Christmas gift tip: Polarstar, the Grand Old Lady of the Arctic Ocean

-He was a bit of a joker.

This is how sober veteran skipper Kristoffer Marø was after setting sail with the new ship Polar Star for several days in the storm outside the Faroe Islands, on its way home with a full load on its maiden voyage to Newfoundland in 1949.

-A little bit of fun, but not so much that it was enough.

There were trips when the ship plunged into the depths of the monster waves and the crew felt "reasonably certain that now we have seen Old Erik". Trips where it rolled and swayed so that the compass shook loose and the captain sang religious songs and proclaimed that now they must all think of their God - to the laconic response from the fishermen that yes, but "we must now try and get ourselves back to these seas first..." 

For 70 years, the sloop has Polar Star get through all the seas.

She was the first Norwegian seal catcher built in steel. Kristoffer Marø and Martin Karlsen had the idea even before the Second World War. It took ten years before the ship was ready for seal hunting. There was no shortage of warnings from those who swore to the tree. Polar Star silenced the skeptics.

"Polarstar – The Grand Old Lady of the Arctic Ocean" offers glimpses of the ship's long career in and out of the fishing season. This is not a biography of the ship over 70 years, but vivid accounts of many exciting missions, told by those who were on board. There is much love and drama, adventurous memories and spicy revelations.

In addition to more than 50 seal hunting trips, in Newfoundland and the Arctic Ocean, Polar Star It has had popular years as a governor's ship, research vessel and tourist boat, transporting blueberries and bait herring, exploring for oil and counting polar bears, transporting dynamite in Central America and photographing underwater cables in the Atlantic. There are stories here of helicopter crashes in the stern and scientists who did not respect the privacy of loving walruses. 

The book is richly furnished with many previously unpublished images.

Now the first steel ship has become the last. After restoration in Poland, she will sail as a lasting memory of a proud national industry. 70 years old is Polar Star again dressed in his youthful attire and as seaworthy as ever.

The Star. Is there a nicer pet name?

Order:

www.ishavsmuseet.no/nettbutikk or ask for it at the bookstore