The Sealbeard

After the seal hunt in Stetet in 1922, "Kap Flora" and "Sælbarden" jointly hunted live musk and polar bears in Aust-Grønland. They came home with 13 live muskrats. In the coming years, too, they brought home live musk. They were sold to zoos in Europe, and some were tried out in various places in Norway. Read more about the import and sale of musk from Greenland here: https://www.ishavsmuseet.no/blogger/moskus-fra-gronland/

In 1927, the "Sælbarden" is fishing in the White Sea, and by Sunday, March 27, they had caught 2917 seals. But before they got onto the ice on March 28, the ice begins to break up, and the ship suddenly begins to take on water. All pumps were started, but the water rose faster than they could pump. About 500 hl of coal and 400 sealskins were thrown overboard to try to lighten the ship. During the night, they managed to reduce the resistance, but then they discovered that the rudder was gone and the rudder stock was broken. The crew was set to making a new rudder, a rescue rudder that could help them out of the ice. In the coming days, they are very stuck in the ice, but in between, the ice loosens up enough that they are able to advance a little before they get stuck again. The ship is getting more and more damaged with each passing day, and it is not easy to maneuver with the rudder. On April 2, the Arctic ship "Istind" comes towards the "Sælbarden"'s position, skipper Isak Remø. Remø and Lillenes confer. Remø does not want to tow the "Sælbarden" because he believes that the ship is too bad to be able to float to shore. So they had no choice but to leave the "Sælbarden" and board the "Istind". At 4:30 p.m. on April 4, the "Sælbarden" sank with 2917 seals on board in position 67.32 north and 0.43 east.