Seal hunting

862
The first seal hunt we know of was by the chieftain Ottar, who in the year 862 caught seals and brought them with him as a gift on a visit to England.

1600
In the 1600th century, the Dutch had a large-scale seal fishery in the Arctic Ocean.

1795
Norway joined the seal hunt in 1795 when the first ship set sail from Hammerfest. But there was no annual seal hunt until the 1820s.

1844
Svend Foyn joined the seal hunt. He eventually built the ship "Haabet" which became the model ship for later ships.

1890
Northern Norwegian boats travel to Svalbard. 20 – 30.000 seals

1898
The start was in 1898, from Brandal and Sunnmøre.
"Minna" with skipper and owner Peter S. Brandal was declared decommissioned on 29.04.1898.
"Nils Liaaen" owner P.Th. Sandborg, Ålesund with skipper Severin Brandal cleared the day before. "Sleipner" owner and skipper Jonas Fuglevik cleared 13.05.1898.

The first fishing trips from Sunnmøre were based on experiences from fishermen in Finnmark. Severin Brandal was the driving force behind this first trip. He had been on Finnmarksfiske the year before and had seen and heard from these skates that had gone under the ice edge and caught seals. He was then skipper on one of P.Th. Sandborg's skates. He came home to quit this job and wanted to go on a fishing trip with his own boat the following year. Sandborg persuaded him to equip the "Nils Liaaen" for this trip. Peter S. Brandal's pioneering efforts were that he continued and turned this into an industry. They quickly developed expertise in this and from 1898 boats were sent out every year to catch seals from Brandal.

The Skating Era 1898 – 1910
Fishing boats without ice reinforcement and with only sails as propulsion. Built around 1890, 50 – 60 feet. Mechanized propulsion: “Sleipner” got a glow-bulb engine in 1904. (10 hp Avance). “Minna”, “Union” and “Isrypen” got steam in 1908. (Gunhild was the last ship in the ice with only sails in 1914).
First Greenland wintering in 1908. But already in 1900 they went ashore in Greenland and caught Muskoxen.

1908
20 Arctic ships of 30 – 80 tons from Sunnmøre, and most of them now had engines instead of sails.

Custom-built ships from 1911
80 – 100 feet. Steam-powered and built for Arctic sea operations. ”Jopeter” (named after Josefine and Peter S. Brandal) and ”Brandal” in 1911. ”Aarvak” 1912.

The rise of the First World War
Great need for grease in the warring countries. Great building activity, a number of famous ships were built in these years. Some of them were in operation until around 1980, e.g. ”Signalhorn”, ”Furenak” and ”Aarvak”. From about 1915 most ships had steam propulsion. The ships needed coal, which led to the start of Kings Bay Kull Comp. In Ny-Ålesund. In the early years the name was Brandal City after Peter S. Brandal.
1918 was the first fishing trip to Kvitesjøen. "Helga" – Sigvald Brandal.
1918 – after 20 years – approximately 75 ships with around 1000 men participated

1918
More ships were out hunting seals than ever before. The ice conditions were good, and the Sunnmøre people made good money.

1919
Maximum number of vessels, a total of 203 vessels in the catch.

1920st century
Post-war crisis. Low profitability, many bankruptcies. Few newbuildings or purchases. Major shipwrecks in 1924 and 1928. Affected Troms in particular but also Sunnmøre.

The relationship with the Russians in Kvitesjøen was difficult. The ships were captured by the Russians. In 1923 the Winge Agreement came, first for Winge's ships "Veslekari" and "Vesleper". The agreement was extended to apply to all Norwegian ships the following year.

A series of incidents between Norwegian ships and Russian patrol vessels continued: seizures of ships, arrests of skippers, and occasional shooting between the vessels.

1924
In 1939, there were 154 ships from Norway involved in the seal hunt. By 1939, the number had dropped to 64.

1928
163.000 seals caught by Sunnmøre ships.

1930
98.000 seals from the Sunnmøre ships. Harder times began for the industry
The fleet now consisted of 150 ships.

1930st century
The sealing industry was still characterized by crisis and bad times. But the difficult times increased interest in wintering hunting and other activities in Northeast Greenland.

The Greenland Case. The occupation of Northwestern Greenland (Eiriks Raude Land) in 1931 led to a political and diplomatic crisis between Denmark and Norway. The case was decided by the Hague Court in 1933. Norway lost on all counts.

The Norwegian Svalbard and Arctic Research Institute (NSIU) was founded in 1928. Expeditions to Svalbard, Jan Mayen and Greenland. "Polarbjørn" (1) and other Sunnmøre ships were widely used expedition vessels for the NSIU.

Louise Boyd's private polar and ocean research with "Veslekari" in 1931, 1933, 1937 and 1938. Boyd was an advisor to American military authorities during World War II.

1938
Newfoundland.
"Polar bear" and "Polaris" opened the Norwegian catch at Newfoundland in 1938.
A state guarantee enticed several small northern Norwegian schooners to participate in 1939. They were overturned on the crossing, and the three Norwegian schooners "Isfjell", Saltdalingen" and "Nyken" sank under very dramatic conditions.
"Polarstar" the last ship from Brandal to catch there in 1982.

Plans for larger ships for the Newfoundland capture were postponed due to World War II.

World War II
During the war, there was only sealing on the Newfoundland field. The West Ice ships had to find other activities. "Arktos" and "Polaris" were lost during the war. "Polar Bear" ensured that we can talk about 100 years of continuous sealing. Otherwise, "Polar Bear" was on a freight service for the American military from New York to Northeast Greenland. "Polar Bear" was nicknamed "The ship that always came out". Kristoffer Marø was the skipper and was nicknamed "the skipper who always came out". Many times the two of them had to help larger naval vessels out of the ice pack.

The post-war years
The last year of fishing in Lake Kvitesjøen was 1939. Fishing was not resumed here after the war.
The seal population had increased significantly during the war years, leading to new boom times in the industry.

The Vestis fleet mostly underwent modernization and renewal of older vessels (many of these were built during the First World War).

The Newfoundland Fleet. A new generation of larger Arctic vessels emerged, more geared towards freight and expeditions as a complementary activity.

1950
149.000 seals caught by ships from all over the country.

1970
163.000 seals caught.

1980
60.000 seals caught

1990
15.000 seals with four ships, 2 from Sunnmøre and 2 from Troms. With such a small result, seal hunting is no longer profitable. In order to conduct hunting in the 1990s, state support was given.