The quest for the North West Passage begins

Man O’ War has begun our mission to conquer the NW Passage this Northern Summer. We have a hold full of Man O’ War wine, our wooly hats and various armaments to fend off Polar Bears or whatever else might take a fancy to us. Unfortunately due to a logistical error (note to self…probably should of put it on the boat rather than put an outboard on it) our trusty Hi-Lux couldn’t make it so we can’t retrace the tyre tracks of those intrepid Arctic explorers Clarkson and May and drive to the North Pole…next time perhaps. Currently we are in Norway on the first leg of this adventure which will take us to the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, around the top of Canada (as close to the North Pole as global warming will allow) to Alaska, down the coast of British Columbia to Seattle, where all going well we will catch up with Dunc and Bronny who will be presenting Man O’ War to the Washington State market with Andy from Young’s Columbia.

Kicking off in Norway we took the chance to go ashore and visit the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo on a great Scandinavian summer’s day. Our great friend Glen guided us through the Museum to see three of world’s best preserved wooden Viking Longships. The most fearsome “Man O’ Wars” of their time. One of the ships, the Oseberg, was built in the early part of the 9th Century and was used as a sailing vessel for many years before it was used a burial ship for a woman of high rank who died in 834 AD. As was traditional she was placed in the burial chamber in the aft section of the ship along with her most valuable possessions and the body of another women for a bit of company in the afterlife, who was in all likelihood a servant who had been sacrificed to join her boss in the afterlife. How do you sign up for that in your employment contract?!?!?



Glen explained that the Oseberg ship was excavated next to the town of Tonsberg in 1905, and as a proud resident of Tonsberg (an awesome little town at the opening of the Oslo Fiord) he felt it should have been put in a museum there. So that night while having a bit of a debrief and after a couple of glasses of Man O’ War Valhalla Chardonnay with Glen (one of the greatest white wines in the world according to him) and his lovely wife Marit, we formulated all sorts of cunning plans to return the Oseberg ship to Tonsberg at a yet to be determined future date……watch this space for futher details!