Kystmuseum Skagen

Redningsformanden, der var den mest erfarne, den rolige, ham med overblikket, sad ved roret. To mand ved hver åre. Den tolvte mand sad i forstavnen og kaldtes "pligthugger". Pinden med blykuglen bruges til at kaste redningsliner ud.

Pumpen i båden bruges til at pumpe ballastvandet ud med.

Posen bag båden er et drivanker, der bruges til at holde roret nede i vandet, når båden skal ind igen (i medvind).

I hjørnet står der en redningsraket.

The House of the rich (wealthy) fisherman (1836)

The rich fisherman’s home shows living conditions around 1850 to 1875, the last years of the in-shore fishing period.

The gable is half-timbered with bricks and a part of the roof is covered with tiles and there is a chimney on the ridge. In Skagen there is no clay, so clay for bricks and tiles is found kilometers away, and transport was very expensive.

Scullery

The fishermen’s tools and the large brine tub for salting fish can be seen in the scullery. After salting the fish was dried outside on the frames (hjeldene).

In the corner a manual grinding mill.

(DK: Hørbryde: a tool to break the flax (hør)) A part of the process to soften and treat the fibres before you can make the thread for weaving (væve)

The two holes in the wall were used for bread baking, the upper one also for drying stranded grain and coffee. They baked bread to last for several months, which meant that the bread finally was dry, hard and moldy.

Over the door to the kitchen is a seagull trap. You unfold and cover the trap with sand in the dry sea bed, place a small herring in the middle and wait. The seagull snaps the herring, reeases the trap and get caught in the treads. The wings were bound or broken and the trap was reset untill 4-5 seagulls were running around. Then they were strangled or had there neck broken. It was a welcome variation at dinner. Trapping was prohibited by law in the 1920's, but was normal specially during World War 2.

The large pots were used for melting cods liver into oil. The oil was used for lightning in homemade cod liver oil lamps, for greasing the leather boots and the fishermen's clothing.

Kitchen

The kitchen has an open fireplace and the stoves in the living room and bedroom can be stoked from the kitchen fireplace.

The China mostly comes from grounded ships. The cannonball in the tub was used for grinding grains of mustard.

The living room

The living room - always arranged with the table and the benches to the south to get the most for the light and the warmth from the sun. In short of warmth the stoves were stoked from the fireplace with heather peat and in short of light the oil lamp was lit and they had home made candle lights from mutton tallow (DK: fåretalg)

The food on the table is absolutely not normal - it is for the annual christmas party for the fishermen on the 2. day of Christmas.

The west living room

The west living room was used as a storage room, a guest room for groundet or shipwrecked sailors. In the 1850's approximately one ship stranded each month.

The room was also used for the Christmas parties the boat owner held for his crew. The wealthy fisherman in this house owned a boat. Five to six fishermen worked together with him and it was a tradition to invite them and their families for at Christmas party on december 26th. It was the best day in the year - they ate fish, some meat, cheese, cake and bread. They drank beer, snaps (aquavit) and coffee, played cards and had fun. And tocacco was past around. The small children were tucked ind, and a musician came and they danced until early morning.

The room was also used for laying out the deceased. The coffin/casket was lifted out of the house through the window to make sure the dead didn’t haunt the house. Thats why the mullion (vertical beam) in one of the windows is missing. The locals were pretty superstitious.

The stable

Sheeps were kept in the stable during the winter. Wealthy fishermen would hired a cow from a farm nearby during the summer to get milk.

The shed

The shed outside both the rich and the poor fisherman’s house was used for storing rope and tools. The roof is made of an old dinghy (jolle).

The Windmill

Originally a windmill from Elling 40 km south of Skagen. Rebuilt and some years after 1953 moved to the museum. It is a so called "Dutch" mill. When the wind changes direction the top and the sails will turn accordingly. In the 1800's there were 3 windmills i Skagen.

The house of the poor fisherman

Visit a poor fisherman’s home (25 m2) for a whole family of 9 with grandparents, parents and kids. The original house was built in 1808 in Vesterby. It was built from timber from some of the many shipwrecks. The roof was thatched with reeds or heather.

