Grande

First time seal hunting in 1918.

"Grande" had many accidents in 1920. First it ran aground in Ålesund harbour and drifted onto "Harald" which was lying at the warehouse of Fugleberg & Tøsse. When they got the engine running they got ropes in the propeller. But they managed to pull themselves ashore. On 19 August "Grande" arrived and was about to dock at Sigvald Brandal's shipyard in Brandal, when the ship hit the wall and broke the splitter boom. The remains of this broke the hull. When they had moored and started unloading, the moorings broke and the ship drifted ashore and lay banging against the bottom. "Grande" got off on her own, but then drifted onto "Gunhild" which was anchored in the buoy, and hit her stern.

In 1929, expedition ship for Birger Jacobsen to Jan Mayen.

In 1930, "Grande" was chartered as an expedition ship to East Greenland for a meteorological expedition led by the Romanian Dumbrava.

In 1931, the "Grande" expedition ship for Jacobsen returned to Jan Mayen to conduct geological surveys.

In 1938, the "Grande" expedition ship was used by Ole Klokset to establish a fishing station as far north as possible in East Greenland. From there, he wanted to fish northward towards Pearyland, but the ice conditions that year meant that he had to find terrain further south.

In 1939, Grande on a new expedition to East Greenland, this time to the meteorological station and radio at Torgilsbu in the far south of East Greenland.

In April 1940, Grande as usual on seal hunting in the West Ice. When Norway was invaded by German forces on April 9, the ships gathered. The skippers had a consultation meeting on board the Small business. In the fishing area was the German-owned ship Saxony, and the Norwegian skippers feared that Saxony was to give up the positions of the Norwegian ships to German submarines. There was also talk of sinking the German ship. But nothing came of that. There was also some discussion about whether the ships should go to Iceland or to England instead of returning to Norway.

Grande and the comrade ship Polar Peak of Herøy went to Tromsø. They stayed there until the fighting in northern Norway ended in June. The two ships were moored side by side at a harbor in Tromsø. Once, when warships were passing through the Tromsø Sound at great speed, the stretchers behind the warships were so high that a davit on Polar Peak damaged one of the fishing boats on Grande. Grande was used for purse seine fishing during the large herring seasons in the years 1941-44.

The summer of 1953 was Grande on a freight trip with a cargo of ice to Skärhamn in Sweden. On the return trip, the ship had a cargo of cement from Brevik to Sunnmøre. En route, the ship had stopped at the engine factory in Frederikshavn in Denmark for a somewhat extensive warranty inspection of the main engine that was installed two years earlier.

In 1955, the ship made its fastest Arctic voyage. The voyage lasted 14 days from the ship's departure until it returned home. The catch was about 2000 animals, both large and small.

In 1957, Bernt Hide sold out, leaving Njaal Olsen as sole owner. GrandeIn the autumn of the same year, the ship underwent a major reconstruction of the stern.

In 1959, the "Grande" is fishing in the Vesterisen and is drifting behind several other ships when the propeller suddenly stopped working. It was the towbar that had been broken. The wind increased, and the "Polartind" came to keep the "Grande" clear of the ice edge. When the wind died down the next day, the auxiliary ship "Salvator" arrived and remained at the "Grande". A tugboat was sent out from Tromsø, and on March 24, the "Salvator" towed the "Grande" to Jan Mayen, where the "Uller" arrived and took over.

In 1964, the "Grande" is fishing for scrap in East Greenland. On the way to land, on July 23, a sinking in the ship was noticed and the engine was working hard. They made it to shore at a slow speed. The next day, when they started the engine, it was impossible to get it to move forward. The rescue cruiser "Haakon VII" was sent out to pick up the "Grande" and tow it to Reykjavik for repairs. Two weeks later, they were back in the fishing grounds.

Since 1963, "Grande" has been a helper in the North Sea.

In 1965, the ship was fitted with a power unit.

In 1970, "Grande" was condemned and sunk at Vikedjupet in Herøy on September 2.

More about "Grande" here: https://www.ishavsmuseet.no/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/isflaket2007_02.pdf