A Legendary Name in Ship Owning

Fearnley & Eger A/S was active in most forms of shipowning including tramp, cargo-liner, oil tankers and LPG gas tankers, cruise ships, ferries, and oil support and drilling vessels for 125 years. Thomas Nicolay Fearnley was born in Amsterdam on 9th April 1841 as the son of romantic painter Thomas Fearnley and Cecilie Catharine Andresen, the daughter of banker Nicolai Andresen, founder of the Andresen Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in Norway. His father was renowned for his landscapes and other commissions, and Thomas was born during his father’s last residence abroad, he died barely a year later in Munich. Thomas returned with his mother to Christiania (Oslo), where she married for a second time, with Thomas growing up there and attending school for five years with a strong emphasis on outdoor activities. He then completed his education in Leipzig and graduated there in 1860. He went to work in the Andresen Bank for two of his uncles, Nicolai August Andresen and Engelhardt Andresen, and part of his training was with a third uncle, Johan H. Andresen, owner of the Tiedemann tobacco factory. He gained shipping experience during 1864 to 1868 with a London shipbroker, making important contacts in the shipowning, chartering, insurance, and import and export trades.

Thomas Fearnley founded his own shipbroking and agency business in 1869, and was joined three years later by his cousin Johan Engelhardt Eger (1846 – 1925) as a partner in Fearnley & Eger. The partners traded several three masted barques of up to 800 grt in the outward Transatlantic trades, returning with petroleum in barrels or lumber from New York to European ports in summer, and in winter between U. S. Gulf ports such as New Orleans or Pensacola (Florida) with cotton and pitch pine. The barques included Marie, Pallas, Argo, Inga (1), Anga (2), Martha and Solglimt. Marie was damaged on 2nd April 1880 and abandoned in rough weather while on a voyage from Liverpool to New York, her crew were taken onboard another vessel and she was set on fire and sank as she was seen as a danger to navigation. Inga (1) disappeared in the North Atlantic during 1877 while on a voyage from New York to London with lumber and petroleum in barrels, and her successor Inga (2) was the last sailing barque in the fleet when she was sold off in 1884.

The first three Fearnley & Eger steamships able to voyage to the U.K. and Continent were completed by the Kockums yard at Malmo as yard numbers 32, 33 and 40 during 1881 to 1883. The first pair of sister steamers were for the newly formed Christiania Steamship Company as Oslo and Bygdo, the latter a suburb of Oslo, and of 1,238 grt and 1,215 dwt. The third new steamer was for a new liner trade to Bordeaux, returning with wine, fruit and general cargo. Garonne of 661 grt and 720 dwt was completed for D/S I/S Garonne for this first overseas Norwegian liner service, which expanded greatly during the next three decades with a dozen steamers employed in 1914.

The next six Fearnley & Eger steamers followed by 1888, with four contracts going to the new Wood, Skinner & Co. Ltd. yard at Gateshead, opened in 1883 with six slipways. Orders from Scandinavian shipowners form the bulk of the output from the Gateshead yard for the first two decades of its existence. Framnaes, Skarpsno, Oscarshal and Frogner were twin hold steamers with yards on two masts for hoisting auxiliary sail as insurance for engine breakdowns, and were also employed in the Transatlantic tramp trades. Halfdan Wilhelmsen entered his father’s shipowning business in Oslo in 1887 and also ordered two similar steamers from Wood, Skinner & Co. Ltd., completed in 1887/88 as Transit and Tonsberg as the first Wilhelmsen new steamers. All of this sextet, yard numbers 10, 13, 15, 16, 25 and 27, were identical in design with their beam varying at most by two feet and their depth to weather deck at most by only one foot. The Wilhelmsen and Fearnley family business were to have very much closer links later in the early decades of the next century.

The Fearnley and Eger steamer quartet participated in all of the European and North Atlantic tramp trades, as Framnaes was wrecked on 2nd March 1900 on the Hogsties Reef in the Bahamas while on a voyage from Norfolk (Virginia) to Santiago (Cuba) with coal, Frogner sank off the Royal Sovereign Light Vessel on 2nd March 1907 after a collision with the British steamer Geelong 7,954/04 while on a voyage from Castro Urdiales in Spain to Rotterdam with iron ore, and Oscarshal was wrecked on 18th May 1908 on the Ile de Sein while on a voyage from Fredrikstad to Chantenay and Nantes with wood. The Boreaux liner trade lost Garonne on 4th June 1897 when she stranded at Kerity near Penmarch in France while on a voyage from Bordeaux via Fraserburgh to Kristiania, and she was refloated and towed to Brest and condemned. A new steamer of 1,070 grt and 1,650 dwt with the name of Garonne (2) was completed in 1900 by the yard of Russell at Port Glasgow for this trade.

