Faroe Islands

Norwegian Colonization

During the 8th Century, the Norwegian colonization, began and developed throughout the Viking Age, making the Faroes a central part of the Viking settlements along the coasts of the North Atlantic and the Irish Sea.

The Faroes language has its roots in Old Norse from the Viking age. The Vikings, who came mainly from Norway, sailed westwards looking for new land and reached the coasts of Scotland, Shetland, Orkney, the Hebrides, the Faroes and Iceland.

Viking settlers established their own parliament with local things in different parts of the islands and the main thing on Tinganes in Thorshavn. Christianity was proclaimed about the turning of the last millennium. Shortly after the islands came under control of the Norwegian kings, one of whom was King Sverre, who was brought up at the Faroes bishop’s seat at Kirkjub ur.

In the 18th century, Denmark began to colonize the island and it became part of the Danish Kingdom.

Later the Norwegian crown came under the Danish monarchy, and with the Reformation, the independent Faroese bishopric was abolished and its properties taken over by the Crown.

During the Middle Ages, the Faroe Islands were greatly influenced by the North Sea countries, especially through the Hanseatic merchants in Bergen. With the Reformation the Danish king increased his control of the trade and established a trade monopoly, operated by different merchants and companies, but taken over by the king himself through the Royal Trade Monopoly in 1709. The islands were governed directly from Copenhagen. Danish officials arrived to oversee the trade and protect it from competing merchants and the bands of pirates who for centuries had plagued the islands.

In 1856, the Royal Danish Monopoly ended and soon enterprising Faroese businessmen were exploring new connections with the outside world.

August 11, 1866, Anglo American Times, London, United Kingdom

Suspicious Vessels at the Faroe Islands

Statements have been made in several journals respecting a "Fenian privateer" seen off the Faroe Islands, and some alarming inferences have been On this subject the at the drawn from the discovery. On this subject the Scotsman says: --

"The Tornado, lately at the Faroe Islands in company with certain other vessels, is now in Leith Roads, where where she has been for some time; and the accounts received of her, furnished by her crew, are important, if reliable.

This vessel, and the other ships along with her at the Faroe Islands, are no doubt the ships referred to by the London Observer, when reporting a "Fenian privateer off the Faroe Islands. The Tornado, it is reported, has no connection with the Fenian movement; and if she be engaged in any secret enterprise, it is more likely to be in aid of the Chileans against Spain. The Government of Spain have become alarmed, and they have been endeavouring to ascertain the object of theTornado and her confederates.

The Spanish Consul-General has been in Leith, and aided by the local consul and others, is inquiring into their doings, but with what result has not been allowed to transpire. Several of the crew of theTornado are ashore, after claiming their discharge, and from them it has been learned that on the 10th July last they were engaged at Hamburg, where the vessel was then lying, to serve on board of her on a voyage to London or any other port in the United Kingdom. She left Hamburg five days afterwards, but in place of directing her course to Great Britain she proceeded to the Faroe Islands, where she met two steamers in a narrow creek, on each side of which rose high snow-covered mountains. By this time the crew, learning that they had been deceived, were in a state of mutiny, and refused to work.

The cargoes of the steamers that met the Tornado consisted of Armstrong guns, powder, shot, shell, swords, and small firearms, and an attempt was made to transfer these to the Tornado, but the crew refused to engage in the work, and therefore the transshipment could not be proceeded with promptly. Meanwhile, the coast-guard of the place communicated with their superiors, and the vessels were ordered to put to sea. Upon the master of the Tornado promising to take his ship to an English port and giving the men two months pay, in addition to what he had agreed to give at Hamburg, they consented to go with him.

The other two steamers having left the Faroe Islands first, the Tornado departed on the 22d or 23d July, steamed direct to Leith, and cast her anchor in the Roads. On her arrival she reported that there were four of the crew affected with diarrhoea or cholera, and the owner, who was on board, had a broken leg. The Custom-house officers reported the circumstance to the local authorities, and Dr. Williamson and the inspector of nuisances went out to the ship. The men affected with diarrhoea soon recovered, and the owner, whose right leg was fractured by a fall at the Faroe Islands, was removed ashore.

The crew claimed their discharge, and several of them left the ship satisfied; but others of them considering that they had not received all the pay bargained for, came on shore and put their case in the hands of a solicitor. There is nothing on board the Tornado, and nothing has transpired to warrant the authorities to interfere with her, so that she lies at anchor unmolested.

She hails from Glasgow, and is reported to have been built on the Clyde as a blockade-runner, but the American war coming to an end either before or soon after her completion, she was of no use in that service. She is a screw steamer of 495 tons, but looks larger; has engines of 350-horse power, and is reported to be a fast sailer under steam or canvas. She has no cargo on board beyond a few bales of hammocks. She has 16 gun ports, which are boarded over in the meantime. Her boats have been taken ashore.

The destination of the other vessels, whose names are known, is uncertain. They both left London, one clearing out for Gibraltar, and the other for Hamburg; but when at sea they changed their course, and ran for the Faroe Islands.

November 21, 1866, Watchman and Wesleyan Advertiser, London, United Kingdom

Egyptian Locks in Devon and Cornwall.

