Life in the Fishing Village

by Gro Røde

Today we’ll go in through the back door, or "kitchen entrance" to the fishing villages. Really, we should have come in from the sea, because then we would have seen the fishing villages from their best side, since the buildings date back to the time when the sea was the "main road", the traffic artery.

Å – What a Place!
Å, in the year 1896. Life was not the same for the maid, Gjertine Hansdatter, and the squire’s daughter, Ingrid, but both their lives were an integral part of "life in the fishing village." All of the 33 buildings in the fishing village of Å have their own place in the jigsaw puzzle. Here, we find the dwellings of the squire and those of the fisherman’s family. In the rorbu cabins, visiting fishermen stayed during the Lofoten fishery. In the bakery, they baked the "daily bread". Food was stored safe and dry in the storehouse. There were animals in the stable and the chicken shed, animals that provided milk, eggs, meat and wool. In the barn fodder was kept for the animals. Here, too, you would find tools and vehicles like sleighs and wagons.

The outhouses and sheds contained various tools and tackle, and in the woodshed, a man would be in constant activity making firewood. In the nice, spacious boathouse, boats were hung up or lined up in rows. The blacksmith forged and repaired tools in his smithy for work both in the fisheries and on the farm. The shop sold goods of all kinds – food, clothing and tools. Warehouses, quays and a cod-liver oil factory were built so that fish could be landed and processed. Post and reception offices served to maintain contacts and help do business with the world outside the fishing village. A religious meeting house also belonged in the picture, as a popular belief in God also had its natural place with the people of the fishing village.

In order that worldly life might carry on, the people of Å had to utilise what nature had to offer: berries from the fields, fish from the lakes, and juicy, green fodder from the mountains. But most of all, life there was linked to the Lofoten fishery and the riches of the sea.

Squires and Cotters
In 1896 there were two squire families in Å. There was the Nilsen family who were resident in Hennumgården House and the Ellingsens in that which is today known as the Mansion. They lived very close to each other, but that did not matter, because there was the best of relationships between the two families. The history of the squires is clearly visible in Å. It is more difficult to trace the history of the fishermen’s families though, despite the fact that they constituted the majority of the inhabitants. According to the census of 1900, 94 people were living in Å at the time. Ten of them were of the squires’ families.

Eighteen were servants, of whom only one was employed by a fisherman’s family. Three were in temporary employment with the Ellingsens and sixty-three of them constituted fisherman’s families and cotters. The cotter’s families did not own any land and had to rent that on which their houses stood, as well as haymaking lands and pastures, from the squire. Payment was made in the form of unpaid labour, usually performed during the summer haymaking season.

Squire Ellingsen had a large farm with two horses, ten cattle and several dozen sheep. In contrast, the domestic animals belonging to a fisherman’s family usually included one cow and 5-6 winter-fed sheep. All the animals needed fodder and the hay for this was gathered in the Å-dalen valley and on the steep slopes overlooking the village of Å. Every tiny green patch was a valuable asset on the steep, rocky island of Moskenesøy.

Late Imperial Style and Standardised Houses
Both squires’ residences were built in the 1860’s and they dominate the scene in the fishing village. Considerable alterations were made to Ellingsen’s mansion in the 1890’s, turning it into an Imperial style building. In 1909, the house on Bekkhaugen hill was built – in three different styles: the Swiss and Jugend (German art nouveau) styles from Central Europe, in combination with the Nordic dragon style.
These houses provide a good impression of the relationship between the squire and the villagers. There were vast differences between people, both in wealth and power, not to mention in freedom of choice. The squire’s children were the only ones who were sent away to get an education. The children from the fishermen’s
families normally did as their parents had done, they became fishermen and housewives. There is a cotter’s house near the main museum building which was given a "face lift" in the 1950’s. The cottage shows how the average man and woman lived their everyday lives. After the Second World War, there was an increase in welfare. People wanted better living conditions than the small, crowded dwellings could provide, and the old houses were incorporated into "new", standardised houses. Traces of the old ones can still be seen in several places.

Public Image
The mansions of the squires constituted the public image of the fishing villages. At the homes of the better off, there were well-kept gardens with pavilions and exotic trees, shrubs and other plants. The Hennum garden in Å was renowned for this and was even mentioned in a weekly magazine as "a tiny piece of enchanting Eden." The mansion was often painted white, at least the walls facing the harbour were. It didn’t matter too much about the back. That might lack panelling, and even be painted with the cheaper, red or ochre paint. White was the most expensive colour, and as such, it signified prosperity. This can be seen in the old, white-painted "Grandfather’s house" in Å, where the bakery is today. Here, the back walls facing the storehouse are painted red.