Thomas Fearnley also invested in iron ore mining, paper and pulp industries, and power generation companies to provide cargoes of raw materials and products for his tramp fleet. He established in 1904 in central Norway the large company of A/S Meraker Brug owning 510 square miles of forests to provide timber for its many sawmills, and it also had copper mines and limestone quarries in the Stjordalen area. Cargoes of iron ore and other raw materials were also sourced from Monrovia and Sinoe in Liberia. He had built two larger tramps by 1899, Bogstad of 4,500 dwt and Aker of 5,000 dwt, for these trades, both of the same length and depth to weather deck, but with Aker seven feet wider in the beam to give the bigger carrying capacity.

A railway line from the Kiruna iron ore mines in Sweden to the year round ice free port of Narvik was completed in November 1902, and was officially opened on 14th July 1903 by King Oscar II of Sweden. Norway became an independent country from the union with Sweden in 1905 with their own monarch, King Haakon VII, the former Prince Karl of Denmark. Fearnley and Eger and Wilhelmsen became partners in the export of iron ore from Narvik to the U.K. and the Continent, and at first used their big tramps in the 5,000 to 7,000 dwt range for the trade. Three engines aft bridge ‘midships iron ore carriers of 7,600 dwt were immediately ordered from yards on the Tees for the trade for completion in 1906/07. They were completed as Fritzoe and Fornebo for Fearnley & Eger, and Thor for Wilhelmsen on dimensions of length 360.0 feet, beam of 52 feet, and depth to weather deck of 26 feet. Thor was a ‘Trunk decker’ from the Ropner yard at Stockton, while Fritzoe and Fornebo came from the yard of Sir Raylton Dixon & Co. Ltd. at Middlesbrough. They were the largest tramps under the Norwegian flag at the time of their completion, and were well equipped with derricks for discharge of the iron ore on five sets of posts. Fritzoe and Fornebo were sold in 1912 to Houlder, Middleton & Co. Ltd. of London to participate in another new trade, that of petroleum carried in cylinders in their holds. The Narvik and other Norwegian ports iron ore exports have increased vastly over the last century, and are running at 800 million tonnes per annum, with timber, paper, pulp and board exports at 3.5 million tonnes per year.

Development Of Liner Trades

The first attempt by Thomas Fearnley to establish a Transatlantic liner service was in 1896 with a collaboration with Joachim Grieg & Company of Bergen for a service to New York. He was much more successful with his Wilhelmsen partner in the Narvik iron ore trade, which in 1911 resulted in the establishment of the Norwegian Africa and Australia Line (NAAL), as Fearnley and Eger were already the Norwegian agents for the Transatlantic A/B line to South Africa and Australia. A formal agreement was signed on 23rd January 1911 by Fearnley and Eger, Wilhelmsen, Transatlantic A/B and East Asiatic Company (EAC) of Denmark for the Norwegian companies to enter the South African, Australian and Far East trades with a total of five steamers. Fearnley and Eger with their better range of contacts in Norway were the outward loading brokers, while Wilhelmsen managed the ships and were the homeward loading brokers.

The first successful Norwegian Transatlantic liner service needed a State subsidy in 1908 for the Norway Mexico Gulf Line (NMGL), formed by shipowner G. M. Bryde of Bergen. Thomas Fearnley and Halfdan Wilhelmsen were approached in 1913 to provide more capital for the liner service, but in fact it resulted in the take over of the U.S. Gulf and Mexico service by the two Olso shipowners. Fearnley and Eger had by now been running the first Norwegian overseas liner service to Bordeaux for three decades, and with their Wilhelmsen partner also ran liner services to America, South Africa, Australia and the Far East. However, the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 was to decimate the Fearnley & Eger fleet of medium sized Continental traders and bigger vessels on worldwide liner services. Fifteen valuable ships were lost to mines, torpedoes and shelling, including Frogner (2) torpedoed and sunk on 29th April 1918 off Portland Bill, fortunately her crew was saved.

