Shipping Lines - Wartime skipshunden Bamse remembered at port ceremony
Bamse, the St. Bernard mascot of Captain Erling Hafto of the Norwegian minesweeper Thorodd, was remembered at the impressive statue on Wharf Street, Montrose on Friday, June 28, writes John Aitken.
An at times emotional ceremony, took place on a rather bracing, but otherwise dry and sunny morning, to mark the 80th anniversary of the sea dog’s demise in late July, 1944.
Two of Captain Hafto’s descendants, grandson Steinar and his sister Kirsten, had made the trip from Moss to consolidate the long-standing family connection with the Angus seaport. Unfortunately, their mother Vigdis was not able to travel with them on this recent occasion. Local and international dignitaries and guests including the mayor and a group of schoolchildren from the school in Horten, location of the Norwegian Naval Museum, were present together with members of the Royal Norwegian Navy Band under the musical direction of Warrant Officer Kvam. During the ceremony wreaths were laid by representatives of various organisations including one on behalf of Montrose Port Authority.
Previously, young members of Steinar and Kirsten’s families had visited Montrose on a brief fact-finding visit in June, 2023 in order for the next generation of the Hafto family to view the whereabouts of Bamse’s wartime exploits and where their great grandfather’s ship had been berthed during the dark days of World War Two. On being decommissioned and subsequently converted, Thorodd returned to her home waters to pursue a civilian career along the Norwegian coast before sinking in October, 1955 off Risor.
The girls were interested to see the various locations which Bamse had frequented. However, some areas such as Thorodd’s berth in the former Wet Dock, had been filled in over 40 years ago.
During this most recent event there were two Norwegian-flagged offshore support vessels in port, namely the massive anchor handlers Island Valiant and Aurora Sandefjord, registered at the ports of Alesund and Arendal respectively. Berthed on the North Quay the same day was the well-maintained, red-hulled Feed Helgeland registered at Trondheim. She was built in 1999 at the shipyard of Scheepswerf J. Paatje at Waterhuizen in The Netherlands. She had reportedly brought a shipment of scrap oilfield downhole tubulars from Mongstad in Norway. A previous name had seen her sailing under the Irish flag as Arklow Viking.
Commercial traffic had been a bit sporadic with several strangers having been noted including the Hav Zander flagged out to Nassau, Bahamas, but with Norwegian connections. Next to arrive on the north side of the harbour was observed the Peak Bordeaux which was reported as having arrived from Wallsend-on-Tyne. Sailing under the Dutch flag and registered at the port of Harlingen, she was built by Dongfeng Shipbuilding at Hangzhou in China in 2011. Of three, 931-ton deadweight, she was constructed initially as the Abis Bordeaux and described as one of the shipbuilders’ Euro Freighter class of short sea cargo vessels.