"Helgehorn" was the first of the large Arctic ships to have a stern-mounted diesel engine, in 1923. The ship was named after a mountain on Berkneset on the border between Ørsta and Volda. With new owners in 1933, the ship changed its name to "Vesle Truls".

Benjamin Brandal was the skipper on the ship's first seal-hunting trip to Kvitesjøen in 1923. He had previously been a skipper for many years, but only on steam ships. He was full of praise for the new diesel engine, Benjamin Brandal says:

"You could have enough fuel at all times and avoid coal fever and coal shortages. What a job it was to empty all the blubber tanks of coal, scrape them clean and cement them! When there was a catch, the people were at work all day, and at night they had to "coal". So there was little chance of sleep. When the ice loosened for a moment, the motor ships could start the engine in an instant and move forward at full speed through the ice or the slack. The steam sealers had to take up the shoal and prepare the engine, and when they were finished, the ice was usually compressed again. And they lay in the same place. In mid-February, when we were preparing, all the old expert skippers, shipowners and Arctic Pioneers, who were holders of medals and diplomas, came up to our shipowners' office and said that it was pure madness to send such a ship with an engine to seal in the Arctic Ocean! It would obviously be a bad trip, shoals are shoals, and the most stable thing in seal hunting.

You must be able to use the ship for something else, they said. The shipowners were grateful for the good advice, but could not accept it, and we were to go as planned. Conditions were difficult this season. Outside the ice edge there was a belt of tightly packed snow. On this snow there were a lot of gray seals. We could not put the people out on this loose ice-snow, and if the swell subsided, people would go through.

But we had to try. There were only two pairs of skis on board the ship, so the solution was to take the middle gables of all the beds on board and make skis out of them. Then everyone with skis rushed out onto the snow and ice and caught them.

Talk about ski slopes on the crests of the waves! It would have been something to gape at for an Olympic spectator. The guys skied and pulled the seal to the ship. We caught about 1000 gray seals in this way. But I don't think I would recommend this method of catching again as it is extremely dangerous. A man broke one of his skis and came close to the side of the ship with one ski and three gray seals in tow. At the side of the ship he went through the snow ice up under his arms. I shouted: Put the coat under his arms! It was done, and man, ski and seal were hauled onto deck.

It was difficult to get through the ice, but "Helgehorn" managed to push past the other ships. In the end, only "Forland" was left. They were in a bind and could not get through.

"I asked them to move so we could try the 'Helgehorn'. We backed up about 100 meters and went forward with all the machine could do, and easily slid through."

In the summer of 1923, the "Helgehorn" is fishing for herring off Iceland. They finish fishing on September 6, but before setting sail for home, they want to stop in Iceland and take on water. They have 600 barrels of herring in the hold and 400 on deck. Suddenly the wind increases to a northeasterly gale and very high seas. At 17 p.m., the "Helgehorn" experiences a rough sea that shifts the deck cargo and crushes many of the barrels. They continue at reduced speed, but just a couple of hours later a new rough sea comes and crushes even more of the cargo. When they reach land, 200 barrels have been crushed.

Rolf Kvien bought the ship in 1935, after his ship "Kvitungen" had sunk. "Vesle Truls" is now renamed "Kvitungen".

With "Helgehorn" to Kvitsjøen in 1923.

By skipper Benjamin Brandal (from the Ishavsmuseet archives).

Ever since the engine arrived in Ålesund and Sunnmøre, there had been attempts to use engines in the smaller seal catchers on the Arctic Ocean. But it would not succeed. Benjamin Brandal, who wrote this article, was not the first to have a motor ship on the Arctic Ocean. But his ship "Helgehorn" was the first to leave Ålesund and Sunnmøre with a diesel engine. This ship therefore became the mother ship for the large and modern motor seal catcher fleet that came in the following years. Benjamin Brandal was skipper on "Helgehorn" for 10 years, and here he tells about the first decisive trip in 1923.

In 1923, the larger sealers from Ålesund and Sunnmøre switched from coal-fired engines to engines, marking a turning point in the sealing industry. The first ship from our shores was the "Helgehorn".

