It's a very mixed bunch of people who make up the crew of the “Sea Stallion from Glendalough”. Many nationalities and many types are involved: crew-cut soldiers, long-haired Swedes, men with pearls in their beards, and sun-glad Danish youngsters.
But when the Sea Stallion rolls across the sea on its way back home to Roskilde, you will often see a noble 69-year-old man standing discreetly in the background among this motley crew, with both legs firmly planted on the deck – all the time watching and sometimes asking questions about the crew’s work with hauls and ropes and the long warship’s other manoeuvres. Once in a while you will see him take a turn at the rudder.
Or you might see the same man standing at the back of one of the supply vessel’s large rubber boats on its way to and from the Sea Stallion at 20-25 knots through hefty waves in the open sea or in the harbour.
The name is Niels C. Roelsen, businessman, former deputy director of the Tuborg Foundation, and now a pensioner. He has a special relationship with the experimental project called the Sea Stallion. And it is no exaggeration when he is named as a very central figure behind the creation of the Sea Stallion and thus the realisation of the whole of the scientific project that has lasted many years and reaches its provisional culmination when the Sea Stallion comes home to Roskilde on 9 August after a trip of 1,400 nautical miles.
Niels C. Roelsen was invited to join the voyage and he is staying with the project secretariat on board Cable One, the support vessel accompanying the Sea Stallion for safety reasons. Niels C. Roelsen commutes daily between the support vessel and the long warship. He often stays on board in the open sea for hours.
But in reality this story started 13 years ago.
One day in 1995, Niels C. Roelsen received an application while he was head of the Tuborg Foundation. The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde wanted to build a 1:10 model, three metres long, of Skuldelev 2, the ship that later became the Sea Stallion. The Augustinus Foundation had already given DKK 150,000 and the question was whether the Tuborg Foundation would donate the same amount. The total budget was DKK 300,000.
Niels C Roelsen takes up the story:
“We gave the DKK 150,000. It was fundamentally exciting and scientifically important to build a model of a ship from the finds at Skuldelev. They had only excavated just over 20% of the remains of Skuldelev 2. I could not stop myself following what was going on from the sidelines. Model builder Morten Grønbech was something of an artist and an sensitive man. Suddenly there was a death in his family and he had to take a break. That only meant that the joy of expectation was even greater and the money was not actually paid out until 1988, when the model was finished after three whole years. The drawings were made by Erik Andersen, a restorer.
“The day came when the chairman of the Tuborg Foundation, director Poul Svanholm, handed the money over to the museum. I saw the model and became very enthusiastic, in part because of the fantastic degree of detail. That made an impression on me and gave me something to think about. Later, when I had a meeting with Tinna Damgård-Sørensen, who is now the director of the Viking Ship Museum, I encouraged her to send in a very well argued application to the Tuborg Foundation. In short, I suggested that they build a full-size Sea Stallion. I emphasised that the budget should be realistic so it was certain that the project could be carried out without the need for further funding. We received an application from the Viking Ship Museum – for DKK 10 million.
“On this background the board of the Tuborg Foundation and I visited the Viking Ship Museum in 1999. We were received by the museum’s director, Tinna Damgård-Sørensen, and the former director, Ole Crumlin Pedersen. After a well-prepared lecture, a guided tour and the presentation of the project for the construction of the full-size Sea Stallion, the board got together in a separate room at the museum. Here the board led by its then chairman, Walther Paulsen, decided to give the grant of DKK 10 million – the largest amount ever awarded by the Tuborg Foundation.
“We paid the money in instalments, DKK 2 million a year in 2000–2004, while they built the ship. Construction started on 1 August 2000 and the ship was launched on 4 September 2004.
“I followed the construction closely – not because the Tuborg Foundation wanted to check on the organisation it was sponsoring, certainly not, for a grant is based on trust. We make no conditions and have no control measures. It was my intense personal interest in the project that drove me. It progressed in accordance with the plan surprisingly well with very few technical problems. And the budget held. So everyone was happy.
“In fact the project was carried out virtually without problems. So already at this time we at the Tuborg Foundation could tell ourselves that it was a sensible decision we had made. And that is very much in line with earlier grants to the Viking Ship Museum, for example for excavations at Fribrødre river on Falster, which had gone well. So we already had confidence in the museum.
“Naturally we attended the launch of the Sea Stallion in September 2004 and, because of the very special character of the project, we have followed the activities around the ship closely ever since. We are completely satisfied with the way in which the Viking Ship Museum has administered our DKK 10 million. It is very interesting to see how professionally the museum is able to communicate its research and the voyage.
“The Tuborg Foundation is a general charitable foundation. In this case, you see an example of a grant that really is of general benefit. The ship is very, very popular. The press coverage is massive and positive. Not just in Denmark, but also internationally. We are happy to have been able to contribute to informing a very wide circle of people about the Viking Age – a very important part of Denmark’s history. That is completely in line with the Foundation’s purpose.
“Sometimes it struck me that it was taking a long time to get the Sea Stallion out on a long voyage. But now I’ve seen for myself that the preparation time was well spent. They started with short trips on the fjord to test the ship. They gained a lot of detailed knowledge, without which the Sea Stallion would never have been able to sail to Dublin safely.
“The whole planning process has impressed me, just as I am impressed by how well the ship’s crew has been trained and how well the ship functions in my opinion. And when the Sea Stallion has been in dangerous situations, which it has been several times because of the rough weather on this trip, the ship manages well and the crew solves the problems precisely because of the thorough preparations and good seamanship.
“From a scientific point of view, the ship is also gathering new information nearly all the time. An example is the problems they have had with the rudder. On this trip they have confirmed that the old texts from the sagas that mentioned using wooden tackle to fasten the rudder have been correct. The ship has proved that you should use wood instead of the hemp rope they’d experimented with before.
“When I sail with the Sea Stallion in open sea I usually stand at a little distance and observe what happens. I meet incredible kindness from all sides on the voyage. I feel I am part of the family and even though my age is rather higher than that of the rest of the crew I still feel that I have been a part of the crew. For me personally participating in this voyage has so far been an enormous success and I’m really glad that I agreed to take part right from the start.
“Incidentally, it is something of a coincidence that I came. I participated in last year’s Christmas reception at the Viking Ship Museum. I was talking to the museum’s technical head, Morten Nielsen, while we were looking at some fantastic sailing pictures of the Sea Stallion from last year’s voyage to Dublin. Quite spontaneously I exclaimed: ‘If only I were ten years younger!’ Morten Nielsen caught that remark and said: ‘You must come with us next summer.’ That started it all, and here I am.”
Facts about Niels C. Roelsen:
Graduated with master’s degree in economics from Århus University in 1968. Employed by Unilever 1968–70. Moved to Tuborg in 1970, which merged with Carlsberg the same year. Employed by Carlsberg until retirement in 2001. For more than 31 years at the brewery he was occupied with marketing, sales and administration. Appointed deputy director in 1985. His last position was head of the secretariat administering the Carlsberg Bequest in Memory of I.C. Jacobsen and the Tuborg Foundation.
Since its establishment in 1931, the Tuborg Foundation has supported more than 15,500 activities, large and small, in all areas of Danish society, from art, culture, sport, association activities, education, museums and the health sector to business-related research with more than DKK 820 million. Grants valued at about DKK 25 million are awarded every year to about 450 applicants. In addition, the Carlsberg Bequest awarded a DKK 500,000 grant in 1999 for documentation for the whole of the dissemination part of the Sea Stallion project.
