IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY - A committee has been formed to keep the Baymaud shipwreck in Cambridge Bay after its Norwegian owners announced plans to move it to Norway.

The wreckage of the Baymaud as it stands outside Cambridge Bay. A committee to keep the Baymaud in Cambridge Bay is looking for national support they hope will sway the shipwreck's owners to reconsider moving it to Norway. - photo courtesy of the Kitikmeot Heritage Society

Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, the first person to successfully cross the Northwest Passage, tried drifting across the North Pole with the Maud in 1918 but was unsuccessful. The ship was sold by creditors to the Hudson Bay Company in 1925. Renamed Baymaud, it became a floating warehouse and wireless radio station outside Cambridge Bay before sinking in its moorings in 1930. The Hudson Bay Company sold it to people in Asker, Norway, for $1 in 1990.

Jan Wanggaard, a project manager with Maud Returns Home, a Norwegian group supported by investment company Tandberg Eiendom, whose aim is to bring the shipwreck to Norway and eventually build a museum, described the Baymaud as "a most important ship in the Norwegian national history."

"She should have been saved long ago – but it is still not too late to save a good part of it," Wanggaard stated via email.

A Maud museum will be surrounded with film and pictures from the Maud expeditions and its years in Cambridge Bay will also be part of its story, stated Wanggaard.

"The salvage operation will save the remains of this ship in the best possible way. We have a good plan and the people involved have a strong heart for this boat," stated Wanggaard.

Wanggaard understands Cambridge Bay residents would like the wreckage to stay where it is and would like to give the residents a good insight into the salvage plans. Wanggaard stated community support is of "great importance."

"I understand this point of view – and I might have thought like this myself if I was a local resident of CB," stated Wanggaard. "I really hope the people of Cambridge Bay can meet this project with an open heart."

Cambridge Bay Mayor Syd Glawson said as far as he and the community is concerned, the Baymaud will stay where it is.

"She's not a toy. She's a historical artifact," he said. "We respect her. She's laying in her home, right now. She met her demise and that's the way we would like it to stay because we know when they try to raise her, they're going to destroy her."

Cambridge Bay resident Vicki Aitaok said she started a procedure in 2007 to nominate the Baymaud to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada as a shipwreck of National Historic Significance but the application is pending approval of the owners in Asker, Norway. So, she added, they are trying to repatriate the ownership.

The territorial government has been asked to help Cambridge Bay keep the Baymaud wreck in Canada, stated via e-mail Doug Stenton, the director of culture and heritage at Nunavut's Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth.

But the wreck, though an archeological site, is not protected by Nunavut's Archeological and Paleontological Site regulations as it is private property, stated Stenton.

Aitaok said the Baymaud is "extremely" popular with tourists, probably the first thing cruise ships want included on their tours of the community.

"When I organize the package for them, they definitely want to see the Baymaud," she said.

She added the ship represents their history.

"It's pretty much some of the first contact by outsiders. It was a radio station," she said.

Aitaok said that at a June 1 meeting attended by a representative each from the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and the Kitikmeot Heritage Society, it was decided to create a Facebook page to garner support for keeping the Baymaud in Cambridge Bay. She added about 20 people have expressed support to keep the shipwreck in the community since she started the committee.

"We want to try to solicit some local and national support for keeping the Baymaud in Canada. It's just the beginning," said Aitaok. "We are hoping it will show the Norwegians the Maud is important to us, in Canada and in Cambridge Bay. If we show a lot of support and interest and a plan for preservation, then maybe we could work with the owners. If this (Norwegian) plan doesn't work, then maybe we can finally get ownership back here and we could move forward on our plans."

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