When I was the captain of the ds "Polhavet" in 1920 and 21, I saw that the engine was the solution of the times both for catching in the Arctic Ocean and for fishing off Iceland. One could have enough fuel at all times without having to worry about coal fever and coal shortages. What a job it was to empty all the blubber tanks of coal, scrape them clean and cement them! When there was catching, the crew was at work all day and at night they had to "cool". So there was little opportunity for sleep. When the ice loosened for a moment, the motor ships could start the engine and move forward at full speed through the rough or slack. The steam sealers had to pick up the shoal and prepare the engine, and when they were finished, the ice was usually piled up again. And they lay in the same place.

When the steam sealers went herring fishing off Iceland, they had to fill the barrels with coal. It became a perpetual mess.

Originally, “Helgehorn” was contracted by dentist Aall in Ålesund and Svendsen in Volda. It cost half a million kroner. The ship was named after a mountain between Volda and Ørsta. In the autumn of 1922, Sverre Mogstad and factory owner Karl Dalen bought “Helgehorn” and paid for it in cash. It was new and built at Tangens Shipyard, Drammen. The longest length was 114 feet, and the engine was a 120-160 hp Bolinder. On ballast, it made 9 miles. There were installed fuel tanks for 28 tons of solar oil, water tanks, toilets, wash basins and more. It also had full sail. The name of the shipping company was Ålesund Klippfiskexport and the managers were Anders and Sverre Mogstad. They cost new blubber tanks in the ship and full equipment for catching in the Arctic Ocean, as well as nets for purse seine fishing off Iceland and equipment for freight shipping.

The undersigned was hired as a driver on the ms "Helgehorn". But getting a certified engine engineer was worse. Such people were not to be found either in Ålesund or in Sunnmøre. We had to go to Kristiansund, and there we got Johan Orborg as engineer.

In mid-February 1923 we were fully seaworthy. Fresh water, seawater and solar were filled in the tanks as ballast. Everything was in tip-top condition on board, and nothing was missing. We were going to go seal hunting in the White Sea, which would not begin until March. Now all the old expert skippers, shipowners and Arctic pioneers, who were holders of medals and diplomas, came up to our shipowners' office and said that it was pure madness to send such a large ship with an engine to seal hunt in the Arctic Ocean! It would obviously be a disaster, shoals were shoals, and the most stable thing was seal hunting. You must be able to use the ship for something else, they said. The shipowners were grateful for the good advice, but could not accept it, and we were to go as planned.

Soon after, a shipowner came and wanted to offer me a place on a shoal of sealers he had just bought. The conditions and the wages were above what I would get on the "Helgehorn". He also thought that this was not the ship for me. This was just to embarrass himself. Steam and steam were probably the safest. I replied that I could not break my word to the shipowners who had hired me. I thanked him for the offer he made me, and so we parted ways.

We went from Ålesund to Tromsø, where we were given the charters for the White Sea. And then the journey went directly to the White Sea. There was a storm from the NW with snow flurries on the way to the field.

When we arrived at the White Sea, it turned out that the ice was located in the middle of Lake White from Orlov over the Panfilova Falls, north past Cape Kanin and east to Korga and Kalofføya.

The northwest storm with high seas had pushed the ice in the eastern land, so there was a tight back everywhere. We had been on a trip east to Korga to look for a catch, but only caught a few, mostly juveniles. Then we turned and went into Kvitesjøen again. Inside Kap Kanin lay the SS "Ishavet" with skipper Kristoffer Marø. I asked him if we shouldn't look through the ice to see if there was any catch. But no, Marø couldn't. He was stuck. We went around "Ishavet" and untied it. Then he took the cooling water after us through the ice.

The ships are stuck at Bolsia and Panfilovafallet. The young ship has been thrown into Russian territory, and the ice did not drift out due to a persistent storm from the NW with high seas. Time passed, and the young ship season was over. We therefore decided to go out to the ice edge, set the mainsail and put the engine into full speed. We pushed the ship so hard through the ice and snow that we almost lost the cooling water in the engine. But the ship was new and slippery on the sides, so it went by sliding back and forth.

