Sealing pioneer Peter S. Brandal is honored with a statue.

The general manager of the Ishavsmuseet, Webjørn Landmark, says that the museum has long wanted to erect a statue to honor industrialist and sealing pioneer Peter S. Brandal. Now the museum felt that the time had come, and that there was a good opportunity to make this a reality for the 100th anniversary of Kings Bay next year. Landmark says that the museum is dependent on donations from both public and private donors, but he has great faith that this can be arranged. The museum has also recently launched a fundraising campaign for the purpose.

Artist Tore Bjørn Skjølsvik will create the statue. He has also previously created the statue of the Arctic queen, which has always stood at the Ishavsmuseet.

Peter S. Brandal was of course best known for his founding and innovative efforts in the Arctic Ocean industry, and throughout his life he devoted all his energy to this industry, which he helped shape and build from the ground up. He is considered to be the foremost pioneer in this area in Western Norway. The sealing industry in Sunnmøre in many ways laid the foundation for the large maritime industry that the region still benefits from.

Peter Andreas Sevrinson Brandal was born on December 21, 1870 in Brandal.

Peter quickly saw that if sealing was to be profitable, he had to invest in proper, purpose-built ships. From 1910, the new modern Arctic fleet arrived, which was specially built for sealing.

Peter was also concerned with the Greenland issue, and equipped his own expeditions to occupy land in Greenland in order to secure future hunting rights in this country that had so much to offer.

When Peter Brandal was confirmed, he had to go out and earn his living himself. Fishing was the only thing a young man could do. At the age of 20, he became a part-time sailor in a small fishing boat that was named "Brandal". With this boat, he was, among other things, the skipper on trips to Finnmark.

Later, together with others, he bought the approximately 56-foot long ice skate "Minna" in 1896.

On fishing trips to Troms and the Finnmark coast, Peter and his father Severin had noted the seal catch that was being driven from there and had noticed that these skates often came ashore with a full load. He had carefully noted their skates and what equipment they used.

The desire for adventure was in his blood and he decided to equip "Minna" for seal hunting.

In 1898 he traveled on his first trip to the Vesterisen. His father, Sevrin Brandal, traveled the same year on the ice skate "Nils Liaaen".

The Arctic Ocean fishing industry from Sunnmøre had now started, and it developed rapidly. It became one of the largest industries in Sunnmøre, and laid the foundation for much future wealth, prosperity, and the start of other maritime industries.

In Hareid municipality alone, there have been about 50 ships engaged in seal hunting. These needed equipment, repairs, etc., and many local businesses had their golden age as a result of the seal hunt.

After a while, Tjørvåg, Vartdal and Ålesund also joined in strongly in the seal hunt.

In 1900, Peter and his brother Ole, with their ice skates, "Minna" and "Havfruen", went to the east coast of Greenland and caught walrus, polar bears and musk oxen. The country had a lot to offer in terms of animals and furs, and a few years later a new industry was started here with wintering trapping.

In addition to the traditional hunt for seals out on the ice, walruses, muskoxen and polar bears were now also hunted close by, and partly on land. Muskoxen and polar bears were also attractive to try to capture alive for sale to zoos.

Luck followed Peter these years, and he was usually full of it.

In 1911, he and his brother Sigvald bought a newly built ship, which was named "Brandal". In the same year, he had "Jopeter" built at Bolsønes shipyard. The ship was named after his wife Josefine, and he himself Peter. This was the start of a groundbreaking development in modern sealing. From that time on, he stopped traveling on the Arctic Ocean himself.

In the years to come, he steadily expanded his Arctic operations, both at sea and on land. In 1912, he built a modern seal oil refinery and larger sea docks in Brandal. Now one new sealing ship after another also arrived.

Peter S. Brandal worked hard to build one of the first electricity plants in the rural district, here at Brandal. It was in 1912. The plant had about 50 hp of direct current.

During the war years, especially in 1916, there were great difficulties in purchasing coal for the steamboats. This applied to both Arctic ships and fishing boats. The shipping company had been blacklisted by British authorities due to trade relations with Germany during the war, and stocks of British coal were dwindling rapidly. Peter then realized that he had to find new ways again. The solution was to look for another location in the Arctic, when in 1916 Peter bought the Kings Bay coalfield in Svalbard from the estate of the mining magnate Chr. Anker.

The company Kings Bay Kul Co. A/S was founded in December of the same year and the construction work began with the preparation for the operation and construction of a small urban community, the world's northernmost at 79 degrees north, called Brandal City. A little later, new and larger capital came into the operation when Trygve Klausen, Michael Knutsen and Trygve Jervell, all from Ålesund, joined the ownership. After a few years, the "city" also changed its name to Ny-Ålesund.

In addition to mining, Ny-Ålesund also became a base for Roald Amundsen's polar expeditions by plane and airship in 1925 and 1926. A friendship developed between Brandal and Amundsen. Amundsen visited Brandal on a couple of occasions with Peter, and Amundsen was also given a house loan from Brandal in Ny-Ålesund, today known as the Amundsen Villa, before the major polar expeditions in 1925-26. And when Roald Amundsen left with the Latham plane in 1928, Brandal contributed to the search with two of his Arctic ships, paid for from his private account.

Peter built large quays and large sea warehouses in Brandal. In 1912 he formed another company and new and modern equipment was purchased for seal oil and transhipment. This was the start of what later became the Brandal Sildeoljefabrik, at that time the largest north of Bergen. In 1927/28 he expanded the herring oil factory that produced herring meal and herring oil for the next 50 years.

Peter was a healthy optimist and he had an outstanding ability to hire and initiate work, and also to get people to do their best. He had great confidence among the investors, who were often businessmen from the capital.

After the World War, in the years 1920-23 when the crisis made itself felt with stagnation in all production both on land and at sea, he believed that one should absolutely carry on one's business despite the fact that the operation resulted in losses.

He could not agree with the remedy for unemployment that the pessimists put forward most: that working hours should be constantly reduced and that work should be distributed more in shifts. He believed that this would lead to increased downtime in companies and no new measures.

Peter S. Brandal was also a man who shared his wealth. After good times during and after the First World War, he gave Hareid Church a magnificent church organ in 1919. A few years later he was also one of the largest contributors when new church bells were to be installed in the same church. He also helped his children and sons-in-law. Several of them also became Arctic shipping companies. His son-in-law Martin Karlsen later built up another of Sunnmøre's largest Arctic shipping companies; Martin Karlsen AS.

Peter S. Brandal was a member of the Arctic Council and in 1919 he was appointed Knight of the Order of St. Olav, 1st class, for his fundamental contributions to the Arctic industry.

He died on March 23, 1933, at the age of 63.