Mr. Chubb, of St. Paul's Churchyard, writes in the Atheneeum, In your review of Mr. Tildesley's article on locks, you give a quotation from him that the Egyptian lock "may still be found in the Faroe Islands, and in some parts of Devon and Cornwall."

The statement has been repeatedly made that these locks are known in Devon and Cornwall; but after many inquiries, I have failed to discover them. I should be greatly obliged if any of your readers ean give me any reliable information on the matter. I have specimens of these locks from Egypt and the Faroe Islands, and there were some also in the Great Exhibition of 1862 from Chili, all identical in principle, and differing but slight in details.

In 1872, an old English sailing smack, named the Fox, was purchased for deep sea fishing far from the Faroes' shore. The Faroe Islanders quickly earned the reputation of being among the best sailors and fishermen in the world. The fishing industry grew until it became the main source of income for the islands.

The Faroe Islands have been historically treacherous for mariners due to the unpredictable currents and tides surrounding them. A legendary result of these currents is the great maelstrom that once roared at the southern tip of Sunderoe (today Suouroy Island). This mighty whirlpool swirled around a sheer pinnacle of rock called Monek, which was said to resemble a monk from one side and a sailing ship from the other. Reports say that the whirlpool was over a mile in diameter.

Soundings indicate that the waters surrounding the whirlpool had a depth of some 80 to 90 fathoms, but that the waters nearer the rock, at the center of the maelstrom, were but 7 to 10 fathoms deep. In 1884 much of Monek Rock crumbled into the sea, creating a dangerous underwater reef and displacing the unique convergence that created the maelstrom.

North America, Greenland and Iceland by Benedetto Marzolla, 1854. These islands are considered to be one of the most beautiful and unspoiled places on earth.

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The Faroe Islands:
Interpretations of History
Jonathan Wylie
From the very first pages of the introduction, aptly titled 'Terra Incognita,' the reader is drawn into a Faroese worldview that is at once strange but at the same time all too familiar. Wylie presents a first-person account of how he was drawn deeper and deeper into the cultural anthropological study of this society, first as a neophyte graduate student, and later, as a trained professional." ��Folklore Forum

The Far Islands and Other Cold Places: Travel Essays of a Victorian Lady
Elizabeth Taylor (1856 - 1932) was a travel writer entranced by the Northern climes. Her visits to Iceland, Canada, Norway and, above all, the Faroe Islands, resulted in the essays contained in this book.

No Nation is an Island: Language, Culture and National Identity in the Faroe Islands
(North Atlantic Monographs)

Tom Nauerby
This study follows the process of nation-building in a tiny nation - the Faroe Islands, a cluster of 18 rocky islands in the North Atlantic. Originally settled by Vikings and governed by Norway, then by Denmark, and occupied by British forces during World War II, the Faroes gained a measure of home rule in 1948. Since then, Faroese politics have been doctrinated by the struggle for emancipation from the Danish cultural hegemony, through the establishment of cultural and education institutions on the islands, and through the promotion of the Faroese language in place of Danish.

The Missing Son:
A Faroe Island Saga
Jennifer Henke
Hans Jacobsen, my father, was born at the end of the 19th century in the Faroe Islands - eighteen small, rocky islands just below the Arctic Circle, north-west of the British Isles. He started sailing full time at age 14 or 15, travelling all around the world before finally settling in San Francisco fifteen years later. In 1916, at age 20, he made his last visit to his homeland. Some 80 years later I travelled alone to the Faroe Islands, longing to see these islands, hoping to find out about my father's family. The Missing Son tells my story of finding my father's family and exploring his homeland, the remote, wild, and beautiful Faroe Islands. Letters to my father from his family from 1917-1924 have been translated from the original Danish, and they give a picture of life in these islands nearly 100 years ago. My father's sailing records and anecdotes from these same years tell of his travels around the world. The letters also revealed a surprising story - my father's fiance wrote to him for seven years, always hoping he would return to her. He never did. Photographs show the sharp contrasts found in the Faroe Islands - steep cliffs, secluded fjords, lush green hills, quaint villages, and modern homes standing next to stone houses with sod roofs.

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1899. World's Fleet. Boston Daily Globe

Lloyds Register of Shipping gives the entire fleet of the world as 28,180 steamers and sailing vessels, with a total tonnage of 27,673,628, of which 39 perent are British.

Great Britain	10,990 vessels, total tonnage of 10,792,714
United States	3,010 vessels, total tonnage of 2,405,887
Norway	2,528 vessels, tonnage of 1,604,230
Germany	1,676 vessels, with a tonnage of 2,453,334, in which are included her particularly large ships.
Sweden	1,408 vessels with a tonnage of 643, 527
Italy	1,150 vessels
France	1,182 vessels

For Historical Comparison
Top 10 Maritime Nations Ranked by Value (2017)

	Country	# of Vessels	Gross Tonnage (m)	Total Value (USDbn)
1	Greece	4,453	206.47	$88.0
2	Japan	4,317	150.26	$79.8
3	China	4,938	159.71	$71.7
4	USA	2,399	55.92	$46.5
5	Singapore	2,662	64.03	$41.7
6	Norway	1,668	39.68	$41.1
7	Germany	2,923	81.17	$30.3
8	UK	883	28.78	$24.3
9	Denmark	1,040	36.17	$23.4
10	South Korea	1,484	49.88	$20.1
Total		26,767	87.21	$466.9