The Easter mystery in Vesterisen 1917

In 1917, six ships sank in the West Ice with 74 men on board. Most of those who have reported and written about the disaster say that seven ships sank in the West Ice that year and that 88 men lost their lives. This is not entirely correct. The explanation is that they also included the "Hercules II" which left Ålesund on April 4, 1917, bound for the west coast of Greenland to catch walruses with a crew of 14. That is the last that is known about the ship.

No one knows much about what happened in Easter 1917 in the West Ice. But we do know that the ships that got away – D/S “Admiralen”, Bergen, left on 29 March (12 men), D/S “Arctic”, Ålesund, left on 2 April (12 men), D/S “Aslak”, Ålesund, left on 28 March (12 men), D/S “Ceres I”, Tønsberg, left on 29 March (12 men), D/S “Heim”, Ålesund, left on 2 April (13 men) and D/S “Lunheim”, Ålesund, left on 22 March (13 men) – were trapped in the ice northeast of Jan Mayen when the wind picked up to a northeasterly hurricane on the night of 8 April. Five other ships were in the same area, but managed to escape as far as they could after several hard days. One of these was the "Lysningen" and those on board could tell that "He blew so greedily that the ship did not obey either the engine or the rudder". All five of these ships had damage from ice floes that the hurricane threw at them.

This was before radios were common on board ships, people at home did not begin to understand that a disaster had occurred until late in the summer, on August 9, four months after the disaster, and after all the other ships had returned home, the alarm went off.

But as soon as the first ships arrived home on April 20, a good week after the storm, rumors began to circulate about several missing ships. The trappers themselves said little about the damaging weather that had occurred. They did not want to disturb those waiting at home. Peder Eikrem from Volda was with the "Skansen" on the trap that year, and after returning home he told a friend about the terrible storm and said he feared that the missing ships had sunk. "Then my friend asked me if I had gone crazy to come home talking like that. It would make people believe the worst, and when they had grieved half to death, the ships would come home safe and sound." After that, Eikrem did not mention the storm again for 45 years.

On Saturday, August 18, the brand new "Flemsøy" will set sail on a search.

On August 9, the newspapers began to write about what might have happened in the West Ice. Shipowner Mikael Knutsen, who owned two of the missing ships, "Heim" and "Arctic", stated that several of the most experienced skippers had been consulted about equipping a search operation. The following day, the Ministry of Trade was involved, and the day after that, County Commissioner Ihlen came to Ålesund to discuss a relief expedition. Work was started to find a suitable ship for such an expedition, and on Saturday, August 18, the brand new "Flemsøy" set sail on a search. The skipper was Johannes Brandal, and the expedition leader was skipper Johan Olsen.

Little is known about the crossing to the West Ice. On April 5, skipper Ragnvald Abrahamsen of the "Driftig" claimed to have seen "Ceres I" in position 70,50 N and 5.30 W.

On the night of Easter Sunday, April 7, skipper Severin Hessen was on the "Polheim" on board the "Aslak". They then had 3-400 animals and everything was fine on board. They were then at 68 degrees north latitude. He had also observed "Lunheim", "Arctic", "Aslak" and "Heim" the day before. On Easter Sunday in the afternoon, a severe storm broke out with a hurricane from the northwest. The hurricane raged for over a day before it subsided as quickly as it had come. The ships that were hit hardest were then in the fishing field in position 70 degrees 54 minutes north latitude and 4 degrees west longitude. When the hurricane subsided, "Polheim" was alone and they went in a zigzag and looked for fellow ships for eight hours without seeing them again. After the hurricane subsided, none of the other 50 or so ships that were in the field had seen anything until they missed the ships. No wreckage either. In addition to these, 15 vessels were also fishing for botulinum toxin off Svalbard and north of the Faroe Islands, but these were also unable to report any finds.

Finding the cause of the shipwreck is mostly speculation. But there is little doubt that the hurricane was the main cause. Add in difficult ice conditions and 40 degrees below zero and you have probably summed up most of the cause. Hessen on "Polheim" believed that the missing vessels had most likely been destroyed by icing.

Another explanation could be that they were hit and crushed by large ice floes in a wild dance on the raging sea. It was early in the season and all the ships were heavy with bunkers and provisions for several months in the ice. In addition to an enormous weight due to icing.

Perhaps the ships were so carried away by the ice during the hurricane that they later succumbed in the open sea when the worst of the weather was over. The crew on board the "Driftig" saw one of the ships that never came back when the "Driftig" was heading into the ice after the hurricane. The snow was so thick that it was impossible to understand what was happening to the boat. Perhaps the ships were crushed inside the pack ice as was happening to the "Driftig". Or perhaps the explanation that the old-timers often talk about is that the ships could have backed up on Jan Mayen during the hurricane and been wrecked that way.

