“Last year, the doctor gave me two months to live. Well, that was fine, I distributed the inheritance - sent the money and got ready. Three months later he called and said to sit here and wait!”
Harald, the last of Kristoffer and Kristine Marø’s children, is 101 years old and lives in his own house in Halifax - NS, Canada.
On assignment for the Ishavsmuseet at Brandal, Martin Karlsen and I visited Harald Marø in Halifax NS. We have talked several times about documenting his story, and finally on 23 and 24 March this year it happened. A strong and clear 101-year-old, with wit and humour. His Ålesund dialect cannot have changed much since he, together with his wife Randi Silseth, emigrated to Halifax in 1949. In Harald’s living room hang Norwegian decorations from the Second World War, as well as telegrams from King Harald, Queen Elizabeth and the Canadian Governor General regarding Harald’s 100th anniversary.
Harald was born on 7 March 1917 at Brandal. After a year, the family moved to Slevika in Borgund, to a small farm, where the mother toiled day and night. “She was both mother and horse”, says Harald about how she toiled on the farm. He thrived in Slevika, especially all the exciting things they found and did in the spring, Harald recalls with pleasure. After seven years, the family moved to Ratvika. According to himself, most of his upbringing was spent in the spring. “You have no idea how much excitement we could find in the spring after a storm.” The four brothers won many teams, eldest brother Bernt was captain with the twins Henrik and Kristoffer jr. and Harald as eager helpers. It was a raft, later a boat, on which they built both decks and wheelhouses. A Viking ship was also built in the spring.
They were young when they were allowed to come on board the schooners, father Kristoffer was the skipper and helped clean them. They got to learn and they got some payment. Another memory from my youth is that Harald and the twins went over to Fiskarstaranda and worked for a whole summer drying fish. Despite rowing several times across the Borgundfjord in autumn and winter to collect the payment, they never got their money. “I’m still so pissed off at him that I could soon beat him up.”
As a 15-year-old, Harald went seal hunting for the first time, of course with “Polar bear”. The trip went to Lake Kvitsjøen, where the Russians had hunted down all the seals with icebreakers and scared them into the border. He remembers that they were stuck on shallow ground, the straw keel was torn away, but the ice and the current took us off the ground. We searched everything we could, but still came up with a single seal. Skipper Kristoffer Marø broke off and went to Vesterisen, where they managed to get something like 3,000 animals. On the expedition trip to Northeast Greenland in the same year, Harald was a mess boy. What he remembers best from that trip was that he managed to miss the entire plate of meatballs and sauce in the lap of expedition leader Adolf Hoel. Hoel was rather formal, and young Harald jumped and hid.
In the summer of 1936, Harald was fishing for hake in the Danish coast with “Polaric”, "we worked and toiled 19 hours a day for four months, when we got home we owed 27 kroner to the fishing team. Then I decided to blow a long march on the whole seal catch. So I traveled out with “Bestum”. On their way to Narvik in the late summer of 1938, they stopped by Ålesund. Father Kristoffer and mother Kristine came on board, they had investigated with the helmsman’s school, and despite it being a month after the start of school, Harald could start. Then there was the fact that Harald dropped out and went to the helmsman’s school.
The following summer, Harald enlisted as second mate on an expedition trip with “Polar Bear” to Svalbard and Greenland. The exciting thing about that trip was that the driver himself, Martin Karlsen, was there. Eventually I found out the reason, it was an old dream he had had. About a treasure and an iron door in the spring. “I have to promise that it was exciting when we went to the shore and searched. Martin told how the place where the iron door was, looked like in the dream. The morning we went there to look and we arrived at a place that looked like this, then our hearts jumped in excitement. But we didn’t find the iron door in the rock.”
In the spring of 1940, Harald traveled as second mate (gunner) with “Polar bear” on a seal hunt off Newfoundland. “I still remember the morning we were about to take off the rail, and he With (the telegrapher) came out on the bridge wing and told us that Norway was occupied. It was a shock. We didn’t think it could happen. The only thing we wanted was to go home and fight for our country, but it was too late.”