Fearnley And Eger In Inter-War Years

The tramping fleet was rebuilt with six large purchased or newbuilding ships between 1920 and 1924. Two came from yards on the Clyde with Staur of 9,100 dwt from the Greenock Dockyard Co. Ltd. and Bogstad (2) of 8,010 dwt from Lithgows Ltd., both in 1920. Two came from yards on the Tyne, with War Chateau of 8,500 dwt completed by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. in May 1920 and renamed Erle, and Frogner (3) of 8,900 dwt completed by Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. Ltd. on the Tyne in October 1921. Two purchased tramps were the former Baron Dalmeny of 6,500 dwt completed in 1900 for Hogarth and renamed Elvenes, and another former British tramp completed in 1900 as Castano for J. Glynn and renamed as Eksjo.

The worldwide liner trades of Fearnley and Eger had also resumed in 1920, and received the first of ten new motor tramps of between 7,900 dwt to 9,150 dwt, completed between 1924 and 1936, as the near sisters Fernbank, Ferncliff, Ferndale, Fernhill, Fernlane, Fernmoor, Fernglen, Fernwood, Fernbrook and Fernglen (2). The first Fernglen was heavily damaged in a grounding on Cape Guardafui on the Horn of Africa on 13th August 1933, and was condemned when she reached port while on a voyage from Macassar to Aarhus with copra. She was sold on to Sven Salen of Sweden and repaired, and traded until she became a war loss in World War II. The Fearnley and Eger fleet had been built up to twenty one vessels in 1933, with the liner trades further expanded with joint services with A. F. Klaveness of Oslo as ‘Fern – Ville Lines’ from Mexican and U.S. West Coast ports to the Far East trades. The Klaveness and Fearnley families were related by marriage, with Dag Klaveness married to Wanda Young Fearnley, granddaughter of founder Thomas Nicolay Fearnley, who had died on 17th May 1927 in Oslo.

The founder had many and varied interests outside of shipping including polar exploration, skiing, hunting, fishing, sciences and the arts. He was an ardent supporter of the union of Norway with Sweden, and had developed a close friendship with Crown Prince Gustav of Sweden, later King Gustav V. In the winter of 1905, he realised that the union could not be saved, but his correspondence with the Crown Prince of Sweden at that time was an important source of the understanding of the atmosphere in Norway and Sweden at the time Norway became independent. The founder also helped, along with two other businessmen, to fund the Fram expedition of 1893 to 1896 in the Arctic and led by Fridjof Nansen. The founder was on the Executive Board of the Norwegian Geographical Society, to which the plans of the expedition were described in a lecture. In gratitude, Thomas Nicolay Fearnley was elected in February 1897 to the august Science Society of Christiania, which today is the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Thomas Fearnley (1880-1961), son of the founder, took over control of Fearnley and Eger from his father in 1921. He had first worked for Clarksons Shipbrokers in London as a trainee before joining the family firm in 1901, the Eger family having then withdrawn from the partnership in 1905.

The Bordeaux service received two new vessels with the name of Charente during the inter-war years. Charente (2) of 1,327 grt and 2,025 dwt was completed in July 1925 by the Deutsche Werft yard in Hamburg, but was sunk in a collision on 9th October 1932 with the Blue Star Line Afric Star of 10,644 dwt seven miles north east of Dungeness while on a voyage from Bordeaux to Oslo with wine and general cargo. The crew were taken onboard Afric Star and landed at Dover by tug, while Afric Star limped back to London for repairs. Charente (3) of 1,282 grt and 1,815 dwt was completed in 1935 by the yard of Porsgrunn Mek Verkstead, and was powered by a two cylinder compound steam engine of low pressure by the shipbuilder to give a service speed of 12.5 knots. The similar steamer Aragon of 1,416 grt and 2,565 dwt from the Nylands yard in Oslo was completed in 1937, but had a cutaway stern, while the four hatch steamer Biscaya of 1,323 grt and 2,630 dwt in July 1939 came from the Kaldnes Mek Verksted yard in Tonsberg, and both were used on the Bordeaux service.

