Finnmarken (of 1956)

[pakarang]

Finnmarken (of 1956).

At the old forum, we had a thread covering the Hurtigruten Museum at Stokmarknes (shall be continued here as well), but the ship Finnmarken of 1956 has so far not had any own thread yet.

Therefore, without any further delay, here is the thread dedicated to good old Finmarken!


Photo by Adresseravisen www.adressa.no

[pakarang]

Actually, Finnmarken had her own thread at the old board:

29.05.1956 VDS takes delivery of Finnmarken (HAPPY B-DAY!)

But, we continue here on the new board.

[pakarang]

Encouraging others to recapture the essence of the good old days on the Norwegian Coast by posting images of our dear old stars: this time I bump up the thread of old Finnmarken: an image taken at Trondheim during her OVDS-years:

[Sterkoder]

Lots of resent interior pictures in this thread http://forum.airpics.com/read.php?TID=28359#187485
in the norwegian aviation (jepp, you read correct....) forum airpics.com

And if anyone wonder: At airpics.com my nick is "LN-SSL" (LN being the national letters on all norwegian aircraft, and SSL being my name initials).

[Ralf__]

Thank you for that great link!! It was such a pity that we could not visit her during our stop in Stokmarknes, because we were too late (too much freight in Tromso). I was waiting for such interior pictures for a long time! I must visit her, when i will be there next time!

[Seagull]

. . .I was waiting for such interior pictures for a long time! . . .

Ralf, I feel quite embarrassed to have not posted my photos for you earlier. It is not as if they are hard to find among my collection - interiors all together from one visit in June 2003, and mostly deck views on the other shorter stop in wintery weather in March of the same year. (I don’t seem to have had time or opportunity to photograph cabins.)

As you can see from the March photos, my visits date from before the covering over of the ship, and the exposure of the deck in the snow all too clearly shows the need for some form of protection and regular maintenance.
In the museum thread, I intend to also post a few other photos which show the ship more in the context of its surroundings of the quayside and the other buildings.

[Seagull]

[Seagull]

[pakarang]

Thank you so very much for sharing those views of Finnmarken!

Quite interesting I must say. I can't help but wonder what would have happened to the ship if she hadn't been donated to the museum when she completed her sailing career at Hurtigruten... I wonder if she would have been scrapped or if she would have ended up as a hotel somewhere?

[Ralf__]

...wonderful pictures! It is hard to believe, that is so easy to scrap a fully equipped ship.

Another question. Lofoten seems to be the only ship, where all chairs are fixed to the floor with a chain. In our opinion this was quite necessary. Why are the chairs on these other interior pictures all without these chains?

[pakarang]

Another question. Lofoten seems to be the only ship, where all chairs are fixed to the floor with a chain. In our opinion this was quite necessary. Why are the chairs on these other interior pictures all without these chains?

In the image above taken at the restaurant, you can clearly see the attachment point for the chains in the deck under the chairs, naturally, on land they may be safely removed...

I do remember that on old Nordnorge in the forward lunge beneath the bridge, the chairs had chains. The reason for remembering that is that on a trip across Folla in a storm, my brother was seated in one of the chairs (with loose chain) and he was sent flying through the room: he suffered a concussion to the head and was taken off the ship at Rorvik and transferred to a waiting ambulance.

[pakarang]

An old early 90's clip of Finnmarken at sea:

[pakarang]

Several pictures from the engine room on MS Finnmarken from recently, Hurtigrute Museum website:

http://hurtigrutemuseet.no/ms-finnma...kniske-museum/

[pakarang]

NRK news report about a water leak on board the Finnmarken's Captains Cabin and an interview with her Captain, published on the NRK website.

http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/distrikt/...ge/verdi/97047

It is noted on Hurtigrute Museum website that this leak has now been repaired and the work bringing the Captains Cabin back to its original glory is well underway.

[pakarang]

Some interesting photos from the launch of Finnmarken more than 50 years ago:

[Sigve]

Finnmarken leaving Tromsø may 1988, in the background Tromsdalen church; Ishavskatedralen.
---
Regards; Sigve.

[pakarang]

Look what I found in my old shoe box...: this is just the right stuff for us Hurtigrute-loving geeks, am I right?

[Sigve]

I can remember when Finnmarken and Ragnvald Jarl entered service in 1956. Their new design was not well received by everybody; it was considered too radical, a ship shouldn't look like that.
It was the appearance of the wheelhouse and especially the position of the funnel that created big fuss along the coast. The funnel was said to be a wart (vorte).
My father, who was at sea as a young man, was very indignant every time he spotted those two ships. They were not elegant ships, this was not what a ship should look like, he fumed.
I think there was writing in the papers about their appearance, all along the coast.
Whatever the reason, the design of the later ships of the same class was moderated (or developed?) into very goodlooking ships. Today we consider Kong Olav/Nordnorge to be two of the most beautiful ships that ever sailed.
---
Regards Sigve.

[pakarang]

I can remember when Finnmarken and Ragnvald Jarl entered service in 1956. Their new design was not well received by everybody; it was considered too radical, a ship shouldn't look like that.
It was the appearance of the wheelhouse and especially the position of the funnel that created big fuss along the coast. The funnel was said to be a wart (vorte).
My father, who was at sea as a young man, was very indignant every time he spotted those two ships. They were not elegant ships, this was not what a ship should look like, he fumed.
I think there was writing in the papers about their appearance, all along the coast.
Whatever the reason, the design of the later ships of the same class was moderated (or developed?) into very goodlooking ships. Today we consider Kong Olav/Nordnorge to be two of the most beautiful ships that ever sailed.
---
Regards Sigve.

I remember reading about something like this as well, in a book or a magazine.

Today, we don't even look twice at the funnel, so what is a bit of a curiosity to me is the fact that we as humans, are always critical to radical new designs.

I guess the same goes for today: don't we all remember how many of us protested against the new HRG logo, the painting of Hurtiguten on the ship-sides, the white painted Finnmarken....

Now, we see it, but hardly talk about it anymore.... I guess what I'm trying to say, tradition is good, and change is hard.

[pakarang]

Brand new video clip uploaded onto youtube: