Seal hunting has been practiced along our coast for thousands of years. Seals were easy to catch and provided a lot of nutritious food for a growing coastal population, although it was probably the fat that was most important, even then.
1898 was a landmark year for the fishermen from Sunnmøre. Severin Brandal, father of Peter S. Brandal, took the lead in establishing seal fishing from Sunnmøre. Both men had noticed for several years, while fishing for cod in Finnmarka, that the skates there were loaded with skins and blubber from seals.
This article is about the different hunting grounds that Norwegians traveled to: the West Ice, Newfoundland, the Svalbard area/North Ice, the East Ice and the White Sea. Johannes Bjarne Alme and Webjørn Landmark write about the different hunting grounds.
For over 100 years, Norwegians have been hunting seals in the Arctic Ocean. Over several generations, sealers have made a living under extreme conditions where the weather gods could be merciless in all their might.
Eight small Arctic ships going out to hunt seals are fighting for their lives on the crossing to the Newfoundland field. The three Brandals ships set course for the Faroe Islands, the coal-fired "Arktos" wanted to bunker down on extra coal.
"Aarvak" was built at Kristian Dekke's shipyard, Laksevåg near Bergen, in 1912. "Aarvak" was built for Bergens Sælfangere AS. Until the Second World War, Arctic ships were built with cutter hulls.
It was in the Easter days from 2 to 6 April 1952 that five schooners from Troms and Møre disappeared without a trace during a big storm in the Vesterisen. The five ships were: "Brattind", "Ringsel" and "Vårglimt" from Troms, "Buskø" and "Pels" from Møre. 44 of the missing were from Troms - 34 from Møre. 46 wives and 98 minor children had lost their breadwinner.
The history of Ny-Ålesund is both fascinating and dramatic. On several occasions over the past 100 years, the whole world has had its eyes on news from this world's northernmost city.
Fishing along Greenland's beaches, both offshore and on land, initially proceeded as a selective fishery.
The Sunnmøre catch during the Greenland expedition can be dated back to 1900, when Peter S. Brandal went all the way up to Claveringsfjord. He was there every year thereafter, until 1908. His brother, Captain Ole S. Brandal, also caught during the Greenland expedition in the same years, and a third brother, Lauritz S. Brandal, in 1904, 1906 and 1908.
"Hird" was a small fishing boat from Mauseidvåg, 49 feet long. It had a 40 hp Bolinder engine. There were six men who had agreed to buy this boat, and the purpose was to spend the winter in East Greenland.
Norwegian Arctic activities in East Greenland were centered on Sunnmøre, especially in Ålesund and Brandal. The seal hunters from Sunnmøre were already on land in North-East Greenland in 1900, and the first wintering expedition took place in 1908-09. It was the "Floren" expedition with seven men and Severin Liavåg as leader. The "7 de juni" expedition with Vebjørn Landmark as leader set out in 1909.
A question from Northern Norway about the fishing vessel "Fryser I" led to some searching in ship's papers. "Fryser I" sank on its first and only fishing trip.
When the Branddalians thought the musk oxen in East Greenland were wandering animals. Ole S. Brandal was the first Norwegian on East Greenland soil north of 70 degrees.
Alone with its lanterns extinguished, the Arctic ship "Signalhorn" lay in the middle of the sea. It had been nine hard days, but on the way home all the hard work had been forgotten.
Without expertise, equipment and vessels from fishing and sealing, the Norwegian oil adventure would have been completely different.
– Yes, we were probably there at the beginning of the oil adventure.
When Martin Karlsen and Kristoffer Marø ordered the new schooner in Scotland, they thought they had found a great name: Polarfart. They also set up a company with the same name that was to own the ship. But it was probably one or two shipyard workers who pulled on the smiley band where they painted the name on the ship's side.
– I came aboard in Polar Star, and sat alone out on deck with a cup of coffee, and was then filled with a feeling that I had come home, that this was where I was supposed to be.
Inferno in white! A colorless icy wasteland against a cold horizon. Crisp, crushing ice sheets. And cold – always a biting, relentless cold. This is how Ragnar Thorseth, Jørn Eldar Fortun, Trygve Berge and Eskimo Ekaksak Amagoalik experienced the two-month journey to the North Pole. The excitement, uncertainty about what awaited behind the next ice sheet and a will of steel characterized the mindset of the four as they fought their way north, north – ever north.
Ragnar Thorseth is an adventurer and expedition leader. He is a journalist and a communicator. And he is a Sunnmøring and a Norwegian. All of this has shaped Ragnar Thorseth into the life and dream that are presented here.