Big Norse Freighter Puts in at Chaumont
Watertown Daily Times - June 8,1955

Reprinted with Permission
of the
Watertown Daily Times

Big Norse Freighter Puts in at Chaumont

Largest Ship Ever Seen In Bay Off-Loads 7 Sloops For Local Skipper

(Special to the Times)

 

Chaumont, June 7, The Ravnefjell first major foreign ship and the largest ever to appear here, cleared Chaumont bay early this afternoon after off-loading seven Dragon class sloops destined for north country sailors.

The Fjell Line ship, whose home port is Oslo, Norway, dropped anchor off Cherry Island about two and one-half miles southwest of the Crescent Yacht club dock at 11 last night ending a 15 day crossing from Bergen, Norway.

The ship is less than one month old, for she was completed at a shipyard in Kiel, Germany on May 14. The spectacle of the 265 foot vessel moving into the harbor last night surprised local yachting enthusiasts, who were looking for a more functional barge-type vessel. Motorists along the shore stopped to watch as the ship illuminated like a carnival show anchored here.

This was the maiden voyage of the Ravnefjell which means "Raven Mountain" in Norwegian and so Chaumont became her first American port of call, something of a distinction for this little lake side community. Robert F. Hart, Jr., Owner of Boats Inc, to whom the seven Dragons were consigned, and the coast guard cutter from Sackets Harbor, rendezvoused with the ship last night between the head of Point Peninsula and Galloup Island and let her into the anchorage. According to the captain, 42 year old Eugene Annmark, of Oslo, hydrographic charts indicated he could have approached about one mile closer to the yacht club pier, but in view of the facts that he is unfamiliar with the harbour and is in command of a new vessel, Captain Annmark (who is also making his first visit to Chaumont) chose to play it safe.

The water at dockside is probably deep enough to accommodate the 2,850 ton ship, but the harbor would not have allowed Captain Annmark a great deal of room in which to maneuver in case of bad weather. The first Dragon was hoisted out of the Ravnefjell’s hatch and hit the water shortly before 10 this morning. The sloop, a 29 feet two inch keel boat, is a trim sleek racing craft built along the lines of the 6 meter class, although the Dragon is smaller. Attorney Delos M. Cosgrove towed the first sloop into its anchorage at the yacht club with Earl R. Wager handling the tiler. They are two of the seven area owners committed to the purchase of the Dragons which Mr. Hart bought in November last fall.

Mr. Hart and his wife towed the second boat inshore with Schuyler Adams, in the Dragon, and J. Hedly Atkinson towed in the third. Seamen about the Ravnefjell encountered some difficulty with lines and winches on the new ship at first and the job of unloading the boats was somewhat complicated by the fact that they were stowed in two hatches, one below the other. However, after the first boats were hoisted out, the others followed at fairly regular intervals and by 1 this afternoon the unloading was completed. Three more Dragons are bound for owners at Toronto, the next stop for the "Ravnefjell". Bedsides its cargo of racing craft, the Ravnefjell also carried substantial loads of Norway sardines and kipper snacks headed for various Great Lakes ports. From Toronto, the ship will proceed to Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago. Captain Annmark expects to be back in Montreal in about three weeks and from there head home again across the Atlantic.

Four pilots were necessary to get the ship this far. The vessel picked up one at Father Point at the Gulf of St. Lawrence, who took the ship as far as Quebec. Two other pilots guided her from Quebec to Montreal and from Montreal to Kingston. At Cardinal, Ont. Conrad Hamelin, of Montreal came aboard. He will remain with the ship all during its travels on the lakes.

At least half a dozen outboard craft observed the unloading this morning at a respectful distance. It marked the first time foreign goods have been shipped her directly without trans-shipment at Montreal. The Dragons which were built at Norwegian shipyards during the 1947, 1948, and 1949 will make their racing debut as the end of Lake Ontario next month in competition for the John Foster Dulles cup. They have been racing on the lakes for the past three seasons.


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