Four-masted barque Olivebank off New Zealand in 1926

The Åland Islands (Finland) shipowner Gustaf Erikson´s four-masted barque Olivebank photographed off Bluff Harbour (New Zealand) in 1926. The original picture by E. A. Phillips - here with my processing and colorization - is in the Maritime Museum archive in Stockholm (Fo33756). The Olivebank run into a mine in the North Sea and was destroyed on September 8, 1939. It was built by Mackie & Thompson, Glasgow, in 1892.

Eckerö Shipping's ro-ro ship Transporter on its way to Amsterdam

The 120 m x 19 m m/v Transporter - below shown in the Sound this afternoon - is one of Eckerö Shippings's ro-ro vessels. The ship was built by Fosen Mek. Verksteder A/S, Norway, in 1991. Eckerö Shipping specializes in the transport of forestry products.  

Ro-ro/passenger ship Isabella 1 (former Nordlandia) in Øresund

Earlier this week it was announced that the Åland based Rederi Ab Eckerö has sold its ro-ro/passenger ship Nordlandia to Isabella Cruise Co. Ltd, Belize. The 153 m x 24 m ship, now renamed Isabella 1, was this morning on its way from Pojo in Finland to Danish Skagen for anchorage. There is no information about its future use, but the name of the new owner company could mean that it will re-enter service as a cruise ship. 

The former Nordlandia,, now renamed Isabella 1, in Øresund on June  16, 2013.

Another photo of Isabella 1 in the Sound.  The ship was built in 1981. 

Fishing in Finland in the the early 20th century

"At Sea", Oil on canvas by Albert Edelfelt (1883)
Gothenburg Museum of Art

As a result of the development of agriculture, industry and commerce, the importance of fishing declined in Finland in the 19th century. In the beginning of the 20th century the share of full time fishermen and hunters - altogether about 16.000 people - had dropped to only about 0,7% of the total work force.

But even during the following decades fishing still was important in Finland, particularly for the Swedish speaking inhabitants of the south-western coastal area of Finland and the Åland islands.

Baltic herring - a smaller variety of herring - was traditionally the most popular seafood in Finland. Perch, pike, bream, pike-perch and whitefish were also among the favorites. (The catch of Baltic herrings amounted to slightly over 20 million kilos in 1934.)

To eke out a living from fishing was not easy in the often cold and windy waters of the vast Finnish archipelago.

The pictures below are from the 1920s:

Hauling back the net.

The catch was placed on the solid granite rock.

Preparing the catch.

Fishermen's huts on Åland Islands.

An ice fishing camp in the Finnish archipelago.

The net being hauled in.

A good catch of Baltic herring.

This type of  "dams" were used for salmon fishing in the rivers.

The catch of salmons.

Fishing boats at the Market Square in the center of Helsinki. 

At the time of the traditional Baltic Herring Fair - which dates beck to at least 1743 - fishermen from the entire southern and southwestern coastal areas and the Åland islands gather at the Helsinki Markets Square. This drawing by Albert Edelfelt is from the 1890s. The Baltic Herring Fair in early October is still a very popular event in Helsinki.. 

In the 1930s, the rivers of Petsamo, on the shore of the Arctic (at the time still in Finnish hands) became popular among international - particularly British - sport fishers:

Navigating in the Åland archipelago a hundred years ago

Shipping has always been an essential activity in the Åland Islands (population 28000), an autonomous, monolingually Swedish-speaking region of Finland, situated between Sweden and the Finnish mainland. A look at the map (from  1910) above makes it easy to understand that navigating among the altogether over 6700 islands and skerries is not easy. That is why there were already in the beginning of the 20th century several lighthouses and lightships in the Åland waters, as the map below (also from 1910) shows.




The position of the lightship Storbrotten, which was operating between the years 1908-1922, can be seen in the northwestern part of the Åland Islands.



Storbrotten (34,1x7,6m) was destroyed by a mine and was later replaced by a bigger lightship with the same name. Finally the ship was replaced by a light buoy in 1958.

The lighthouse Märket, located in the middle of the Åland Sea, was inaugurated in 1885. Märket became unmanned in 1976.

Gisslan, an unmanned lighthouse south of Märket

The Bogskär lighthouse, in the southernmost corner of Finland, was badly damaged by the Germans in 1915. After the first world war it was converted to an automatic acetylene-operated lighthouse .

During the winter months icebreaker asssistance was often needed - as it still is today. Murtaja, Finland´s first icebreaker, was described as "the newest, biggest and strongest icebreaker in Europe", when it arrived from Sweden on April 1, 1890.

Work on a commercial sailing ship was often hard, but the crews of these two Åland galeases must have enjoyed this beautiful summer evening in the archipelago. In the year 1908 268 of Finland´s altogether 383 ships in the merchant fleet were still sailing vessels.  

A view from Mariehamn´s  Western harbour

(More information about the maritime history of the Åland Islands in a previous post here.)