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A Tribute to the Swedish American Line | ||||||||
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Carl-Otto Claesson
M/S Stockholm - A Capricious Beauty
By Göran C-O Claesson ©
In August 1948 Carl-Otto Claesson began serving on the newly built M/S Stockholm. A beautiful ship, he thought, and so did most people. Passengers and crew found her fittings cosy. However, the Stockholm rolled wildly. She heeled so fast that pottery was crushed and humans injured. In addition she heeled nearly as much to the stem and the sternpost as to the sides. Her movements were unpredictable and difficult to parry. M/S Stockholm was built as a combined cargo and passenger ship with a fuel-efficient hull, i.e. with much of the displacement midships. With less buoyancy in stem and sternpost the ship easily heeled in their direction too. Further, by applying latest technology the superstructure had been built light in order to save fuel. That made the Stockholm heel less than the older ships, measured by the number of degrees deviating from the vertical line. However, she heeled much faster and in all directions. During the first voyages the conditions onboard became very difficult. The editor of "Stockholmstidningen" (The Stockholm Times), an unpretentious little newspaper onboard, handled the difficulties in his own way. Pretending that the story had arrived from the news agencies AP, UP, TT and Reuters chief mate C. O. Claesson is quoted: "For experimental reasons we make use of a new technique of maneuvering. By making the ship go crosswise we pushed away the seas." Several such news items were published. One of them told that the orchestra of the ship has chosen vomiting as the leitmotif of the signature melody. CEO Gunnar Engberg of Eriksberg's shipyard was quoted. He told the Swedish American Line to swap the Stockholm's AGA ranges for diesel engines. "That would enable the ship to cross the Atlantic forward." While at home Carl-Otto told members of the family and friends about desperate makeshifts during the first months. He said that whale fins were welded to the hull in order to hamper the foward/backward heeling - and kept all onboard awake by the bangs they generated when hitting the surface. Holes were cuts in the fins to muffle the bangs. That helped against the bangs but instead a roar was heard when the water was forced through the holes. The fins had to be cut away. In stead the heeling was calmed down by putting tons of paving-stones fairly high up in the superstructure. The Stockholm then heeled more degrees but slower. Were really such desperate measures taken? Can I trust my memory? Can I be sure that my father did not spin a yarn? I have looked for other sources and found several, even Douglas Falkman, the foreman of the platers who put "the whale fins" on and off - although he used the word "extra stabilizers". At that time stablizers were not yet manæuvrable . The initial problems of the Stockholm were caused by this combination: midship concentration of the displacement, light superstructure and lack of cargo caused by the fact that cargo and passengers were not as easily combined in New York as presumed. In the beginning the problems were indeed attacked in desperate ways. Extra stabilizers were welded to the stem. Such welding requires openings in the seam. They were horisontal just like the tail fin of a whale. Plates were welded to the ordinary stabilizers in the stern to make them wider, also with 'holes' in the seam. These extras had to be removed. Instead several thousand tons of paving-stones, concrete blocks and scrap iron were loaded on between-deck. Later the superstructure was elongated. Still later the manæuvreable stabilizers arrived. M/S Stockholm finally became a ship that behaves well at sea, especially when new owners had given her a superstructure that goes from stem to sternpost. Her name is M/S Athena now. The reasons for M/S Stockholm's initially fast heeling in all directions is an exemple of a common problem: a weak interplay between top leaders and top experts on the one hand and the users on the other. |
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From Prisoners of War to War Brides The Drottningholm Turns Italian M/S Stockholm - A Capricious Beauty Serving under the Most Forcible Captain The Fourth Stripe off and on. From Roosevelt Hospital to a Building Site |
More than 100 web pages developed and maintained by Lars Hemingstam ©1998-2010
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Regardless of which ship we sailed on or which year - the memories we share are the same!
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Recommended Books |
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Updated Sep 7, 2009 Waterline - Images from the Golden Age of Cruising John Graves
Örjan Slätte, ex Information Officer on the Gripsholm, recommends Waterline - Images from the Golden Age of Cruising by John Graves, published by the National Maritime Museum in London in 2004. It is based on photos by Marine Photo Service, which were acquired by the museum in 1996 The book features many photos from SAL cruises.
