Local Sea Scouts Take Part In Weekend Rendezvous

Members of Sea Scout Ship 101 Viking of Stratford, Connecticut, sailed through the night aboard their 38 foot yawl Thor’s Hammer to rendezvous with the Icelandic Viking longship and warship Islendingur as she entered New Haven harbor on Thursday, September 28. Ship 101 and Coast Guard Cutter Bollard were the official escorts for the occasion. In addition to a full crew of Sea Scouts, Thor’s Hammer carried four reporters and a camera crew. The Sea Scouts in their dress blues were the subject of a documentary video.

There are four Newtown students, Michael Taylor, Mike Tella, Dave Dos Santos, and James Marron, who participate in Sea Scouts. The are members of Ship 101, which is sponsored by Stratford. Michael, along with his parents Michael and Mary Taylor, and James spent time on the weekend extravaganza.

In the year 2001, Sea Scout 100 Viking, Connecticut’s oldest Sea Scout Ship, will be 70 years old, but this event was to commemorate an older anniversary, the 1,000th anniversary of Leif Eirikson’s discovery of North America. The Viking ship Islendingur was constructed in 1996. It is a replica of an old Norwegian Viking ship excavated in Norway in 1882. “Gaukstadaskip” had been buried for 1,000 years but has remained in excellent condition. It is on exhibit at the municipal museum in Norway.

The Sea Scouts were invited to tour the Islendingur and later attended the private reception hosted by the Icelandic Embassy. During the weekend they attended several events organized for the crew of the Islendingur. The Sea Scouts crewed for four hours aboard the schooner Quinnipiack, one of the Opsail 2000 Tall ships, and then helped get the schooner ship-shape for a reception with the Islendingur crew later that evening. Two Sea Scouts competed against an Icelandic chess master flown in for the festivities, and Michael Taylor of Newtown played longer than any other player except one whose game ended in a draw. The crews of both vessels attended a picnic together on Sunday at Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven, the Vikings mooring their boat in the water and arriving by small boat ashore in full Viking regalia.

In 1994 Gunnar Marel Eggertson, a descendant of Leif Eirikson, decided to build a Viking ship to commemorate Leif Eirikson’s voyage. He started in September 1994 and the job was finished on May 16, 1996 when the ship, later named Islendingur, was launched. Mr Eggertson built the ship more or less single handedly, with the aid of good shipbuilding friend Thordur Haraldsson. Islendingur is an exact replica of the Gaukstad-ship. The wood, pine and oak, was carefully selected in Norway and Sweden and the sail was made in Denmark. The captain’s crew consisted primarily of fisherman who have known each other for many years, all from the Westman Islands of Iceland, and one woman, Ellen Ingvadottir, an experienced sailor and navigator.

Sea Scout Ship 101 Viking has been planning for this event for the past year and was represented on the Committee to Support the Vikings, the organization which invited the Islendingur to New Haven. Crewmembers of Sea Scout Ship 101 Viking trained aboard the Viking longship Fyrdraca in Maryland in preparation for this event. The Islendingur now sails to New York City for a month of festivities, including the opening of Viking Exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History, the Icelandic Symphony at Carnegie Hall, and the dedication of a new Nordic Center.

Sea Scouting, the second oldest branch of scouting, is open to young men and women between the ages of 14 and 20. It focuses on advancement and activities in a maritime environment, including having the option to pursue Eagle Scout, the highest award in regular scouting, or the more difficult Quartermaster, the highest award in Sea Scouting.