Contents

Marking the center of Vinland

The ship


Build a 70 foot Viking Ship out of white oak, the Oseberg is a good design to use, rig it in three different ways: 1. Traditional square sail. 2. Modern triangular sails as found on todays ships. 3. Viking Navy rigging and sails, 256 stunt kites, oarsails, etc.

Build the three small boats the size of the three ships' boats found with the Oseberg. Also rig these in the three ways mentioned.


The trip


Sail from Oslo to Newfoundland with the Oseberg carrying the three small boats or pulling them behind. At Newfoundland split up the crew in the following four trips: 1. Send the largest ships' boat north into Hudson bay then south along "the great red river of the north" to Minnesota. 2. Send the second largest ships' boat south into the Gulf of Mexico then north along "The Mississippi" to Minnesota. 3. Send the smallest ships' boat south to the Gulf of Mexico then west accross Panama then north to Oregon then east along the "Columbia" thru Yellowstone to Minnesota. 4. Take the Oseberg west along the St. Lawerence thru the great Lakes to Minnesota.



The Marking


All groups meet in the center of Vinland. Mark the spot with a modern runestone cut by our crew.

There are three points that may be thought of as the center of Vinland. With luck the trip will help us decide which point is the true center of Vinland. 1. Where the Mississippi crosses the 45th parallel. That is the twin cities. For this we must include part of modern day Canada on the east coast. This part of Canada may have been an Island in the time of the Vikings. 2. Out in the middle of nowhere. On the 45th parallel half way between the Atlantic and the Pacific. This spot looks like it may have been underwater at the time of the Vikings. 3. Fifty miles due north of this spot. Kennsington Minnesota, at the Runestone park. They have a runestone park with no runestone. Their Viking runestone, found in 1898, was taken to Alexandria Minnesota, right on I-94, and put in a museum.


The Map


1. Left mark is where the 45 degrees hits the Pacific ocean. 2. Right mark is the 45 degrees hits the Atlantic ocean. 3. Center bottom mark is the exact middle between the above two points at 45 degrees. 4. Center top mark is the location of Kensington Minn. <a href=http://mapweb.parc.xerox.com/map/ht=70/lat=45/lon=-95.52/wd=60/color/mark=45.00,-124.00;45.00,-67.05;45.00,-95.52;45.76,-95.68/river=1> Vinland center map

Lat Long

45.00,-124.00

45.00,-67.05

45.00,-95.52

45.76,-95.68