Please note that the book's edition at Amazon.co.uk may not have the Kungsholm on the cover. Örjan Slätte, Informationsofficer på Gripsholm, rekommenderar boken Waterline - Images from the Golden Ages of Cruising. Boken är utgiven år 2004 av National Maritime Museum i London som 1996 förvärvat Marine Photo Service (MPS) samlingar. Redan omslagsbilden föreställer Kungsholm 1953 med två vattenskidåkande ynglingar i fronten. MPS fanns i många rederier och där finns många mycket bra foton från SAL:s kryssningar. Våra fotografer var mycket yrkesskickliga med konstnärlig talang. Man kan förmoda att de tidvis kände för att fotografera annat än leende, välklädda pax med cocktailglas i hand. Fina miljöer från fartygens "omvärld". |
Updated July7, 2008 MERCY SHIPS
During World War 2 the Drottningholm and the Gripsholm were used as repatriation ships and made 33 voyages to exchange prisoners of war, diplomats, women and children, between the warfaring nations. David Miller has written a book about the exchange and repatriation voyages,with an emphasis on the British experience. It is loaded with facts about these voyages of mercy. Read more about all the exchange and repatriation sailings during WWII here. |
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M/S Kungsholms inredning Första M/S Kungsholm, Amerikalinjens stora passagerarfartyg, byggdes på 1920-talet. Det gick mellan Göteborg och New York. Arkitekten Carl Bergsten fick uppdraget att hålla i den påkostade inredningen som skulle visa för världen vad svenska konstnärer kunde åstadkomma. Under andra världskriget togs fartyget i beslag av amerikanarna för att användas i trupptransporten till Europa. Inredningen revs då ner och förstördes. Anne-Marie Ericsson har letat i arkiv och museer efter beskrivningar, ritningar och gamla fotografier för att försöka rekonstruera denna makalösa uppvisning i svensk inredningskonst. |
Amerikabåtarna Christer Winberg, professor i historia vid Göteborgs universitet, har skrivit en bok om SAL som bygger på bevarat samtida material från Svenska Amerika Linien på Landsarkivet och Sjöfartsmuseet i Göteborg. Det omfattar exempelvis reserapporter, minnesberättelser och personligt färgade reseskildringar. Författaren har också samlat in eget material genom intervjuer med f.d. anställda.
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Andrea Dorias undergång I Andrea Dorias undergång berättar Britt-Marie Mattsson den fascinerande berättelsen om kollisionen, den heroiska räddningsaktionen och det rättsliga efterspelet till den mycket uppmärksammade olyckan - sin tids Titanic. Mattssons far var vid tiden för olyckan informationschef vid Svenska Amerika Linien. Britt-Marie Mattsson har träffat flera av de överlevande och intervjuat dem för denna bok. Hon har bland annat talat med vittnen som ger information som kan kasta nytt ljus över vad som egentligen orsakade den fruktansvärda kollisionen. Boken är rikligt illustrerad i svartvitt. |
A book about the Kungsholm of 1953. |
Journalist Per Fält has recommended |
"Såna" på Amerikabåtarna SAL har skildrats i böcker, dokumentär-filmer, journalfilmer och tidningsartiklar. Oftast är det glamouren som uppmärk-sammats men en grupp har alltid saknats i beskrivningarna: homosexuella män. Såna på Amerikabåtarna är en välskriven, lättläst och underhållande studie av en värld som gått i glömska. | |
De Flytande Palatsen From the very inception of the line in 1915, the ships of the Line attracted much attention on both sidesof the Atlantic. Not only did they represent the bonds between the old country and the new, they also represented new concepts in service, decor, and furnishings as well as in art and handicraft. Published in 1987. This book can be found on Amazon.
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Huset Broström Huset Broström för tankarna till Forsythesagan och Onedinlinjen. Inget svenskt företag har upplevt så stor dramatik som just Broströms. Detta är den dramtiska berättelsen "inifrån Huset", om det som skedde i det som syntes ske. Utgiven 1980. | ||
Out of the Fog is an American edition of a Swedish book by Algot Mattsson, who was the information officer for SAL, the owner of Stockholm, the ship that collided with Andrea Doria in 1956. The book describes the collision from the perspectives of both ships as well as the heroic rescue of hundreds. Testimony given at the hearing is also included as is a legal opinion by the American editors, one of whom was directly involved with the case. |
Detta är en berättelse om den dramatiska färden över Atlanten, från de hårda och riskfyllda överfarten med små lastskutor i mitten av 1800-talet, till lyxresorna med Amerikalinjens sista skepp. Utgiven 1982 | ||