The Squire’s Family
There have been five generations of Ellingsens in Å, but it all started a long time before them. Let us begin with the merchant of Å, who’s name was Maas. He had a foster daughter called Margrethe Sophie Kibsgaard (she died in 1881) who, in 1843 married the captain of a cargo vessel, Johan Ellingsen (1812 – 1900).
Margrethe gave birth to ten children, but wealth had no power over sickness and death, and only three of the children actually grew up. The years between 1830 and 1880 were the Golden Age of the North Norwegian trading posts. Trade flourished, fish prices were good, and the fishing villages developed. In Å, development continued for several decades into the 1900’s. This economic growth was closely linked to the fact that the fish merchants, like Squire Ellingsen, were given licences to export the fish that was ready for sale themselves.

The Year 1896
Margrethe and Johan’s son, Christen Peder, or C.P. as he was known, took over the management of the family business in 1876. His wife, Henriette Mathilde from Trondheim, gave birth to seven children. Both husband and wife had their own areas of work within the business, which was called "Handelshuset Ellingsen, Å." C.P. was in charge of trade, including the purchase and export of fish, roes and cod-liver oil, shop-keeping, the shipping agency and the post office. Operations were kept running by workers like the clerk, the assistant manager, the baker, the blacksmith, the carpenters and the dockers. The lady of the house had an equal amount of work to supervise. She managed a large household with a governess, a babysitter, a cook, a housekeeper, several maids, a milk maid and farm hands. There were nearly always overnight guests on the estate because traditionally, the squire had also been the local innkeeper. During the Lofoten cod season, there were 40 ready made beds at the Ellingsens’. The farm was big, too, and the supervision of it required considerable effort from both of them. There were also farm hands and milk maids to take care of daily chores.

Winter and the Lofoten Fishery
Life has always been exhilarating and exciting during the winter fishery. The weather varies from frightful storms to the brightest sunny days with intense blue skies. The boats go back and forth to the fishing grounds, landing the catch on the quay. People shout and laugh and the gulls are beside themselves with all the titbits that are thrown into the sea. There is a pungency in the air, a mixture of tar and fish mingled with the tempting smell of freshly baked bread from the bakery. In 1896, no less than 32,280 hungry fishermen congregated in the fishing villages. The baker, who moved to Å during the fishing season, had plenty to do, since Å was a popular fishing station among a large number of these fishermen.

The Fishermen and Life in the Rorbu Cabin
The visiting fishermen in Å came largely from Beiarn and the Salten region. They came year after year and gradually became well acquainted with the local population and local conditions. The fishing villages were inundated with menfolk, and this meant that the girls were overtly coveted. During the autumn, the men checked their tackle and boats, and in mid January, they left their homes and set sail for Lofoten.
Ellingsen built many new rorbu cabins and in 1896 he had enough room to accommodate 300 men. Living conditions were cramped with 10-12 men, or two boat crews, in each cabin. Two or three grown men shared a single bunk. Everything was done in the main cabin room. Dripping wet clothing was hung up to dry, nets were mended and longlines baited, even their food was cooked here!

Fighting and antagonism? Oh yes, indeed there was– the men could get on each others’ nerves, but as a rule there was a good feeling of solidarity among them. The fishermen spent their time and energy on a working day that began in the dark, around four or five in the morning. The start signal, a lantern or a flag, was hoisted at 6 a.m. The fishermen sailed or rowed as fast as they could out to the fishing grounds to compete for the best places to set their gear and haul in the catch. After a long day at sea, they gutted the catch ready for sale for hanging or salting. It was often late in the evening before they were back in their cabins.

The Lofoten Chest and Preparations
Fishermen’s wives, maids, sisters and mothers along the coast of Norway from Finnmark to the West Country, spent the autumn months in preparation. The men and sons were to take part in the Lofoten fishery, staying away for several months. They needed to take a well-filled Lofoten Chest with them because the world’s greatest cod fishery was also one of the world’s toughest places of work. The women baked in September. The baking ladies went from house to house helping to bake griddle cakes and the wafer crispbread, or "flatbread," that kept so well. In October the domestic animals were slaughtered and then meat for the coming year was prepared. The meat was processed by either salting or drying. The best of the dried or salted meat was placed in the Lofoten Chests.

