Bamse: The Sea Dog Traditional Cache
dogez: I am archiving this cache so another cache can be placed by a different cacher in this general area. Bamse will be published again with different coords and under the name Bamse Revisited very soon.
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Harbor Island Park. EASY PARK AND GRAB most likely filled with muggles. The parking fees are expensive so don't park at the park. There is plenty of parking in the town of Mamaroneck and a few 15 minute spaces as you approach the entry to the park guard house. If you park in the town it is a short pleasant walk. I suggest off hours for this cache. Dogs are only allowed in park from December 1st through April 1st.
This is part of a series called "PAWS IN HISTORY" to get you familiar with various companion animals that have made history (though not in history books)....... basically, stories of animals that have made a difference in one way or another.
Bamse (pronounced Bompsa, which means "cuddly bear" in Norwegian)was one of those. Bamse was an Allied Forces mascot and loved by both the Norwegian and Scottish people. Why, when the countries are on both sides of the North Sea? Well, Bamse was owned by Captain Erling Hafto of Norway and was taken to sea and registered as a crewmember on the minesweeper "The Thorwodd". During the war the ship was stationed in Dundee and Montrose, Scotland. When in battle with his Norwegian crew, Bamse would wear a helmet as he stood guard on the foremost gun tower. When not on assignment, he would oversee his sailors in town, as curfew enforcer and lifesaver. (He did save one sailor from an overboard accident and one from a criminal attack). During the early days of the war there was even a special photograph of him sent to sailors as a morale booster at Christmas time. Because this St. Bernard was so special and much loved, he had a special bus pass which hung around his neck in a plastic wallet. The bus drivers would pick him up and he proceeded to the top deck. Children adored the dog and when this sea-dog died on July 22, 1944, his casket was covered with the Norwegian flag and his sailor's cap was placed on it. Schools were closed in Scotland and 800 children and the town's locals lined the streets as he was carried by six of Thorodd's crew and was buried in the sand dunes of Glaxo, facing towards Norway. Sixty two years later a memorial statue was unveiled in 2006 in Montrose Harbor.
Bamse's cache is in a serene, picturesque part of the park.
Hopefully that part of the park is facing northeast, towards Norway and Scotland. Dollar for FTF.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Nl,Nl pncgnva. V unir n oveq'f rlr ivrj.