❖ SAILING SHIPS ❖ Whatever Our Age

OLE ROEBECK
age 84, Seattle, WA., Sept. 1966
Norsk-American ship's carpenter.

Click to enlarge.
Original photo from the archives of the S. P. H. S.

Sailing ship models of Ole Robeck, a ship's carpenter who worked on the Seattle waterfront for more than 60 years, was part of a Norwegian exhibit at the Nordic Festival in the autumn of 1966. The exhibit was on display in the Flag Plaza Pavilion.
      Robeck's models included the MAUD, of Oslo, that polar explorer Roald Amundsen sailed, and the RESTAURATIONEN, the first Norwegian immigrant ship that Robeck calls "the second MAYFLOWER."
      "The RESTAURATIONEN brought Norwegians to this country in the early 1800s, taking 100 days to make the trip with 53 persons aboard," Robeck said.
      Robeck, a ship's carpenter, was "born and bred in a shipyard" on an island off the Norwegian coast.
      "All there was were ships and water; I learned my trade there," he said.
      He came to Seattle in 1902, and went into semi-retirement in 1958.
      Along with his trade, Robeck's love of sailing ships and making models goes back to his boyhood.
      "I guess I was born with the love of ships. It's been my life and I can't get away from it," he said.
      At the time of this interview he was living in an apartment with his ships models, paintings and prints, as his companions. He also had a cabin on Bainbridge Island.
      "I am never very far from the sea," he said. 
Above text by Marjorie Jones for The Seattle Times; 27 September 1966
There is a post on this Log about MAUD passing through Seattle, that can be viewed here
Do you know if Mr. Robeck's models are in a public historical collection?