"Gaia"

 (replica Gokstad ship) off Narragansett Shores; 1991 'Vinland Revisited'.

This photograph was taken by this writer about two miles north of where the drawing above is depicted.  Gaia approached  Narrow River as a test to establish if an entry might be possible.  The crew seemed to feel that the entry was "tight" but possible - as the Sagas said.. 

 

About the good ship Wave Cleaver, Us, and our Target Site.

 

Incorporation papers of the Voyage of Wave Cleaver, Inc. will "sunset" on the final day of this year.  However, work and website will continue.  The venture was launched in 1975 with a three year reading program, a ten year paper publication, and a five year Internet presence.  The website is visited by some 2800 persons a month who spend an average of 18 minutes per visit.  Presumably and hopefully, some of these are repeaters with considerable interest.  It seems probable that this website is by this time more widely read than any library book.  It is used in some schools as reference.

FAQ

Q.  Who are you?

A. The program's founder and director is Frederick N. Brown, 76, a Toolmaker by trade, originally a resident of Rhode Island but now of Arizona.

Q. How did this program come about?

A. By pure chance of finding a particular book upon a library shelf.  By further good fortune, that same library had a number of other volumes arranged in such a way as to enable me to get a good grasp on the validity of the story in a brief time.

Q.  When did this start?

A.  About 1975,  if I recall.

Q.  Is there a ship named "Wave Cleaver"?

A.  So far as I know, no.  It is simply a made up name attempting to capture the insights  and "feel" of the Vinland Voyagers.  Readers of  the Sagas might note that we seem to have the names of at least three ships that were part of the Karlseffni expedition; "Sea Steed", "Striding Bison", and "Chaffing Courser".  Boatmen familiar with ship's mannerisms in moving through the sea might recognize the dynamism of these names, and Wave Cleaver is hopefully named in the same spirit.

Q. Who are these people you say immigrated to New England a thousand years ago?

A. Northern Europeans; Teutons; Germanic peoples; Norsemen; Nor'men; Scandinavians; especially in the Baltic environs who developed a subculture called Vikings. This subculture came about from advancing boatbuilding and seamanship which allowed them to systematically populate the island archipelagos of the Baltic Sea and North Atlantic.  They peopled and sustained Iceland near AD800 and Greenland near AD984.  From fjord travel to island hopping to the "blue water ocean" was a natural progression.  The "deep" was theirs, and theirs alone worldwide, for over 500 years.  They established a shipboard culture that is still maintained aboard sailing vessels.

Q. Vikings? Those barbaric and primitive thugs?

A.  Not so, and this response is one of the major factors limiting serious study of Scandinavian history and Vinland.  In fact, they were a peaceable and advanced population of medieval Europe.  Their style of living was mainly as small groups of farmers and fishermen making obeisance to what we call "petty" princes.  There does not seem to have been major cities or political centers and they were governed by universally accepted cultural mores and customs rather than dictates of kings and priests.  They looked, acted, dressed, and were no more violent than other Europeans.  

Q. So how did they get that reputation?

A. Those were more primitive times, we must accept.  They became a powerful force from trade along the coasts of Europe with influences so far away as Turkey and North Africa.  Some became avaricious as wealth in silver and gold gained increasing meaning within the culture.  When men and ships are remote from law and observation, many evils can occur.  Small fleets under ambitious captains sometimes made it their habit to land on foreign shores as outright pirates and later some of these landings became so well organized that collections of tribute were sometimes called "taxes" (immense quantities of silver bullion to Scandinavian kings).  The word "taxes" has ultra sensitive connotations to all Englishmen.  Ireland targets were often churches and monasteries. Viking aggression lessened after Christianization and Northmen withdrew - pacified - leaving their history to be written by their enemies.  A custom that arose from their extensive travels was to leave behind any number of men and parties for one reason or another. Viking settlements and genes are common in the British Isles and France - less common so far away East as Russia, Turkey and the Mediterranean (from two directions). To the West to Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and now, we see, Rhode Island.

