The foot locker!

I had made a half-hearted attempt to join Svalbard in 1992 (and earlier, to be sure), but the places there were already taken. In 92/93 I had leave from my job at Ulstein Verft to take the Ship and Offshore course at what was then called Møre og Romsdal College of Engineering in Ålesund. At Christmas time I was in contact with Martin Karlsen about the possibility, and he thought that despite the lack of sailing time, this could be done. More than twenty years later I can admit that I didn't exactly lie awake with folded hands and ask for new contracts from Ulstein that spring.

So when the end of school was approaching, I went to see the HR manager Kolbein Ulstein to find out what was going on. I was on leave, and Ulstein definitely wanted to invest in me, but it was difficult at the time, since there were people who were laid off. “See if you can find something for a short period of time,” was Kolbein’s advice. I took him at his word, and we made a verbal agreement that we would only extend the leave if I could go with Polarstar to Svalbard. From that, I learned that it is important to have agreements in writing. Before I returned, Kolbein had had a stroke, and “nobody” knew about our agreement.

Eighteen until the end of May 1993. Polarstar had been on a seal hunt in the Vesterisen and now arrived at Myklebust Mek and was to refit before the trip to Svalbard. The exciting moment for me was whether I would get a dispensation to muster as an easy seaman. To make as good an impression as possible, I went on board and started refitting on Tuesday, June 1. In my head, this had to be the strongest application in the world, since The Boss – Bruce Springsteen, played at Valle Hovin, while I walked around like a kola jouar at Myklebust Mek. Whether it was Martin's oratory skills or my dear father's good name that did it, I don't know, but in any case it worked out. I must say he was a satisfied man who was then starting to believe in the summer in Svalbard. The days went by quickly. What I remember in particular was the repair of a hull damage from the Vesterisen. They had punched a hole in the forward port side. Sigurd Ertesvåg was a DNV inspector. I remember how Sigurd sketched the skin plate that needed to be replaced. The sheet metal worker at Myklebust was burned. After he had burned the skin, he had a smoke before going inside and loosening the skin from the frame. While he had five minutes, and was talking to a colleague and DNV-Sigurd, the piece of skin plate came tumbling out. I don't remember anyone saying anything then and there.

Another memory is that all the anchor chain had been taken out of the chain boxes. We two sailors were supposed to haul it back on board. When there was a good lock with chain left, the chain started to stick up through the pipe. Holstad came over and scolded us, we must have known that we had to get the chain out into the chain box. What the other sailor should have known, I don't know, at least I didn't. When we had gotten all the chain out, I first went down into the starboard chain box and carefully laid the chain in rows on the rather low and wide chain box. Now there was very good space here, yes, according to Holstad there had never been so good space here! I did the same with the one on the port side. Despite my mother being an expert at washing clothes, the orange overalls never got clean again. Unfortunately, the same was true for my white and black Adidas basketball shoes. They all bore the marks of rust forever. What I also saw down on the chain boxes was that it wasn't just one place where the ship's hull was becoming a well-used lady. There was both rust and holes in various places.

A couple of days before we left, the weather turned bad and I took a day off to make a silo. While I was still rigging for the pre-harvest, I remembered that Ole Kristen Røren stopped by and said that he had heard I was going to Svalbard. The assignment he gave me was to buy a Svalbard tie, as Ingolf had “used up” hash!!

We left Hareid after midnight on Saturday, June 12. Vestposten had a report that Holstad waited until after midnight to avoid going on a Friday. Mom had a lot of experience in sending newspapers to people who weren't home, so I sometimes got rolls of local newspapers, with a letter in the middle. Holstad had a good laugh when I showed him that report.

My cabin was about amidships. Considering any possible sea damage, it was a good location. The only disadvantage was that the cabin was the smallest on the ship, 1,2 times 2,2 meters. At the end of the berth there was a wardrobe. Since the berth was about 175 cm, and I was a good 20 cm taller, I experimented with lying slightly at an angle with my feet out. It worked well for the time being, but when I was pushed, the door would squeeze into my footplates. Lying like a Z when it was quiet without rolling, I never quite got the hang of it. So already on Friday, June 18th – yes, of course a Friday – I agreed with engineer Johan Gjerde that he would help me convert the wardrobe into a foot locker.

Gjerde was, as always, positivity itself. Breakfast was barely eaten before he was ready. It was with a big smile and a short smoke that he appeared with a jigsaw in his hand. I can't remember the angle and meter measurements we used, but the idea was to cut a cutout that was so big that we just laid it down and used it as an extension of the bunk. I have to say it worked out. It didn't take many minutes before the shelf for my legs was in place. I found some foam that I placed on the shelf. Not that thick, but better than nothing, and a pillowcase over it. We were very satisfied! I vacuumed and tidied up again.

Not many minutes after I had parked the vacuum cleaner, Johan Gjerde held the first show. It was to bring a small number of passengers to my cabin, so that two by two they could be let in and see the foot locker and fantasize about how the tall man from Brandal lay. Gjerde (possibly a few others too) did these shows several times during the summer – usually on calm days. Always with equal success!

Gjerde also had a very apt monologue after this renovation. Then he imagined Else when she saw the cupboard, was irritated and wanted to know who had done it, etc. The last sentence was "I have to find him Gjerde. Where is he there Gjerde?" In all ways a very nice guy to be around.

For me, it was very interesting to be on watch with Johan Gjerde and Johan Holstad. They had countless stories from a long life in the Arctic Ocean. If Johan Holstad wasn't the most sociable and talkative person in the world in the morning, it was a dream to be on night watch with him. I only wish I was more eager to write down details.

I have written about the summer in Svalbard before, so this will not be a reprise of "My summer in Svalbard". I can still close my eyes, see sun, ice and blue sky. Seals, whales, walruses and polar bears. And thousands of birds. I must also say that it was nice to come to Longyearbyen with Polarstar . We were welcome everywhere. Holstad, Gjerde, Audun Gården and the others had a network that made it easy for "a stranger in Jerusalem" to be accepted and included.

I almost have to include the story of the ski tourists. On one of the trips we took from Longyearbyen, we had a whole group of ski tourists who were going from the northwest tip of Spitsbergen and down to Blomstrandhalvøya in Kongsfjorden. The plan was to put them ashore in Raudfjorden. When we got there, the ice in the fjord was very wet, and the guides did not want to start a ten-day ski trip in slush, with wet shoes and the risk of wet equipment. So Holstad decided to round the northwest tip and go into Fuglefjorden and put them off there. We rounded Fugløya. While we were standing there in the wheelhouse, looking around and wondering where we would be able to land them, Johan Gjerde came up with his fantastic suggestion: "Årre is the name, can't we put them ashore on an island?"

Almost 24 years after this summer, there is one thing that surpasses all the fantastic nature experiences the summer gave me, and that is all the satisfied passengers. I can say a lot of nice things about Polarstar , but she was not a luxury yacht. So I guess more people than I had any idea how the standard would be received. There were smiles and kind words all summer!

Both Jens Åge Aschehoug and others have "thanked me" for the extra long berth. The fact that the foot locker should survive the renovation in Poland and not least be protected by the Norwegian Ministry of Cultural Heritage is both funny and a bit strange to me. It must be my small contribution to being remembered on board the white swan of the Arctic Ocean, or the Star, as my mother always said!

Johannes Alme