Norway, Nunavut clash over shipwreck

National Post ^ | August 7, 2011 | Tristin Hopper

[Squawk 8888]

Rather than see it preserved in a Norwegian museum, a committee in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut would rather see the Maud end its days on the bottom of the Arctic Ocean.

Maud Returns Home, a salvage group backed by Norwegian investors, is planning a multi-million dollar expedition to restore the Maud, a 1918 polar exploration vessel once commanded by legendary Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.

The group aims to raise the wreck with special balloons, mount it on a barge and tow it through the Northwest Passage back to Norway, where it would be preserved in a museum outside Oslo.

“This initiative will be a last opportunity to bring the remains of this once proud polar ship back home and give it a respectable place to rest in the years to come,” reads the project’s website.

Meanwhile, Keep the Baymaud in Canada, a committee of 20 Cambridge Bay residents, is aiming to block the Norwegian’s efforts and keep the 95-year-old ship underwater. The shipwreck is one of the community’s few tourist attractions, say committee members, and locals earn money by motoring visiting cruise ship passengers to the wreck site.

[Squawk 8888]

Canada & GGG ping

[goodwithagun]

Isn't this the same country that is about to sentence a mass murderer to 21 years in Ikea with his choice of yoga or pilates instructors? They really choose weird things to bicker and argue about.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Squawk 8888.

expedition to restore the Maud, a 1918 polar exploration vessel once commanded by legendary Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen

[Clive]

Thanks for the ping, Squawk 8888

[Publius6961]

What a horribly written story.
The legal ownwers sold the ship to the Hudson Bay Company in 1933. The Canadians own it.

No controversy here.

[WePledge]

The Hudson Bay Co later sold the ship to a Norwegian for $1
and he gave the deed to the salvage group.

[HiTech RedNeck]

sounds like the norwegians win. isn’t it good, norwegian wood?