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"The Ships"

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SKA 4

- a Danish survey boat manned by the Royal Danish Navy -

incl.

- her sister ships, crew and Greenland -

- Page 5 -

The daily harvest from the ocean
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

When we got stuck in the ice for long periods of time and could not go anywhere, we did of course run out of provisions and stores, - with NO supermarkets around -, but fortunately enough, it is impossible to die from hunger in Greenland.
The water was simply full of fish, and they were so willing to bite the hook, that it was not even necessary to use bite!
Just throw out the hook, and very often you had a fish right away - - -
On many pictures of SKA boats in this web page you can often see "something" which is not used for navigation hanging in the mast and rigging - - -
It is dried fish, - a most delicate snack, and we constantly chewing on a delicious piece of dried fish - - -

Also birds were plentiful, so a hunter could always be sure of shooting something - - -
We lived VERY well onboard, and never missed the supermarket - - -
A funny thing about the wild animals was, that they were not used to see people, and therefore they had not yet learned to be scared of human beings.
Therefore we would experience that the polar rabbits and polar birds did not even care to move until you almost stepped on them - - -

Through increasing ice formations
- in front SKA 6 followed by SKA 3 and finally SKA 4 -
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

At this point we had to give up.
The ice simply packed more and more, and the ice bergs became bigger and bigger - - -
It was not safe to continue under those worsening conditions, so we sought shelter in a perfect sheltered bay, - or at least that was what we thought -, since we expected that the ice could not enter the narrow entrance, which it actually could, - and DID!

Our anchor place in the sheltered bay
- blessed with another magnificent performance by "Mother Nature" -
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

Next morning, - a closer view over our anchor place.
- a safe looking bay with a narrow entrance, and lots of ice outside -
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

But the anchor place was not really safe at all!
Here Jan Walseth and Thorkild push ice away from the SKA fleet -
(Photography by karsten Petersen ©)

In spite of the sheltered bay with the narrow opening,- ice still came in and drifted towards the anchored SKA fleet.
Some of the ice blocks were too big, with too sharp and hard corners, and in order to avoid that it would pack around the boats, we had to push it away to the best of our ability - - - -

View from the top of the island, where we could watch the ice situation
- heavy ice is seen all the way around, and the SKA boats had no chance to escape -
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

A view to the sound outside our anchor place.
- too much ice, - stunningly beautiful -, but lethal for small wooden boats -
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

Suddenly one day a helicopter arrived, - a navy "Alouette" -, with a prominent visitor.
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

A visit by an Admiral, - the head of the Greenland Command!
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

Obviously it had caused some concern, that the four SKA boats had "disappeared" from the World for so long time -
But no reason to worry, - we did not suffer and could fish and hunt and had plenty of food!
I think that the name of the Admiral of the Greenland Command was Petersen,- just like me! :-)

Me,- the web master -, enjoying the magnificent view from the top of our island
- the water still packed with ice -
(Photography by Jan Walseth)

Only ice, ice and ice all the way around, - but incredible beautiful.
- looks as if the four little SKA boats will have to wait -
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

Jan Walseth jumping down from our look-out point
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

Sailing through ice into a fantastic morning
- from left to right: SKA 3, - SKA 6 and SKA 5 in front -
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

Looks like a SKA boat traffic jam
- I cannot remember what was the problem here, but SKA 6 in front is pulling the following boat -
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

Here the towing line from SKA 6 is clearly seen -
- the crippled boat was in fact also tied up SKA 4 aft, so that it was easier to guide her through the ice -
(Photography by Karsten Petersen ©)

Click for page 6 of the "SKA boat" story - - -

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Page initiated.: Oct.09.2006
Updated.......: Oct.10.2006, - Oct.11.2006, - Oct.14.2006