“VIKING er ditt navn.”
(VIKING is your name.)

There is a widespread misunderstanding that the ship initially was named the Raven, and only later renamed Viking.

When one investigates the sources, there is no doubt that Viking is the correct name of the ship.  Books written by both the Captain and crew refer to the ship as Viking.  Newspaper articles written as the ship arrived in cities from New York to Chicago describe the ship as Viking.  See the christening document HERE…

The bronze plaque from Lincoln Park

The plaque incorrectly numbers the crew at fourteen. There were only eleven crew members in addition to Captain Andersen.

The bronze plaque reads:

“NORWEGIAN VIKING SHIP”

“This ship came direct from Norway to Chicago under its own sails, with a crew of fourteen Norwegian sailors commanded by Captain Magnus Andersen, carrying a message of good will from the people of Norway to the American people at the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago in the year 1893.  It is an exact reproduction of the famous ship about 1000 years old and excavated from the “King’s Mound” at Gokstad, County of Jarlsberg, Norway.  In such ships the ancient Norwegian Vikings roamed the seas and founded Norse domains in Normandy, Ireland and Sicily. About the year 1000 A.D. the Norwegian Viking Leif Eriksen, sailing in such a ship and without the aid of compass, discovered the American continent.”