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Read MoreThe 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 looking forward to the visit and had bought presents, but this cargo was, apparently, special.” Carlsen’s gaze dwells on the tree in the cosy living room in Woodbridge as he stops the projector and talks about that Christmas in 1951. The Christmas that was to become the worst in his life. With a terrifying crash the hull in front of the deckhouse split open. Through a two inch wide, four meter deep gash, water gushed into the cargo hold and continued to the engine room. The ship listed more minute by minute. The engines stopped. Our position was 49˚38’N –...
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Read MoreKurt 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 was standing next to me!” Later in the exclusive 3 hour long presentation, further details emerged. But there are neither photographs nor films of the first dramatic days and nights of the worst hurricane of the century to off the coast of Ireland. That drama was illustrated when Kurt Carlsen stopped the projector and created imaginary pictures. ”It wasn’t until the American warships arrived that pictures were taken and filming began,” Carlsen explains. His own favorite scenes are the ones showing the many attempts to cast a line to ”Flying Enterprise”. ”Time and time again the line hit the poop-deck where we were standing, but it wasn’t until the destroyer’s sharpshooter came and used his harpoon rifle that he elegantly placed the line precisely where it was supposed to be. And then we hauled the containers with hot food over. With cigarettes, candles and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee…!” During Christmas 1976 there was an atmosphere of melancholy in the house on Alwat Street in Woodbridge. Agnes Carlsen made no attempt to hide that fact while she was co-commentator to the unforgettable flashbacks of the frightening days and nights on the Atlantic. ”I often woke up from nightmares where I dreamed that Kurt had drowned, and during the day I had to stay awake. Either I sat by the radio and listened to the news and was informed of developments by Kurt’s ham friends, or I was shooing journalists and reporters away from the doors and windows.” ”Kurt should have done as I said after the shipwreck: He should have accepted an offer from Mærsk McKinney Møller – then...
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Read MoreThe 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 was on the table in Silkeborg for those 13 days when Carlsen’s voice became world famous. Here it is again and gives new life to the ditty: “Do you know the song about Carlsen Carlsen and his listing...
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Read MoreFor 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 from new inventions and the building of radio transmitters in cigar boxes to seaside holidays with the family at the North Sea. The Jutlandian radio dealer was a unique person. A champion car racer, a maestro in a sports plane, a skilled cinematographer and not least a ham radio operator. Actually, Kurt asked the radio hams in Denmark to pass the word to his parents in Elsinore that he would be paying them an extraordinary Christmas visit. But then a very important telegram came from Hans Isbrandtsen couched in unusual terms – something about for the sake of...
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Read More“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 owner of “Turmoil”. “It must have been similar to the situation in the final years of the war,” said Carlsen whilst the projector continued to show episodes recorded by US marines. Kurt Carlsen had now reached his favorite clip, the one with the crack shot from “John W. Weeks” and his brilliant shot with the powerful harpoon gun. “Look! After several futile attempts, the marine lifts the heavy weapon while another marine holds a reel so that the rope on the harpoon won’t be slowed down on its way towards Dancy and myself…” “And look here, how well he places the line only a few meters away from us. That shot was made by a sharpshooter.” “And then both our hunger and thirst were satisfied, that’s for sure. I don’t know how many times food, cigarettes and candles were pulled across. And razor blades. We’d been joking about how many we would need to shave the almost two week old, beard off. Only then did I realize that people all over the world were following our activities. It wasn’t until I read the newspaper articles about how dangerous it was that I got scared!” Carlsen obviously has a sense of humor. He tells us a lot of good sailors’ jokes during his commentary to the three hour long, film and lecture on the drama in the Atlantic. One of better ones, which could be heard for many years, was thanks to Gunnar “Nu” Hansen. He interviewed Carlsen using US navy vessels as a relay station to the BBC’s improvised news studio in Falmouth. “What do you fear most,” captain Carlsen?...