Q.  How came the Sagas?

A.  Folklore was popular in the culture.  Winter nights are long in the North so tale telling was a means of passing time in normal darkness both inside and out.  Many of those which we know were set down in Latin as historical records by Catholic monks.  Some were written in "runic" which method passed from the scene.  The majority of the people were illiterate or semi-literate, even if intelligent.  They were primarily spoken stories.  Some still exist preserved in Iceland and all throughout Scandinavian folklore.  "Saga" is Old Norse for "sayings".

Q.  How came the Vinland Sagas?

A.   These were collated by interested individuals as the population became more literate.  Therefore, they are recorded in various styles and forms. Wave Cleaver does not deal with the Sagas directly, only events described.

Q.  How do you know they are true?

A.   We don't.  But they sound plausible.  They are all we have to work with. We know something happened. The "something" is proven by the discovered site at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland.  The narrative that is found in this website has been submitted to the Government of Iceland, and also, by invitation, the National Library of Iceland.

Q.  Did anyone there object or attempt to correct?

A.  No. In fact it opened a very informative correspondence with three Icelandic historians, all elderly men who have since passed away.  One submitted to me quite a lot of information that I had not known.  His many pages were written in such a crabbed hand and with margins so filled that I suspect it was physically painful to him.  He also very kindly submitted a large print of archaic Reykjavik at some expense.  I cannot omit his name but honor it here as Mr. Skulli Olafsson.  RIP.

Q.  But your account seems to point toward a whole, whereas many academic studies hold them as hopelessly fragmented.

A. When put together as a tale, the events formulate their own sequence from recorded and not usually contested events: Bjarni saw the coastline; Leif bought the same boat; Thorvald also used the same boat following his dispute with his older brother; Karlseffni negotiated for use of Leifsbudir; Freydis also negotiated and was familiar enough to recognize her brother's house on arrival.

Q. Why is this sequence so important?

A. We are now enabled to more accurately describe the coast of Vinland and its environs.  This, together with the knowledge that Freydis' return voyage consumed about three months indicates considerable distance and conjures a cohesive newly familiar ground with a vivid mental image of Vinland.  From this new vision we can locate Leifsbudir itself.

Q. Yours is the only presentation that holds that Leif's camp and Karlseffni's camp he called "Hop" are one and the same place.  Other studies hold that the two were so remote as to possibly be on separate continents.  How explain this?

A.  This came as a revelation in consideration of the new plausible layout of the coast of Vinland.  Thorvald was certainly at his brother's house and he and Karlseffni share a common landfall which, therefore, must also be in Vinland.  This landfall, "Keelness", becomes a marker of the courses, proving that Karlseffni was at least close to Leifsbudir - a place he was aiming for.  It was also possible to note that Leif's half-sister was present on this expedition and her subsequent speedy and successful location  years later of her half-brother's house and camp must be addressed.  Leif never named his camp whereas Karlseffni did.  The landings at the river mouth are similar, unusual and unique - the descriptions coincide with Leif's somewhat sparse and Karlseffni's quite detailed accounts.  The idea is accepted in some scholastic circles including at least one scholar allied with the Canadian site.

Q.  What do we have for descriptions of Leifsbudir?

A.  Summarizing all events occurring at that place, a considerable amount: river mouth, river, lake, hills, orientation of the settlement, placement of structures, zoology, botany, and distance inland from the sea.

Q.  Has any archeological work been done in the area of settlement?

A.  Yes.  And several traces and indications show activity well predating 1492.  A professional survey of the river entire actually dates an incursion coincidental with the Vinland voyages.

Q.  How strong is what you call your "circumstantial case"?

A.  We hold it as very strong.  Elements in question, which exceed 33, coincide precisely with the terrain of Pettaquamscutt River.  The mathematical odds are much stronger than 95% and much stronger than any other proposal presented by scholars over the many years this exercise has been approached.

