Save the Viking Ship!

[auld argonian]

...wait a minnit...aren't we supposed to be saying, "...deliver us, Oh Lord, from the Vikings"?

Anyway...I just read Freelander's post about his trip to Glagow and it brought this whole situation to mind:

http://www.landmarks.org/ten_10.htm

My daughter had an assignment over Easter break to write a brief essay about the situation. Briefly, this replica of an excavated Viking ship was built for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and once the exposition was over they weren't quite sure what to do with it. I remember seeing it under a fenced off canopy sited in the middle of a grove of trees in Lincoln Park and it was everybody's fantasy to restore it and get it back out on Lake Michigan.

Discussing the matter with my daughter brought up the signifigance of the Viking culture in the development of Northern Europe and the British Isles. I had to remind her that the popular image of Viking free-booters raiding everybody was a bit of an oversimplification and yet another romantic notion that has overshadowed the real history. I'm having a difficult time coping with the short-hand version of history that they're teaching at her school...seems like they just want to do "sound bite" history and not get into any depth in spite of their claim that they want to train "critical thinkers".

Oh well, just thought that you all might get a kick out of the ship and its tale of woe.

Best

AA

[cessna152towser]

A deserving cause, having survived over a hundred years and a tribute to its builders that it safely crossed the Atlantic and has survived so long. At least the tented covering should help preserve it from the worst of the weather. So much heritage is left outside at the mercy of weather and vandalism. We are trying to raise funds for our aviation museum to get an exhibition hangar for our collection of cold war warbirds.

[Freelander Sporrano]

A noble cause indeed.I hope it doesn't meet with the same fate ours did...A skip...They were too expensive to ship home...No pun intended.

[auld argonian]

A deserving cause, having survived over a hundred years and a tribute to its builders that it safely crossed the Atlantic and has survived so long. At least the tented covering should help preserve it from the worst of the weather. So much heritage is left outside at the mercy of weather and vandalism. We are trying to raise funds for our aviation museum to get an exhibition hangar for our collection of cold war warbirds.

I think that there may be a tendency to believe that something like a ship that can sail across an ocean of salt water can sit out in the Midwest USA rain forever and not be affected...same with some of the aircraft though they have the aircraft graveyards out in the dry deserts over here...can't imagine how anyone could expect something to sit out in the weather in the UK and last very long.

Best

AA

[auld argonian]

A noble cause indeed.I hope it doesn't meet with the same fate ours did...A skip...They were too expensive to ship home...No pun intended.

We were joking that maybe they ought to get our ship out on the lake and give it a "Viking Funeral"...joking about it because it would be a shame to lose it...did you dispose of yours in a fitting manner?

Perhaps this new movie about the Vikings in North America, "Pathfinder", will help them stimulate some interest...maybe hit the producers up for some funding.

Best

AA