The Icelander Haraldur Sigurðsson lived a truly adventurous life compared to most of his peers in Iceland in the second half of the 19th century. He was just in his twenties when he sailed from Akureyri on a Danish ship, and for the next 28 years of his life he was sailing around the world’s oceans. He settled in Keewatin (later Kenora) in Ontario in 1888 and lived there for the rest of his life. In 1936, an article appeared in Ólaf Þorgerisson’s Almanak in Winnipeg, in which the editor wrote of Æfintýramaðurinn (The Adventurer) Haraldur Sigurðsson. It says: “In 1888, Haraldur moved to England and married a woman of Scottish descent. He then returned to Kenora with his wife, and they have lived there for 46 years…During the 46 years that Haraldur stayed in Kenora, he built over 30 large ships as well as a number of smaller boats. In addition, he was very involved in racing on the Great Lakes in the eastern States and won several awards for his performance. In 1897 he built a single yacht which he named “Antelope” and that vessel brought him three first prizes in sailing, which brought him fame and fortune. In addition to building ships and boats that sailed on the lakes, he made a lot of models with booms and rigging and did that work all his life among other things. When Haraldur Sigurðsson turned 90 years old, in 1933, the people of Kenora gathered together and celebrated him and showed him respect and friendship in various ways. On that occasion, he mentioned that there were two things he was proud of. The first happened in 1863, he was a deck hand on the Danish frigate “Schelland”, which brought the lovely princess Alexandra, daughter of Kristján IX, to London to marry King Edward VII and therefore brought to Britain the most lovable queen who had ever sat in a queen’s throne there. Again, it was a year later that Haraldur was on the same ship “Schelland” in the naval battle that the Danes had with the united Prussian and Austrian fleets at Heligoland in 1864, and which the Danes won with great honor. “Schelland” had 28 cannons on board and was one of the 22 Danish warships in that memorable naval battle. The newspaper “Kenora Miner and News” praises Haraldar Sigurðsson as one of the most respected citizens and says that he is widely missed.”
English version by Thor group.