When Claus Christiansen, educated in accountancy and management, in the fall of 1999 was hired as Manager of Finance and HR at the Viking Ship Museum, he began coming to Roskilde daily. A place he already knew better than most:
”Ever since I was a young kid, I spent a lot of time at Roskilde Harbour. For a number of years I’ve been rowing in Roskilde Rowing Club and sailing different race-boats; Ballade, Kaskelot, and others of a more indefinable kind. I still sail on those Tuesdays I can find the time – but now from Veddelev Harbour a bit north of Roskilde and in an Omega 30. I´ve participated in f.x. the race Round Zealand and in several regattas.
And then he´s found a new love – one of the most beautiful ships of the Viking Ship Museum
”When I was employed by the Viking Ship Museum, I began sailing with Kraka (a reconstruction of the Skuldelev 6), on which I today am skipper. And when needed I lend a hand in the boat trips we arrange for tourists in the museum´s boats.
Don´t worry! The beers are safe
Claus is participating in the second half of the historic expedition to Dublin. Had he agreed to sail on the first half as well, it might well have spelled disaster on this years Roskilde Festival:
”Unfortunately I can´t take part in the first half of the expedition, because I´m also a volunteer for the Roskilde Festival. I´m in charge of all sale of beverages and the Festival opens the same day as the Sea Stallion departs, Sunday July 1st. Try and image what would happen if I disappeared from the Festival – a Roskilde Festival with no beer!"
Are you Manager of Finance when you´re on the expedition to Dublin
”No, I try to separate the two tasks as much as I can. I am an unpaid volunteer on the expedition as well as everyone else and spend my unpaid overtime to be there. My daily function as Manager of Finance is not necessary for the successful completion of the expedition - in contrast to the skipper, mates and boat builders.”
Spending millions.
The Sea Stallion is without comparison the Viking Ship Museum’s biggest project ever. And that shows in the balance. The millions quickly disappear, and there’s plenty to do for Claus:
The building of the ship cost about 10 million DKR, sponsored by the Tuborg Foundation alone. The Project Secretariat of the Sea Stallion, who is responsible for the planning of the experimental expedition to Dublin, has a budget of about 2.6 million DKR. Of these, half was public funds.
The budget of the expedition is about 10.3 million DKR. The largest entries are the support vessels, then safety equipment such as survival suits, life rafts, life jackets and navigation equipment. And last but not least are the expenses for the crew; insurance of the crew, travels, food and accommodations. Different funds and firms donated about 4 million DKR to the expedition.
Apart from the money for the expedition the museum spends almost 5 million DKR on dissemination and exhibitions. Of this amount a little more than 1 million comes from different funds, public and private.
“All in all the project has a budget of about 28.4 million DKR and the museum received donations and contributions of about 16.7 million DKR, the Manager of Finance and HR explains.”
A Museum with small state subsidies
What is the general financial situation of the Viking Ship Museum?
“The yearly budget is about 32 million DKR. One third of the budget consists of state subsidies, which is remarkably low. Most museums on level with the Viking Ship Museum are receiving state subsidies in the area of 70-90 percent of their budgets. But we’ve been good at reorganizing at the Viking Ship Museum and make more money ourselves or it is supplied by public and private funds. The Museum has for a number of years had around 150.000 visitors a year, but for the last two or three years that number has dropped till 120.000-130.000. I don’t think we actually get fewer visitors; we just don’t get them through the ticket sale. We have more and more activities outside, at the museum island and in the harbour. All of those can be seen by the visitors without buying a ticket. That’s a big problem for our financial situation...
Hopefully, the Sea stallion project can help us explain the public that what we do at the museum is to the benefit for both Roskilde and Denmark. If so we might increase our state subsidies. In this way we won’t depend as much on a high entrance fee and we can allow visitors to use the island and the harbour without payment,” Claus says and continues:
”Even though we’ve had very great press coverage of the Sea Stallion, it unfortunately hasn’t paid off in the visitors-figure. But I think we will instead see a long-term effect. About 60 percent of our visitors come from abroad. And from the time they see or read about us in their local media, and until they plan their next holiday to take place in Denmark because they want to see the beautiful Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, some time will probably pass. So let’s hope we’ll get more visitors in the next years!”
