|
By Markus Krueger Every few years, the City of Moorhead calls in their engineers and surveyors to check the mast of the Hjemkomst Viking Ship to ensure it remains as close to 90 degrees as possible. If the ship’s tall mast leans one way or the other, it would put stress on the hull of the ship below and possibly keel over. I don’t know the last time this happened, but I recall writing a short article in our newsletter about it, so one could check if they wanted a date. In January of 2024, the City wanted to do it again. To lead this crew, they called Steve Ingersoll out of retirement to show the younger city crew how to do it. Ingersoll is the retired Survey Crew Lead for the City of Moorhead, and he has been surveying the ship’s mast with an assistant or two for at least the last 20 years that I’ve been doing it, and probably longer. On January 11, 2024, Ingersoll arrived with current Survey Crew Lead Eric Norstad, Engineer Technician Chris Vistad, and CAD Manager Josh Caroon. Hjemkomst First Mate Mark Hilde was called in to advise us in case we needed to tighten or loosen any ropes. Markus Krueger and Kevin Wander from the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County were here and so was the Hjemkomst Center’s Assistant Facilities Manager Michelle Griffin.
Surveyor Ingersoll and Hjemkomst crewmember Hilde are both already retired and might not feel up to climbing aboard the ship the next time we measure. Hjemkomst Center building manager Holly Heitkamp and HCSCC executive director Maureen Kelly Jonason will also be retired in two years’ time. All of us wanted to make sure our younger coworkers knew how to do this. One interesting aspect of bringing younger coworkers to the project is they have new ideas. On January 11, 2024, the city workers wanted to see if they could get the same or better information by using a drone with a camera. This would prevent the need to lug the surveying equipment into the back of the ship, and it allows us to take photographs. Hilde and Krueger climbed aboard the ship to take down the line from which the flags hang so it would be out of the way of the drone’s flight path. There was something very fun about a drone flying around a Viking Ship. The drone took a lot of photographs that may prove helpful in further analysis, but it was decided that the surveying crew needed to come back and do it the old fashioned way after all. The surveyors did bring out their equipment on the 11th to measure if the ship was listing to starboard or port – that is, if it is tipping too much to the west (starboard) or the east (port). They found that the Hjemkomst is listing to port…by 1/100 of an inch. This is good. They were all very impressed that the ship was so level from one side to the other. After determining that the work needs to be done the traditional way, Steve Ingersoll, Chris Vistad, Mark Hilde, Michelle Griffin, and Markus Krueger assembled again on January 16. Steve and Chris climbed into the stern (rear) of the Hjemkomst ship and set up their surveying equipment as far back as they can fit. There is a silver strip of duct tape on the floor that they use as a marker to return to year after year. There is also a silver strip of duct tape about seven or eight feet up on the mast itself that is also used for this surveying process. To get a clear view with their equipment requires Mark and Markus to take down the rear-most mast rest – those are the 7-foot-tall wooden capital Ts. The mast rests simply lift out of the hole they are in, but they probably extend 3 feet down to the keel below the deck. The Findings and the Concerns:
As has always been the case, the mast is reasonably straight at 90 degrees but, toward the top, the mast bends a bit to the port side (the east side). It might be off just a few inches. Mark Hilde said it never was completely straight even when they were sailing it. We can’t get the mast completely straight because…well…it’s not straight. The easiest way to see this, Steve Ingersoll says, is to walk behind the ship and look straight at it, right in the middle of the keel, so Igor’s Tail is blocking the mast – you’ll see the top of the mast jut out to your left. The bend in the mast begins right above the yard of the main sail. Some sailing vocabulary might be necessary here: the mast is the tall vertical pole that comes out of the deck of the ship and supports the sail. The yard is the horizontal pole that the sail hangs from – the top of the sail is tied to the yard. The main sail is the bigger sail and the top sail is the smaller sail above the main sail. The top sail is also tied to a horizontal wooden yard. So right above the horizontal wooden pole (yard) that the main sail is tied to, that is where the mast starts bending toward the east. Below that point, it is reasonably straight. Caption: The Main Yard in this picture goes from the upper left hand corner to the lower right corner. You can clearly see a cluster of wooden wheels that are used to help raise and lower the yard on the mast – the warp in the mast starts about there and bends to the left. We could make the mast lean more to starboard (to the west/right) if we tighten the ropes on the starboard side that connect to the mast, but that would make most of the mast crooked. And we are also concerned about what adjusting all that weight and tension would do to the structure of the ship. She is less than perfect, but we cannot make her perfect, and she has been used to sitting just this way since the roof was replaced and the sail was rehung in 2006-07. Recommendation: We leave it as it is. 2.The ropes are old and none of us know how long they will last. Mark Hilde and Steve Ingersoll both agree that their primary concern is the ropes, which date to the early 1980s or maybe even late 1970s, and have been in the same position, unmoved, since 2007. We would be interested in having an expert look at our ropes to either assure us that these old ropes are just fine or tell us when and how they should be replaced. Caption: The Main Yard in this picture goes from the upper left hand corner to the lower right corner. You can clearly see a cluster of wooden wheels that are used to help raise and lower the yard on the mast – the warp in the mast starts about there and bends to the left. We could make the mast lean more to starboard (to the west/right) if we tighten the ropes on the starboard side that connect to the mast, but that would make most of the mast crooked. And we are also concerned about what adjusting all that weight and tension would do to the structure of the ship. She is less than perfect, but we cannot make her perfect, and she has been used to sitting just this way since the roof was replaced and the sail was rehung in 2006-07. Recommendation: We leave it as it is. Just a quick aside to reiterate the importance of having someone who knows the ropes be a part of this process…There is a board that we all must climb over to get to the stern of the ship with all of the surveying equipment. You will climb right between these two pins with ropes wrapped around them. The one above left is what is keeping the main sail from crashing to the ground. The one on the right is what keeps the top sail from crashing to the ground. Don’t mess with them unless a knowledgeable person that you trust tells you they need to be messed with. There will come a day when our Hjemkomst crew members won’t be able to climb the ladder to guide us anymore. When that day comes, we need to have an experienced sailor on board to make sure we are doing things safely. We have never adjusted these ropes as part of the surveying process, but we did adjust other ropes (namely the one the flags are flying on) and it is essential to have someone who knows that we want to pull on this rope, not that rope, and can perhaps save the day by tying the right knot at the right time. Recommendation: HCSCC and/or the City of Moorhead should get a specialist to look at our ropes and tell us if there is a problem or not. This might take a structural engineer, and it might take a grant to pay for it.It may be a good idea to install some kind of fail-safe system that will catch and support the yard if this rope breaks.
0 Comments
|
RSS Feed