Galathea 3 in NuukNewsletter 4
Dato 14.9.2006
7-13 September 2006
14 September 2006
Galathea arrives in Nuuk
VÆDDEREN arrived in Nuuk on the night of Thursday 6/7 September to be ready for the unfolding of the weekend’s busy programme.
A press briefing took place at 10.00 hours, attended by Greenland’s Radio/TV and newspaper journalists. Also present were research project leaders, delegates from the Ministry of Education, the ship’s Captain, Executive Officer, as well as Expedition Leader Minik Rosing and Morten Meldgaard, director of the Danish Expedition Foundation. The Captain welcomed everyone and gave the floor to the Danish Expedition Foundation.
Photograph Peter Barfoed
VÆDDEREN in Nuuk – on the left, cruise ship Crystal Symphony
13.00 hours, clear sunshine: Open house for the press, crew and researchers at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, followed by a reception. Several politicians were present, including members of the Home Rule Government: Doris Jakobsen from the Directorate of Culture, Education, Research and the Church; Aleqa Hammond, Minister of Family Affairs and Justice; Tuusi Motzfeldt, Minister for Finance and Foreign Affairs and former Prime Minister Jonathan Motzfeldt. Institute Director Klaus Nygaard addressed the gathering, as did Rear Admiral Niels Erik Sørensen, Minik Rosing and Morten Meldgaard.
Galathea 3 stamps
Saturday 8 September saw the presentation of the new Greenland Galathea stamp in the hangar of VÆDDEREN. Artist Naja Abelsen designed the stamp, which portrays VÆDDEREN with the gravity corer in action. The first day cover features a water-colour painting of a sedimentary core sample. Captain Schmidt welcomed Philatelic Manager Søren Rose from POST Greenland and the Rear Admiral and Morten Meldgaard gave speeches. Read more about the stamp here.
 
Photograph Minik Rosing POST Greenland
POST Greenland's new stamp has been designed by artist Naja Abelsen. Its value is 9.75 crowns.
Museum curator Claus Andreasen took the Galathea’s voyagers round the National Museum and later in the day they visited Paamiut, a former trawler owned by the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and rebuilt for research purposes.
Programmes were broadcast at the same time, including a TV quiz, ‘Test the Nation’ which was shown on TV2 on Saturday evening with live interviews of brothers Anders and Peter Lund Madsen. School competitions were finalised and the winner of a place on the leg from Cape Town to Perth announced. She is a 20 year old from Qaqortoq.
Galathea evening full house
19.30 hours: Galathea evening in the concert hall of Katuaq, Greenland’s Cultural Centre. The evening was so well attended that the public had to bring chairs into the hall. Morten Meldgaard started things off with a presentation of Galathea 3 and the background of the expedition. Minik Rosing followed with an explanation of the projects being worked on during the first leg of the cruise and what their implications are. He then introduced the research complement: Naja Mikkelsen on ‘People and Milieu in Western Greenland’, Holger Lykke-Andersen on ‘Quaternary Geology on the banks off the coast of West Greenland’ , Lone Gram on ‘Roseobacter bacteria’ and the Blom brothers on ‘the DNA of the Polar Seas’. The evening ended with a reception hosted by NAPA (The Nordic Institute in Greenland).
1,270 guests come on board
Saturday 9 September: Open house from 14.00 to 17.00 hours. Minik Rosing was at the gangway to welcome each guest on board and the entire ship became an exhibition. A total of 1,270 people followed the arrows round the ship and were given explanations by crew and research teams.
11.00 – 16.00 hours: The Greenland Institute of Natural Resources invited journalists on a tour of the fjord mouth to see hump backed whales and to hear about the research in this area. The institute’s ship, Adolf Jensen was used in the excursion.
Photograph Minik Rosing
Autumn in the Nuuk fjord
On Monday afternoon VÆDDEREN headed south, first towards Grønnedal and then for Cape Farewell, passing the region in which the M/S Hans Hedtoft is thought to have foundered on her maiden voyage on 30 January 1959. On Wednesday the multibeam, an advanced echo sounder under the ship, was activated at two positions. But there was no trace of the wreck.
VÆDDEREN is now sailing south for her next port of call, Ponta Delgada in the Azores. Expected time of arrival: Monday morning. The ship is now between two areas of low pressure – which may yet cause the Captain to consider adjusting the course for the benefit of those who are feeling the effects of the rough seas…..
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