About the novel Getting Our Hands Wet (Vand under neglene)
50 years ago this month, pieces of wreckage were retrieved from the bottom of Roskilde Fjord and presented to the Danish National Museum. It would prove to be a sensational archeological find, which later formed the basis for one of Denmark's most visited museums: The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde.Today the Danish Viking ship project is known all over the world but the background for it, which provided the final impetus for the subsequent underwater excavation of the five shipwrecks in Roskilde Fjord, has not been known until now. The new book, Getting Our Hands Wet (Vand under neglene) sheds light on it. The author is Åge Skjelborg, initiator and driving force of the Roskilde Undersøiske Forskningsgruppe [underwater research group], who on 30 August 1956 held the first pieces of wreckage in his hands.
The story is based on Åge Skjelborg's recollections from the Viking ship find in 1950s' Denmark. Apart from that it is difficult to know exactly where reality ends and fiction takes over in the documentary novel, Getting Our Hands Wet. And it really doesn't matter, in Åge Skjelborg's splendid tale of three young people trying to shake off the last remnants of the Second World War.
The storyteller travels with his aunt to the bombed-out city of Hamburg where a German uncle, former submarine captain in Hitler's Kriegsmarine, trains his more-than-willing nephew as diver and marine archeologist. During his stay in Hamburg the first-person storyteller meets a young German pianist and they fall in love. She is plagued by a serious war trauma, and together they try to solve the girl's oppressive problems. The two young people have to separate in the middle of a vulnerable process but agree to stay in contact.
Getting Our Hands Wet by Åge Skjelborg has been released in Danish by BIOS publishers. The book costs 198 Danish kroner and can be ordered from any Danish bookseller or at this website. An English translation of the book is comming up. Please contact us if you wish to be informed about the release.
It began with a legend
"The locals from Skuldelev knew about the wreck and the tales that were handed down to them from the dim past, linked the wreck to a time around of the renowned Danish queen, Margrete the First. The ship appeared to have been sunk deliberately across an old sailing channel, as a blockade to prevent navigation in the inner reaches of the fjord. The history of the find and the local tale made me skeptical as to the alleged age and historical validity of the legend."
In Roskilde, Åge Skjelborg met other young people with an interest in diving and marine research, and formed the divers' group, Roskilde Undersøiske Forskningsgruppe. It came about at a time when archeology was beginning in earnest to direct its attention to the sea.
"In our own youthful eyes we were young, serious wreck detectives, armed with underwater camera and a complete set of diving equipment", continues Åge Skjelborg.
Hunting for the wreck
"We were in the water for several weeks. We continued searching until late in the evenings, using hand-held watertight torches, for definite evidence from the deep, but without success. After lengthy and painstaking work the great breakthrough finally came like a magical rush of untold history one beautiful August evening. Little shooting stars popped around in the body and for a short magical moment the world stood still. Later that evening a large wooden rib was recovered from the wreck together with some smaller pieces of planking. The find of the ship's timber was properly secured and driven triumphantly back to Roskilde. It did not take long for journalists, hungry for sensations, to spread news of the find across most of the country."
"From then on, after we had set out on this long and unknown journey into time, the bed of the fjord became our faithful partner for those hectic summer weeks. One day the mystery began to deepen and the scene of the wreck came alive. First the keel, then more and more remains of yet another shipwreck emerged out of the deep at the blockade. And before the day was over the site of the wreck had surrendered one important piece after another. The mood was one of great enthusiasm", the now 74-year-old Åge Skjelborg reminisces.
Their enthusiasm was shared by the National Museum, which later carried out an extensive excavation project stretching over several years. Today the material forms the core of The Viking Ship Museum's collection and exhibition.
New book release on the Viking ship find
"The book is about much more than the big, exciting Viking ship project. Among other things it explains what was really behind the persistent local legend that firmly linked Queen Margrete to the shipping blockade. The rest of the story is not without excitement and drama. An unknown and exotic young girl, Daughter of the Sea, emerges at the right moment, just as we are about to examine the shipwreck, providing extra impetus in the hunt for the secret of the wreck. Later she disappears once more, just as my own participation in the project was nearing its end. But that's quite another story that you can read about in my new novel, Getting Our Hands Wet."
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