyhow.

Interesting signs.


But, they weren’t ready for people yet.


They had decided to soak the ship’s rudder in the water, and float it around.



The captain seemed to take a great interest in the ruder floating about.


He called the crew and fished it out.


Then the captain commandeered at pallet jack and pushed it back to the gangplank.


Then the crew had to get it back on board.


I’m afraid I used my museum powers to create a line. I hadn’t specifically been trying to become the front of the line, but lots of people were milling about. I wanted a line to be clear, so I called over the appropriate person and asked for one.
She formed the line on me. That was nice.

But, my museum powers should not be used for evil…

We still had 45 minutes to wait at that point, so I looked at the ship a lot.
It is a very cool ship. I particularly like the prow.

And, the carvings leading up to it.


Then, it started to rain.


The fish were jumping out of the water in the rain. I didn’t catch any on camera. Sad.


The line just got longer. I was glad we had been clear.


But, we got on board.




Our tour guide was a deck hand who had sailed across from Norway with them, although she was originally from the US.


I didn’t ask about the ducks.


Someone asked her how she came to be a deckhand on the ship.
"I filled out the application on line and they hired me," she replied.
Makes sense to me.

The mini-dracken had moved to be next to the big one.


There was a big debate about where to set up the shop on board. While it rained it was under the tarp, but they wanted it by the gangplank.

So, when the rain stopped they moved it.


The floor boards are removable. Things can be stored between the beams. You can sit on the beams to row. This seems efficient to me.


Some of what is under them is ballast. Some storage. Some toilets.


Some of the boards have things carved on them.

Our tour guide said she didn’t know the purpose. It seems very clear to me. You’ve got all those covers all over the boat, hundreds of them.
Having markings on the top makes it a lot easier to be able to find things again.

I do like the prow.


They had a shortage of shirts to sell. They had small and medium. Nothing else.
So, no shirt for me.
But, I still stopped at the sale table.

They only had 3 hats for sale. But, we were at the front of the line. So, I got a hat.


The remaining line after we got reassured me that our getting there early was time well spent.


As that is what we were there to see, once done we set off.


We stopped in Worcester to pick up stuff for dinner on the way home.


Then, back across Worcester to home.


All in all, a good day.

Comments

[merilune.livejournal.com]

Wow, viking stuff! I love that boat. So cool!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Wow, that looks like it was a great visit. Loved the pictures!

[chaquir.livejournal.com]

Héé, I saw that viking ship in a friends entry also. I don't know if you are friends, but you could've met up in that case :o)

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

I have folks on my friends list who saw it at other stops it made. But, I don't know anyone who saw it there this weekend...

[manue7a.livejournal.com]

That canoe is really impressive. Imagine sitting in there while out on the sea.

[meathiel]

Wow - cool. Love the Viking ship. Though the dragon looks rather Chinese, doesn't it.

Food!!!

And that's one big dog!

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

I have certainly seen similar paint schemes on Chinese dragons...

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

Looks cool! Where did the crew sleep, though?

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

I'm told there are a limited number of bunks under the red tent like thing in the middle. But only a fraction of the crew could use them at once.

[ravena-kade.livejournal.com]

I love the details on the Draken. Great prow.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

Deck prisms are a good idea.

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

Those boats are so pretty!

It is extremely interesting that you have that connection to history.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

The average space between generations in my family has been higher than normal for the last few centuries. Generally my family is at least in their 30's before they start.
And, my father was 48 when I was born...

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

wow.

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you got to see her. She's gorgeous, isn't she?