Questing
Two names that cross all cultural barriers and are recognized by nearly everyone worldwide; a man and a land so universally known and accepted - but from what many see as such a seemingly and ethereal and fragmented background in history. For many reputable scholars aver that the Sagas in which he and it live are little more than myth of an uneducated, barbaric and superstitious people.
He seems real enough - and we know more about he and his people really than formalized scholarship permits to less motivated students. Born about 974AD in Iceland and bound to exile in Greenland with his roughhewn, pagan, and combative father Erick the Red, considerable is known about him; words, actions, conversion to Christianity, coloring, height, his modus operandi, a son about whom it was said "--there was something not quite right -".
But his story - his adventure - how it stirs the minds of men! The mystery of where he voyaged has roused universal curiosity for centuries; his landing sought by legions of explorers, scholars, sailors and analysts. The basic folklore of Iceland, written and oral, has been dissected and examined to a fare-thee-well, seminars, college courses, replica voyages, full scale expeditions mounted, myriad artifacts studied, books written by hopeful discoverers and filed in libraries worldwide. Moreover, library perusals find that many of these works are scribbled, dog-eared and worn, demonstrating profound zeal and spirited opinion by earlier readers unable to suppress instant responses some deeply felt passion, sympathetic or otherwise.
Surely it must be the greatest geographic puzzle of all time. There are records of curiosity and initial quests over 400 years ago. Most who read the sagas and other related information have little difficulty in accepting possible or probable palpability of the sagas. With so much tantalizing information proffered it seems that Leif's destination could have been found - should yet be found - but over these many years no proposal has reached universal acceptance or discovered proof of the findings. Comparisons abound - even close comparisons with segments of the sagas, but no place fitting all of the details of the sagas has yet been established to the satisfaction of all - or even of very many! Lingering skepticism incites perpetual application by intellectual adventurers.
The tales have a ring of integrity and plausibility, especially to those conversant with the sea and seafaring life. The word "Viking", indeed, has an entirely nautical connotation. "Vik" meant in the old vernacular a"(small) bay" (possibly "cove") - and is an identifier of a people much maligned in history, yet were capable of fine arts, law, architecture, craftsmanship and social organization much in advance of most of Europe in medieval times. Far from barbaric thugs of popular imagery, they were so advanced in seamanship, cultural and military organization that for some 500 years they were near invincible. Near invincible on land, were invincible on or near the sea, and essentially "owned" the North Atlantic Ocean from above the Arctic circle to below Gibraltar and even within the Mediterranean. This span in Europe is the equivalent in America as from Greenland to south of Chesapeake Bay. They were the very first of "blue water seamen", and were alone in that skill for centuries. Near 800AD they settled Iceland and developed by immigration that mixed Norse/Gael folk to a situation of overpopulation within 200 years. Icelanders were emigrating to as far as Constantinople (their "Miklagaard") by the time of the Vinland Voyages and near 984 emigrants settled Greenland, which then became a long-lived and essentially successful European outpost for over 400 years.
It was from that newly founded fourteen-year-old colony that the Vinland Voyages originated.
It was there and also in Iceland, some of whose people joined the adventure to Vinland that the exploits and explorations were recorded - in ways and outlooks they understood well.
What an inspiration they are! From before 1492 and till today they have given impulse to generations of men to locate that place where Leif Ericson set foot in the New World. The Voyage of Wave Cleaver is another of these programs - but with a slight difference. It seems that the tales write of more development of the expeditions than is customarily treated. The sagas are so difficult to access that most feel constrained by uncertainty to deal only with the famed Leif and nearly forget his contemporary, friend, and relative Thorfinn Karlseffni who followed the tracks to Vinland as well. This man - and even more so his wife Gudrid - left a greater multitude of clues to the new land west than had Leif. In fact, Leifsbudir came to be well visited over the course of some 20 or 30 years. Over 300 persons made the trip, one individual traversing twice and a single ship making passage three or more times. It is from this complexity, the sheer numbers of those who returned and preserved their tales that some of the confusions of the sagas originated. At least five individuals can be traced to have contributed their stories.
The Voyage of Wave Cleaver deals with the sagas in their entirety. The tale, when comprehended as narrative, is complex enough to have its own "built in" cross check for plausibility. Most accept the sequence of the expeditions with little effort. Beyond that, the tales lead discerning readers to an acceptable chronicle, complete in all respects. True or not, it develops well, something that would seem unlikely, given the multiple sources who were geographically remote and not necessarily contemporary.
Bjarne became lost and saw the land; Leif purchased the same ship from Bjarne and sailed away; his brother Thorvald criticized him for not exploring sufficiently and returned for the purpose; Thorfinn contracted with Leif to use his site; as did Leif's sister Freydis in later years. It is the story of a relatively small and introverted group who, however, were necessarily joined by others, friends, crewmen and servants.
Their tales "hang together". They make up a dramatic and resplendent tale of the sea.
As with some others, we believe them to be essentially true and believable and we make them the basis of our research.
Twenty five years ago, when this "Pilot" commenced his search, the Norse site at L'Anse aux Meadows seemed certainly the Leifsbudir of the sagas. Most analysts felt that Karlseffni had journeyed further to the south and there founded two settlements, one on an apparently unoccupied island called "Straumney" and another, further along, on a Native American occupied mainland, named "Hop".
Since that time, archeologists at the Newfoundland site have discovered butternut shells, which, as with grapes, had never grown at that latitude. This information, together with analysis of the small settlement that indicates it was only a temporary waystop, demonstrates that Leifur Eiricksson's Vinland must have been further south - somewhere where both grapes and butternut grew naturally. Our subject site Pettaquamscutt is such a place.
Brown, "Pilot" of the imaginary research vessel "Wave Cleaver", founder and director of this organization, set himself to the task of finding this "Hop", for there were many more clues related to it than there were for Leifsbudir, and it seemed that it must certainly be nearly as important. Following a three year reading program and two years of explorations, a site was located. From that date to this he and supporters have been attempting to produce a proof that it is so.
At long last such is in the offing. It is our position that the site is proven. We offer this program as a forum for education, discussion or dissension, as you wish.