Small business (I)

"Veslekari" was completed and went on trial on March 8, 1919. It was delivered with a whale cannon in front and two bottlenose cannons in the stern. In addition, the ship was to hunt seals. The first hunting trip was in April 1919 to West Greenland where they were to hunt seals and hope to catch whales and bottlenose dolphins as well. The catch on this trip was 225 walruses and 200 barrels of blubber.

In 1920, he went seal hunting in the White Sea and came home with 5000 seals.

"Veslekari" was probably the most strongly built wooden Arctic vessel in Norway, after the polar ships "Fram" and "Maud". With its special, rounded bow, it was no small feat as an icebreaker. The ship was intended for both seal and whale hunting when it was commissioned during the boom years of World War I. As a result of the poor economic conditions after the war, Winge discontinued its Arctic operations in 1927. Elling Aarseth in Ålesund took over "Veslekari" and registered her in Vartdal with the mark M 20 VD. Johan Olsen from Ålesund gradually became the skipper most closely associated with the ship.

Seal hunting in the White Sea and the West Ice were annual tasks for "Veslekari". In addition, there were a number of different expedition missions for both Norwegian and foreign clients. The most famous are the expedition trips for the American polar and oceanographer Louise A. Boyd. "Veslekari" was also used in a number of search and rescue operations, including the search for Roald Amundsen in 1928 and the evacuation of the crew of Jan Mayen after the earthquake in 1936.

Early in World War II, "Veslekari" was central to several important war events in Greenland and Jan Mayen. The expedition trips from Iceland to Jan Mayen in the winter were particularly demanding missions. The skipper on these trips was Johan P. Brandal. Later during the war, the ship was a salvage vessel in Reykjavik. Towards the end of the war, the British authorities took over the ship.

Wrecked at Twillingate in Newfoundland with 5600 animals on board. The crew of 25 picked up by the "Polar Bear". Had to walk about a Norwegian mile across the ice following the lifeboat compass, a five-hour march in gale force winds and snowdrifts.

In the 1930s, a number of expeditions for Louise Boyd. In 1933, one of the first ships to receive sonar. In 1940-45, a number of missions for the Royal Navy. Probably helped lay oil pipelines in connection with the Normandy invasion. Also served on missions for the British in the Falkland Islands area.

In the summer of 1946 she was lying in storage in Buckie, Scotland. There her owners picked her up, and she arrived in Ålesund on July 17, 1946.

1925: Small business was owned by Skips AS Freda and managed by Winge in Oslo. The city changed its name from Kristiania to Oslo – Small business change fishery registration from K 5 K to O 5 O.

Small business was fishing in Kvitsjøen. Went to Vardø for bunkering and another trip in Kvitsjøen. Skipper Johan Olsen. Thor Iversen with him as researcher.

The rest of the year was marked by the ship capsizing and sustaining major damage while being released at Stormøllen in Bergen. The dispute over responsibility went to the Supreme Court, which acquitted the shipyard.

1926: Small business was fishing in the White Sea. Skipper Anton Sulebak. (Johan Olsen served as skipper on the fishing mother ship Helder at West Greenland).

Skips AS Freda went bankrupt in the fall.

1927: Small business was sold from Skips AS Freda, Oslo, to DS Furenak AS, Vartdal, by Elling Aarseth and others. New fisheries registration: M 20 VD. Catch in both Kvitsjøen and Vestisen. Skipper Anton Sulebak. In the summer herring fishing in Iceland.

1928: Small business on a hunt in the White Sea. Skipper Hans Rekdal. Later in the year search for Roald Amundsen in the area of ​​Bjørnøya – Svalbard. Boatmen Johan Olsen and Oscar Wisting, skipper Hans Rekdal.

1929: Small business: In the summer on an expedition trip to Nordaust-Greenland for the Norwegian Svalbard and Arctic Ocean Research Institute (NSIU) and Arktisk Næringsdrift AS (AN). Skipper Hans Rekdal. Expert, ice pilot and mate Vebjørn Landmark. Expedition leader Anders K. Orvin.

Hallvard Devold on his way out for the winter. Five of the six from Hird-the 1927-29 expedition came home with Small business.

(NSIU was the state research institute, AN was a private commercial enterprise. Several Arctic shipping companies in Sunnmøre had shares in AN. Both the research institute and the private enterprise were established in 1928 and had the same office address in Oslo. The expedition to Nordaust-Greenland was the institute's first more extensive expedition).   

1930: Small business was fishing in the White Sea. Skipper Paul Lillenes.

In the summer on an expedition trip to North-East Greenland for the Norwegian Svalbard and Arctic Ocean Research Institute and Arctic Business AS. Expedition leader Adolf Hoel.

1931:  Small business. Small business was on the first of four expedition trips in the Norwegian Sea and to East Greenland with Louise Arner Boyd in the summer. Skipper Paul Lillenes.

1932:  Small business was fishing in the White Sea. Skipper Paul Lillenes. Lillenes was briefly arrested by the Russians for being within the concession limits (Porga-affair).

1933: Small business was fishing in Kvitsjøen, delivered the catch in Tromsø and then went to the West Ice. Skipper Johan Olsen.

In the summer on an expedition with Louise A. Boyd to Jan Mayen and Nordaust-Greenland. Skipper Johan Olsen. Got an echo sounder fitted for the summer expedition.

"Veslekari" is the only Arctic ship to have its own biography. Journalists Einar S. Ellefsen and Odd Berset published the book Veslekari – A Story of Ice and Men in 1957. In both Ålesund and Oslo, restaurants have been named after this famous ship.