All the Norwegian seal catchers went into St. John’s - Newfoundland, and gradually boats and crews came into allied service. Harald subsequently enlisted as third mate on board the Norwegian cargo ship MS “Eidsvold”. On 20 January 1942, the ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine while it was at Christmas Island and loaded with phosphate. Harald and the rest of the crew saved themselves ashore. But there was little food and other supplies to be found on Christmas Island.
Three weeks later, Harald enlisted again as third mate, this time on D/S “Prominent”. The ship went to Java, but was not allowed to unload the cargo. On 27 February, the Japanese had almost reached Java, and “Prominent” and all other ships were ordered to leave there so as not to be captured. They picked up steam and with a pilot on board they came through the mine belt, and continued south, heading for Australia. At 4 o’clock in the morning, a good day after departure, the ship was fired upon by a Japanese destroyer. The crew was of the opinion that the Norwegian flag on the aft mast should prevent attacks. It didn’t match. “Arms and legs flew in all directions when the superstructure was hit. Thirteen men were killed in that attack.” Harald and several others were injured, several seriously injured. They managed to get two lifeboats on the sea and most people got on board these. Harald used his last strength to get the boat on the sea, and got into it. One of his feet was badly injured after a concrete block that was on the bridge for protection fell on top of him. He bled and eventually lay in the bottom of the lifeboat. The Chinese crew treat them like an infant, he says himself. The blast from the attack had made them all temporarily deaf, but with arm movements Harald managed to get the crew to get the lifeboat away from “Prominent”. It was in the count’s time, only a short time later another salvo came and D/S “Prominent” sank at six in the morning. Furthermore, Harald and the others use the clothes they were wearing to seal the lifeboat. A short discussion about where they should set course was ended when Harald told about the miserable conditions on Christmas Island, and they sailed north towards Java.
They sailed for five days and then walked for two days through the jungle before the crew arrived in the town of Garut, where the injured were taken to hospital. After two hours they were chased out, they smelled like rotting corpses they were told. Later in the evening, the Japanese came, and the British naval guests were taken along in trucks, hopefully to a concentration camp, adds Harald.
From the beginning, the Japanese were suspicious of Harald and others of the crew, whether they were English spies.
A rather special memory from the hospital in Java was that Harald found a Norwegian magazine. “All Women” from 1939 there. The special thing was that the edition had an article from Ratvika, about Harald’s mother who had a husband and several sons in the North Atlantic on their way to seal hunting in Newfoundland and the terrible storm that claimed three skiffs and an entire crew. The angle was the dangers of the seal catch and those who sat at home. "It was special to sit on the other side of the globe and see my mother, my siblings and myself (who went to pilot school this year) in a Norwegian magazine. It weighed emotions.
Not many days later, Harald and third machinist Peter Martinus Harpestad from “Prominent” (and “Eidsvold”) were called in by the Japanese military police, Kempeitai. Which was not at all milder than the German Gestapo. Harald walked with crutches because of the injured foot, his comrade was far more injured - with three hundred splinters in his body, but looked away with crutches. Kempeitai’s office was on the third floor. The crutches were taken from the two prisoners before they were allowed to enter the building. There was of course no lift. The two crawled up three floors before they were ready to leave. They were treated well there. There were several hearings. Harald thinks it was his bad English that saved him. He was asked to write his life story in English, it was a dubious presentation with English and Norwegian words about one other. They were not classified as British spies, but they were not set free either. They were seen in a concentration camp and helped build a dry dock for a 10,000 ton ship. The ground was clay, so it was hard work. One meal a day was far from enough, so they quickly became emaciated. Eventually people got tired and sick. Harald got Beriberi, his body was full of water. There was no medicine, but he managed to reach two teaspoons of red rice husks. The B vitamins were good enough, and 50 liters of water disappeared from the body in a few hours. Harald got Beriberi, his body was full of water. There was no medicine, but he managed to reach two teaspoons of red rice husks. The B vitamins were good enough, and 50 liters of water disappeared from the body in a few hours. Harald got Beriberi, his body was full of water. There was no medicine, but he managed to reach two teaspoons of red rice husks. The B vitamins were good enough, and 50 liters of water disappeared from the body in a few hours.
