Sjæklen

arbejde om bord, måtte de unge selv betale for at være med,

så der sejledes med store besætninger.

I Odense var rederiet således i 1925 tømt for egen skibs-

tonnage købt under højkonjunkturen med høje priser på

brugt tonnage og afhændet med store tab. Så efter blot ti års

virksomhed gled Transatlantic i 1926 over i historien. Mo-

derfirmaet J. J. Larsen i Faaborg oplevede at blive mere end

100 år, idet firmaet først i 1969 likviderede.

Noter

Jubilæumsartikel i

Fyns Tidende

2/11 1960.

Ole Mortensøn:

Faaborgs skibsfart 1800 – 1920

, p. 18f.

Kraks blå bog

1923.

Foreningen til Søfartens fremme, jubilæumsskrift 1994,

p. 113f.

Fru Birthe Asfeldt, Herning, takkes for at have stillet fa-

derens utrykte erindringer og scrapbog til rådighed for for-

fatteren.

Nævnte værk bd. 1, p. 255f.

Henning Henningsen: Hurra! Om sømandens hilseskikke

og honnør til søs.

Handels- og Søfartsmuseets årbog

1989.

Kraks blå bog

1933.

Citatet er gengivet efter steward H. P. Hansens rapport til

dombogen for Gøteborg rådhusret. Rapporten er gengivet i

Fra Ribe Amt

1927 og i

Fanø sømænd i storm og stille

bd.

2 p. 215.

10.

Forlisomstændighederne er ligeledes citeret efter

Dansk

Søulykke Statistik

1920, som stort set er identisk med ste-

ward Hansens beretning. Note 9.

11.

Kraks blå bog

1920.

12.

Holm-Petersen m.fl.:

Fra sejl til diesel,

bd. IV, p. 224

samt

Svanesang,

p. 137.

13.

Faaborg Avis

7/2 1969.

Summary

During World War One, Danish grain handling facilities had

difficulty hiring ships to bring supplies of corn and oilcakes

from the American continent. In 1916 the wholesale compa-

ny J. M. Larsen of Odense had to establish its own shipping

business, called Transatlantic, to secure its supplies.

A second hand fleet of six square-riggers was bought

from Norway. These were the barque KYLEMORE of Kris-

tiania, the barque ALEXANDER LAWRENCE of Kristian-

sand, the barque HOLTHE of Larvik (ex BANKBURN of

Liverpool), the full ship OBERON of Porsgrund, the barque

ALBERT HØEG (ex SYVSTJERNE of Sarpsborg) and the

barque HENRY SMIDT (ex EDON of Skien).

On board HOLTHE was the 20-year-old ordinary sailor

Christian Peter Christiansen Kiil (1897-1983) – later for

many years a captain in the DFDS fleet – who in his un-

printed memoirs tells about details of life and circumstances

on board when HOLTHE – contrary to Transatlantic’s inten-

tions – was seized by American authorities and ordered to

participate in the American coast trade.

As long as the war continued, the authorities wanted to

make sure that no part of any cargo exported to Denmark

would pass into German hands. They were very suspicious

of Danish ships, where the crew experienced specific re-

strictions again and again, and dramatic incidents occurred.

Transatlantic was a branch of the grain handling facili-

ties belonging to J. M. Larsen, which was established in

Faaborg in 1860. Even then in the late 1800s the company

got its first experiences as ship owners on a smaller scale.

The Odense branch was established in 1903.

Transatlantic did not gain anything from being self-

sufficient during the war. The fleet, which was bought at

great expense, had to be laid-up in Odense harbour during

the early twenties due to the state of the market. After some

years the ships were sold one by one to be scrapped abroad.

The barque ALBERT HØEG avoided being scrapped.

The ship was wrecked on the Swedish west coast at the en-

try to Gothenburg on returning from its first trip to America.

The KYLEMORE survived some years as the SU-

ZANNE of Marstal, and was later sold to Gustaf Erikson in

the Åland Islands in the Baltic Sea.

In 1925 the Transatlantic Company was without a fleet.

Ships which were bought at great cost during the war were

sold at great losses. After ten years as a shipping company,

Transatlantic was history.