In 1893, a Norwegian crew, led by Captain Magnus Andersen, built a faithful replica of the Gokstad Viking ship, a 9th-century vessel discovered in Norway in 1880. Using only traditional Viking shipbuilding techniques and materials, they constructed a 78-foot-long, clinker-built longship with a single sail and oars. This bold project aimed to prove what the people of Norway had long claimed—that Columbus was not the first European to reach America. The old Norse sagas, which are family chronicles