In 1935, the ship caught in the Vesterisen, and arrived in Tromsø early in May with 3146 animals. (130 seals, 333 hooded seals, 983 blue backs, 1700 white seals and 350 barrels of blubber.)

ICE SHIP «MALULA» / «SELIS»

By Magnus Sefland

ROSENDAL.

During the First World War, there was a boom in seal hunting. Precisely because of the war, there was a shortage of fat, and there was a good market for Arctic products. This in turn increased the construction of Arctic vessels. The period 1910-20 was the most important construction period for Arctic vessels. Of the vessels built during this period, several were in use in Arctic operations until the 1970s, a couple of them until the early 1980s ("Furenak" and "Aarvak") - albeit in a heavily rebuilt and modernized condition. Certain parts of the country stood out with regard to the construction of Arctic vessels. The most important area for the construction of Arctic vessels was Sunnhordland. The main boatbuilding village was Rosendal.

Of the shipbuilders in Rosendal, Skaalurens Skibsbyggeri is probably the best known. This shipbuilder built its first Arctic ship in 1908. It was "Hercules" (Ship no. 1 with that name, which was eventually sold to Russia). Many more well-known Arctic trawlers were built in the years that followed. The Arctic ship "Malula" was built in 1917 at Knut Skaalas Værft in Rosendal. This shipbuilder must not be confused with Skaaluren. It was Knut Skaalas Værft that, under the name Knut J. Næs, built Roald Amundsen's "Gjøa" in 1872. "Malula" was 174 GRT and measured 103.8 x 23.4 x 11.4 feet. She had a steam boiler and a two-cylinder compound engine of 110 hp from Bergens Mek. Verksted.

TO RUSSIA – AND BACK TO NORWAY AGAIN

The owner of the ship was a Russian Arctic shipping merchant in Arkhangelsk. He named the ship after his daughter. "Malula" was therefore built in the revolutionary year of 1917. Nothing else is known other than that the ship was delivered according to the agreement to the owner in Arkhangelsk, even though the situation in Russia was very turbulent.

Not much is known about "Malula's" time in Russia. The ship is listed in the "Register of the Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1920", so the stay in Russia cannot have lasted more than a couple of years. In the book "Dramaet i Nord-Atlanteren. Februar 1939" the author Trygve Nordanger tells about "Malula" that the shipowner had to leave Russia for America, implicitly because of the political upheavals. The shipowner came to Tromsø with his family and the ship. While the shipowner and his family moved on, "Malula" remained in Norway and had the same name for many years.

From around 1920, "Malula" belonged to Espevær Fangst- & Fiskeriselskap v/ B. Garvik in Espevær in Sunnhordland. Built in Rosendal, "Malula" had returned to its original location very well. The shipping company in Espevær is said to have had to close down operations sometime around 1922-1924. From this time, "Malula" belonged to the shipping company Fridtjof Nagell Nordbø in Haugesund. She had the registration mark R 61 H. In addition to "Malula", Nordbø also had the vessels "Arktos", "Falkeid" and "Hareid" - all steamships. Nordbø operated a shipping company and exported herring and seal oil. Icelandic herring was considered the company's main specialty. "Arktos" was originally a cargo ship, but was equipped as an Arctic ship and went seal hunting for the first time in the White Sea in 1929. So around 1930 Nordbø had two solid Arctic ships.

In 1932, Nordbø sold "Malula" to A/S Schjelderups Selfangstrederi by the brothers Ludolf and Thomas Schjelderup in Skånland/Bodø. The ship then received the name by which it is perhaps best known: "Selis". Sometime in the latter half of the 1930s, the Schjelderup brothers entered into a partnership with Ivar Austad in Tromsø. This was probably related to plans to install diesel engines in both "Selis" and its sister ship "Quest", so that the ships would be better equipped to participate in the hunt off Newfoundland. Both ships were then registered in Tromsø. "Selis" was marked T 91 T. What mark the ship may have had at the time in Skånland is not known, but it must have been the letters N ?? BN (i.e. Bodin here). The ship was not registered in Sunnmøre at any time. But during the Haugesund period there was a strong element of Sunnmøre in the crew on board. The question of a licence for "Malula" for seal hunting in the White Sea was handled for Nordbø by the Aalesund Shipowners' Association's Seal Hunting Group.

