With the "Admiral" on the Arctic Ocean 1915

By Knut B. Brandal

The shooters that year were Benjamin B Brandal and Paulus Røren. I don't think I kept a diary on that trip.

We mustered in as usual and headed north and out into the Bua Deep. We had painted the Norwegian flag on the sides of the ship instead of the Russian star. There was war in the world now, so it was necessary to show the national emblem.

It was a very snowy winter. When we came off the coast we had a storm from the NW. One of the first nights we were at sea we had a breaker that filled the ship with sea. It broke the keel so the sea rushed into the cabin. It was during the watch change, I was supposed to have the first helm and had come up to the wheelhouse when the sea came over us. It broke several windows in the wheelhouse. Paulus Røren got a window with the frame down on his head. We could only see the bow, the rest was under the water. After a while the ship slowly came up again, it lay like a dead herring.

We nailed sailcloth over everything that was damaged and sailed on. There were several ships in the same sea, but everyone was fine.

I think it was on this trip that we towed the "Isrypen" out of the ice. It had lost its propeller. We probably made two trips this year too. I remember we went into Siglufjördur to bunker coal.

In Siglufjördur, the ice had been there for so long that year that the people there had not been able to go out to sea to fish. Therefore, they had little food.

There were many who came aboard to us and wanted blubber to eat. They were allowed to butcher the skins that we had lying on deck. We also butchered our skins while we were lying there. There were people who ate the meat raw. We spoke to a Tynes who was from Sykkylven, he lived there in Siglufjördur, he could tell that the people cooked a meal of the blubber that they ate. It must have been to their taste as well.

After the Arctic Ocean trip, we went to Iceland with nets to fish for herring. There were many boats from Norway that participated in this herring fishery. On this trip, I traveled as a steersman.

One day, when we were sailing outside Siglufjördur, a fire broke out on board a boat from Vedavåg. The boat was called "Veavåg." There was a fresh breeze.

My brother Benjamin Brandal was the best man on this trip. He and two other guys rowed over to the skate with a line. He threw the line over the anchor and it hooked right away. So we took the skate in tow inland towards Siglufjördur. We had taken the crew on board earlier. I had cooked a big pot of herring grits that day and it came in handy. Inside the fjord the patrol ship "Islands Falk" came and lay on the other side at "Veavåg".

The crew of the "Veavåg" cut a hole in the deck and put water hoses down through the hole and extinguished the fire. We towed the boat into town and put it up on the shore there.

We got cargo and we saw it in the ship that time too.

Danish Strait 1915

With the S/S "Admiralen" from Bergen 2 that trip.

Thursday, June 3. We set sail this morning at 5:30 and went out into Breisundet.

Lost sight of land this afternoon at 5 o'clock. All sails were set. Fine weather with sunshine. Nice breeze from the southeast. Light swell.

Friday, June 4. We average 7 miles.

We have now gone half way to Iceland. The course is NW. Nice breeze from the south, but big swell. There is a difference in the weather. When we left the land it was as if we had 7 winters before our stern. But as soon as we got out to sea it became summer and sun and everything was good.

Saturday, June 5. Everything is going as usual on board.

I think we'll see Iceland tomorrow. Last night the fog was so thick we couldn't see the bow. The whistle was howling its rough voice into the night every 5 minutes or so. This morning the fog lifted. The wind is starting to shift more and more to the west.

Have emptied the front compartment of coal. Clear weather, light wind from S:W.

Sunday 6 June. The wind has shifted so much that it is now steep in the event. No Iceland to see today either. Thick fog, fresh wind.

Monday, June 7. We passed Cape Langanes at 12:30 this afternoon.

Grimsøen at 12 midnight. At Røde Huk we walked through a strip of ice. Thick fog, light wind.

Tuesday, June 8. The ice became so dense that we had to turn back.

We have been cruising from 11 am to 3 pm this afternoon. We arrived in Siglefjord at 4 pm and put the ship in to the quay. D/s "Aspø" of Ålesund and nagle sea bream fishermen are in the harbor. We have taken a walk on land to stretch our legs. Thick fog, fresh wind.

Wednesday, June 9. We have gone north. We have emptied the front center tank.

