Hello everyone,

recently there was a post in the Lardex-shipforum about old norwegian Whaler VERDANDE (1902) and her sisterships URD & SKULD:

Fleet-list fra SKIPET nr. 4-1995:
VERDANDE, 101 brt., 87,6-17,2-12,5 ft.
1902: levert til Hekla Hvalfangerselskab (H.M.Wrangell), Haugesund,
1916: LOTHE, Sjur Lothe, Haugesund,
1920?: SLÆP, M.L.Michelsen, Haugesund, R-46-H, brukt som taubåt,
1923: SLÆP, A/S Slæp (M.L.Michelsen), Haugesund,
1930: Ombygd, forlenget til 100,1 fot, 116 brt.,
1931: ROALD, Fiskeri & Slæp A/S (S.O.Rødseike),HAUGESUND,
1933: T-50-H SOLBRANN, Alfred M. Larsen, Harstad, kallesignal LERX
1940: Forlist 28.02.
H/b VERDANDE var nr. 2 av 3 hvalbåter levert fra Akers M/V i 1902. Hekla Hvalfangerselskab (H.M.Wrangell), disponent for alle tre; URD # 205, VERDANDE #206 og SKULD #207.

Ever since reading it, I’ve been wondering what happened to the other ships. Now, old posts in this forum give some hints. In one of his old posts, Axel Kühn has written about a danish company called Dansk Hvalfangst & Fiskeri A/S from Copenhagen, managed by H.M.Wrangell from Haugesund. In their fleet was a HEKLA IV, 1902, 99 GT, ex URD. Verdande had 100 GT, so I am quite certain this is VERDANDE’s sistership. If yes, what happened in between? Apparently Wrangell owned both companies. Curiously, the Dansk Hvalfangst & Fiskeri A/S whalers have all HEKLA… names. Did they belong to Wrangell’s Hekla Hvalfangerselskab before?
Mr Kühn aso mentions STREYMOY = R-114-H (until 1939) 99gt 1902 ex HVALSBAK ex FORCE ex SKULD, was owned by J.Brandt-Reitan, Haugesund in 1940 [LDHJ]. If I am not mistaken, this is VERDANDE’s other sistership SKULD.
But to add to the confusion, some sources say that VERDANDE, URD & SKULD were owned by Albert Grøn. The book DAMP, says this also, but it has so many mistakes (gives building year for SKULD as 1898, A/S Tanahorn, Albert Grøn, 1914 catching off Brasil for A/S Urd, which since 1916 is listed as owned by T. Dannevig). I do not trust this information at all. As to URD (again 1884) DAMP says she was sold to A/S Normanna as NORMAN II. Are these older ships, or have the DAMP authors confused everything? For VERDANDE they have the correct story, as in the posting above.
Has anybody more information on Albert Grøn and his whaling activity? He as engaged in whaling from very early on (his ship TANAHORN sunk by a whale in 1891). I think he stopped whaling about 1913 after having great financial losses. Are HEKLA I ex EGIL, HEKLA II ex LEIF and HEKLA III ex TALKNA ships that were buildt for him?

Lastly, DAMP lists a whaler named SKJOLD, buildt in 1882 at Nylands M/V, which ended her days as „vannbat“ CORCOVADO in Valparaiso. „Vannbat“= water tanker?
In Axel Kühn’s post was OLJEREN ex SKULD I ex SKULD 95gt 1898 Partrederi Skuld I (Mgr:) Juul Wold, from 31.05.1940 - 29.06.1943 used by KMD Oslo. Has OLJEREN something to do with oil? Might there be a connection with water tanker SKJOLD / CORCOVADO (or am I just imagining things now)???

You are welcome to contribute to this confusion!

Regards,
Max