In the 1930s, "Selis" fished in both the White Sea and the West Ice. In the summer of 1936, "Selis" was in Southeast Greenland on assignment for the Norwegian Svalbard and Arctic Ocean Research. The skipper was Ingvardt Johannessen. The assignment was to change the crew at the Torgilsbu meteorological station and radio and to pick up an English expedition that had wintered in Storfjorden. The incoming crew at Torgilsbu were telegrapher Ragnar Eggesvik, general manager Severin S. Brandal and steersman Arne Dobloug. The crew that was picked up after wintering was telegrapher Sverre Aaseth, general manager Sigvald S. Brandal and steersman Leif Hals. When "Selis" had changed crews at Torgilsbu and was heading north to Storfjorden, they met the Arctic ship "Hvalrossen" from Ålesund. The "Hvalrossen" was going straight home, and so Brandal and Hals boarded the "Hvalrossen". The "Selis" continued north to Storfjorden. It turned out that the English needed about three extra weeks to finish. During the waiting time, the "Selis" fished for hake outside Storfjorden. When the time came, the "Selis" picked up the English expedition and transported it to Isafjorden in Iceland.

NEWFOUNDLAND

Towards the end of the 1930s, fishing conditions in the White Sea became increasingly difficult for several reasons, but there was an increasingly tense relationship with the Soviet authorities. In 1938, the Brandal ships "Polarbjørn" and "Polaris" made the first successful Norwegian fishing trip to the field off Newfoundland and Labrador. This attracted several Norwegian ships across the Atlantic in 1939. On the crossing that year, the ships ran into a hurricane southwest of Iceland. Three ships from Troms went down in the hurricane, one of them, "Nyken" of Gratangen, with the entire crew of 18 men.

Among the ships that went to the field at Newfoundland for the first time in 1939 were the "Selis" and her sister ship "Quest". For this trip, both ships received new propulsion systems. The steam engines were replaced by Wichmann diesel engines for both ships. "Selis" received a 300 hp engine. Both ships had their engines installed at the Wichmann Motorfabrikk at Rubbestadneset.

Apart from changing the engine, there were no major modifications to the hull or superstructure of the "Selis" on this occasion. However, both ships received new radio systems. This was done by "Quest" receiving a new and stronger system and by moving the old system from "Quest" to "Selis". This should normally mean an improvement for both ships. However, the assembly and control were so poor that both systems failed during the crossing to Newfoundland. This meant that both ships were reported missing for a time. The two ships, sailing together, chose a different route than the other ships. They sailed north of Iceland and also visited Isafjord in Iceland. In this way, they stayed out of the usually worst offshore area southwest of Iceland. On the other hand, the chance of problems with icebergs increased, especially since they went so far north and west that they passed Cape Farewell within sight. "Selis" and "Quest" also took a beating during the crossing, but the situation was not as critical for them as it was for the ships that chose to sail south of Iceland.

WORLD WAR II

In April 1940, "Selis" was together with four other Norwegian ships fishing off Newfoundland. After Germany had occupied Norway, it was not possible to return to Norway after the fishing season. The ships remained in Canada/USA and were largely used for expeditions and freight missions in Arctic waters.

In 1941, the entire population of Svalbard was evacuated. An Allied expeditionary force with the 22,000-ton troop transport ship "Empress of Canada" and a number of escort vessels carried out the evacuation. First, the "Empress of Canada" escorted the Russian part of the population to Arkhangelsk. The convoy then returned to Svalbard and took the Norwegian part of the population to Scotland.

The following year, a plan was drawn up for a Norwegian/Allied expedition to Svalbard. The purpose of the expedition was to implement measures to preserve the mines and associated facilities. This was important in order to be able to resume normal production in the mines as soon as possible after the war ended. The driving forces for sending the expedition were director Einar Sverdrup and shipowner Hilmar Reksten. They were respectively director and chairman of the board of Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani A/S (SNSK). The expedition was named Operation "Fritham". It was given full military status. The personnel were mostly experienced people from SNSK. Early in May, the icebreaker "Isbjørn" (from Kjødes reiarlag) as the lead vessel and the Arctic ship "Selis" as the escort vessel were to transport the first group of the expeditionary force to Svalbard. The next group was to arrive about a month later, in June 1942. For this advance, the Arctic ships "Polarbjørn" and "Quest" were selected as expedition vessels.

"Isbjørn" and "Selis" left Greenock in Scotland on April 30, 1942 with Operation "Fritham" on board. They left without any form of escort. The leader of the expedition was Director Einar Sverdrup. As long as Operation "Fritham" lasted, he had the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel. He was on board "Isbjørn". Lieutenant Helge Øi was the naval leader during the crossing and ship's commander on "Isbjørn". He was responsible for navigation for the entire expedition. The second-in-command of the expedition was the former director of Sveagruva, Lieutenant Ove Roll Lund. He had the military command of the troops on board "Selis" and was responsible for the defense of "Selis" during a possible attack. The captain of "Selis" was the ship's regular skipper from long before the war, Ingvardt Johannessen. It should be mentioned that doubts were raised among leading military officials as to whether the plan for the expedition was technically advisable.