Other ships have been on the verge of being smashed against the volcanic island in much better weather.

There was no shortage of speculation and theories about the missing ships. In 1917, six Arctic ships were sunk by German submarines, at least four of which were sunk by the German submarine "U 28", "Duen", "Sverre II", "Alaska" and "Sydkap" were sunk in the East Ice. Rumors naturally spread quickly that some of those missing in the West Ice had also been affected by the submarine war. An editorial in Sunnmørsposten on September 24 referred to the hamburger magazine "Hansa" no. 30 where a list mentioned that "Lunheim" and "Arctic" were supposed to have been sunk by a German submarine. But the ships in the West Ice were supposed to have been outside the declared danger zone. The next day, the Oslo newspaper Tidens Tegn reported that this list was not to be trusted, as several boats that had not been sunk were listed. In fact, it later turned out that out of a list of 20 names, 12 were fake.

One of the ships that made it through the storm afloat was D/K "Driftig". When the boat returned home from Vestisen, the crew told what they had experienced. Before the storm came, "Driftig" lay deep in the ice northeast of Jan Mayen. The weather was good, but little catch. The crew was about to take a break from work and celebrate Easter when the barometer began to drop sharply. Skipper Ragnvald Abrahamsen was restless and pushed a couple of other boats that were nearby. But they would look at the situation. "Driftig" set course out of the ice. But the hurricane came before the ship reached the open sea. "Driftig" continued to be crushed between the big isans that were pressed together. They got a large ice floe onto the deck. The ice floe broke the row supports on one side, but stuck towards the machine embankment. Fortunately, the schooner let go and got rid of the ice floe.

The next day the ship and crew went out into the open sea. Little bunkering had been used. The ship lay heavy in the sea and was heavily iced over. At its coldest, the temperature was down to minus 40 degrees. The sea spray immediately froze to ice on the rigging and superstructure. To save themselves, the crew had to get rid of much of the coal. When the cold gave way, they managed to knock away most of the ice on the ship. But the danger was not over. In the open sea, another enemy threatened. The Arctic Current and the prevailing wind created waves that almost sent "Driftig" into the depths. And the sea rose in waves that hit the ship like cannon shots.

On the way into the ice, "Driftig" had shot two small whales. So they had whale oil on board. Skipper Abrahamsen gave the order to fill whale oil and machine oil in sacks that were towed into the sea attached to runners of the whale line. There were holes in the sacks so that the oil flowed out and dampened the worst of the scrapes. When the sacks were empty of oil, they were hauled in and more oil was filled. For a couple of long days, the crew of "Driftig" continued this work. Then the weather calmed down and the crew managed to seal a minor leak on the ship. They then continued with the fishing, but it was in poor condition. And they went home at the turn of April-May.

Peder K. Eikrem, who was on the Ålesund ship "Skansen", told the newspaper Møre 45 years after the sinking that they were most afraid of mines before setting out. He further explains that 1916 had been a good year on the Arctic Ocean with great odds for the crew, and that was why many wanted to leave in 1917. No one talked about storms or difficult ice as any danger, but the German submarines and mine belts that were supposed to be laid in the sea. That was why they were not allowed by their loved ones to travel on the Arctic Ocean that year.

"Skansen" was a shoaling ship. She got off the ship late and only reached the ice edge on Easter morning in glorious weather. The ice lay there flat and fine as it should be on a mountain lake, says Eikrem. At noon it started to blow and the ship began to head into the wind.

Eikrem further relates that when he came on duty at midnight "it was blowing like a howl". "Skansen" had by then turned around and was passing fairly safely through dense small ice. It was pitch dark and bitterly cold - down to -40 degrees below zero.

Around 1:30 a.m. they came out into the open sea – it looked rough and ugly. Eikrem says the sea was boiling and bubbling like a cascading pot of potatoes – it was like lying on a volcano.

The ship took in a lot of sea. Brota came tumbling inwards from eight. The cooling gates did not cool off - they were probably frozen solid - and the pumps in the engine room could not be removed. They had to punch a hole in the row, but she was so armored that even that was not easy.
When it became light on the 2nd of Easter, they searched into the ice to possibly find a "lake" there, but at daybreak they came into thick ice and had to turn around. They then tried to lie just inside the edge of the ice, where there were open crevices. Here they raced away from the storm together with the small ice. But here they also made a new enemy - the big ice. They had to use both machines and occasionally sails to maneuver away so that they were not crushed against these ice colossuses.