Fearnley and Eger moved into the tanker trades with their first tanker Glittre of 9,150 dwt in 1928 from the Gotaverken yard in Gothenburg, followed by the twin screw Garonne of 11,000 dwt in 1931 from the Burmeister & Wain yard in Copenhagen, and Ferncastle and Ferncourt, both of 14,000 dwt and built during 1936/38 by the Deutsche Werft yards in Hamburg. A tanker fleet of 52,840 dwt was owned on the outbreak of World War II, but most of this fleet was to be lost to mines, bombs, torpedoes and shelling. Glittre had been sold in 1937 to Smedvigs Tankrederi A/S (Peder Smedvig, manager), Norway without change of name. A final cargo-liner of 8,660 dwt was completed by Flensburger Schiffs in December 1938, but was resold after only one voyage to Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) of Belgium and renamed Mokambo.

Fearnley And Eger In World War II

After the invasion of Norway by Germany on 9th April 1940, the majority of the fleet not under German control was requisitioned by Nortraship, the Norwegian Shipping and Trade Mission, set up in London on 25th April 1940. The Oslo shipowner Oivind Lorentzen became the Director of Shipping, and he then set up another Nortraship office in New York in June 1940. The cargo-liner Fernplant was replaced by a similar five hold motor cargo-liner of 8,880 dwt of the same name in October 1939 from the Burmeister & Wain yard in Copenhagen. She sailed from Shanghai on the day that Norway was invaded by Germany, bound for Manila, and then traded in the Pacific until she passed through the Panama Canal in early 1942. A lucky escape off Trinidad on 22nd February 1942 from a U-boat attack saw her trading in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans without incident until the end of the war. The fleet of twenty two vessels on the outbreak of war on 3rd September 1939 was reduced to only a few vessels by war losses at the end of the war. The grim toll of lost ships is now given:-

• Navarra torpedoed and sunk by U59 on 6.4.1940 to west of the Orkneys while on a voyage from Swansea to Oslo with coal, 12 lost.
• Graziella taken over by Germany in April 1940, torpedoed by British aircraft and run ashore near Egersund on 16.9.1943.
• Ferndale taken over by Germany in April 1940, and bombed and sunk by Allied aircraft on 16.12.1944.
• Oria seized at Casablanca by Vichy French on 24.6.1941 after arriving from Bordeaux and renamed Sainte Julienne, and wrecked off Cape Sounion in Greece on 12.2.1944. Over 4,000 lost.
• Fernlane torpedoed and sunk by Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli on 7.5.1941 to west of Monrovia while on a voyage from the Clyde and Manchester to Freetown and West Africa with salt, stores and 8 aircraft, all crew saved.
• Tolosa torpedoed and sunk by U108 on 9.2.1942 to East of the Bahamas while on a voyage from Kingston (Jamaica) to Chester (Pennsylvania), crew of 22 all lost.
• Charente intercepted by German patrol vessels in the Skagerrak on 1.4.1942 while attempting to escape to Britain from Gothenburg, scuttled.
• Ferncastle (tanker) shelled, torpedoed and sunk by raider Michel on 17.6.1943 off Western Australia while on a voyage from Fremantle and Esperance for Abadan and Busreh in ballast, 24 crew lost.
• Fernhill torpedoed and sunk by U757 on 7.8.1943 to West of Freetown while on a voyage from Liverpool to Montevideo and Buenos Aires with general cargo and ammunition, 4 crew lost.

The commerce raider Michel had left Flushing on 13th March 1942 on a mission that claimed seventeen Allied ships over the next eighteen months. Ferncastle was her third last victim, and when she was sunk off Yokohama on 17th October 1943 by the American submarine Tarpon, the seven seas were free of this the last German surface raider still operating.

Fearnley And Eger In Post-War Years

The war survivors included the cargo-liner Tropic Star and tanker Attila acquired by the company in 1942 from Norwegian shipowner A. Jakhelln A/S when the latter ceased shipowning. Tropic Star had an interesting past as she had been completed in 1926 as Yomah by the Denny yard on the Clyde for Paddy Henderson, before joining the Australind Steam Shipping Co. Ltd. of Trinder, Anderson & Company as Ashburton a year later. The cargo-liner Ferngulf was recovered at Aarhus in May 1945 after being used by the Germany Navy as Ostland after completion by the Copenhagen yard of Burmeister & Wain in June 1941 and had been launched as Ferngulf. The Bordeaux service steamer Biscaya of 1939 also survived the war and sailed on for the company until sold in 1955 to the Finland North America Line to be renamed Tammerfors.

