OSLO, Norway — Six tall sailing ships comprising most of the Sea Trek 2001 flotilla sailed from this capital city Wednesday, Aug. 15, having two days earlier left the Swedish seacoast city of Gothenburg, where they took on a fresh complement of voyagers, many of them Swedish and Norwegian nationals. From Oslo, the ships were bound for Hamburg, where they arrived Saturday, Aug. 18, where no celebration activities were held, and then sailed to Hull, England, where they arrived Wednesday, Aug. 22.

From Gothenburg, two other Sea Trek ships left Aug. 12 for Greenock, Scotland and Liverpool, England. The ships will eventually converge in Portsmouth, England, from whence some of them will embark on the Atlantic crossing that ends in New York City on Oct. 4. (See story.)

A private venture, Sea Trek 2001 recreates experiences honoring the 85,000 19th Century Mormon emigrants from Europe and the British Isles to North America. A substantial portion of the participants are not Americans. They trace their Church heritage to the more recent past on the European side of the Atlantic.

For Stein Arthur Andersen of Sanvika, Norway, Sea Trek was a way to honor his own great-grandfather, who joined the Church in Sweden in 1920 but then moved, not to the United States but to Norway. There he met a Norwegian young woman who joined the Church after their marriage.

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Brother Andersen and his 11-year-old daughter, Ane, were the only passengers on board the Statsraad Lehmkuhl to don costumes for their portion of the voyage. Brother Andersen wore the shirt that belonged to his great-grandfather and was later used by his grandfather and father. He obtained it from his father and wears it as part of his national costume called "bunad," a traditional set of clothing used for weddings and large celebrations in Norway.

"Our boys are fifth-generation members of the Church in Norway, and that is rather unusual," he said.

Another local resident on board the Statsraad Lehmkuhl was Rolf Hagglund of Alingsas, Sweden. He was baptized a member of the Church in 1961 at age 10, the son of a widowed mother who had joined the Church four years earlier. He has been a faithful member ever since, serving a mission in Sweden for the Church in 1973-75, and later as a bishop in Gothenburg.

Coverage of festivities in Hull and Portsmouth will be in the Sept. 1 issue of Church News.

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