page_title: Skomvær (barque)
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Skomvær (barque) / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Steel-hulled barque "Skomvær" at port.
context_page_description: Skomvær was the name of a steel-hulled barque built in 1890 for J. C. & G. Knudsen in Porsgrunn, Telemark, Norway. The ship, which was designed by naval architect Randulf Hansen and constructed at Laxevaags Maskin- og Jernskibsbyggeri in Bergen, was the first sailing ship constructed with steel in Norway and for a time the largest Norwegian sailing vessel ever built. However, the ship struggled to compete in the 20th century with the advent of the steamship, and in 1924 she was decommissioned and sold for scrap.
  Skomvær entered the public eye once again in 1960, when musician Erik Bye wrote the song "Skomværsvalsen" as a tribute to the ship and her crew. A fundraising effort by the artist led to the construction of the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue boat Skomvær II that same year, and in 1986 the organization named another of its boats, Skomvær III, after the ship.
context_section_description: In 1960, Skomvær was given a new lease of life when Norwegian folk singer and television and radio presenter Erik Bye released his first studio album, Vi går ombord.  The sixth track on the album, "Skomværsvalsen" (English: The Skomvær Waltz), which was co-written with Bjarne Amdahl, became one of Bye's biggest hits and received heavy rotation on the NRK radio show Ønskekonserten.  The track gained additional popularity from being featured on the annual NRK Christmas broadcast "Vi går ombord," where the song was performed by the Norwegian Seamen's Choir.  The song was recorded as a tribute to Skomvær and her crew, with its well-known opening line "And the ship was named Skomvær in Porsgrunn city."
  Bye was also involved with the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue (NSSR), and during a radio broadcast on Christmas Eve in 1959, he had initiated fundraising for a new rescue boat to be donated to the organization.  The original plan was to build a 55-foot-long vessel, but fundraising went so well that they pushed up the fundraising target to fund an 87-foot boat identical to the rescue boat Haakon VII.  The method of funding was selling shares of the boat for five kroner per piece as well as ten kroner shares that entitled the owner to ride on the boat during the official launch.  The contract to build the boat was signed with the Stord-based firm AS Stord Verft by NRK director-general and later Labor Party politician Kaare Fostervoll.  The boat cost 1.55 million kroner and had a 525-horsepower Bergen Marine diesel engine that could achieve speeds of up to 11 knots.  She was delivered to the NSSR on 11 June 1960.  The boat, which was named Skomvær II in honor of the original merchant ship, was christened by Augusta Rafn, then aged 90, who had also christened the original Skomvær.
  In 1986, the NSSR spent 5.3 million kroner on a new rescue boat, Skomvær III, with two 625-horsepower MAN Diesel engines giving her a top speed of 25 knots.  They sold Skomvær II that same year for 1.6 million kroner to the Swedish Sea Rescue Society, who renamed the boat Hans Hansson.  The boat has since been bought by Gordon Fitton, an English geophysicist residing in Alderney in the Channel Islands, who undertook a complete restoration of the boat and named her Skomvær II once again.  Skomvær III is still in operation as a rescue ship and is stationed in Lofoten near her namesake, Skomvær Lighthouse.
  In 2005, the Norwegian brand Toro announced a new product, Skomvær Fish Soup, that would donate one kroner of every sale to the NSSR.  The Bergen-based company chose the name because of their proximity to the former site of Laxevaags Maskin- og Jernskibsbyggeri, who built the first Skomvær.  By 2007 they had raised 740,000 kroner for the organization.
caption: Skomvær at port, her sails furled.
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