Centuries Old Figurehead Washes Up in Norway

O S L O, Aug. 9 -- A wooden lion-shaped figurehead froma 17th century ship has washed up on a remote Arctic island offnorth Norway, a region once exploited for whaling by Europeannations.

“Thanks to the climate the wood has been almost allpreserved,” the daily Aftenposten on Tuesday quoted DagNaevestad, a marine archaeologist from Norway’s shipping museum,as saying of the four-metre (13 ft) figurehead.

The figurehead was found by a man clearing rubbish from aremote beach at Prince Karls Forland, part of the Norwegianarchipelago of Svalbard. The name of the ship, of which no othertrace was found, was unknown.

In the early 17th century, about 40 fishing expeditions ayear visited the chill waters around Svalbard. Naevestad saidEnglish and Dutch fishermen were the first whalers in theregion, followed by Germans, French, Basques, Danes andNorwegians.