A gray seal had to die because he was too bold and approachable.

Have praised "East" of Ålesund. Thick fog, calm.

Thursday, June 10. Here lie 15 shoals, just waiting for a favorable opportunity to break through the ice. The ice shelf lies all the way inland from Skagen to Cape North. It was decided here on board that we would go around Iceland. But on the way to land we became aware of a crevasse cutting westward. We were supposed to go through it, but it wasn't long before the entire fleet got stuck. All the ships are now trapped by the ice.

S/s "Elf" from Ålesund and s/s "Isrypen" from Brandal are located on the same ice floe as us.

Clear weather, fresh wind from SW

Friday, June 11. This morning the wind died down. The engine was started to steer us westward. At 1:30 we came into land. The course was set eastward again because the ice was too dense.

It was decided that we would coal in Siglefjord. We arrived at 4 am and were finished at 11 am. S/S "Elf" and S/S "Isrypen" are accompanying us.

Saturday 12 June. S/s "Isrypen" we have sailed astern, but S/s "Elf" keeps pace. We passed Cape Langenes at 6 pm. Clear weather, fresh wind from the south.

Sunday, June 13. We sailed and sailed until we reached Sandvik. We went in there and turned because the wind was fresh. We went ashore and washed and bathed in the river, it was about lukewarm. We raised anchor at 9 o'clock in the afternoon and headed west again.

Monday, June 14. We have gone full speed in the engine and have been pounding the sea. But it is getting late. Three fishing boats are lying here, bowing to the wind. At 7 o'clock all the lower sails were put on to cross. The fog is blowing a fresh wind from the West.

Tuesday 15th June. Have lowered the sails to go closer to land. We pass many fishing boats that are here and are fishing for cod. S/s "Vesterisen" from Ålesund has fought its way alongside us. Now we have a fresh rumble in the stern, so we are going fairly quickly. Long stretches of land are covered in ice, as are the mountain sides.

Wednesday, June 16. We passed the Westman Islands at 4 o'clock in the morning.

We have cleared the space and a thought and we have cleared and cemented a thought. The course is NW tN

Thursday, June 17. The wind has shifted from the south to 0.NO

The captain has braided a fender and the first mate has repaired the aft locker in the starboard boat.

Friday, June 18. We have emptied one of the starboard tanks.

We entered the ice this afternoon at 2 o'clock. All sails were lowered and tied up. We are stuck in a large ice floe. Thick fog, snowdrifts.

Saturday, June 19. We threw off the ship and changed the floe because the ice was starting to settle. We got 12 animals. We had to paint over the Norwegian flags that we had painted on the side of the ship with green paint because the color was too bright for the seal's eyes.

Or maybe it was the red color that resembled their blood, we painted over it anyway.

Sunday, June 20. We have gone west through the ice. We can see Greenland from the barrel. We have caught a floe of ice, the s/s "Hisø" is next to us. Light wind, thick fog

Monday, June 21. At 9 o'clock this afternoon the fog lifted and we set sail and began heading east. S/s "Hisø" follows in our wake.

Some pigs had to leave their hard beds because sleep had overwhelmed them.

Tuesday, June 22. We have hailed the s/s "Vår" from Ålesund. They had about 100 barrels of blubber. They came from the east and could report that there was no catch to be seen, only dense ice. The s/s "Isrypen" has lost its propeller. The s/s "Aksla" is towing them out of the ice.

Several shoals are seen on the horizon. Foggy weather, light wind from the east.

Wednesday, June 23. S/s "Spring" and we have been rolling north at slow speed.

Have caught on a floe of ice and then gone again. It has been like this all day. No animals are to be seen anywhere. So it looks like the profit this year is small. It is St. Hans' Eve tonight, we celebrate it in our own way by standing our helmsmen.

When it's free time, it's to sleep, and if you don't sleep, it's a short game, to pass the time. Now we're stuck in an ice floe that's so big that a farmer could have a decent farm out of it. Thick fog, no wind.

Thursday 24 June. S/s "Haugen" by Brandal came and anchored in the same ice floe that we are on. We've been stuck in this flake all day because it's so windy.

