To the Islands

The crew had been picked up at Tryneviko by men in Oselvar rowing boats, one coming into the small cove and the other waiting offshore.

We know who the rowers were, but where had the boats come from?

According to Mr. Haga’s account,

“One of the rowboats stopped at an inlet on an island. In the other, Jakobsen and Nils Røttingen rowed in the remaining five hundred meters to Bjørnatrynet.”

Einar Evensen says:

"At Ramsholman one or our boats was left whilst the other continued to Björnetrynat, about 500 meters away, where the men were to be fetched."

The island referred to by Mr. Haga is then, Ramsholman, Where had the boats come from? To stop at Ramsholman and “continue on” for “the remaining 500 metres, the boats must have come from the west. Einar Evensen, Hans H. Holmefjord, Torvald Jakobsen and Magnus K. Røttingen were, according to Mr. Haga, “islanders” and Evensen lived in Bjørnaroy (which is between Bjørnatrynet and Strøno.

On Google earth, the distance from Ramsholman to Tryneviko on Bjørnatrynet is about 1200 metres as the crow flies. Perhaps rowing these special Oselvar rowing boats made the distances seem shorter.

While we would follow the path of the crew, to the extent we could, it was not possible to take 50+ people in the Oselvar rowing boats. Instead, our organizers had chartered an older vessel, the MS MIDTHORDLAND, and arranged for those of us who had visited the cave to be ferried on small boats from the shore at Tryneviko to the larger vessel. Those who had taken the shorter walk to Hahljem had boarded the boat there and sailed to Tryneviko to await our arrival there.

Our hosts also arranged for quite a few of the helpers’ descendants to join us as we followed different parts of the crew’s trips on the water, to visit the important stops in the crew’s journey.

Backtracking, we did a 180 degree route around Sunnøya to see the bridge from the other side, and then turned and sailed for Strøno, to find the ruined foundation of the boathouse a little to the south of the entrance to Selvågen. The foundation is there, difficult to see from the water, but easier to see in Gaute’s photo taken from the shore.

We did not follow the track from Strøno to Lønningdal, but skipped ahead 9 or 10 days to pick up the track of the Snogg on its route from Lønningdal to the small island called Kjøomannholmen, an island so small that its name is not contained within its boundaries on Google maps, but extends into the surrounding seas like piers at which passing boats can safely dock . On the way we detoured a little to the south to see Ospoya, a stopping place on the way to the island of Kjøomannholmen and their rendezvous with the Vitra three days later.

After a loop around Kjøomannholmen, we sailed around the north end of Statøya, then southwest to the south end of Vestrø Bakholmen, and once again north-west to a small island at the entrance to Follesvåg, where the crew had waited for nightfall before being picked up and delivered into the capable hands of Shetlands Larsen.

In his book, Harvey Firestone says:

After leaving Ospoy we headed in a north by north-west direction for about five kilometres when a boat headed in our direction and, to our great surprise, came abreast. At the wheel of the boat was Einar Evensen, and he was there only for a few short moments, to wish us well on the final leg of our joumey.

We continued on for a very short distance and then headed almost due south. We could make out land on either side of us. The fjord was a little bit over a kilometre wide, and we held our course for another five kilometres. We could see ahead that the fjord was dotted with many islands, both large and small. Finally Sverre Ostervoll headed between two of the larger islands in our path [Vestrø Bakholmen and Vestre Stillo], and steered to a very small, rocky, island, on which there was a little hut. The two Sverres indicated that we were to stay out of sight of all passing boats and that they would come back that night, to take us to rendezvous with a boat that would carry us back to the Shetland Islands and freedom.

Harvey’s directions and distances are remarkably accurate, and describe the path from Ospoy to this small, unnamed piece of land almost exactly.

From there, it was time to go back and we sailed to the east through the islands and returned to Halhjem.

We were sustained during the voyage by a hot buffet lunch that was available to purchase on MIDTHORDLAND as well as a cash bar with cold draft beer that was perfect following the morning’s hike.

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From Tryneviko we headed north-west, towards, Ramsholmen, to see the passage between Ralmsholmen and Haljemsøya that may have been followed by the boats on their way to Strøno, and then back around Skjerholmen to see that passage from the other side, a passage too big for the MIDTHORLAND, but one easily taken on an dark night by two Oselvar rowing boats with muffled oars.

From there, a reversal of direction around Ytterøya and Røgamålsholmen, and then again north-west with Bjørnarøya on the starboard side, followed by a 90 degree turn to port between Brattholmen and Bruarøya to see the famous bridge between Bruarøya and Røtinga where the German watchman was distracted by one of the rowers so the row boats could slip under the bridge. Like much of the land, the land around the bridge had changed much in the last 40 years.

On the cruise, as on our hikes, we were accompanied by a cameraman from [ to be completed ], who prepared some excellent videos of our trip, and those who participated. Click on the photo below to see the video.

To see the track of the route taken on the cruise through the islands in Google Maps, please click here. Make sure you select the satellite view.