Aksla

"Aksla" received a used steam engine from "Tordenskjold" when it was built in 1912. "Aksla" went on its first Arctic sea trip in 1913, but they had to cancel the trip when they suffered some damage to the stem. "Aksla" came home to Ålesund with only 500 seals.

In 1916, the owners of "Aksla" received a good offer from Iceland for the ship, NOK 140.000,- and it was sold there in February. The new name was "Kópur". But the seller agreed that the ship would not be delivered until after the trip in the West Ice that year. It was a great trip in the West Ice and with very good prices. The seller regretted that he had accepted the offer from Iceland, and offered 170.000,- to get the ship back. But the Icelanders were not tempted.

"Kópur" continued to hunt seals. But it also had other missions. Among other things, they transported barrels of herring to Sweden, and they also engaged in herring fishing.

On the Arctic voyage in 1917, the ship had to interrupt the voyage again due to damage from ice drift.

In the autumn of 1917, the ship sank off Reykjanes, Iceland. In a storm there, they suddenly developed a leak, and the course was immediately set for land. But even though the crew scooped up and drained what they could, the water continued to rise. After a short time, they had to give up and prepared a six-ring that was used as a lifeboat. Shortly after the crew of 9 men had gotten into the lifeboat, the ship sank in about 50 fathoms of water, about 4 nautical miles from land. The headwind was so strong that even with 6 men at the oars, they were unable to make any progress. But after a while, the wind calmed down and after a rowing trip of 10 hours, they reached land.

During the sea declaration, it was difficult to explain the cause of the large leak that came on so suddenly. Damage from icebreaking earlier in the year was mentioned. There was also talk that the ship could have come into contact with a drifting mine, since the crew in the cabin believed they had woken up to a bang just before the water gushed in.