When we came out of the ice edge there was a wide belt of snow packed tightly at the edge of the ice. On this snow lay masses of gray seals. But it was very difficult to catch them if you go out to sea and the swell is pushing the ship forward, but if you go with the sea and the swells on your side, you will get nowhere. I could not put the people out on the loose ice-snow. If the swells had subsided, the ice would have slackened out to sea, and the people would have gone in. Here good advice was valuable. How were we to get the catch?

We had two proper pairs of skis on board. Then we took the center boards of all the berths on board and made skis, cut zinc plates for necks, nailed them on and put bands in. Then everyone with skis rushed out onto the snowdrift and caught. Talk about ski slopes on the wave tops! This would have been something to gape at for an Olympic spectator.

The men pulled the skins to the ship. The ship swayed, so that I, who was standing in the lookout, could mostly touch the skins of the men on the ice as they came dragging the skins on the ice. We caught about 1000 gray seals in this way. But I don't think I would recommend this method of catching again as it is extremely dangerous. A man broke his ski and came close to the side of the ship with one ski and three gray seals in tow. At the side of the ship he went through the ice up to his arms. I shouted: Put the coat under his arms! It was done and the man, ski and gray seal were pulled onto deck.

Time passed, and the old seal season had begun. We saw seals on the ice outside Gorodiski. All the ships were there. But the ice was slow and compacted so it was difficult to get there. The competition was fierce. We rowed past the other ships. Only one was ahead of us, the DS "Forland". It was soon in a bind and could not get through. The men on the "Forland" were in the middle of the bind with oars and pickaxes to push and stake away the ice. It tried to run back and forth, but could not get through. I shouted to the skipper of the "Forland": Will you move the ship so I can try?! He did. We backed up about 100 meters, gave her full speed with all the engine could do forward - and it went through relatively smoothly. The DS "Forland" then caught up with us. But it was not long before it was in a bind again, the boom stuck. We put cables on board, but it tore like hemp thread. Then I shouted to the skipper: We are taking joint action, send your gunners and crew over to us! And it was done.

Then we continued, went as close to the seal as we could, after which both gunners and both crews went out onto the ice and up to the seal. They shot down the entire collection, skinned it and pulled the skins into bundles. Then they marked the bundles with flags. When the ice loosened, we collected the skin bundles and hauled them on board.

But now all the ships had broken free and were heading down to us. But here all the seals were dead – and ours. So they went their separate ways again. We divided the catch and went to rest for the night. I told the crew to rest, I would keep watch myself. We had to crawl up and down from the barrel. The ice had settled, and the ships lay still everywhere. It was quiet in the field.

At half past one in the morning I suddenly saw seals on the ice out on the horizon. Time after time I climbed into the barrel. The number of seals increases every time I get up. By six o'clock there is a nice gathering of animals.

Then we started the engine and went over to “Forland.” I got on board and went down to the cabin and asked the skipper: Are you ready to get into the harness?

"Do you see seals?" he asked in alarm, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

– Yes, it's right here waiting for us.

His words now cannot be printed. But in the end it only came out in spurts: And – we – s-who have blown the boiler – and – and are keeping the boiler going!!

– Do you keep big game fish in your catch? I asked dryly.

– Yes, you'll go ahead and take it, right? He asked.

– That was a matter I do. – So we went up in the seal and shot everything down. The shooters took 200 seals each in each position. We skinned, pulled in bunches and put flags on.

The ice loosened. The ships got loose and headed down towards us again. But there was nothing they could do. The seal was dead – and ours for the second time. It was a tough nut to crack for both the famous Johan Olsen on the “Veslekari” and the equally famous Abrahamsen on the “Vesleper”. Sunnmøre’s largest steam sealer had found its master, the engine!

We collected the catch. The ship was loaded, and so we set off for Ålesund. When we got home, the whistle had a different sound. The engine was the latest in its class, everyone agreed. When we got to Brandal, the shipowners called me on the phone and wanted to know where they should send their ships to get their catch.

The following year, in 1924, these motor ships were added: "Gugnir", "Godø" and "Hisø". And in the years since, many large motor sealers have been added to the Sunnmøre and Ålesund fishing fleets.