‘The red golden age’

From the pioneering days of the 1950s, the golden age gained added momentum throughout the 1960s, the heyday of the polar fleet. The shipowner himself, Knud Lauritzen, ran the fleet with passion and dedication, and he personally took part in several trips, especially to North-East Greenland.

‘In the years leading up to 1959, a fleet of eight regular, red-painted polar ships for shipping, expedition or research purposes was systematically developed. At the same time, some of the ordinary freighters were heavily reinforced to deal with ice in order to prepare them for Greenland and Canada, in the latter country especially on the St. Lawrence. This systematic development of a polar fleet continued into the 1960s, although the mine in Mestersvig seemed to be depleted in 1962. The highly visible – originally an impractical white – and recognizable red polar ships earned more mere publicity and prestige than profits, however, considering the risks and effort. They were never a huge boost for the bottom line – rather a particularly demanding sport or playground, with Knud Lauritzen as the active participant. Risky and expensive, sure, but also much more meaningful and fun than going to a casino in Monte Carlo. He later described how the Danish shipping tycoon A. P. Møller once quipped that J. Lauritzen was the only shipping firm that would take on such a high-stakes adventure. J. Lauritzen was fully privately held and thus did not have a board or a group of shareholders demanding cost-benefit estimates etc.’

(Ole Lange: Logbog for Lauritzen 1884 – 1995 [Logbook for Lauritzen 1884–1995], p. 208)

Former ship’s mate Bjarne Rasmussen comments in his book Dansk Polarfart 1915-2015 [Danish polar sailing 1915–2015] that the Danish polar ships achieved a high rate per day when they were chartered out to, for example, the Royal Greenland Trade or ANARE. The high rates reflected the high risk of major and costly damage to the ship’s hull when sailing in icy conditions in polar waters, regardless of the season. One year’s good earnings might easily be swallowed up by a tough season in the icy waters.

Lauritzen’s red polar sisters may have been built with an icebreaker stern and reinforcements to withstand the ice, but they were not actual ice-breakers with impressive engine power. They were constructed to travel alone, squirm their way out of trouble and withstand the pressure of the ice. They were ships that could pop out of the ice like a cork once the ice pack began to close in.

Ships occasionaly met in these waters. In in 1964, former steward on both Magga Dan and Nella Dan, Hans O. K. Lassen, captured an incident where the new-built Nella Dan helps her slightly older sister Magga Dan (named after Crown Princess Margrethe) make it through the ice to Scoresbysund.

With indomitable reliability, the red ships shuttled back and forth, with the regularity of migratory birds, between the Arctic and the Antarctic, year in, year out. The ships and their crews have left their mark. At least 24 locations in the Australian part of Antarctica are named after related events and personalities and the red ships themselves. Places such as Dahl Reef, Petersen Bank, Wollesen Islands and Nella Rock bear testimony to events and discoveries in connection with Antarctic mapping, expeditions and exploration.

From the late 1960s, the polar fleet is modernized. First, Kista Dan is replaced, in 1967; then follows the sale of Magga Dan in 1969; and from 1971 Thala Dan and Nella Dan are the only remaining red migratory birds. While the J. L. shipping company undergoes major changes in the 1970s, Thala and Nella continue on their migratory paths for another decade, a time of profound global changes affecting both the world markets and the internal workings of every ship.

The turbulent period of upheaval and transformation from the late 1960s through the 1970s also affects life on board the polar ships. A new generation is about to take the helm. The on-board team spirit of the 1960s, when the entire family sailed along, changes to a new sense of team spirit among young crews that stand up to the changing times. Towards the end of the decade, in 1978, Knud Lauritzen passes away, and with his passing, the polar adventure begins to draw to an end.

In the early years of the next decade, Thala Dan is sold in 1982, leaving Nella Dan as the last of the migratory birds in the fleet. Throughout the 1980s, Nella Dan presses on with stubborn persistence, defying the odds, ploughing Antarctic waters for yet another 5–6 weary and dramatic years.

Her track record of more than 40 voyages to North-East Greenland and 85 voyages in Antarctic waters corresponds to numerous circumnavigations of the globe. With more than half a million nautical miles in the Antarctic, Nella Dan holds the record of any ship in Australian service.