The Lofoten Chest was of vital importance to the fishermen. The women packed them with love, care and wisdom – to them it was a good investment ... A full grown man needed a lot of food and clothing in order to carry out hard, physical work during the coldest time of the year. Woollen clothing was vital along the coast. Coastal home crafts consisted largely of producing woollen clothing for the family – and for the menfolk in particular. Clothes made from the wool shed by the old sheep that were kept outdoors all year round, had the same effect as today’s "Gore-Tex" garments, they were water resistant and when the woolly mittens finally did get wet, they still retained the warmth. For those working at sea, woollen clothing was therefore essential. The women spent as many working days getting everything together, as the men spent on the Lofoten fishery itself!

The Residents
The women in the fishing village didn’t pack Lofoten Chests for themselves, but there was no shortage of work when it came to preparing food and woollen clothing. Their fields of work included the home, the barn and the men. They took care of everyone who needed food and care. In addition to this, they also took part in the fisheries, both before and after the catch was landed. They baited longlines, or tied the fish together in pairs at their tails, ready for hanging out to dry on the fish racks. During the Lofoten season, the women could earn money washing clothes for the crews of visiting boats. It was the squire who decided whether they should be allowed to let out lodgings to the fishermen, though. He had a monopoly on lodgings. If the weather was good, the women sometimes rowed out among the fishing boats and sold waffles and cakes to hungry fishermen!

The children, too, had to do their share of the work and took a great deal of responsibility in the home, looking after smaller brothers and sisters, fetching water and making food. Moreover, they also worked on the quayside, cutting out the cod tongues and threading the heads together ready for drying. Fish work provided them with cash, other work was rewarded with praise and acclamation from adults and satisfied parents.

The Age of the Open Boats
Å does not have a good natural harbour, but things worked well during the age of the open boat: Nordland-type boats of various, different sizes were moored in the tiny bay known as "Leira", in front of the boathouse. Here, you would find "fembøringer", "åttringer" , "firroringer" all the way down to the smallest "færingen", with its two compartments. The buyer boats – ketches and cargo vessels – came from afar to salt the fish. Steamers lay just off shore, selling bait to longliners. In 1896, motor boats were unheard of, people had only just got used to the steamers as carriers of heavy goods and travellers along the coast. In 1890, Å became permanent port of call for the steamer, and a local agency office was established. A new trend appeared in the villages with many of the visiting fishermen now arriving in Å on the steamer, or the "Local" as the boat was referred to – locally.

But then, as now, it was the catch that everybody was interested in: that was what they made their money from. Ingrid, the Squire’s daughter, was 13 in 1896. She writes that there was excitement in the air: "All of us landlubbers stood around on the hilltops when the boats came in from the sea, waiting to see if they were lying low in the water." If the result was poor, everyone’s spirits sank, and there was a dismal atmosphere in the fishing village. It was something else when all the boats returned heavily laden. Then there was "unusual vitality around all the quays and warehouses. People ran, shouted, laughed and waved their hands – the cod had arrived."

In 1896, the fishing was not particularly good. The total quantity of the catch ended up at 18,000,000 fish. The year before, in 1895, the result had been a phenomenal one, totalling 38,600,000. Still, fishing is unpredictable, exciting and stimulating. The dream of the great haul is ever present ...

June 12 – Fish Fetching Day
After Easter, the Lofoten fishery was usually over, the fishermen had returned home, and the hectic atmosphere was gone. The fish – "the money" – was left hanging on the fish racks until June 12, which was "fish-fetching day." Then, the jekt – this fabled North Norwegian cargo vessel – would be moored in the harbour, ready to do its part of the job. Towards the end of the 1800’s it was the cargo ship "Lydia av Aa" that rocked across the Vestfjord with all sails set, bound for Bergen. She was loaded with fish, roes and cod-liver oil, all ready for shipping to the markets down in Europe. In exchange for the fish, the cargo vessel brought goods like flour, corn, salt, sugar, paraffin, tools and tackle to the north. Fish prices were therefore of the utmost importance to everyone. Many of the years of destitution in northern Norway were a result of poor fish prices and high corn prices. Coupled with a bad Lofoten season, these things spelled disaster.

The old cleric and poet, Petter Dass from Alstadhaug, put the situation into words:

If the cod us should fail, what have we then,
What should we from here to Bergen send?
The cargo vessels would sail empty.