 Q.  Have you been asked your opinion as to why the subject has been pursued assiduously by amateurs and not by academic scholarship?

A.  Yes I have, many times.  The difficulty is so deep and persisting that I suspect it comes from more than incidental neglect.  Part of the problem lies in the common belief that Vikings were primitive, savage hooligans, a concept that is very far from the truth.  But the main difficulty seems to lie in politics of the Columbian era when the Vatican and the Pope reigned as supreme arbiters of all political questions.  The Pope was Alexander VI who had been, it is said, a childhood playmate of Queen Isabella of Spain.  The question of discovery was not then so clear-cut as it would seem and appears to us today. Portuguese had some sort of valid claim which was honored by presentation of Brazil to them and all else to Spain.  Columbus had been a seaman for Portugal for many years and that claim possibly came from material that had been developed by "Colon" during his earlier career.  The varied treaties settling these conflicting claims were negotiated by Pope Alexander VI and considered final.

Readers of Wave Cleaver should be aware that the Vinland Voyages entire were a Catholic endeavor and recorded at least in part in Vatican Archives (many lost when Napolean "sacked" Rome and made off with most of the then extant archives).  In that earlier period Scandinavians were more or less newly Christian Catholic but no less devout than others.  But in 1492 they were no less ardent in their new Protestant/Lutheran beliefs.  As such, they could make no claim, nor would they be recognized in the Vatican.  Indeed, should they even appear in Rome, they risked violent death.

Therefore, the division of "spoils" was decided in favor of Spain, then Portugal followed by no other country or people. The center of southern European governments and universities was in Vatican City.  All had to follow the dogmatic line and accept suppression.  It also happens that many of the northern European governments and universities were, and are, not so independent as one would like to believe.  Many political and educational accommodations between the Catholic and Protestant churches and States were followed with assumed restraints on free discourse of history.  The oath of the King of England includes the phrase "defender of the Faith", which includes the Catholic faith as well as the Protestant.  I think it possible that news of Vinland has been lost to otherwise responsible scholars in this political shuffle.

Q.  What is the significance of your discovery, if your proof should become accepted?

A.  Up to now, the site at L'Anse aux Meadows is accepted as proof of the contact on American shores.  But it is commonly dismissed by the objection that it has little effective bearing on true discovery - that landing was accidental, short lived, and had no permanent effect - Vikings driven off.

The site at Pettaquamscutt, however, indicates a successful incursion, albeit by a limited number of people - likely all males.  European genes and even customs existed there before Columbus and were transmitted successfully for generations.  Narragansetts were every bit a combination of European/American races that Mexicans are today.  

Q. Why do you think the matter presented on "Proofpage" constitutes proof of your theme?

A.  TB lesions on bones are a typical European trait.  They are common on exhumations all through Europe but so rare as to be essentially non-existent among Mongolian Native Americans.  The argument is developed in both Proofpage and Plain Talk on the Genetic Issue.  But to give it a slight twist for clarity we might pretend we do not know what caused the lesions.  I do not know just what they look like but let's call the situation as "speckled bones".  This way it becomes as distinct as blond hair or blue eyes - so strongly European that it requires no further thought.  Blue eyes and blond hair are recessive genes and would not be expected to be sustained, but we do have a hint in the texture of the hair, if not the color, by both eyewitness descriptions and the oil painting of Ninegret (1650 Narragansett Chieftain) which clearly shows a "loft" of finer hair than is encountered anywhere else among Indians.  Indian hair is always course and straight.

The trait of TB lesions on bones is certainly a European one that must have been an import at a remote past of the Narragansett Tribe.  There does not seem to be any effective counter-argument to it.  The argument is advanced in Science and its refutation must also be in Science, as it far transcends mere coincidence.

Q. The proposed genetic argument seems difficult to follow and with little literature concerning it.  Can you summarize it?