A standard ‘C1’ type was purchased in early 1946 as Cape Palmas renamed as Ferncape to increase the fleet of survivors, and was chartered out to Grancolombiana of Colombia for five years from 1955. A big newbuilding programme of over thirty dry cargo vessels was ordered in the post-war replacement plan between 1948 and 1961. This consisted of six short sea traders for Continental trading to Bordeaux in Medoc, Stanja, Charente, Biscaya, Stanford and Stalheim, four Mediterranean traders of 4,310 dwt in Fernfiord, Ferngrove, Fernriver and Fernspring, and twenty one black hulled deep sea cargo-liners for worldwide trading. The latter were all engines ‘midships with names starting with ‘Fern’ and were in the range of 6,400 dwt to 13,000 dwt and were ordered from British, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and German yards.

The new cargo-liners were named as Ferndale of 1948, Fernfield of 1948, Fernhill of 1948, Fernland of 1948, Fernbay of 1949, Fernside of 1949, Fernstream of 1949, Fernsea of 1950, Fernriver of 1954, Fernbank of 1955, Ferncliff of 1955, Fernmoor of 1955, Fernvalley of 1955, Fernleaf of 1957, Fernwood of 1957 (engines aft), Fernpoint of 1958, Fernstate of 1958, Fernbrook of 1960, Fernview of 1961, Fernlake of 1961, and Ferngate of 1961. The final black hulled cargo-liners were completed as the engines aft Ferncape of July 1963 by Burmeister & Wain for the Pacific trades, and the engines aft Fernland from the Fredrikstad yard in 1964. They had car decks installed six months after completion at the Blohm & Voss yard in Hamburg for the large numbers of new cars being shipped from Japan to West coast U.S.A. and Canadian ports.

Fernvalley operated on the Scandinavian West Africa Line (SWAL) service established in early post-war years by Transatlantic A/B of Sweden, Bergen Line of Norway and Fearnley and Eger. Two vessels of 6,420 dwt were ordered from the Linthouse yard of Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd. on the Clyde and were completed in 1954/55 as Fernvalley and Irma for Bergen Line. They wore the yellow SWAL funnel with a blue and white diagonal banner bearing ‘SWAL’ in blue. Fernvalley had originally been ordered by Bergen Line, but the contract was taken over by Fearnley & Eger in October 1954. They had two masts, three sets of posts with eighteen derricks for discharging and loading in the poorly equipped West African ports of Freetown, Boma, Matadi, Pointe-Noire, Luanda, Lobito, Novo Redondo, Porto Amboim, Sao Tome, and Principe. The Bartram built cargo-liner Fernland of 9,050 dwt completed in 1948 was also used on the SWAL service in 1958, alongside the Transatlantic A/B pair of Temnaren and Vikaren.

Fernstream of 8,300 dwt was completed in September 1949 by the Eriksberg yard at Gothenburg but had a short career of only three years. She was badly holed in a collision with the ‘C3’ standard type Hawaiian Rancher to the west of the Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco on 11th December 1952, and later sank while on a voyage from Baltimore to Manila with general cargo. Fernbrook and Ferngate were raised quarterdeckers of 9,232 dwt from the Rheinstahl Nordseewerke yard at Emden in 1960, with three holds forward of the bridge and one aft, and followed the larger five hold Fernpoint of 13,104 dwt in 1958 from the same yard. Fernview and Fernlake of 12,580 dwt were completed by the Gotaverken yard in 1960/61 equipped with a good array of two dozen derricks on two masts and five sets of posts including a 75 tonne heavy lift derrick on the foremast.

Wilhelmsen had joined with Fearnley & Eger and A. F. Klaveness in 1948 in a close but loose association on the Pacific service to the Far East in ‘Barber Lines’, maintained by a dozen sailings by Wilhelmsen and a dozen sailings jointly by Fearnley & Eger and Klaveness. Six of this newbuilding programme operated on the ‘Fern – Ville Lines’ services across the Pacific to Asiatic ports from 1950. The three partners formalised this agreement in 1969 by setting up the jointly owned Barber Lines A/S, with vessels transferred from all of the three fleets and given new Barber Line black funnel colours with two vertical orange bands. Fernstate, Fernpoint, Fernbrook, Fernview and Ferngate operated alongside a similar number of part container Wilhelmsen and Klaveness cargo-liners on the Barber Lines A/S Round the World services from 1969 to 1975, when both Fearnley and Eger and Klaveness pulled out of the services to end their involvement with cargo-liner operations. The Emden built sisters Fernbrook and Ferngate had been sold in 1973 to new owners, who chartered them out to Barber Lines as Barber Brook and Barber Gate.