Friday 25 June. We are approx. 8 miles from Greenland. We see the beach clearly through binoculars.

Have been lying still in the same ice today too. The ice has trapped us, so now it is close around us everywhere. I have groomed "Steward" and "Largest Streams" and the engineer. Clear weather, fresh wind.

Saturday, June 26. This morning, at 6 a.m., the ice packed the wake we were in with such speed that it broke the line of the s/s "Haugen". Then it also split the line of ours. The s/s "Vår" got a huge foot of ice under it so that it lay completely on its side. The ropes that we had put across the ice were gradually worn to pieces by the heavy force of the ice. Rain, clear weather.

Sunday, June 27. Last night we moved places. We had almost lost the rudder. We were with S/s “Haugen”. Kristian Åsmo was the first gunner on “Haugen”. When the ship was damaged, Kristian shouted in a loud voice so that everyone could hear: – “Didn’t they say that the guy would look after the dredge!” That year “Haugen” was new. Sigvald S. Brandal, who owned it, was also the skipper himself on board. It was called “Glassmagasinet” because it was so nice.

At ten o'clock in the morning we began to bow our way out through the ice. At three o'clock in the afternoon the ice became dense again so we could not get any further. We have blubbered the skins and salted them. Thick fog, calm.

Monday, June 28. Last night we came through the ice and out into an open bay. The ice edge was fairly loose. We got about 100 animals. There are many shoals here. Clear weather with fog.

Tuesday, June 29. We caught a floe of ice last night because the fog was so thick. We have blubbered the skins and salted them in the hold. The floe of ice we were caught in split into three pieces and a large piece of ice under the floe shot up between us and the "Haugen". If it had hit us under the bottom of the ship it would have sent us to the bottom at once.

Wednesday, June 30th and Thursday, July 1st. We have caught one set so far. It is about 100 animals. The ice has been dense, so it has not been going so fast for us. There has also been thick fog.

S/s "Elf", S/s "Hisø", S/s "Haugen" and S/s "Aksla" have been fishing with us. They have caught about the same number of animals. The railing at the stern was bent by a large ice floe. We are going out, but the ice is dense so we are going slowly.

Friday, July 2. On the way out, the S/s "Elf" lost its propeller. We took them on the tug until we were off the ice edge. We went inland again and made the ship quiet and began to blubber. 180 animals were yesterday's catch. Thick fog, the wind calm.

Saturday, July 3. On board the S/s "Haugen" they had shot 2 bears. We went on board with them and got a leg for dinner. We started to go through the ice again. We could see that there was a lot of catch on the ice. But the ice was too thick for us, we couldn't get in to the catch. "Hisø" and "Haugen" couldn't get out or in, so they had to stay behind. We set course for the edge of the ice. Foggy weather, light wind from the east.

Sunday, July 4. We got out to the ice edge at three o'clock last night.

The fog lifted around noon, so we cast off and went inland again. The ice is loose now so it's going well and catching. We've caught about 100 animals. We see a ship with sails in the distance, probably the s/s "Vår". It's probably a coaling sloop. Thick fog, light wind from the NE

Monday, July 5. We caught a floe of ice and lay still there. Then we cast off and went north. We have caught a few animals. But they are so small, they weigh almost nothing.

Tuesday, July 6. The steward became ill so he had to lie down on the bunk. I have to act as steward in his place, I hope it goes well. We go inland and shoot a few pigs. s/s "Hvalross" and s/s "Vår" are coming the same way as us. At 8 o'clock in the afternoon we set out for the fishing trip. We are sailing from s/s "Aksla" so it has to slow down astern. Clear weather, calm.

Wednesday, July 7. The ice is thick. We have gone beyond and are now in a wake.

S/s "Icrypen" praised us, they had a lot of animals. We have been fattening all day. Foggy weather, fresh wind of cheese.

Thursday, July 8. The hides that we fattened yesterday were salted by the night watchman. Today we fattened what was left. S/s "Herkules 11" boasted to us that they had about 700 animals.   

(unfortunately, the end of this diary has been lost to me)

More about the ship "Admiral" you can read here: https://www.ishavsmuseet.no/skutekatalog/admiralen/