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April 2018
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boatingonthehudson.com
is on display in the Antiquities
Museum in Oslo Norway.
Carbon dating fixed the age of the
wood at between 960 AD and 1040
AD. This is the time period when
the sagas tell of the explorations of
Eric The Red.
Dr. Van Hoetenstein traveled
to Chelsea with a small group of
Graduate Interns to examine the
site in 2002. The wreck measured
67 ft. long by 22 feet wide. It was
completely submerged in the mud
except for a small piece of the bow
which was recovered. GE released
the Side Scan Sonar images of the
wreck to Cornell University to aid in
the research.
The research team used a
specialized suction dredge to
explore the site for artifacts hidden
in the debris of the buried ship. A
number of artifacts were recovered
before the ice ended the research
for the season. Pewter cups and
bowls were dated to the same time
period and hammered iron spear
heads were also recovered. Work
at the site will resume on or about
April 1,2003 providing the ice is
gone from the river. It has always
been a theory of many experts
in the field that the “Vineland” of
the sagas was actually located
in the lower Hudson Valley and
that Eric the Red actually started
settlements in the area between
Cold Spring and Poughkeepsie.
Now there is irrefutable proof. Careful
examination of a large fragment of material
recovered from the wreck proved to be
part of an undergarment of red dyed wool.
The initials ERT can clearly bee seem
monogrammed on the waistband.
Arrangements will be made to create
a permanent display aboard the sloop
Clearwater, so that as the Clearwater
travels up and down the river, visitors will
be able to view Eric The Red’s drawers
and know that the true “Vinland” was
right here in the Hudson Valley.