I must carry a tiny scrap of my sea faring ancestor's DNA because I would love to go sailing on a tall ship. I find it hard to believe that my ancestor crossed the Atlantic THREE times in the mid 1600s. My father's family came a bit earlier (Jamestowne 1607) but they just came and stayed.
GGGGG13grandfather Andersson left to marry a wife and came back to settle in Philadelphia and raise a son. Either he was very brave, very ambitious, or there was nothing very attractive about Europe at the time.
The Viking ships of 500 years earlier were amazing too.
Oseberg Ship. That and the Gokstad are really things of beauty. They must have looked even better slipping through the waves.
Not one drop of recent Norse blood in me but I love things Viking. Sagas, ships, artwork, language.