Outside the ice edge we saw a terrible break, and there was talk on board that if they had been hit by such a break, they would have been buried in the blink of an eye.

They therefore did not dare to go out into the open sea, although they also feared the night inside the ice. But luckily it was a light night, so they were able to spot the giant as they got closer.

The terrible cold had also subsided. But the hurricane persisted. On Easter Sunday things were about to go crazy. A huge ice floe came chasing. The skipper tried to get the ship away, but a big sea came and threw her against the ice so that she was about to be crushed. Instead, she ducked and slipped past.

On the night of Easter Sunday, the hurricane subsided. They turned the ship and set the bow to the weather, but it was not until two more days that the entire storm was over. By then the ship had reached Jan Mayen.

After the storm they tried to catch, but the ice was completely broken, and the seal collections were gone. There were only the occasional seal to be caught. Tens of thousands of seal pups had drowned. They did not see other ships until four or five days later, when they encountered the Ålesund ship "Øst", which, among other things, had suffered major damage in the hurricane. "Skansen" had also suffered badly and was leaking so much that they did not dare let the other ship out of sight for a couple of weeks.

Then they went to Isafjord and repaired and went fishing in the Strait. There, too, the conditions were difficult. Benjamin Brandal was skipper of the "Haugen" in 1917 in the Strait and has told of an unusually difficult year in the Strait, with ice that he called the remnants of the Easter storm. There was hard ice, close behind with a shutter and hard ice floes everywhere. They had, together with the "Aarvak" and skipper Vebjørn Landmark, been lying and drifting in tight ice floes for 12 days. Yet, only the "Haugen" and the "Aarvak" had cargo in the Strait that year.

The ships that came away in 1917 were not the smallest. In fact, most of them, after that time, were considered great. "Lunheim" was the largest of the six ships with a length of 95,2 feet and just under 120 gross tons. "Lunheim" was the largest schooner at Brandal when it was built in 1912, and for several years to come. It was also among the first to be specially built for seal catching. The "Admiral" was the least at 76,6 feet, the others were in between. Today, it would of course have been considered dangerous to go seal hunting in the Vestisen with such vessels. The polar low pressure that ravages the area can be very local and does not affect such large areas.

On the morning of Saturday 18 August, D/S "Flemsøy" left Ålesund to search for those who were missing. The skipper of "Flemsøy" was Johannes Brandal; The leader of the expedition was Johan Olsen from Ålesund. The expedition, which cost NOK 80.000, was financed by several owners, with good government support. On Thursday 23 August, "Flemsøy" came to Jan Mayen. A search was made on both sides of the island, but there was nothing to be found that came from the missing ships. They went under Aust-Grønland and combed the Liverpool coast just north of Scoresbysund. They did not get further north than 70 degrees 22 minutes north latitude because of a lot of ice.

The journey went south; along the coast where the ice made it possible. On September 1st, the ship arrived at Angmagssalik. The expedition leader on "Flemsøy" had placed his trust in, but they did not come across any wreckage or information that could shed light on the mystery.

"Flemsøy" set course for Iceland and entered Isafjordur on September 7. From there they went to Siglufjördur.

A telegram arrived from Langanes stating that the priest at Saudanes had found a fishing boat half full of sand in the spring on September 5. After many and long discussions, they were able to buy the boat from the governor for 250 kroner. It turned out that the boat had been built by boat builder Nedregaard in Ålesund and was new that year. At first, it was thought that the boat belonged to "Lunheim". Later, it was determined that it had belonged to "Heim". From the rope stumps on the fishing boat, it looked as if it had been cut from the side of the ship with a knife.

The discovery of this boat at Langanes strengthened the belief that the missing vessels could have gone down near Jan Mayen, as the current from here enters under the coast of Iceland.

A lifebuoy was also found in the Vestisen, but it was not possible to say whether it came from one of the missing ships or from one that had been in rough weather, as only Ålesund was on the buoy.

On 10 June, the Icelandic sealer "Kapur" should also have observed a piece of a grey-painted ship's side at 65 degrees north and 32 degrees west. On the ship's side there should have been some ice skin, and they could see that there was tar paper between the ice skin and the side. But they had not investigated and found anything closer. When "Flemsøy" visited Iceland, "Kapur" was out fishing and they did not get any more first-hand information about the observation.

On the evening of September 17, the "Flemsøy" docked in Ålesund. The search operation was over. The ship had searched for the missing sealers for over 2500 nautical miles. All they had found was the fishing boat that had drifted ashore at Langanes in Iceland.

Thus, people were forced to accept that the ships and the men on board would never return home.

You can find more about the sunken ships and crews in the ship catalog on this page.