Prize for Maud salvage

Gerard Taylor
Norway Today

Prime Minister Erna Solberg handed out the Asker municipality’s cultural prize on May 25 to Jan Wanggaard and Tandberg Eiendom for having retrieved Roald Amundsen’s polar vessel back to Norway.

Maud was brought home in August 2018 to Vollen in Asker after having been partially sunken in the ice in Cambridge Bay in Canada since 1930.

Maud, which was built in Vollen 102 years ago, was the boat that Amundsen used for his expedition through the Northeast Passage from 1918 to 1920.

From 1921 to 1925, the ship drifted around the ice north of East Siberia under Oscar Wisting’s command and was later sold to a Canadian company that used it for shipping along the northwest coast of the United States and Canada.

“It is great for us to get such an award. Last year, we received the people’s recognition when thousands were present during Maud’s return,” said Espen Tandberg of Tandberg Eiendom, who financed and backed the project of raising and bringing the ship back to Asker.

This article was originally published on Norway Today.

This article originally appeared in the June 14, 2019, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.