Or to give him his full title: King Henry Jones – First of His Name and The Protector of Oslo Fjord.
When we first started GreenBoats in the waterside district of Aker Brygge in Oslo, one thing was quite apparent – there were A LOT of seagulls there! To be honest, our first impressions of seagulls were not all positive. They shat all over “our” dock and also on our electric boats that we use for tours and rentals, which created quite a bit of extra cleaning work for us.
After the boating season, the team at GreenBoats decided to buy two floating saunas, as they not only love saunas (flytende badstue), but also required a means to support themselves through the long Norwegian winter – and sauna rafts seemed like a good solution!
As the summer came to a close and the weather was starting to turn, we noticed that the seagull colony in Aker Brygge was starting to shrink, and their ranks were thinning.
Now, working at the saunas is a hell of a job, but you can still find yourself with some time on your hands. It was during these lulls that we started to observe seagulls in earnest.
What we first noticed, was that most of them had been tagged with a numbered ring around their legs. We also noticed that some gulls were of different sizes, colours, and most interestingly, that they seemed to have their own personalities. What became very apparent, was that there was one gull seemed to be in charge, and this gull we named King Henry Jones.
Henry is a large gull with a striking appearance. He takes no shit from anyone, whether it’s a tiny sparrow, a pesky crow, a yapping chihuahua, or a fellow gull that puts its beak out of line. He is always sitting on one of our saunas, in either of his two favourite observatory posts, which is strategically situated to watch over his domain and take best advantage of every opportunity to defend and hunt that comes his way.
Now you might ask, “How do you know this is Henry, and not just any old gull?”. Good question. Well, because we realised early on that his tag number is JLN71, so for the last 16 months we have been able to identify him and observe his behaviour closely each day. And it is our firm belief that Henry is the legitimate heir to the Throne of Aker Brygge.
It is by his will that Henry and his subjects (us) will continue to fight with beak, claw, and wit for his birthright: the acquisition of Toni’s churro van, and the promise that under his reign, Oslo Fjord will remain clean of marine pollution, its natural environment be kept strong, its eco-systems made resilient and for life to thrive once more!
But Henry will not only lead us all into a new age of increased
environmental protection by rescuing the Oslo Fjord from damaging industries, and the challenging the negligence and inaction from the state. He will also lead us on an inner quest to become our best selves, to pursue our own hero’s path, and to fight for something greater than ourselves!
Praise King Henry, First of His Name!!