The Arctic village of Brandal
Just outside Ålesund on the island of Hareidlandet, furthest out towards Breisundet, lies small Brandal with about 400 inhabitants. The village is steeply hilled and surrounded by high mountains and is poorly suited to agriculture. The people here have therefore always made their living at sea.
In 1898 they also began seal hunting in the Arctic Ocean. Father and son Severin and Peter Brandal each captained a skate that was reinforced to go in ice. In the spring of 1898 they set out into Breisundet with Minna from Brandal and Nils Liaaen from Ålesund. https://www.ishavsmuseet.no/fortellingar/far-og-son-brandal-starta-selfangsten-fra-sunnmore/
They also had teams with "Sleipner" from Ålesund with skipper Jonas Fuglevik. This was the start of a new trade route for Sunnmøre and Western Norway. Brandal gradually became a center for all seal hunting and polar expeditions from all over Western Norway.
Here, a receiving facility was built on land for both seal products and herring oil. Up until the last world war, an environment developed in this small village that was unique for the entire country. It was not only fur pelts and seal blubber that they brought home, but they also caught live polar bears and musk which they delivered to zoos around Europe. They had musk oxen grazing on the mountain, polar bears in cages on the sea bays and even walruses swimming under the sea bay floor awaiting sealing. Brandal was the home port for a total of 47 Arctic ships from the start in 1898 until the last seal hunt in 1998. Polarstar returned to seal hunting in 2005, 2006 and 2007 before the Sunnmøre seal hunting adventure ended.
In addition, ships come from Hareid and Hjørungavåg, so in total Hareid municipality had 57 Arctic ships. All of these are gone today. Only two ships are preserved here in the region. "Aarvak" from 1912 which is put ashore next to the museum, and "Polarstar" the first seal catcher built in steel in 1948. A 100-year-old industry is now gone. The two reception facilities are closed and a car scrapyard has taken over the two factories and is today the largest industry in the village.
Farthest north in Brandal you will find Kvitneset. A fantastic fishing spot with nice rocky rocks. If the big waves break it can be dangerous to move on the rocks, but you will get a great nature experience in all kinds of weather out here in the open sea. During the Second World War, the German occupation forces came ashore here and built a large fortification in the area. There are still many traces of this, and you can take a trip into the bunker complex from that time. A trip to Brandal can be combined with a trip to the Ishavsmuseet and Kvitneset. Kvitneset is located about 2 km north of the Ishavsmuseet. Brandal is also the starting point for many nice mountain hikes. You can go over to Hareid, Ulstein and Flø. Up on Skolma you have a nice view of the sea.
Shipwreck
The world's greatest Arctic tragedy in 1777, south of Scoresbysund. Ships from several nations were wrecked, and 400 men lost their lives. 100 men saved their lives by drifting on the ice around Cape Farewell. In a 15-year period from 1924 – 1939, 117 Norwegian Arctic ships sank.
The disaster in 1917: 7 ships with 84 men escaped. 6 of the ships were from Sunnmøre. Read more about the disaster in 1917 here: https://www.ishavsmuseet.no/fortellingar/paskemysteriet-i-vesterisen-1917/
Hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean 1939. Several ships sank. "Nyken" went down with 18 men. "Polarbjørn" and "Polaris" rescued the crew of 18 men from "Saltdalingen". "Arktos" was in heavy weather and was reported missing due to radio failure. Read more about the sinking in 1939 here: https://www.ishavsmuseet.no/fortellingar/dramaet-i-nord-atlanteren-1939/
1949
"Polar Bear" I burned up in the field. The crew was subsequently transferred to "Herøyfjord". Listed on its way to Norway and sank west of Runde. "Flemsøy" and "Brandal" were among the boats that came to the rescue and rescued the crew.
HURRICANE IN THE WEST 1952
5 scooters with 79 men went down. 46 wives and 98 minor children lost their breadwinner. Of the 5 schooners, 2 were from Sunnmøre "Buskø" from Vartdal with 20 men and "Pels" from Tjørvåg with 14 men. More about the hurricane in 1952 here: https://www.ishavsmuseet.no/fortellingar/fem-skuter-forsvann-sporlaust-78-mann-omkom/
DOWNSTREAMING
The White Sea ended in 1939. All Norwegian activity in Northwestern Greenland by agreement ceased in 1959. The Myggbukta meteorological station and radio station were closed down. "Polar seal" of Brandal with skipper Ottar M. Brandal and mate Odd Alme brought home people and equipment.
The summer fishing in the strait ended in 1960. (The fishing ceased because the humpback whale was protected in the summer.
The last two ships built in Sunnmøre were built in 1968 and 1970. ("Veslemari" and "Kvitungen")
1970 YEAR
Most of the remaining older wooden ships, built around World War I, were condemned in the 1970s. "Aarvak" was almost 70 years old when it was condemned after its last Arctic voyage in 1981.
The larger steel ships were sold out of the country.
THE LAST ICE SHIPWRECK WAS "Veslekari" The 1988
The last ship from Sunnmøre and Brandal to catch in the West Ice in 1998 – "Polarstar".
In 2005, "Polarstar" goes out to hunt seals again after a break of 7 years during which the ship went from being condemned to being completely renovated.
Sunnmøre has one more vessel fishing. In total, there are 7 vessels fishing in 2005.
Hareid municipality has had 57 fishing vessels in the past 100 years. 47 of these were based in Brandal. Of these 57, 41 of the vessels have sunk. 9 have been condemned, and 2 of those preserved (”Aarvak” and ”Polarstar”) 2 are still in operation, and 3 have been sold abroad.
