Interest in the preservation of our historic naval vessels focuses attention on what is being done along these lines in other countries. Outstanding among all the examples of ship preservation is perhaps Norway’s restoration and perpetuation of Viking ships in a building especially designed for the purpose.
Near what was to be the site of the final resting place of the Fram, Nansen’s old ship, and across the harbor from the capital city, Viking Ship Hall was built in 1926 following an architects’ competition held in 1914. The building was planned as a cruciform but only three wings have been completed, the last in 1929, each designed to house one of the ships. The fourth wing, when finished, is intended for the “Oseberg Find” now displayed in the Oslo Historical Museum.
In the center is the tower-room and from this stairways lead up to balconies facing all the wings. From these balconies the visitor can see the interiors of three Viking ships at one and the same time. It has been rightfully said that it would be difficult to find a similar museum anywhere else in Europe. So far as is known, there is no such museum anywhere else in the world.
The building is approximately 67 meters long, each wing about 12½ meters wide, and 27 meters long. The construction is solid but the finish plain. The total cost could not have been very great and yet Oslo has a unique and extremely interesting museum.
Three distinct Viking ships are preserved in the hall—the Oseberg, Gokstad, and Time. The Tune has not been restored and, consequently, furnishes excellent evidence of the work involved in restoring the other two ships to their original state. To illustrate the difficulties encountered in reconstruction it may be mentioned that one of the sledges found with the Oseberg ship was in 1068 fragments. Each of these was boiled in alum, then dried and impregnated with linseed oil. Its reconstruction occupied more than a year.
It is realized, of course, that it would be impracticable to preserve our large historic ships in the same fashion that the Norwegians are keeping their Viking ships, but there are the remains of a number of vessels dating from Revolutionary times, for instance, which might be housed in a similar way. Some of these are now privately owned and available to the public only after payment of an entrance fee. Material of such historic value should be the property of the nation and suitably preserved for future generations.
The plan to restore certain of our large historic vessels and moor them off the proposed naval museum in Washington is undoubtedly the best solution so far proposed for the Constellation, Olympia, and Hartford. The present notes on what has been done in Norway might be applied to smaller ships not as well known to the public but probably of equal historic value to the three just mentioned. It is certainly time that something definite was done to insure the perpetuation of the material evidences of our naval traditions.