The ship broke in two on a giant wave
The winter storms had raged more violently than usual in the northern Atlantic. When Kurt Carlsen sailed into the Channel the problems had already begun. Tugboats from France, Holland and England had already dealt with the first disabled vessels, but there were more yet to come, and the weather was getting wilder and more vicious. The Day before Christmas Eve, Carlsen received new orders from Isbrandtsen. ”For the sake of America” was one of the the things it said. The orders were clear. Kurt Carlsen was to leave Hamburg immediately and head for Baltimore with his cargo. Even though there was space for another 1200 tons in the middle hold which mostly contained mail, Carlsen ordered the ship to sail at once. ”I was very sorry to have to cancel Christmas with my parents and siblings. They had been...
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Kurt Carlsen tells the truth about the drama
Kurt Carlsen sat, subdued, with his pipe in his mouth. It had long gone out, but he didn’t seem to realize that. Deeply concentrated on both the projector and the shipwreck from his past, he chewed on the stem of the pipe and adjusted the focus. The monotonous sound and flashes of light on the white screen in the living room reinforced the mood. Once in a while Carlsen pressed the pause button and carefully wound the big film reel back and forth when important details needed substantiating. For example, the story of the graphic descriptions circulated by the world’s press of ”chief officer Kenneth Roger Dancy, who, in the hurricane, leapt from ship to ship in the foaming Atlantic Ocean!” – ”Well”, said Carlsen and focused on the stern railing. ”Dancy stumbled over on ”Turmoil”, and suddenly he...
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The voice from the past. The voice from the Atlantic
It is one of those gorgeous October days in Silkeborg in 2011. Erling Horslykke Andersen has just been in the attic to get his father’s steel tape recorder. The metal thread, less than a millimeter thick is wound from reel to reel through a magnet head. The transformer that adjusts the power to 110 volts is just as aged as the rest of the equipment, none of which has been used for decades. “We’ll give it a try,” says Erling who is a ham operator just like his father, the legendary radio dealer, Knud P. from Silkeborg. Seconds later, Captain Kurt Carlsen’s voice can be heard in the room. The voice from the past. The voice from the Atlantic. When Kurt Carlsen and Kenneth Dancy went ashore in Falmouth, Knud P. Andersen was there with his Webstar Chicago. It...
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For the sake of America, said the telegram
He had been the leader of convoys for the US navy more than 100 times during the Second World War. He knew, to put it mildly, all the surprises the weather gods could come up with in the area between Iceland, Murmansk and Europe. So Captain Carlsen’s thoughts were elsewhere as he sailed towards Hamburg via Rotterdam. In his warm captain’s cabin which contained several powerful radio transmitters and receivers, he maintained contact with his ham radio friends all over the world. There were beach mariners, landlubbers, other captains, a cratfsman from Munkebo on the island of Funen, King Hussein of Jordan and his best friend, Knud P. Andersen in the town of Silkeborg. They had been very close friends since before the war and there was good chemistry between them. They could talk about anything on the radio...
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“What do you fear most,” captain Carlsen? – “Going ashore!
Dancy and Carlsen slept soundly despite the raging storm. They went to bunk with the knowledge that now almost nothing could go wrong. Almost nothing! At a speed of 3 knots – the same as a pedestrian – “Turmoil” pulled the two men and their ‘dead’ ship towards land. Dan Parker was authorized to choose the nearest port – it didn’t matter if it was Ireland, France or England.As a result of the traversing swells and the storm, “Flying Enterprise” was rolling 45 degrees to each side, which caused an enormous pull on the hawser. Following as closely as the storm would allow were the French tug “Abeille” and the English “Dexterous”. Not to get a share of a possible salvage fee but good old fashioned seamanship. The question of payment had been resolved between Hans Isbrandtsen and the...
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The world wanted to know more about the indomitable Danish sailor
The notice in a Danish newspaper about ”Flying Enterprise’s” problems in the Atlantic was, for the time being, the only thing the world knew about the drama. Headlines talked of the war in Korea and meetings in high politics. But then came the picture of the solitary Danish captain sitting on his listing ship in the Atlantic, waving at a photographer from an English news-paper. They had received a tip about the ’dead’ ship buffeted by the storm after all the passengers had been rescued to the five ships which had carried out the rescue operation to perfection. Over New Year the storm subsided. The hurricane moved further up into the north Atlantic. The sea around the waving Kurt Carlsen was calm. ”I SAT THERE outside the rail and held on with my right hand as I waved at...
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Just as he’d wished, Kurt Carlsen died in his home
He became ill, seriously ill, shortly before his 75th birthday, and the fatalist Kurt Carlsen resigned himself to the inevitable, as he had always done. It was not the first time he was face to face with death. This time, however, he lost the fight, the “hero from the Atlantic”. When I was told his life story 35 years ago, we talked about the wall with all the medals, diplomas and not least the large “Letter of recognition” from the town of Woodbridge. Kurt Carlsen was proud of it all and elated. He did not want to point out particular events from the high points of his life. He was thrilled and happy with the life he had had on the seven seas. Now he was looking forward to pleasant retirement with Agnes, his daughters and grandchildren. He lived...
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Carlsen’s wish is that his ashes be spread in the sea close to where “Flying Enterprise” went down
Jens Rytter was captain of “Jutlandia”. One day while he was on holiday at home on the island of Funen, the phone rang. It was from the East Asiatic Shipping Company’s office in Copenhagen. They asked if Jens would drop by to discuss a special job to be carried out on his next trip to the Orient. That was all they could say for the time being. Jens Rytter would receive more information about the manner of the job at the shipping line, but he had to set sail from Hamburg. “What in the world can it be?” I said to Kirsten when the call was over. They’re not usually so secretive about the cargo. Kirsten Rytter knew all about life at sea. She had often accompanied her husband on the so-called “wife voyages”, both with the East Asiatic...
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