Petersburg’s iconic Viking ship, the Valhalla, set sail on Monday night. But it wasn’t on the water, and it wasn’t planned.
Without a crew, the wooden ship traveled on a short voyage across the planks of Bojer Wikan Fishermen’s Memorial Park. It was found early Tuesday morning not far from its usual place beside the Sons of Norway Hall, which owns and maintains the park.
Stephanie Thynes, President of the Sons of Norway in Petersburg, suspected a hearty breeze caught the Valhalla’s red and white striped sail, causing it to ride on the wheels of its trailer into a wood fence. She said that’s never happened before.
“It’s just one of those rare, rare things,” said Thynes.
The Valhalla occasionally sails through the streets on wheels during the town’s annual Little Norway Festival, which took place just over a week earlier. When the ship was put back in place at the park, where it sits as a fixture year-round, it remained secured on the trailer with its sail still up.
Thynes said the tires were blocked, but leaving the sail standing was “an oversight” following the May festivities.
“We had just had it in the parade, the tires on the trailer were pumped up … and I guess it was a big enough wind that it caught it and it sailed across the park,” she said with a laugh.
Petersburg — and much of Southeast Alaska — has had stormy weather conditions throughout the month of May. The National Weather Service recorded a few wind gusts that night of less than 20 mph. Staff from the forecast office in Juneau noted it’s possible the particular wind gust that drove the Valhalla into the fence wasn’t detected by their system; the office had limited data resources at the time of reporting due to a mandatory maintenance shutdown. Local weather monitoring stations on Mitkof Highway detected even lesser winds.
Thynes said it’s a bit of a mystery and could have been a lot worse.
“Actually, it was a miracle because it missed everything else,” she said. “The boat’s intact, so the boat’s fine.”
The Viking ship didn’t hit the historical Sons of Norway building or the nine-foot bronze statue memorial for fishermen lost at sea. But the tongue of the trailer pierced the wooden fence that separates the park from the waters of Hammer Slough, which knocked the park’s sign out of place. The wall of memorial plaques, a bench, and the trailer itself also took some damage.
The Sons of Norway is getting a cost estimate for repairs.
