The last Viking
When a Norwegian born man in love with his heritage reads about the sale of a Viking ship, it tempts him to inquire. But Rolf Monsen of Tampa, Florida, president of Tampa's 80-member chapter of the Sons of Norway, did more than ask questions. He bought it.
Rolf had his roots from Gjerpen in Telemark, today part of Porsgrunn community. His grandparents owned a farm at Hovenga, today a site for a small mall, and a McDonald.(more)
Monsen first read about the sale of the "Leiv Eiriksson" in a Norwegian newspaper. The 64-foot warship was built in 1958 for the movie "The Vikings" which starred Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis. Monsen and a Tampa school teacher decided to buy the wooden vessel which had previously been displayed at the 1967 World's Fair Exposition in Montreal. This decision marked the beginning of a hazardous 27-day, 2,300 mile journey from Canada to Tampa, Florida.
The 13-ton vessel left the shivering cold of Montreal on September 4, 1973 with a crew of 3, out of which one left the boat shortly after. The journey was beset with troubles from the beginning.
One week after departing, the daring sailors had a near miss off the coast of Wildwood, New Jersey, when the ship was caught in the pounding Atlantic surf and nearly swamped. "We landed on a sand bar and the breakers hitting us were about 16- or 17-feet high", Monsen recalled. "We just had to keep cool and go".
Another episode during the passage across Lake Okeechobee nearly checked the voyage again. The long grass of the shallow lake strained the transmission clutch and brought the ship to a standstill. A passing tug, guided by a captain of Norwegian descent, gave assistance in repairing the injured craft.
Crowds from villages along the way turned out to see the ship and the Viking descendants. Not an everyday's sight to see a Viking ship travel America's rivers and coastal waterways.
On October 11, 1973 the brown colored vessel with its carved dragon's head and the serpent's tail stern glided silent into Tampa. Tampa Mayor greeted the gallant, modern-day Vikings. Looking tired and worn, Monsen waved to his fellow Sons of Norway. Tampa was as beautiful as Valhalla, the ancient Scandinavian's version of heaven.
"I wrote a letter to my sister in Norway while I was on the trip to tell her what had happened to me", said Monsen, "but she didn't believe me". A story such as this is incredible, but amazingly true.
You find a picture of Rolf Monsen (1915 - 2006) when he visited Norway a few years after the voyage, and also when he visited Norway together with his wife in 1955
(Information about this journey is collected from various papers and documents).