Rurik 2003

Norseman joins Rurik 2003

With the sponsorship of the Atlantic Ro-Ro Carriers Line, the Viking Ship NORSEMAN, based in Philadelphia, will join a fleet of Viking Ships headed for St. Petersburg, Russia during July 30 to August 3rd. This will be the third international expedition for the well known US Viking Ship NORSEMAN. (Stockholm, 1998, and Newfoundland, 2000).

These North American Vikings will join Scandinavian Viking Ships and their crews for a one week visit to the City of St. Petersburg. The principal purpose of the voyage is to help celebrate the 300th anniversary of that great city, founded by Czar Peter the Great in 1703. NORSEMAN will represent the westernmost travels of the Vikings a thousand years ago, joining with Swedish and other Vikings who represent the Eastern journeys of the Vikings in about the same period. Vikings engaged in trade and commerce more than 1100 years ago, in Russia and beyond. Vikings from Scandinavia created trading routes through the rivers of Russia and brought surplus commodities of furs and iron from the north to trade with Eastern merchants in Byzantium and Mesopotamia as they promoted an early form of globalization.

The Viking fleet will anchor and be on display on the Neva River near the 18th century Peter and Paul Fortress and across from the world famous Hermitage Museum. The Neva was a well traveled inlet to the Viking trade routes into the interior of Russia for ages. The Viking leader Olav Tryggvasson had spent several years in Russia before he was ransomed to become the first Norwegian King. This, the same King who united Norway under Christianity and baptized Viking explorer Leif Ericson. Leif Ericson, who lived in Greenland, was the first European in North America (about 1003).

NORSEMAN will be transported to St. Petersburg, Russia, and return by Atlantic Ro-Ro Carriers where NORSEMAN will join the other Viking ships for a ceremonial "sail-in" to St. Petersburg. Crew members will travel separately by air. The Viking fleet will be on public display with costumed Vikings, sailing and rowing demonstrations, a Viking encampment, crafts displays, and educational talks, for the week of the celebrations.

Please visit our Web site For more information about the NORSEMAN and the Leif Ericson Viking Ship organization: http://www.vikingship.org/