Polar Homeland

"Soløy" first went on a seal hunt in the North Ice in 1946. It was not a good debut on this first trip, they came home with 94 seals and 6 polar bears, 2 of which were alive. In 1947 things would go much better and they then delivered 2170 seals after the hunt in the North Ice.

In 1949, "Soløy" was extended, rebuilt and given a new superstructure by Aronsens Shipbuilding. After this reconstruction, the ship was renamed "Tåkeheimen". However, after a short time, this name was changed to "Polarheimen".

16. On May 1952, while fishing in the Austisen, the ship broke off two propeller blades and half the propeller head. The ship also began to take on water around the hull. With all the pumps running, they managed to keep the ship afloat. "Noris" was nearby and understood from the high activity around the stern of "Polarheimen" that something was afoot. They arrived, and after a while it was agreed to start a tow of the casualty. The lifeboat "JM Johansen" was sent out by the insurer to take over the tow, but they did not find them until they had almost reached Vardø, and "Noris" then continued the tow all the way in.

In 1954, the "Polarheimen" comes to assist when the "Forland" suffers a similar accident in the Arctic.

In both 1957 and 1965, the "Polarheimen" were arrested by the Russians who believed they had captured prisoners within the border. Both times they were released after a short time, but with heavy fines imposed.

During the crossing to the North Sea in 1970, they discovered on Tromsøflaket, on July 19, that water was entering the forward crew cabin. All pumps were immediately started, but the water rose. "Polarheimen" turned, they had just passed the fishing boat "Alf Bjørnar", and wanted to try to get to it. They were unable to find where the leak was, but they assumed it must have been before since there was no water in the engine room at first. "Alf Bjørnar" had no bailing equipment, and at 7:00 p.m. the engine on "Polarheimen" stopped. 4 men went into fishing boat no. 1 and made their way over to "Alf Bjørnar". The rest of the crew, 3 men, left the ship at 9:00 p.m. Shortly afterwards, the ship turned to starboard and went down with the stern first.