For the first time for many days, the weather is finally hot and dry. The sun is bearing down on the anchor watch, as they receive visitors to the ship at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Around the museum area, you can see the crew’s blue jackets everywhere – visiting the many good attractions with the flagship Victory as the crown jewels, or the galley crew sorting out the lunch and night boxes and moving provisions from Cable One to the Sea Stallion.
The strain of the last week is finally leaving our bodies. Most have had a shower, washed their clothes, and had some long unbroken sleep. And the sun is doing the rest. We are on our way home and our batteries are charged up again.
There is still a lot of talk about the stretch from Wicklow to Torquay. At the reception held for the crew yesterday, there were a lot of guests from the Danish embassy in London, Portsmouth City Council, and the maritime museums in Portsmouth. There were a lot of questions to the crew, and a lot of real admiration for their achievement. And the crew were glad for the praise and encouragement. It is clear that we have all learned something about longships in general and the Sea Stallion in particular. We love our ship for its ability to sail in some of the most difficult waters in Europe and we feel strongly about what we are doing. There is no doubt it is an adventure. But it is also important and necessary historical and archaeological research in Viking longships, strategies of conquest, society, and way of life.
And we can also be proud of the stretch from Torquay to Portsmouth. We had a fantastic voyage with a good wind abaft the beam all the way. The sea was moderate and it was mostly sunshine all the way – quite different from the previous stretch and with no sign of seasickness. As we came on, the wind and swell increased and we took in a couple of reefs – also to keep our speed down.
On the way, there was time for an evacuation exercise. The ship’s emergency plan describes in detail how three situations in particular should be handled: personal accidents, evacuation of the ship, and finally total loss, where the Sea Stallion has to be abandoned because it has overturned. The crew must know positions and jobs, and for most it is actually very simple: Go to the life-rafts, lift them into the water, check your personal gear and that of your nearest shipmates, and jump in.
And then there are a lot of exceptions to the rule and just as many questions. So while we were sailing at full speed, we held meetings and talked seriously about something that hopefully will never happen, but which we must be able to do perfectly anyway.