It is a fine Friday morning in Svolvaer, perfect for going out in a RIB to see fjords.
The cruising speed is 35 knots so we are glad of goggles. On a sunny day with calm water it is exhilarating but even crossing the wake of another boat makes the RIB buck.
Svolvaer is surrounded by high peaks but the scenery gets even more spectacular as we race up a fjord. On the return journey our skipper spots two sea eagles and, after he throws them some fish, they swoop quite close to us and are joined by another pair. Here are two of Robert’s pictures. The white head shows that it is an old eagle.
And now for something different; the Lofoten Krigsminnemuseum. This is a collection of uniforms, photographs and objects of all kinds relating to the war. A watercolour, signed by A Hitler in 1940 comes as a surprise but it is topped by cartoons of Disney characters signed AH. Incredibly, he was a fan of Disney cartoons, apparently because some of the stories derived from German fairy tales.
There is an Enigma machine (three wheels, so an early model?) and full coverage of the Commando raid on the Lofoten Islands in 1941. A spare set of wheels for an Enigma machine were captured in this action and delivered to Bletchley Park. But there is so much more; Hitler’s magnifying glass with a space for cyanide in the handle; Himmler’s visiting card; a knife and belt made out of scraps in a concentration camp; Christmas tree decorations for the Gestapo; the list and variety is almost endless.
One display made my visit special. It tells of an RAF Squadron operating with success in 1940 from Norwegian soil. However, they were ordered to destroy their aircraft and return to England. They thought that they could, contrary to orders, fly their Hurricanes back to HMS Glorious and land them on deck, although they lacked all-important arrester gear, by attaching sandbags to the tailplanes. This hitherto untested plan worked. The best pilot in the Squadron was chosen to make the first landing; my cousin, Pat Jameson. He had come to England at the beginning of the war from his home in New Zealand. He was highly decorated including, among better known medals, the Norwegian War Cross.
It does not end there. The day after the Hurricanes landed on the deck of the Glorious, it was shelled and sunk. Of more than 1,500 on board only 39 survived, including Pat. He came to Ireland in the 1960s to visit my (Jameson) grandmother and I remember meeting him and being in awe of this war hero.
How does such an extraordinary collection of war memorabilia come to be here in Svolvaer? Step forward William Hakvaag (born in 1948 and resident of Svolvaer) who amassed this diverse collection and opened the museum to inform and explain to the post-war generation the war and Norway’s part in it. It mightily impressed me.
This evening we left Svolvaer on M/S Richard With, retracing our route to Bodø and further south.
Thank you Christopher for your interesting story. The sinking of the Glorious was an enormous disaster in summer 1940, but because mostly everybody lost their lives, not so many have heard about it. But I have their story in the museum. Thanks for your interest. With best wishes from William Hakvaag Lofoten Krigsminnemuseum Svolvaer Norway http://www.lofotenkrigmus.no
In the current exhibition of Eric Ravilious at the Dulwich Picture Gallery ( well worth going to, if you like that kind of thing), there is a painting by him of HMS Glorious painted, I think, the day before ( or, at least, just before) she was sunk.
Francis
Both points you make are new to me and very interesting.