The Norwegian Lady, 2012
In the spring of 1891, the Norwegian sailing ship Dictator, en route from Pensacola,
Florida to England with a load of Southern pine lumber, was driven ashore by a
storm and wrecked less than a quarter mile off shore from what was then the
small beachfront village of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Guests at oceanfront cottages
watched as members of local life saving stations battled high winds and seas to
save eight of the seventeen persons aboard the Dictator before she broke up.
Among the pieces of the Dictator
that washed ashore later was her figurehead. A local man pulled the figurehead
out of the surf and propped it up beside the boardwalk in a position facing the
ocean. There it stayed until the early 1950s, when a hurricane finished off
what the original wreck and more than sixty years of subsequent exposure to the
elements hadn’t.
By then, the “Norwegian Lady” had become such a local fixture
that she was more than a memorial to the lost ship. The small beachfront
village was in the process of annexing a large adjacent rural county in order
to become the largest city in
Virginia. The Norwegian Lady became a token of the new city’s worldly
aspirations.
When word of the figurehead’s demise made its way back Moss,
Norway, the Dictator’s homeport, two
bronze replicas of the original figurehead were commissioned. One was installed
on the waterfront in Moss, the other facing the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia
Beach. On the pedestal of each is inscribed, “I am the Norwegian Lady. I stand
here, as my sister before me, to wish all men of the sea safe return home.”
Photographing the Norwegian Lady statue isn’t hard. She’s
perched atop a tall pedestal facing east. The rising sun casts warm light upon
her. The challenge to the photographer who wants to do something different is
that she is hemmed in between two tall hotels, one of which is painted bright
yellow. An array of dark bronze statues on raised podiums, a monument to U.S.
Navy aviators, is just behind her. In front of her are a water spigot and open
shower for people coming up off the beach. Getting a picture of the statue without
these distractions is a challenge.
What had been a sunny day was becoming overcast. Many of the
features of the statue were in shadow. As the sky became grayer, the colors in
the Norwegian flag caught my eye, and gave me the opportunity to catch this rear
view of the Norwegian Lady with a little color to dress her up.
Wow--love the Norwegian Lady--beautiful photos.
ReplyDeleteExcellent capture, Chris! I've walked past that statue on at the Oceanfront hundreds of times and was vaguely familiar with the story. Thanks for filling me in on the rest.
ReplyDeleteHello matte nice post
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