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Read MoreThe 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 the little sports plane with my left, unsuspecting of what my waving would cause.” Kurt Carlsen smiles, pensively… Another pipe and more tobacco from the cupboard is needed before the story can continue. The many pictures on the table and the 16 mm film made by the US Navy give photographer Jørgen Flemming and myself a wonderful, almost devout sensation of wit- nessing something big, a completely unique performance, which is what it turned out to be. It was Kurt Carlsen’s only account to the press of his life before, during and after the 13 days and nights which altered the captain’s life for many years to come. AGNES brought in coffee and home-made cake on a tray. She had been watching the showing closely and listening carefully to the story of what had happened in the individual pictures and what was written in the hundreds of newspaper clippings which, like an epic Babylonian poem, were gathered in several scrapbooks. Or, as Admiral Boone, commander-in-chief of the American armed forces in the eastern Atlantic said,”This story reads like a heroic saga!” News tickers in bureaus all over the world were suddenly busy. The period between Christmas and New Year is normally comparable to the summer silly season. News isn’t usually lining up to be sent to news rooms, which generally are just on the back burner. ”Paris Presse” wrote, ”One wishes one was Danish and a descendant of the Vikings to experience the justifiable pride of Captain Carlsen’s countrymen.” The magazine went on to say, ”Millions of Englishmen, Americans and Frenchmen see the hard and healthy laws of the sea...
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Read MoreJust 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 another 13 years at his home on Alwat Street with the smell of the ocean and tar in the close by marina Perth Amboy. As time went by we lost contact. There were Christmas cards, but no more than that. When Carlsen died in 1989 I called Agnes to give her my con-dolences. She was still pleased to hear a Danish voice, and told me about the good life she had had with Kurt, their friends back in Denmark and she told me about the girls in Michigan – Karen Müller Carlsen and Sonja Fedak. Just as he’d wished, Kurt Carlsen died in his home. Agnes lived till the age of 93. I have not been able to trace Karen or Sonia in the US. As early as 1976, when Carlsen willingly told me about his life at sea, he also talked to us about his last wishes: to be buried at sea – or “launched” as it called in maritime terms. It was to take place according to a detailed description. A wish that was fulfilled by a colleague, captain Jens Rytter from the, then, East Asiatic...
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Read MoreCarlsen’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 Company and for the last many years with the Maersk Line. Kirsten was also to go on the coming trip to Japan on “Jutlandia”, so she was just as curious as her husband. What could the cargo be? When Jens sat in the company’s office in Holbergsgade in Copenhagen, he was informed of the wishes Carlsen’s widow and his daughters Sonja and Karen had read in Kurt Carlsen’s will. Now, the letter from the famous Danish seaman lay on the table. “They are asking us to launch him at sea, and it should be done according to very precise instructions from Kurt Carlsen himself,” B. Myrthue, nautical Department, said. “Here is the letter with Carlsen’s wishes and the necessary procedures, and you can acquaint yourself with the ethical regulations about burials at sea. Carlsen’s wish is that his ashes be spread in the sea close to where “Flying Enterprise” went down on January 10th 1952. Even though Carlsen has been an American citizen since 1938, he wants to be sent into the sea under the Danish flag, Dannebrog, to the sound of the Danish national anthem and “All your life be true and bold”. Carlsen is there on the table. You can take him back to Funen with you.” Captain Rytter is in his home on the outskirts of Odense looking through the album containing memories of the unusual journey that ended up being quite different than anything the family or the shipping company could have imagined. The album took him back to the shipping company office in Copenhagen.“I must admit that in a long life at sea I have...
TV-REPORT FROM HOLLAND 1952
THE HERO FROM THE ATLANTIC
Coffee and cigarettes from gun
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The Maritime Museum of the Islands – with Captain Carlsen and Flying Enterprise
In a small Danish island at the South Funen Archipelago a museum about Kurt Carlsen and Flying Enterprise will open in the summer of 2013 an opportunity to relive the drama of the Atlantic in 1951-52. It happens when Øhavets Maritime Museum opens department “Flying Enterprise & Kurt Carlsen”. Maritime Museum is housed in a farmhouse from 1921 – and some other places at Funen and the small Islands. The 240 sqm is totally rebuilt and has a hand-built, 15-meter-long copy...
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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....
Read More
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...
Read More
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...
Read More
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...
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