Fearnley and Eger and DFDS jointly established the Nordana Line service in 1957 between the Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean. Vessels at first sailed from most Mediterranean ports to the Caribbean, Central American and Mexican ports, and returned to the Mediterranean via the U.S.A. and Scandinavia. A direct service from the U.S.A. to the Mediterranean began in 1961 to supply oil and gas exploration equipment to North Africa, and the calls in Scandinavia were suspended. Fearnley and Eger withdrew from the service in 1964, and DFDS went on to develop the service with four conventional vessels in 1969 equipped with 85 tonne heavy lift derricks, and again in 1979 with four new multi-purpose ships equipped with 120 tonne heavy lift derricks and 36 tonne container cranes. The latter were named Dana America, Dana Africa, Dana Arabia and Dana Caribia at Houston, Genoa, Barcelona and San Juan respectively shortly after completion by the Nippon Kokan K.K. yard in Japan. The Continental trades of the company and the service to North French ports and Bordeaux ended in 1972 with the sale of the last post-war short sea traders.

Post-War Bulker And Tanker Fleets

A rebuilding programme of ten new tankers of up to 35,500 dwt was completed between 1948 and 1960 as Ferncastle, Ferncoast, Ferncourt, Ferncraig, Ferncrest, Fernhaven, Fernmanor, Fernpark, Fernrose, and Fernstar. Tanker building yards in Britain, Norway, Sweden, Japan and Denmark participated, with Ferncrest of 34,800 dwt completed in 1956 by the Eriksberg yard at Gothenburg as one of the largest tankers in the world of that time. She had dimensions of length 682 feet, moulded beam of 87 feet, and a loaded draft of 35.5 feet. She was equipped with Chadburn electric telegraphs, BTH radar, Sperry gyrocompass and automatic pilot, Decca Navigator, and a Kelvin Hughes echo sounder. She had a service speed of sixteen knots from a ten cylinder two stroke single acting supercharged B & W oil engine of 12,500 bhp. The even bigger tanker Fernmount of 36,320 dwt was completed by the Uddevallavarvet yard in Sweden in January 1961. Tanker sizes then increased dramatically with Fernpark of 57,840 dwt in 1963, Fernmanor of 69,718 dwt in 1964, and Ferncrest and Ferncastle of 91,000 dwt in 1966/67. Four VLCC tankers were then ordered in 1969 from Japanese and French yards and were completed in 1972/73 as Ferncourt, Ferncraig, Fernhaven and Fernmount.

Six bulkers were completed between 1963 and 1967 of up to 50,000 dwt with black or grey hulls, some of the latter with the new grey Fearnley & Eger funnels with the red central band carrying the blue Maltese cross on a white rectangle. They were named Fernglen, Ferngrove, Fernleaf, sisters Fernriver and Fernspring of 50,000 dwt from yards on the Wear at Sunderland, and Fernwind. Three car bulkers of 20,900 dwt were completed by the Rheinstahl Nordseewerke yard at Emden in 1970 as Ferndale, Fernfield and Fernside with mezzanine car decks onboard for the Pacific trades.

Eight liquid petroleum gas (LPG) carriers were owned between 1965 and 1980, with the first pair owned jointly in 1965/66 by Fearnley and Eger and Einar Bakkevig as Lincoln Ellsworth of 610 dwt and Niels Henrik Abel of 1,594 dwt. The bigger vessel of this pair was sold on to Kosan Gas Tankers of Denmark in 1970 and renamed Sorine Tholstrup. Six larger LPG carriers then came into service, with Kristian Birkeland of 16,526 dwt delivered in August 1968 by Chantiers Navale de la Ciotat for a consortium of Fearnley and Eger, Gasocean Norsk A/S, and Hydro Tankships A/S. The same shipbuilder delivered two sister gas carriers of 17,250 dwt in 1969, and the pair were purchased in August 1973 and renamed Fernvalley and Fernwood. The Moss yard in Norway had great expertise in building liquid gas carriers, and completed Fernwave of 11,420 dwt in 1972, and her sisters Fernbank and Fernbrook in May and September of 1976.

