News

February 2, 2000

"Continuation School" for future sailors

The school ship Sørlandet achieved the status of "continuation school for future seafarers", approved by the Ministry of the Church. In practice, this became a sailing seamen's school for boys who often came directly from the primary school with no other ballast than what this school stood for. On board the "continuation school", the students were offered practical instruction in seamanship, i.e. learning to sail and master the conditions on board The Ship with the strict demands for discipline and duties that were imposed. In addition, the students received instruction in theoretical subjects such as Norwegian, social and health studies, easier arithmetic tasks etc. by teachers who had to be approved by the school director. the teaching turned out to be to a great extent required, especially for those pupils who had not taken school teaching on land very seriously.

January 24, 2000

Our youngest Vikings

Here, Southern Norway's presence would become the precursor to many targeted and export-oriented Norwegian PR advances towards America. Our country had little opportunity to make its mark at this world exhibition, the largest of all such exhibitions, but it was said afterwards that the schoolship outweighed the Norway did not be able to do any other way.

January 23, 2000

Meet The Schoolship Boy Ansgar Thorkildsen (1923-1998)

Glenn and Bonnie Thorkildsen contacted us a few weeks ago via Facebook. They wanted to share pictures and tell of their father and father-in-law who they thought sailed as a schoolship boy on Sørlandet in 1937. We got a series of pictures and learned a little about what he had done until he was called to military service when World War II broke out. Here's the story.

January 19, 2000

"We became men"

Sørlandet got a "flying start" with successful voyage to Denmark and London in 1927. It was also memorable that King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav were welcomed on board the ship's first Oslo voyage . It happened on 23 July 1927 while the schooner was at anchor outside Kontraskjæret. The King and Crown Prince showed great interest in the school ship boys' display in rigging and yards with setting and salvaging sails. The king and entourage were on board for a couple of hours and inspected the entire ship under the leadership of captain Selmer Lindeberg. It was the first time that the Royal House was a guest on board the ship, and there were to be more such events in due course, most recently during King Olav's 25th anniversary as monarch in 1982.

January 10, 2000

School under sail

When the late shipowner OAT Skjelbred set aside £25,000 as a gift with the aim of building a school ship for the region, he also expressed a specific purpose with his gift. Kjell Rosenberg, who for so long was a teacher on board Sørlandet , has given some thought to this.

January 5, 2000

They came down from the rig and manned our fleet

"The first school ship cohorts came down from the rigging and sailed out as deck boys, young men and cooks on steamboats and tankers and were happy for the hire. Some went to the top of the bridge and became captains and higher ship officers in the merchant fleet and in our Royal Navy ... »This is what it says in some reflections from one of the boys who was on board in his early 30s, one of the many with a thirst for adventure in the blood and a desire for the challenges of sea life. We allow ourselves here to browse a little in the oldest annual reports to give some glimpses of what was recorded of impressions and thoughts after the end of the season, otherwise in the language that was used. In these years visited Sørlandet a number of ports in the Baltic Sea, North Sea and Skagerak.