Maybe the last great project
Have the sources of income changed for the Viking Ship Museum in the time you’ve worked for the museum?
”Yes. In the last ten years the museum has grown to more than double its size. Both with regards to employees (last year we were 126 employees, doing 52 full year’s worth) and the economics. We’ve been better at making our money ourselves, but at a cost…. We are more vulnerable to fluctuations in for example the number of visitors and in the jobs where the museum can make money; boat sales from the boatyard, sailing trips with visitors, sales from the shop and café and then submarine archaeological jobs,” the Manager of Finance and HR says.
And Claus does not see to bright a future, when it comes to projects as great as the Sea Stallion:
”Det er desværre nok kun denne ene gang i museets historie, at vi kan bruge så mange af egne midler til ét enkelt projekt. At det har kunnet lade sig gøre skyldes ene og alene, at vi gennem en årrække har vidst, at projektet var under opsejling og at det ville kræve rigtig mange midler at gennemføre. . Det er også enestående at få fat på en så stor frivillig og engageret besætning. Med de tendenser der er i samfundet lige nu, så tror jeg ikke, vi kan forvente, at der vil være et lige så stort frivillige engagement i fremtiden – folk vil have penge for alt det, de laver”.
Looking forward to both extreme and relaxing experiences
As mentioned Claus is a member of the voluntary crew. And when asked why he takes on this project; sailing a Viking ship with 64 other people, he says:
”I´ve been a water person for a long time and I don´t like to sit still. I need some “crazy” thing to do or train for, and therefore it was very obvious for me to combine my demand for crazy projects with the Sea Stallion. I am already involved because of my work. I also think that it is a very exciting project that gives me some good experiences and the possibility to meet other people than those I usually associate with.”
”I look forward to a voyage which hopefully will be a combination of the hard and extreme and then some easy and relaxing. The first will require many physical and mental powers, the second will give good experiences – for example from visitors when we enter a harbour somewhere.
What´s the greatest challenge as foreman in the bows?
”That must be to get a voluntary crew to function on their own terms and at the same time have us all submit to the rules and wishes set by the museum. We must constantly consider the demands and individual behaviour of all the single individuals on the ship. We are very different persons with very different ways to see the world – these differences must be handled in a good way and that is probably the biggest challenge for us foremen.”
Financial bosses in the Viking age.
Claus feels certain, that when the scholars are going to interpret the results of this summer’s test-sailing, they will also think of finance:
“Yes, I think so, but not in the same terms as a traditional account. I rather think that different things must be thought of in other values, such as what status a chief or magnate had to have to build and equip a ship for war.”
Do you think the Vikings had financial managers to control the economy of large building and sailing projects?
”Ja, helt sikkert. De hed nok ikke økonomichefer, men måske kassemestre, for med alt det, der skulle til for at bygge og udruste skibene, har det været nødvendige at hente og købe varer fra mange forskellige steder for at få det hele til at gå op i en højere enhed. Og hvem andre end en kassemester kan holde styr på det?”
”Yes, definitely. They probably had another name than financial managers. But they’ve definitely been needed with all the supplies needed for the building and equipping of the ships, bought from the local area and from afar. Who other than a Financial Manager can control all that?
How do you think the Vikings financed these great ships, crews and expeditions?
”Maybe this was the time when the first co-operative shipping companies were made. Perhaps several rich Viking chiefs could co-operate in making and arming an army for plundering and looting abroad. The individual crewmembers probably received a share of the loot depending on the “income” of the expedition. But most probably went to the rich, who sat safe and sound at home and waited for the loot. – Maybe that’s why so many of the ordinary Vikings settled abroad. Who knows…?”
By: Henrik Kastoft.