Update: Due to mechanical issues, the visit by the Kalmar Nyckel has been delayed until Sunday.
The ship will dock at the Riverwalk Landing piers then to offer an evening sail but deck tours have been cancelled. The evening sail is scheduled to last from 4 to 7 p.m.
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In 1637 the Kalmar Nyckel set sail from Sweden, the flagship for the exhibition that founded the first permanent European settlement in the Delaware Valley.
This weekend, a re-creation of the vessel will dock in Yorktown for tours and evening sails.
The original Kalmar Nyckel was a merchant vessel built around 1625. It would make a total of four round-trip crossings of the Atlantic, more than any other documented ship of the American colonial era.
With eight sails and miles of rigging, the faithful re-creation of the pioneering ship calls four Delaware ports home and regularly travels the eastern seaboard.
The Kalmar Nyckel arrives in Historic Yorktown on Friday, docking at the Riverwalk Landing Piers.
It will offer free deck tours to the public from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. through June 8.
Guests can work alongside volunteer crew as they haul the lines, raise the sails, and learn firsthand what it was like to cross the Atlantic in the 17th century. Although the Kalmar Nyckel was never a pirate ship, the crew will get into the swashbuckling spirit for “pirate sails” to entertain younger sailors with tales, scavenger hunts, and the raising of the Jolly Roger.
For three hours starting at 4 p.m. each day, guests can set out on the water while learning about the ship and its original passengers. These sails cost $60 for adults and $40 for children ages 17 and younger, with space limited and reservations required.
For more information, call 302-429-7447 or visit the Kalmar Nyckel website.