A. The website attempts this in several ways in both Proofpage and Plain talk.  It is, in fact, somewhat of an obscure issue, seldom addressed at the microbial level even in genetic courses and textbooks.  But it is observable, especially by those who practice "reverse genetics" - breeding backwards to supposedly extinct animals as well as to special breeds such exotic tropical fish and miniature horses.

At a primary level, most are aware that individuals who survive diseases become immune to any recurrence of the disease.

At a secondary level, specialists realize that, considering a population, we deal with not only those who have contracted a disease and survived, but also those who were exposed and did not contract the disease.  These individuals who did not contract the disease must, therefore, possess another form of immunity in a genetic "strength" - their immune system was of a nature to combat the disease successfully.  This genetic "strength" is the issue we must confront.  Those individuals who do not possess it will be in continual state of war with microbes and the result of this warfare will be, eventually, the removal or decimation of numbers of individuals who are susceptible out of a population. 

This brings us to the third level of immunity which coincides with that observation in "Plagues and Peoples" where author William H. McNeill (Prof. Hist., Univ. of Chicago) notes  systematic (apparent) removal of effects of a disease from a population.  A condition will arrive at some period where the great majority of individuals will possess the genetic ability to overthrow, with minimal effort, any invader of the now emasculated/countered microbes.  In the order of things, genetics will allow certain individuals to be born from time to time without the inherited "strength" and these unfortunate individuals are those who periodically succumb to increasingly rare occurrences of the disease.  The population is said to become "sophisticated" to a disease from a previously "naive" condition.

We hold that this presence of TB lesions upon Narragansett skeletons is a result of this genetic progression.  The Vikings who came and intermarried were themselves disease-free but maintained their long evolved "genetic strength" in reserve for the period 500 years in the future when they were again exposed to tuberculosis when it was introduced by immigrating Europeans after 1492. There seems to be no counter-argument of any kind that can explain this very rare trait among what appears superficially as a typical American/Mongolian entity.  If there is no counter-argument, it stands to reason that this must be the truth. 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has his intelligent fictional detective Sherlock Holmes remark to Dr. Watson: "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

Q. It seems to me that you rely only on a single factor.  Shouldn't there be more?

A.  One is sufficient. Alone is stands as proof.  But it is not alone.  We are most fortunate that early colonists noted quite a number, and while these are "anecdotal' we have no reason to suspect that they had any other motive that simple recording of their observations.

The painting of the Chieftain Ninegret on "People" page shoes at least four genetic anomalies coincidental with an interchange of genes: "loft" of hair, stature, very light skin, and the size of his eyes.  His skeleton was exhumed in 1853 and found to be of a man of six feet, two inches tall when an average Englishman was but 5'3" and a Scandinavien 5'6".  The Vinland Voyagers were repeatedly descriptive of the large eyes of the "skraelings" they encountered and traded with.  Here we see in the flesh Dad's height, white skin, and muscular build combined with Mom's eyes.

"All sail" cried loud a pilot oceanic,

"mere puddle mighty, wild and wide Atlantic.

Sailor, call on all your nerve

energy and muscle - all your verve.

In dissipated wake we track a hero's epic.

 

"Pilot" Frederick N. Brown at a presentation of the rare and nearly overlooked "Norroena" set of 1906 by Dr. Rasmus B. Anderson, linguist and former Ambassador from the United States to Denmark. Wide ranging, in 15 volumes, it covers much N. European folklore and legend. Vol. 15 is invaluable for Vinland material inclusive of Vatican archives and verbatim translation of "Flateybok", major Icelandic Saga.

This website and program is constructed and maintained by:

Frederick N. Brown,  Director

The Voyage of Wave Cleaver, Inc    (Arizona,  USA)

P.O. Box  121

Yarnell,   Arizona          85362-0121

e-mail   <     WavePilot4@syspac.com      >                  fax      623-931-4609

Note: This address is deliberately in error as an anti-spam defense.  The true address is WavePilot5---.   At such time as spam becomes again a problem the digit will advance by one.  Hence, if mail is returned, advance the digit one at a time.
"Pilot" Frederick N. Brown's explorations, far from oppressive, were delightful, his readings enjoyable and educational, his small vessel staunch and reliable, his learning advanced to a state of astonishment at recovering many lost and overlooked peoples and episodes of history. A toolmaker, he is still employed at age 70 in the aircraft industry.

