D/S Hestmanden
Emile Hendrix
MSc. in marine technology | marine engineering & hydromechanics | disruptive improvement w. python & matlab | Norwegian Maritime Authority
A 110 year old museumship, built to carry passengers and payload. Sailing for Vesteraalens dampskibsselskab it was named after the Horseman, an island with a hill that has the same name, and is crossed by the arctic circle. That's special. Just as special as the ships story. It survived two world wars, dismantling and a whole lot more. A visit last week taught me more than that its story was special and long. [1]
A tour around the ship started in its holds. They showed its story and a movie about its function before and during the first world war, with all the problems that involved. Grounding, minefields and convoy sailing. And history continued: In the second world war, there was more of the same in the service of Nortraship, the shipping company of the exiled Norwegian government. [2]
In that war, the ship sailed?to supply Great Britain with weapons and whatnot more from America. Trips across the Atlantic, without air cover were more than a small trial for those on board. Its international crew survived luckily, whilst 4500 other sailors died as a result of German attacks and the following sinkings on such journeys. [3]
After the war, it was converted for the same three-stage expansion steam engine, but now with steam from oil instead of coal. Today you can still see how both the coal and required air found its way through the ship to the engine room. You can still feel the heat there. Guests are not allowed during transits, but as the boiler takes two days to fully heat up, I felt the heat the day before it's next voyage. It reminded me of the heat that burnt my hand on a large 98-W?rtsil? engine.
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The rest of the ship shows a simple bridge and a number of steam-powered pieces of machinery across the ship. It was delightful to feel the heat and see how all the machinery was connected. However, looking back, it was the story of?the war sailors that were forgotten after the war, that I remember best.
It taught me that no matter what happens, -how beautiful a ship or its purpose is, it are the people on board that are its history. And that is a lesson that too often is buried beneath bureaucracy.
[1] https://www.vestagdermuseet.no/hestmanden/
[2] https://snl.no/Nortraship
[3] https://www.vestagdermuseet.no/hestmanden/norsk-krigsseilermuseum/