Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-12-06

! ten history sustalns me when say
that all other peoples OF Asia and
Europe down to the time OF Columbus
were limited in their nautical knoWl
| edge to coast navigation. l have
| looked up with the greatest possible
| care all the facts accessible in regard
| to the navigation Of the ancients. The
| Greek Hippolos, mentioned by my
/ friend DR.. Storm Or the University Of
Norway as having navigated in the
| Indian ocean before the time Of the
elder Ptolomies, is, can assure you, a
mere myth. Pliny, the only author
who mentions him., writes his name
with a small and the word means
merely the monsoon wind and is a
synonym of Favonius. Nearchos that
great Greek who served as admiral I'M
der Alexander the great and whose
voyages in the Indian ocean have been
made so much Of, was only a coast
navigator. He Rugged the coast from
the mouth of the Indus to the mouth
out of sight of land. You may search
: history through and through, my
friends, you may read all that there is
on record in regard to the navigation
of the old Phoenicians and Egyptians,
of the ancient Greeks and Romans and
you may read medieval history down
| to the time of Columbus, and defy
any one to show a scrap of evidence
| that there was any knowledge of
| pelagic navigation outside of the
Norsemen The Morse vikings crossed
the stormy North sea and found their
way to Great Britain, the Orkneys, the
Shetland isles, the Fareys, and to Ice
land. They penetrated the ocean to
Greenland and Vinland and taught the
world pelagic navigation.
"In the time allotted me it. is not pos
sible to enumerate all the services OF
the old Norsemen on the seas, much
less to dwell at length upon the most
important ones; but inasmuch as We
are now in America l think it proper
for me to call your special attention
to the first visit of the NorWegians to
America in post Columbian times. In
the spring of the year 1919, the year
before the landing of the pilgrims at
Plymouth, King Christian the ",
fitted out two ships, Eenhjorningen
and Lamprenen, for the purpose of
finding a northwest passage to Asia.
The commander of this expedition
was the Norwegian Jens Munk, who
was born at Barby in southern Nor
way in 1879. He sailed from Copen-
hagen with his two ships and &c men
May 9Th, 1919. He explored Hudson
bay and took possession of the sur
rounding country in the name of his
sovereign and gave it the name of
Nova Dania. ALI the members of this
expedition, except Jens Munk and two
OF his crew, persisted. Jens Munk and
his two companions returned to Nor
way September 25th, 1920 The ship
chaplain Of this expedition was Dan
ish Lutheran minister, Rasmus Jensen
Aarhus, and he was the first minister
of the Lutheran church in the new
world. He died February Goth, 1920,
on .ne southwestern shore of the Hud-
son bay near the mouth of the Church
i'll river. His last sermon was a
funeral sermon preached from his own
death bel. In this manner we might
continue ultil daybreak and l might
Include in my remarks some interest
ing things about the various Nor
wegians and Swedes who did valuable
service in the American navy during
the war OF the revolution.
Let us remember on an occasion
like this the brilliant achievements of
the Norsemen on the sea. Let us not
forget that they, in the very dawn OF
their history, were the foremost ship
! builders in the world; that they were
the first who Ventured out of sight of
land in ships: and that to them be-
longs the honor of being the pioneers
in ocean navigation. On an occasion
like this we may point with pride to
the Morse expeditions in the various
European waters and to their trans
Atlantic voyages to Iceland, Green
land, Helluland, MARYLAND and Vim
land We may call special attention
to the remarkable attempt of the
Norseman Jens Munk to find north
west passage to Asia through the Arc
tic regions as early as 1919, and to
cur own Dr. Fridtjof Nansen who has
demonstrated to the world both by
his journey across Greenland and by
his recent expedition to the most
northern point in the Arctics ever
reached by man that our dear old
Norway is not tagging behind, but
continues to be the same toch bearer
and path finder as in days of yore.
I'm every history of the world and
in every encyclopedia I would have
incorporated the facts that the Morse
men were the first to navigate the
ocean; that Erik the Red was the
founder of the first colony in Green
| land. and that he was the first man
to boom American real estate; that
Left Erikson was the first European