New Owners And New Trades

The Astrup and Fearnley families had been related by marriage from the time of the wedding of Cecilie Fearnley, daughter of the founder and brother of Thomas Fearnley (1880 – 1961) to Ebbe Morten Astrup of Oslo. They had two children in Nils Ebbesson Astrup (1901 – 1972) and Cecilie Fearnley Astrup, with Thomas Fearnley in partnership with Nils Ebbesson Astrup as Fearnley & Astrup A/S from the inter-war years. On the death of Nils Ebbesson Astrup on 29th September 1972, his son Nils Jorgen Astrup inherited the shipping business of Fearnley & Eger A/S. The new owner took the company in new directions, with partnerships in cruise and ferry companies, and also in oil related businesses with oil rig supply vessels and three oil rigs owned by Fearnley Drilling A/S.

The cruise ship Island Venture with accommodation for 816 passengers was completed in 1972 by the Rheinstahl Nordseewerke yard at Emden for Flagship Cruises with Fearnley and Eger as part owner. She was taken on charter by Princess Cruises in November 1972 as Island Princess, and was later joined by her sister Sea Venture as Pacific Princess in 1975. This pair offered cruises from California to the Mexican Riviera and Caribbean cruises through the Panama Canal. The marketing of Princess Cruises was greatly helped by the American television series ‘Love Boat’, with film crews onboard for six cruises each year of the immensely popular series, which was quoted as one of the three reasons for the growth of American cruising by travel agents.

Two ro-ros were completed by the Kristiansands Mek Verksted yard in 1972 for freight charters with accommodation for a dozen truck drivers, with one of the pair later converted into the cruise ship Explorer Starship, and she then sailed for Radisson Seven Seas in 1989 as Song of Flower. A factory trawler was later taken over in March 1985 and converted into the Alaskan and expeditionary cruise ship North Star of 2,557 grt for K/S A/S North Star Cruises of Oslo. She was later renamed Caledonia Star for Noble Caledonia Cruises. Renaissance Cruises was founded in 1988 by Fearnley and Eger to own eight upmarket mini cruise ships, Renaissance One to Renaissance Eight of 4,077 grt completed between 1989 and 1992 by Italian yards with accommodation for 114 passengers. They were frequently chartered out on a voyage or time charter basis in the German and British cruise markets. They carried four lifeboats with a large white tender secured athwartships at the stern, and their funnel pipes were covered by a ‘roll cage’ latticework that extended the full width of the vessels.

Irish Continental Line was established in 1973 for the Rosslare to Le Havre service, owned 50% by Irish Shipping Group, and 25% each by Fearnley and Eger and Lion Ferry A/B of Halmstad in Sweden. The Scandinavian companies were called in as joint owners because of their expertise in setting up ferry and cruise companies. Fearnley Offshore A/S was also established in 1973 with five oil rig supply vessels servicing three large oil rigs for Fearnley Drilling A/S named Viking Piper, Ocean Ranger and Fernstar, and owned between 1975 and 1979 when oil related activities came to an end.

The Final Years 1975 To 1991

The thrust of the now Astrup family owned company was then directed towards car carriers, semi-submersible heavy lift carriers, self discharging bulkers, ore/oil carriers as well as large tankers and bulkers. Five sister bulkers of 120,700 dwt were completed by the Rheinstahl Nordseewerke yard at Emden between January 1975 and April 1976 as Fernbay, Fernhill, Fernlane, Fernleaf and Fernsea. A twin funnelled ore/oil carrier was purchased in November 1981 and renamed Fernteam, she had been completed for the ‘TEAM’ pool in 1978 as Gothia Team by the Oresundsvarvet yard at Landskrona in Sweden.

Fearnley Oil Tankers Inc. was established in 1981 in the difficult tanker freight market of the early 1980s to operate large tankers such as Oslo Energy of 167,314 dwt, (the former British owned Hopepark and Stonehaven), and St. Tobias of 254,500 dwt, (the former British owned Hudson Friendship), and Manhattan Prince and Manhattan Queen of 87,100 dwt of Manhattan Tankers A/S, a joint venture with Mosvolds Rederi A/S. Manhattan Prince was sold in 1991 to the Alandia Tanker Corporation of Mariehamn in the Aland Islands and renamed Alandia Prince. Four Handysize tankers of 40,000 dwt were purchased between June 1989 and May 1990 and renamed as Ferncourt, Ferncraig, Ferncape and Ferncliff. They had been completed by the Uljanik Brodogradiliste yard during 1981/84, and in fact Ferncraig had been launched for Fearnley and Eger in June 1984 but had been sold before delivery to Mexican owners. Three tankers of 21,250 dwt were managed for Magic Sky Inc. between 1989 and 1991 as Magic Sky, Magic Lady and Magic Mercury.

