Polar Bear Blog - Munck Revised - July 26, 2006

Another entry for today... you see, I could write about Jens Munck everyday because he was a pretty cool cat...and tough as nails. In fact, when I first came to Churchill, I told everyone I was going to open a martini bar on the tundra called Munck's Cafe. Of course, Munck's Cafe only ever existed in my mind, although I must say the occasional martini does get served there.

Anyway, this is my Munck revised entry and Munck has truly been revised. I took Lawrence Millman, a writer and, much like myself, arctic groupie, over to the Munck site yesterday. It was a fabulous walk, something done by very few people but something that more people should do!

We scrambled over rocks, followed 400 year old maps and variously debated, argued and agreed over where and what was where and what at the old Munck site.

What baffled us, however, is that we both agreed that we had found the original site of Munck's ringbolts or ship mooring. In effect, the first and only remaining evidence of Munck, a.k.a. the first Europeans EVER to visit Churchill.

But there were no ringbolts. Only iron stains weeping down the rock and two chunks of proto-quartzite chipped out of the rockface. Naturally, these were the former sites of the mooring rings.

Now, I understand the argument for removing this wonderful little piece of history but I hate it. It is accessibility. If we chip these rings out of the rock and bring them into town, everyone can see them. Sure, they are completely out of context and really have zero meaning left in them, but people can see them.

There are some things that are meant to be remote and are meant to be challenging and are meant to mean something. This is another part of Churchill's history that is simply gone. Churchill is in a transition and I don't think I like it.