25-Jul-16 – Pilots that help guide ships across the Great Lakes have been threatened and harassed over $400 per hour fees they must charge the Viking ship that is on its way to Navy Pier this week.

“We have been informed that the pilot associations have been receiving threats and being harassed by angry individuals,” wrote the Draken Harald Hårfagre in an open letter signed by Captain Bjőrn Ahlander and 17 crew members, published on the expedition’s website on Monday.

“I hope we can come together and take an approach to this that is with kindness, honesty, and integrity. We respect pilots and their profession. The safety of the Great Lakes, and well-being of all living near these beautiful bodies of water, rely on their tireless skills in navigating these huge ships through difficult waterways in all conditions.”

The crew says they welcome the pilots on board the Draken, but also say they “prefer they not have to take valuable time out of their already overly busy schedules for our relatively tiny Viking ship.”

While tiny compared to commercial ships on the Great Lakes, the Draken is still the largest Viking ship built in modern times, 115 feet long by 26 feet wide.

The pilotage fees, required by United States Coast Guard, will add up, explains the crew, because the journey across the Great Lakes will cover “several thousand nautical miles,” take “many months,” and because the ship must travel by sail much of the time.

“We are a sailing ship designed after traditions dating back to before the year 800 A.D. and constant vibrations from the engines can be detrimental for our riveted oaken hull. While motoring ahead full works in calm weather, there lies a risk of damaging Draken if we were to attempt to motor into any significant head seas.”

Sons of Norway, the Draken’s official fundraising partner, has raised more than $70,000 but it is “at the absolute skimming by the skin of our teeth,” says the crew, still about $100,000 short of the estimated cost to travel beyond Chicago, and well below the $430,000 estimated cost to complete the entire trip.

Draken could be here as early as Wednesday The Draken is expected at the Tall Ships Festival that begins on Wednesday with the Parade of Sail from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. that can be viewed for free from Navy Pier. The festival will continue Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Entrance to the festival will be near the southeast corner of Navy Pier, near the beer garden. Ships have been arriving since Friday but most will arrive on Tuesday. They will depart next Monday. Five of the Tall Ships will dock near the southwest corner of Navy Pier, seven will be near the northeast corner, and Tall Ship Windy will be in its usual spot on the south side. (Left) The Parade of Sail will start at 3 p.m. near Adler Planetarium, in the lower right corner of this map, go past the breakwater and north of Navy Pier, then loop back to Navy Pier.