Drive to Stromstad
Trip Start
Unknown
1
12
24
Trip End
Jun 20, 2006
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Stromstad,
Sweden
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
The smell of fish in the domicile we had entered was abominable; there was a further fragrance of cayenne pepper, which kept one sneezing in a remarkable manner. The people were very kind, however; they boiled herrings and potatoes, and gave us milk-and water to drink with them - simply fare, but the best they had.
On the following morning we went on board at day break, and found the tailor in a very "frowsy" state. He was made the butt of the sea-faring men, who evidently regarded his illness as a joke; for one of them good-humouredly whispered in my ear: "Han er kun Skradder!" (He's only a tailor!) From this I gather that the unfounded prejudiced against those who gain their daily bread by the goose and needle prevails even in Scandinavia. Let's not the reader suppose for a moment anything like intentional unkindness on the part of the seamen: it was the very opposite of this; for they pressed to me to accept the loan of their overcoats and gloves, as they said I could not bear the cold like themselves
Stromstad Harbour
. The gloves or mittens in common use among them are rather odd-looking things; they have no divisions between the fingers, but two thumbs, one on each side; so that whichever way it is drawn on, it fits the hand, leaving one unoccupied thumb outside the middle finger. There no fancy or crochet affairs, but as thick as a bull's hide, and very warm.One of the boatmen pointed to some birds that stood flapping their wings on the rocks at a distance. "Does the gentleman notice those is birds? They always stand like that in the winter time, and flap their wings to keep themselves warm." Whether the birds did so for this purpose or not, I won't say; but I was obliged to keep beating my arms again and again to keep alive. Sometimes I lay down on the wet deck for a rest, and once I sought the shelter of the hold, with the result already mentioned, and which took at least nine shillings from the value of my hat. As for the others, they bore the cold better. Captain Kroger paced the deck, or rather such small parts of it as were available; for nautical men will sometimes make a great show of marching in a space of four feet square, when nothing better offers. Jens lay down on the hatch that covered the hold, and blew his fingers to keep them warm. Hauge danced in an uncouth fashion in the vicinity of the bowsprit; but the poor tailor staggered hither and thither, nauseans et laborans, in sheer despair
Harbour at Stromstad
. The boatmen took turns to steer and manoeuvre the sail, and thus our time wore away until we entered the port of Stromstad, after a voyage of two days and a half.Stromstad is a good-sized town for Sweden, although it would be looked upon as a very poor one in England. There were one or two large vessels in the harbour, besides many coasters; and among the former was a brig from Hartlepool, which had been sent from that port for Newcastle, in charge of a man who was ignorant of navigation, and without a chart on board. A storm had sprung up, which drove her out to sea, and she had drifted helplessly over the German Ocean, until she fortunately came in the way of some Swedish fishermen, who brought her into Stromstad. She was lying there at the time we came, awaiting orders from her owners as to repairs, and the salvage due to the fishermen.
An officer of the customs took his up to the house of the Consulinna - that is, the widow of the late Consul for England, who lodged us until the next day.
After making diligent inquiries as to the means of crossing over to the Norwegian shore, we found that a pilot-boat had just come from thence with some sailors, who were to take a ship at Gothenburg. The pilot himself had made an agreement to take them all the way thither, intending to steer down inside the Skar, or rocks, in the track by which we had come up. He unexpectedly found however, that the Swedish coast-guard would not allow this, but insisted on his keeping outside the Skar all the way. This regulation is made with a view to prevent smuggling, for once inside the rocks one might find innumerable landing places, in spite of all their vigilance. In consequence of this arrangement the sailors had to be transferred to a Swedish boat to finish their voyage; for to go outside the rocks at this season of the year was simply to risk almost certain destruction. "It is an ill wind that blows nobody good," says an old proverb; and we found it so in the present instance say: for the pilot, who was obliged to return to his own home at Tonsberg, agreed to take the captain, his son, and myself, "over Fjorden" for five specie dollars each. As a specie dollar is four shillings and six pence, this was rather a large sum; but there was no competition, and were only too glad to get over for even this. It was too late in the day to cross now; so we agreed to be on board at seven o'clock next morning, and in the meantime returned to the Consulinna's to dine. She was a widow, of about sixty years of age, and evidently a person of refinement; and her quiet subdued manner at once claimed the respect of those who were in her company. After dinner two little girls came into the room, skipping and bounding up to her with a great show of affection. She told us they were grandchildren, and that their mother was a native of Scotland. I found that they could speak English, and tried to coax them into doing so, better in vain. The chattered on charmingly in Swedish, and seemed to enjoy my queer attempts in that tongue very much - telling me I laid the English accent on the words instead of the right one, and made them sound very funny by doing so.