The expedition went to Iceland. The ship successfully made it through a minefield between the Faroe Islands and Iceland. They stopped for about a day in Akureyri. There they took on board coal, oil, various equipment and 24 dogs. Two British officers and a Norwegian dog driver came on board in Akureyri. When departing from Akureyri, the expedition force was 82 men, including the crew of "Isbjørn" and "Selis". On the way there, the expedition passed Jan Mayen and followed the ice edge further in the direction of Svalbard. The expedition arrived at Isfjorden on May 13 and began to break through the ice to Barentsburg, where the entire expedition was to land. "Isbjørn" went first in the ice.

While "Isbjørn" and "Selis" were en route from Iceland to Svalbard, reconnaissance was carried out on Svalbard with a Catalina aircraft from Shetland. From the reconnaissance aircraft they were able to ascertain that Germans were in place in Longyearbyen. There was a landing site for aircraft on the ice in Adventfjorden. When the reconnaissance aircraft returned to Shetland, a message was sent that Germans were stationed in the Isfjord area. This message did not reach "Isbjørn" and "Selis". Both vessels had too poor radio equipment to be able to receive the message. However, the German air station at Banak in Finnmark received a message from one of its reconnaissance aircraft that vessels were on their way to Barentsburg. On 14 May, four German aircraft from Banak appeared and attacked the vessels when they had almost reached Barentsburg. "Isbjørn" and "Selis" defended themselves as best they could. For that purpose, "Selis" had an Oerlikon cannon and a Lewis machine gun. "Isbjørn" was hit by two bombs and immediately sank with 11 men on board. Among them were Einar Sverdrup and the British liaison officer Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Godfrey. "Selis" was hit by a bomb and caught fire. With the large quantities of bunker oil that "Selis" had on board, the fire grew rapidly. "Selis" burned completely and sank. The fire on "Selis" started on the foredeck, and it was possible to salvage some equipment from the stern and onto the ice before the fire reached the stern.

Of the survivors, about 15 men were wounded. The survivors made it across the ice to Barentsburg. One of the wounded died during the transport to land, and another died on land. In Barentsburg, the survivors found shelter. There they found some food, bedding and medicine. This allowed the expedition's doctor to give the wounded good first aid. Despite this, one more man died of his injuries two days after the attack. The three who died on the way to land or on land were sunk into the sea with military honors.

For security reasons, the remaining expeditionary force was divided into several groups. A group of 20 men was sent on foot the 90 kilometers from Barentsburg to Sveagruva. ​​They assumed that there were supplies there. It was a very tiring march of 35 hours. During the march they lost one man when he fell into a crevasse and died. By then the number of deaths had reached 15. The wounded and those who needed care for the wounded made up the second group. It remained in Barentsburg. The third group tried to advance towards Longyearbyen to collect food and medicine. At that time they did not know that there were Germans in Longyearbyen.

Those who fell for Norway in the bombing of "Isbjørn" and "Selis" in Grønfjorden on May 14, 1942 were:

Tore Andersen, discharged engineer, affiliated with SNSK

Arnold Conradi Bjørnsvik, discharged deckhand, affiliated with SNSK

Ingvald Elias Bøen, soldier, affiliated with SNSK

Arthur Godfrey, Lieutenant Colonel, British citizen

Sigvald Kristian Høiland, soldier, affiliated with SNSK

William Charles Johannessen, soldier

John Bersvend Lund, soldier, chairman of SNSK (Seriously wounded May 14, died May 16).

Olav Lund, discharged deckhand, affiliated with SNSK (son of JB Lund)

Ole Nesvold, Sergeant, Chairman of SNSK

Erik Michael Nilsen, quartermaster, ice pilot, affiliated with SNSK

Ole Larssen Nymo, discharged deckhand, affiliated with SNSK

Johannes Rønnestad, discharged deckhand

Einar Sverdrup, Lieutenant Colonel, Director of SNSK

Birger Kristian Jentoft Tørgersen, quartermaster, affiliated with SNSK

Private Odd Syvertsen, affiliated with the SNSK, was the dog driver who joined the expedition in Akureyri. He died when he fell into a crevasse on May 15th during the march from Barentsburg to Sveagruva.

The only expedition participant who is known to have had close ties to Northwest Norway was Sigvald Kristian Høiland. He was from Davik in Nordfjord. He was one of those who went down with the "Isbjørn".

We know of three named expedition participants who stayed on board the "Selis". They were the expedition's deputy leader Ove Roll Lund, skipper Ingvardt Johannessen and the gun commander, leading deckhand N. Langbakk.