No Viking Ship has been copied more than the Gokstad Ship. “Viking” was the first and most famous copy, built in Sandefjord and sailed to the Chicago World Fair in 1893.
“Viking” still exists and is on exhibition in the town Geneva, Ill., where she is taken care of by the Friends of the Viking Ship: https://vikingship.us/
Then, in 1991, another Gokstad copy, “Gaia” also sailed to the US via Greenland and Canada. The following year she called into Cuba before proceeding to Rio de Janeiro and the first UN world conference on the environment. In 1993 she returned to Norway and was given to the town Sandefjord (where the original ship was excavated in 1880). Since then, she has been in frequent use, visiting ports in England, Scotland, Germany, France and The Netherlands.
However, “Gaia” is by now showing a bit of wear and tear. This is why the Oseberg Viking Heritage Foundation and The Friends of “Gaia” have decided to join forces and build another Gokstad replica. This will be the first copy ever to be based on exact measurements and scannings of the original, which can be seen at the Viking Ship House in Oslo: https://www.khm.uio.no/english/visit-us/viking-ship-museum/
There have, however, been several other Gokstad copies through the years: “Ormen Friske”, “Hugin”, “Hjemkomst”, “Islendingur”, “Dreknor”, “Vargfotr”. “Lofotr”, “Håkon Håkonsson”, “Odins Ravn” and “Havørn”, the latter sailing to Istanbul in 1992.