Jens and I went out in the afternoon to take a survey of the town and neighbourhood. The latter consisted for the most part of wild and dreary moorland, with blocks of granite with blocks of granite peeping through the heather; up one of the valleys was a long lake, which had no particular beauty to recommend it.
After our return, I stepped up to the post-office to purchase a set of Swedish stamps for a lady, who had commissioned me to get them for her collection. The Kongelige Post-Kontor (Royal Post Office) in a Swedish town is a very homely affair. Outside the door during the day there hangs an iron chest, about as large as a hat-box, into which to drop letters; inside, the post-master sits at a table, and "takes things easy :" and before one of these dignitaries I now stood, trying to make him understand that I wanted one of each description of stamp used in the kingdom.
"But to what place does the gentleman wish to write?" He asked.
" Nowhere!"
"I thought the gentleman inquired for stamps: and I cannot tell what stamps to give him unless I know where the he wishes to write to some place here in Sweden, or to one in a foreign land."
"Ah - please excuse me. I am an Englishman, and cannot express myself clearly. A lady in England ordered me to bring one of each kind of stamp published in the kingdom of Sweden, to put into a book."
So it flashed across him, that there was a new use discovered the stamps, and he instantly selected a set for me, for which he made out a little bill which he handed to me with smile. "A lady in England would like to put some Swedish stamps into her book!" said he to his daughter who had just entered the room, who seemed wonder-stricken thereat, for she responded with a peculiar emphasis: "Ya! So!" Ja! Sa!). I next entered a bookseller's shop and purchased a map, a translation of a small work well-known in the nursery literature of England (Cock Robin), and a copy of "Svenska Arbetaren" (Tthe Swedish Workman), an illustrated sheet similar in appearance to its British namesake.
Going back to my lodgings I was suddenly hailed from a room on the ground floor of a house. On entering, I found my fellow voyager, the tailor, who declared nothing should induce him to put to sea again for the present. How he was to get home without doing so, he could not foresee; but he should take a fortnight's rest to consider of it. A rye-loaf lay on the table before him, a bottle of brandy alongside of it; and a candle stuck in a second bottle completed the sum of his enjoyments. When I reported his case to the captain, a broad grin spread over the face of the latter, and he seemed much pleased with the notion of "Skradderen's" discomforture and of his refusal to quit the dry land for any further voyaging in a herring boat.
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UP in the morning and drove up to Stromstad.
I had the opportunity to see the outside of the Town Hall. Nothing remarkable, you might say, unless you knew its' history.
In the latter part of the nineteenth century, Adolph Cavalli-Holmgren - who had been born in Stromstad and made a fortune in Oslo - offered to build a new Town Hall. The only condition of this generosity was that he had to have complete control over the project. Fair deal; but he then fell out with the good people of Stromstad and never saw it completed in 1917. It wasn't until 1951 that it was realised that his reason for control over the project was due to a peculiar obsession. EVERY dimension in the building consisted of a combination of the birthdays and wedding date of his parents!
Once aboard the ferry (there really is nothing else to do in Stromstad), I had the opportunity to photograph the coastline from the water-side.
Bearing in mind I saw these in summer sunshine, it's quite easy to understand his description of the islands as being bleak.
