JANUARY TALK
Botsoc Talk 16 January – Richard Starke on his Scientific American cruise round Iceland and Norway.
Peter Berrisford
The ‘Pharoah of Plateau Road, Betty’s Bay’, Richard Starke, treated us to a stunning tour of Norway and the islands around the north Atlantic Ocean. Unsurprisingly, his opening slide was of a Viking-style rowing boat, this being a lifelong passion of his. He jumped right into the boat and with smooth, powerful strokes took us to amazing places, places most Kogelbergers only dream about.
He wondered why anyone actually wants to live on the Shetland Islands – cold, barren and windy. Maybe the sheep enjoy wandering about, thinking about climate change.
Then to the Faroe Islands with beautiful, painted houses around a still, deep harbour. On to Iceland with its lively, active volcanoes. We ended the tour with a visit to Norway. Still, deep fjords.
The passengers on the 1500-passenger cruise liner were divided into those interested in information of a scientific nature, about 150 of them, and the rest. Those of a scientific bent went to presentations given by astonishingly well informed speakers. They covered such a wide range of subjects that Richard said he could never remember everything they said. They talked about the historic settlements of groups who were sent from island to island, some eventually ending up in Greenland – given that name as a marketing ploy, green it was not. These groups took domestic animals, all kinds of equipment and supplies to found individual settlements on barren shores. They left remains of the houses they built, a few still existing after 1000 or more years.
One of the lecturers was a specialist on construction techniques and design, so we had a diversion while the methods of construction of various buildings were considered. Of particular interest were the ways in which various well known domes such as St Paul’s cathedral in London and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul were constructed so many years ago – and still standing, being marvelled at by 21st century men and women. Those early Viking settlers built beautiful slender wooden structures as places of worship and to house people involved in community affairs. In some instances, buildings arose without windows. It made one wonder what they saw in them!
When Richard eventually shipped his oars, Ria Borcherds thanked him graciously. Everyone enjoyed his lecture with the beautiful pictures. We all went away to reflect yet again that our tiny community has such wonderful lecturers with a wide range of interests available to share with us each month.