The living room was also used as a bedroom and the kitchen has an open fireplace. Notice that there is no chimney but only a hole in the ridge for the smoke to get out. They couldn’t afford bricks for a chimney.

There was no restroom or Outhouse, so when people should relieve themselves, they went to leeward at the eastern gable out of the wind. This small spot gave good growing conditions for vegetable and rhubarb.

Visit the rich fisherman’s home and notice the difference.

The Memorial Hall

In the entrance area you can see an exhibition about wreckage. How did the valuable goods from the stranded ships influence on the community? How did they trade the goods, who bought them?

In the hall there is a rowing boat of the type the fishermen used until the late 18 hundreds. The crew was 5 or 6 fishermen, and gave living conditions for at least 20 persons (the crew and their families).

The boat were used for rescues as well.

The oars are very heavy; it takes two men at each oar to row the boat. When they were not out fishing, they hauled the boat up on the shore.

At the end wall all the names of the fishermen lost at sea and never found is mentioned. They stayed out there. Thomas Pedersen (1862), one of the rescuers from the stranding of Daphne is the first man mentioned.

The stranding of Daphne: It was the night of the Christmas party. Everybody was inside having fun when a man outside in the storm banged the door yelling: "A grounded ship on the northern side!"

The life boat reached Daphne after several hours of fight against the sea current. A swedish sailor was helped onboard the rescue boat when the tradegy happened. An unexpected wave hit the rescue boat. It turned upside down and all aboard except for two rescuers drowned. On the beach were 8 widows and 25 children who had lost their fathers. A tradegy in a small, poor community, where only the men earned money.

To become a widow was feared but quite usual as the men's work at sea was dangerous. A woman doing the job of a mand by the seines earned 1/5th of what a man could have.

At that time many women died while giving birth or were worn out because of the many births and the hard life. So there were also som widowers with 5 og 7 small children. Impossible for him to go fishing. A lot of marriages were made for practical reasons - survival!

On the walls there are nameplates and figureheads from wrecked ships, pictures, accounts of exploits and medals of the many Skagen rescue men. The most well known rescuer was Lars Kruse. He saved the crew of Daphne after the rescue boat tipped over and 8 rescuers drowned. He was used as a model for some of the artists - you can meet him at Skagen Museum (art museum).

Lars Kruse was rewarded a medal, but the bailiff refused to give it to him, because he found out that Lars Kruse had been punshied as a young man (15). He had taken some timber from the beach and sold it. The painter Michael Ancher collected material and the poet Holger Drachmann wrote an articel about Lars Kruse. After 20 years he finally got his medal.

The rescuer who saved most lives was Jens Rasmussen - he rescued about 500 people.

Johan Olaf Dahler is the story of a man who came to Skagen unwillingly. He was the only man who survived the violent shipwrecking of the norwegian ship "Speed". He felle in love with the young girl, Dagmar Ruth, who took care of him while he was recovering. When tehy got married, they took over her fathers small hotel in Højen - the hotel still exists with the same name: Ruths Hotel.

The Rescue boat Station

The rescue station is a replica. The boat is original.

A map shows where ships have been stranded around the coast of Denmark. It's called "the Caviar Map"

The rescue service were organized in 1852 after ideas of Christoffer Claudi.

The rescue boat was in use at Kandestedernes lrescue station. It is built in 1924 and was last in use in 1967.

The boat had a crew of 12 experienced fishermen, and it was a job of honour and low paid. The leader (the foreman) sat at the rudder in the back(starboard). His word were law as the boat got into the water. It was his resopnsibility to make vital resolutions in highly dangerous situations.

10 rowers at the oars and a bowman (pligthugger) in the front of the boat. His job was to throw a line out on the wrecked ship. The rescue boat was unsinkable and self-draining. The life west’s are filled with kapok - a better material than cork.

To become a rescuer you had to be over the age of 18. young, strond and older experienced men, whe were obedince, brave, strong, endurance and willingly to sacrifice their life to save a stranger.

There is also a rocket devise and a breeches buoy (redningsstol).