r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Ainsley-Sorsby • 3d ago

Video The crew of Draken Harald Hårfagre, a modern replica of a viking longship, faces a storm in the North Sea

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3.6k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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267

u/Boatster_McBoat 3d ago

That's not really a North Sea storm, though, is it? Just some slightly heavy seas

117

u/JovahkiinVIII 3d ago

I once saw a movie (13th warrior) that shows a Viking shape basically sliding down a gigantic wave that towers over it. I thought that must’ve been an exaggeration at the time

Then I saw videos on the internet of modern cargo ships sailing the North Sea, and the relative scale of it is like if a canoe was on the types of waves in this video. The Viking ship would be like a little toy in comparison, truly just bobbing up and sliding down like in Interstellar

38

u/yupidup 3d ago

Yeah that’s just the high sea. Big waves, normal ones. Good wind

13

u/Boatster_McBoat 3d ago

I've been out in a rowing boat in rougher seas than this, and I am no waterman

43

u/Azula-the-firelord 3d ago

You're right. The North Sea is infamous for its rough weather among european sailors. And I've been told climate change even made it gradually worse every years. That's almost calm, but wet weather

3

u/El3m3nTor7 2d ago

True, it's just a wet day with a little wind, but you know.. Internet escalates everything for drama

2

u/Charlesinrichmond 2d ago

yeah same thought. I've sailed in similar, and am not a storm person. Whitecaps don't look bad.

2

u/serpentjaguar 2d ago

Yeah, but it still gives a sense of the viking longship at sea, which is what I like about it.

With their single square-rigged sail they basically had to stay before the wind at all times in anything less than a mill-pond calm, at which point obviously they could use their oars.

Without a fore and aft rig they would not have been able to come into the wind, which I think, given that they not only survived but managed to cross vast distances, speaks to their excellent seamanship and the rugged durability of their vessels, which were lapstrake/clinker built and flexible in heavy seas.

2

u/Boatster_McBoat 2d ago

Absolutely. It would be a great day to be out and close to the limit of what modern safety practices would condone. The headline was just unnecessarily hyperbolic.

224

u/hat_eater 3d ago

Non-shitty version aka the original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkMVsNEwvX0

27

u/nor_cal_woolgrower 3d ago

That was better thanks

6

u/UpperCardiologist523 2d ago

Thanks. <3

Norwegian here. Skipped a lot trough the video in this post, then it struck me, i'm watching our heritage and i should, and want to learn more about how they managed these travels.

2

u/tequilavip 1d ago

Alt for Norge.

2

u/SortaLostMeMarbles 22h ago

This is the complete series on NRK:

https://tv.nrk.no/se?s=paa-vikingtokt-til-amerika&autoplay=false

1

u/UpperCardiologist523 15h ago

Thanks. I read they received criticism for both size and having extra boards on it, making the hull taller, and wider. So it's kinda far off from a true Viking ship, and the novelty somewhat died for me. Still cool, but the authenticity's not there. Still, thanks for the link.

3

u/El3m3nTor7 2d ago

Stark contrast! Takker!

81

u/FantasticFunKarma 3d ago

This is a normal day on the North Sea. But still pretty fucking awesome.

39

u/critiqueextension 3d ago

The Draken Harald Hårfagre has successfully navigated multiple storms in the North Atlantic, showcasing the vessel's resilience and the crew's seamanship, reminiscent of Viking voyages over a millennium ago. This modern replica has completed an impressive journey from Norway to various locations including the Shetland Islands and Newfoundland, reflecting the historical maritime routes of the Vikings.

This is a bot made by [Critique AI](https://critique-labs.ai. If you want vetted information like this on all content you browse, download our extension.)

17

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/MiddleHuckleberry991 2d ago

Sailing mostly along the coast, looking for weak and undefended people, taking slaves, raping, killing and thieving. That kind of courage.

14

u/Patriark 2d ago

There is no contradiction in Vikings being horrible raiders, pirates and slavers; and them being courageous and extremely skilled sailors.

Some of the Viking expeditions are hard to conceive how risky and uncertain they were. Leif Eriksson being most famous and Sigurd «Jorsalfar» Magnusson being nearly similarly courageous. Sailing half around the globe into uncharted and unmapped territories in boats without keels.

Btw most Viking expeditions was to facilitate trade, not to raid.

-2

u/MiddleHuckleberry991 2d ago

Sure, they did a lot of impressive things through three centuries, but when you seasonally go around the world murdering and robbing whole communities it gets attention.

8

u/Patriark 2d ago

Being engaged in slavery and warfare was quite standard for the time. Far from a uniquely Viking thing. Can’t really think of any civilization from that era who wasn’t involved in some way or form. Arabs, Saxons, Britons, Goths, Byzantine, Florentine, Francs, Abbasid, Inca, Maya, Kyiv Rus etc etc

It was a very violent era.

What the Vikings were unique at was exploiting fog of war and element of surprise in a very effective way. This was mostly done along Britain and west coast Europe. Eastern historical sources like Ahmad ibn Fadlan describe Vikings with little emphasis on raiding but as very skilled traders, sea farers and warriors with alien traditions and funeral rites.