The semi-submersible heavy lift carrier Ferncarrier of 133,750 dwt was perhaps the most unusual ship in the Fearnley and Eger fleet of the 1980s. She had been completed by the Eriksberg yard at Gothenburg in September 1975 as Kollbris for Swedish owners and had carried many jack-up and semi-submersible oil rigs to new locations around the world, including many for the Sante Fe Group of the U.S.A. as well as the trio owned by Fearnley Drilling A/S. She had a long voyage of 11,200 miles in 1983 transporting the semi-submersible drilling rig High Seas Driller from South Korea to Invergordon for use in the North Sea oilfields. The oil rig weighed in at a massive 15,500 tonnes and had six legs and a height of 350 feet from the bottom of her pontoons to the top of her drilling tower. The rig extended more than twenty metres on each side of the hull of Ferncarrier, yet a towing speed of 13 knots was made throughout the long voyage, twice as fast as conventional tugs could have completed the transfer.

Three self discharging bulkers were owned during 1990/91 as Yeoman Bank of 43,728 dwt, (the former Salmonpool of Ropner and rebuilt as a self discharger by the Framnaes yard at Sandefjord), and the new Yeoman Brook and Yeoman Burn of 77,550 dwt. All of the trio were on twenty year charters to Foster Yeoman Ltd. of Somerset to carry stone chippings from the Glensanda stone quarry on the north shore of Loch Linnhe to the Isle of Grain for transfer to the construction site of the Channel Tunnel. Several big car carriers were completed or purchased for operation in the NYK car carrier pool, including Ferngolf and Fernpassat purchased in June 1984, the new car carriers Braunschweig and Kassel of 3,750 car capacity from the Uljanik Brodogradiliste yard in June and December 1987, and Fernstar of 5,400 car capacity purchased in September 1989, all in service until 1990.

The wide ranging and ambitious ship purchase programme of the 1980s had seriously reduced the liquidity position of Fearnley and Eger A/S by March 1991. The assets of the company included eight mini cruises ships of Renaissance Cruises based in Fort Lauderdale, a 51% stake in Norwegian America Line (NAL) owning car carriers, three self discharging bulkers on long term charter to Foster Yeoman Ltd., and minority interests in the Seachem chemical tanker pool (established in 1990 by the company and Nedlloyd) and the Nora industrial group of Norway. The company filed for bankruptcy on 16th September 1991 and the sale of most of the assets of Fearnley and Eger A/S took place shortly afterwards. Master Management A/S of Oslo had been formed by senior personnel of the ship management division of the company to take over the running of the fleet before the sale to new owners. Christiania Bank of Oslo lost $59.3 million on investments after the company bankruptcy.

Postscript

There are currently two former Fearnley and Eger ships still trading, plus a semi-submersible drilling rig in the former Fernstar completed in November 1977 at the Rauma-Repola O/Y yard in Finland, and now renamed Borgny Dolphin with a drilling crew of 84 persons. The LPG tanker Fernwave, completed by the Moss yard in Norway in December 1972 with four of their patented gas tanks and sold in 1988 and renamed Norgas Mariner, is still trading as White Purl and registered in Panama. A ro-ro that was launched as Fernhill and completed at Kristiansand in 1974 as Begonia, and later converted into the mini cruise ship Explorer Starship and then renamed Song of Flower, is still cruising today as Ocean Diamond for Explorer Partners Ltd. with CMA CGM French Line as her managers. She was also their cruise ship Le Diamant between 2004 and 2012.

The currently trading Astrup Fearnley A/S financial and shipbroking group has a Head Office in Oslo with branch offices in Stockholm, London, Paris, New York, Houston, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Bangkok and Singapore. It also owns Meraker Brug A/S with 400,000 acres of forestry plantations in the Meraker, Malvik, Stjordal and Steinjer areas of central Norway. The landmark Astrup Fearnley Museum set in an impressive waterside location of Oslo was opened by Queen Sonja of Norway in 2012, and was the long held ambition of Hans Rasmus Astrup, half brother of Nils Jorgen Astrup, who had inherited the legendary shipping group of Fearnley and Eger in September 1972.