About the target site;

According to the sagas, Hop is described so:

It was a considerable distance away from Greenland. Leifsbudir itself was at least a three-month journey and according to conventional scholastic interpretation, Hop was further away than that.

Traveling away from Greenland, it was beyond a prominent north-pointing cape, because a landfall in common with an earlier traveler was described and perhaps landed. As well, it was beyond a sizable island noted for strong currents and which was so large as to take at least three days to explore. Upon this island grew grapes and self-sown wheat. The island settlement was at some clime where lived a species of whale unknown in northern seas.

Straumney (ON, -ney, -ey, -sey, -say all signify "island". Straum means strong currents, specifically stipulated in the sagas themselves) could not have been any great distance from a mainland upon which was a fjord they named Straumfjord, because in the first year traffic commenced between the two places, and the implies short distance, together with the coincidence of name coupling seems to infer a close geographic relationship.

It was not beyond the Hudson River, for Salmon were in the river of Hop, and Salmon's southern limit seems now and always to have been at that great estuary, now occupied by New York City.

It was located along a river that flowed from North to South and had some unusual configuration, as the description holds that, "---the river flowed down the land into a lake, and then into the sea." Lakes as we know them - fresh water - are not common in that type of arrangement near river outlets. The Norse definition of "Hop" confirms this. This river could not be entered except at high tide, a factor that appears to circumscribe its proportions. ("Hop" is pronounced "Hope").

The settlement that developed was at a place not so far inland that halibut could not be caught. Halibut do not enter fresh water but limit their inshore breeding in brackish tidal water only. A Norse "Hop" is a fresh water estuary into which salt water flows at high tide - note that this is not the same thing as a tidal estuary.

The settlement developed along a hillside on the West Side of the lake, because subsequent events specify this. The description says that "-there were houses down near the water and more farms further back on the other side of the hill."

The hill was relatively high and steep, for subsequent events and a vividly described vista strongly infers it. This last also confirms an east facing view.

This prospect overlooked a "point" (of the shoreline).

The general layout of the developed settlement was north/south.

The area was forested - apparently heavily so.

Aborigines dwelt at some little distance inland from the site. There seems to have been some sort of geographical barrier between the native and Norse sites, for post battle discussions by Karlseffni and some of his soldiers dismissed as impossible or unlikely ("--an illusion-") suggestions by someone that an attack had come from that direction - west. The natives approached the "point" by boat from the south and departed toward whence they came. (The contacts at Hop open new avenues of research, for these Aborigines - actually the third Vinland contact with Native Americans - now become contributing evidential parties to the substance of the Vinland corpus.)

There were at least two sizeable rocky outcrops somewhere nearby. One, where timber for cargo was set out to "season", likely at or adjacent to the landing site; and another in some way a spectacular place eminently suited for defense. This latter was stipulated as located to the north of the settlement and near the river and was at some reasonable distance - not over two or three miles at most. (These "cliffs" were the key to discovery in the "Pilot's" explorations since they would seem to be permanent - or at least recorded. They must be peculiarly suited for defense, since the Viking party, armed and armored, abandoned home and palisade in a panicked retreat towards them as a last ditch haven.)

We here deal with at least 18 factors of consideration, of which one, the N/S layout is necessarily subjective to conditions of a site once found. The situation is rare as a composite, especially the hop-like lake and cliffs near a river. The site discovered fulfills all 18 requirements, seems to satisfy a powerful statistical argument which, in turn, is what attracted the interest of the distinguished persons listed above.

What's New? -- pertaining to this long and convoluted subject.

 

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