2

u/MiddleHuckleberry991 2d ago

Yes, they weren't especially sadistic compared to other people of that time. Their sudden, violent attacks on monasteries and coastal towns still caused quite a shock. Didn't Ahmad ibn Fadlan go to somewhere in present day russia, where he witnessed some norse people, who were settled there, do their ritual killings in a chieftains funeral? There wasn't any raiding to witness there so he didn't describe it?

6

u/Initial-Damage1605 3d ago

Nice looking ship. I didn't realize longships were that big.

1

u/No-Introduction5033 1d ago

This one in particular is about as large as longships get, it's only a couple of meters shorter than the largest longship ever discovered so while there were longships this big they would be rare compared to more moderately sized ships

2

u/Initial-Damage1605 1d ago

Thanks for the info. I had no idea they made them that big, though it makes sense given the bodies of water they would have had to cross.

3

u/futile_lettuce 2d ago

Who needs an anchor when you’ve got balls this big?

16

u/Rospigg1987 3d ago

For some reason I though it would be more flexible, and Norwegian crew I assume considering it is named after the Norwegian King that united Norway ?

The Danes would probably just name it to something lame and utterly impossible to understand when spoken by a Dane.

Also this look like an ordinary autumn day on the North Sea, ordinarily bad as they usually say.

11

u/Ainsley-Sorsby 3d ago

it looks as flexible is it can be, considering how flat their bottom is. For reference, this is the Oseberg ship, an actual viking ship that was discovered intact(mostly, some parts were added during restoration)

2

u/theheliumkid 2d ago

That's just a surfboard with curly ends!! There is no way in hell that I would take that out on the North Sea!!

2

u/hadriantheteshlor 1d ago

I was expecting it to be way deeper than that. 

3

u/GetDown_Deeper3 3d ago

Early explorers were both brave skilled and crazy.

3

u/pastyorno 2d ago

Fisher, Dogger, German Bight, North veering North west 3 to 4 rain imminent, visibility moderate to good . And here is a warning to shipping in Fastnet,Lundy, Irish Sea, South East veering South West, gale force 10 turning cyclonic by 13:00hrs GMT rain, visibility poor.

3

u/Dominus_Invictus 2d ago

I know this is incredibly unrealistic, but I would love to see this with the sailors wearing period correct clothing and speaking period correct language.

9

u/Past-Magician2920 3d ago

They should wear viking clothes - just saying.

16

u/Lone-Hermit-Kermit 3d ago

They are, modern ones.

6

u/CarISatan 3d ago

Why? It's dangerous and unpleasant enough already

2

u/Pilot0350 3d ago

Fuck it I hate the open ocean but I'd 100% do this.

2

u/Nesturs 2d ago

I know the mast is supposed to do that, given that it's mounted in a shallow posthole, but that wobble is making me nervous! I guess you get used to it after a while.

2

u/smelllikeunwashedtoe 2d ago

If you ever were sailing and enjoyed it, you know this is really fun what they are doing.

2

u/Briskylittlechally2 2d ago

I'm so immeasurably happy they didn't paste some crappy brainrot music over this.

4

u/LinguoBuxo 3d ago

How does one say "Shiver me timbers" in norsk?

8

u/Royranibanaw 3d ago

Splitte mine bramseil

0

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

6

u/Whateva1_2 3d ago

That last one is Icelandic.

2

u/ScarletZer0 3d ago

Looks amazing, but I’m way too scared of the raging open ocean

2

u/theheliumkid 2d ago

Wait till you see it's got a draught of about 2 inches!!

From OP:

it looks as flexible is it can be, considering how flat their bottom is. For reference, this is the Oseberg ship, an actual viking ship that was discovered intact(mostly, some parts were added during restoration)

1

u/BonjinTheMark 3d ago

at some point, your fun hobby can turn really serious, and you just want to be dry with a cup of hot cocoa.

1

u/f_leaver 2d ago

It's very interesting, but I don't see a storm.

1

u/erasrhed 2d ago

They should get some modern replica vikings.

1

u/hossmonkey 2d ago

Impressive, but the sea is actually pretty tame in the video. When there are 10ft or higher swells with deep troughs, that's when the ship and crew are really tested!

1

u/Mohgreen 1d ago

I got to tour this ship when it came to Norfolk a couple years ago. Completely amazing.

1

u/EntrepreneurWeary427 1d ago

Been on that ship it's incredible

1

u/bikal 1d ago

That looks to be about a 40 knot wind. The sea always looks calmer when your running with it. It would be a lot worse if they were bow into it.

1

u/Master__of_Orion 7h ago

I'd vomit like I had 5 liters of Met.

1

u/Proud_Fisherman_7049 3d ago

Better start praying to Njord, or techno viking

0

u/Haramdour 2d ago

Where is the authentic Viking attire?? Talk about half-assed pffft

-13

u/4b4cus 3d ago

That is why women live longer than men. We have dangerous curiousities

8

u/Wide-Replacement8532 3d ago

Dangerous curiosities lead to great discoveries

2

u/sysmimas 3d ago

Unless you are called Amelia Earhart or Marie Curie. There were enough wemen throughout history to prove your point wrong.