By MARGRET BJORGULFSDOTTIR

The replica Viking ship "Icelander" (AP June 17, 2000)

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) ‹ A thousand years after Leif Eriksson landed in North America, an Icelandic ship captain set sail Saturday on a replica of a Viking boat to follow his ancestor's route from Iceland to the New World. A crowd cheered when the replica vessel Islendingur ‹ Icelander ‹ departed from Reykjavik's old harbor on Iceland's National Day. Vessel captain Gunnar Marel Eggertsson guided the ship along the beginning of its route from Iceland to Greenland to the shores of Canada and New England. ``Icelanders do not take credit for discovering America,'' Prime Minister David Oddsson said at the vessel's departure. ``But we do reckon that we played a significant role in the first contact between native Americans and Europeans one thousand years ago.''

Leif ``The Lucky'' Eriksson's landing in North America ‹ or Vinland the Good, as he named it ‹ is well recorded in two medieval Icelandic manuscripts. Determined to re-enact the voyage, Eggertsson designed and built the Islendingur of oak and pine from Norway and Sweden. The crew counts nine experienced sailors. In the Viking era, a battleship like Islendingur would have had a crew of 70, including a double shift of 32 oarsmen for a quick getaway. This time, it will rely on a motor. The 2,600-mile voyage will take four months, including more than 20 scheduled stops. After the farewell

The replica Viking ship "Icelander" (AP June 17, 2000)

ceremony, Islendingur headed to Hvammsfjordur, west Iceland, where Eriksson had his farm. There it will wait for the pack ice to retreat, opening the sea lane to Greenland. On July 15, the ship is to arrive in Brattahlid, the site of Eriksson's settlement in west Greenland, founded in A.D. 985. Five days later it will depart from there for North America, as did Eriksson.

The first planned stop in North America is L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, the site of North America's only Viking camp, excavated in the 1960s. Other stops include Boston, Providence and New York, where the journey will end in October in time for the opening of the Smithsonian exhibition ``Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga'' at the American Museum of Natural History.

On the Net:

Islendingur http://www.icelandtrade.com/millen/vik.htmlanchor1

"Viking Ship Arrives in Canada for Millennium Feast," Reuters, July 29, 2000

Gunnar Marel, the shipbuilder and captain of the replica Viking ship 'Iceland,' waves as it starts its voyage to North America Saturday, marking 1000 years since Leif Eriksson set foot on the continent. The ship will stop at Newfoundland before sailing to Halifax and Boston before reaching New York in October. (AP June 17, 2000)

By Roger Bill

L'ANSE AUX MEADOWS, Newfoundland (Reuters) - When Viking adventurer Leifur Eiriksson steered his ship to the barren, northern tip of Newfoundland 1,000 years ago, his landfall was likely witnessed by very few. But On Friday 15,000 people descended on L'Anse aux Meadows, population 44, to mark the anniversary of Eiriksson's voyage and greet the arrival of the Viking replica ship Islendingur and a flotilla of others under clear skies in this sometimes inhospitable peninsula. The crowd was entertained by traditional Newfoundland music as well as a combined Icelandic, Mi'kmaq, and Newfoundland choir. A large iceberg rolled gently by as Islendingur captain Gunner Meral Eggertsson noted how seeing Newfoundland on the horizon brought to mind "all kinds of images which the Vikings must have experienced as they approached Canada."

Newfoundland Premier Brian Tobin welcomed the Islendingur, saying that the crew of eight men and one woman proved that in Iceland as in Newfoundland, "one woman is equal to eight men." Concession stands ringed a new, Viking replica village, Norstead, created as a tourist draw in this area of high unemployment. They were offering items as diverse as moose antler carvings and plush toys. One enterprising vendor had converted his left-over stock of wooden John Cabot carvings -- dating from the 1997 celebration making explorer John Cabot's arrival in Newfoundland 500 years ago -- into Viking carvings. Gone from the small figurines were Cabot's hands and a hat, In their place were a shield and a Viking helmet. Vendors selling Hollywood-style horned Viking helmets were outselling unhorned, but historically correct, models.

Eiriksson's epic journey is being recreated by the 68-foot Islendingur, which left Iceland on June 24, retracing the Viking journey to Greenland and then the transatlantic voyage to Canada. The captain set foot on the rocky shore right on cue in mid-afternoon. His crew, dressed in period Viking garb, were met by a young Inuit drum band from Labrador. Eiriksson established the first known European settlement in North America at the L'Anse aux Meadows site. It was likely used as a base camp for subsequent expeditions further south.

The replica Viking ship "Icelander" (AP June 17, 2000)

Iceland's Deputy Prime Minister, Halldor Asgrimsson, saluted the "courage and skill" of the Islendingur crew at the welcoming ceremony and said the 1,000 year-old voyage of Eiriksson was a "tribute to the human spirit of exploration and adventure".

Misel Joe, chief of the Conne River aboriginal Mi'kmaq band in Newfoundland, asked the crowd to stand and observe a moment of silence in memory of the Beothuk Indians, one of Newfoundland's aboriginal people that were wiped out after the arrival of Europeans. Hotels, motels, bed and breakfast establishments, campgrounds, and private homes were also overflowing with visitors, as media from North America and Europe took over private homes as they broadcast the Islendingur's arrival during two hours and half. The Vikings' voyage ends in New York City in October as part of an Icelandic trade mission.