Narrated by Hans Eriksen
to Nils-Ole Dalvik
In the winter of ”59 I was fishing on the ”Ole Henrik" with Nils Olaf Dalvik as skipper off Tufjord (on Rolvsøy) in Finnmark. There was a lot of bad weather that winter, and the weather forecasts didn't report much about gales, mostly just storm-force winds and hurricanes. It was rare that there was a moderate gale and fishing weather.
Then one morning in February he woke me up at about 4 o'clock and said that it was calm now, so we should go out now. He asked me to start the engine while he made some coffee. I started the engine, and went down to drink coffee in the cabin before we set off on the outward journey.
There was a slight south-westerly draft in the air, but very little. Out to the fishing ground off Tu-båan took an hour and a half's travel. Around half past five we had begun hauling the nets, and we hauled the anchor line and half the net, the rest had been torn off. The nets had been in the sea a long time, with a heavy swell. We then headed for the other end, but as we got close to the other end we heard it banging badly beneath the stern, though nobody reacted particularly to this. Then the bulb in the hauling light blew, and I went down into the cabin to fetch a new bulb. Then I heard it bang heavily again beneath the boat, and I thought I would look over the gunwale when I came back on deck. When I looked over the gunwale at the stern I saw that the rudder was gone. ”The rudder's gone,” I shouted to the skipper. ”That's not possible, we overhauled it and fitted new rudder pintles last summer,” he replied. ”Well, come and look,” I answered him. Then he tried spinning the wheel, but it was no use – the rudder was gone.
Rorløs outside Tubåan
Then he asks me to come up and hold the boat against the gear for as long as possible, and then he'll start calling for the lifeboat. While we were hauling the gear I tried to follow the gear so that we could take in the gear, but after getting up six nets the rest of the gear parted. Meanwhile the skipper had tried to call the lifeboat without getting an answer. But after a while Hammerfest Radio calls us and wonders why we are calling the lifeboat. When they hear about the problem they promise to pass it on to the lifeboat. Shortly afterwards the lifeboat calls us and asks where we are and what is wrong. ”We are drifting without steering outside Tu-båan,” we reply. ”We'll be there in two hours,” they replied.
While we are waiting for help, Hammerfest Radio calls us again. ”Have you heard the weather forecast?” they ask. No, we hadn't heard the latest forecast; after all, we were busy trying to haul the fishing gear. ”Storm-force winds from the southwest are predicted,” they say. ”Well, let it come,” we reply.
After a short while, a light breeze began to blow from the southwest, and gradually there was enough wind for us to keep the boat facing the weather with the mizzen sail hoisted. Then we saw the rescue boat coming between Ingøya and Rolvsøya; whitecaps appeared from time to time, and we realised it was it coming. But then it hit us with snow squalls, gale-force winds and sea spray. The skipper stood in the wheelhouse while two of us were on the aft deck handling the mizzen sail. The others were in the cabin and simply had to stay there. It was impossible to walk on deck, as one could easily have been blown overboard.
Accompanied by the lifeboat
Meanwhile the lifeboat had found our companion boat and asked for our position. They told us we were further west of them. Shortly afterwards the lifeboat was astern of us, coming within just a few metres and trying to confer with us. But the hurricane was roaring so loudly that it was impossible. The radio was the only option, and then they agreed that we should try to fix the mizzen so that we could manoeuvre ourselves to Kjøpsvika under Sør-Øya. We fixed the mizzen so that we could steer towards Kjøpsvika, then we shouted to the skipper that he could now just start going.
We made such good headway towards Kjøpsvika, and it went well across Røstbotten without any vomiting, but the deck was often filled with water. The lifeboat was coming along right behind us all the time. When we then reached Kjøpsvika, the waters were calmer even though there was sea spray as high as the mountains. The lifeboat came right up close to us and took us in tow to Akkarfjorden.
However, they didn't stay lying there even if there was a hurricane, they set off for Havøysund again.
Photo: illustrative image