After two and a half years in captivity in Java, Harald was moved to the notorious Changi prison in Singapore. He was released on 4 September 1945.
“Not for a single day did I think I was going to make it out alive.”
All along they had been told that Norway was wiped out, their families as well. Harald’s plan was to travel to China and start a cafe in Laga with a fellow prisoner. Before they got that far, the other died, and Harald set off for England and Norway House in London.
Via Cairo and London, Harald came home to Norway. In all archives and records he stood as fallen, the Germans had claimed half of his life policy. Mother Kristine had never seen any proof that he was dead, she refused to accept the other half of the life policy, in other words she thought that one day Harald would come home.
The Last Marø (II)
When Harald came home after the war, he was carefully treated, both the family and others were afraid that he had been injured and had psychological damage after the three and a half years in captivity. “E was done with that, now it was time to get on”.
- In September 1946, Randi Silseth and Harald got married.
In 1947, James Lamont’s Shipyard began construction of the first purpose-built steel self-propelled vessel in Norway - “Polarstar”. It was Krisoffer Marø in a team with the owner team Martin Karlsen AS who stood before the contracting party. Kristoffer supervised during construction. Harald was first mate. The construction period dragged on, in the end the ship was taken over and they went to Liaaen in Ålesund for the last rest. In the late summer of 1948, the ship reached freezing speed, but for Harald it was only a trip. Karl Karlsen in Halifax got in touch and wanted Harald as skipper of “Illionis”, a converted minesweeper that ran at banana speed, but which Karlsen, as operator (and owner Christensen), intended to send on a seal hunt.
“I said that if I come, it’s the two of us, I have to bring my wife, Randi.”
This is how it happened, the two traveled with weasel “Notre Dame” over to Halifax. After several weeks of waiting in Florida, the other two ships “Notre Dame” with brother Kristoffer jr as skipper and “Fordam” - skipper Helge Brandal, were told that they should come north and equip themselves for catching seals. Since “Illinois” had no mission either, Harald asked on his knees that “Illionis” should also be allowed to go seal hunting. That’s how it was. Before departure, the skippers of the three ships received the following carrot from Karl Karlsen and Christensen. The sailing team had a large schooner under construction at James Lamont Shipyard in Glasgow - “Theron”, the one who caught the best would be skippered on the new schooner. Harald liked such challenges, and found the seal and he loaded up all the tanks and holds, as well as ballast tanks and fresh water tanks.
“The only place we didn’t have leather was in the galley. E, who was the youngest, got the most and the job was mine. The other two didn’t talk to me then.” he tells now almost 70 years later. On the eve of the season, “Illinois” rescued the crew from “Polarbjørn” as a fire. Skipper of "Polarbjørn was Henrik’s brother. The crew was seen on board “Herøyfjord” skipper Guttorm Jakobsen, but was on his way home. Even with the shipwreck off Runde. Some harsh words were said, both about the ship’s condition, why skipper Guttorm didn’t go in to the Faroe Islands and so on. Guttorm Jakobsen stated to the newspapers, “no one will speak Sunnmøring on board my ship ever again.” Harald says that he spoke to Guttorm about this, he apologized and said that it is not all about victory in the heat of battle, which is equally well thought out. “Then we were done with it.
“Theron” was twice as big as “Polarstar” in tonnage. Strongly built and a stately ship, but as always the skipper thinks there was too little engine power. There were good hunting trips, between 25 and 35,000 animals. Outside the sealing season, the ship was on a mission, among other things, with mapping, Theron mapped most of the east coast of Canada. An island on the west side of Hudson Bay is called “Maro Island” after Harald Marø.
In 1955 the ship was leased to the British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition under the leadership of Sir Vivian Fuchs and with, among others, Mount Everest climber Sir Edmund Hillary as a participant. On 14 November, Queen Elizabeth came on board and inspected and wished the expedition good luck. The same day they left London and headed south towards the Weddel Sea. As early as 22 December, they encountered heavy ice, and Captain Marø had long days at the top. They entered the same area that Schakleton with the schooner “Endurance” had to lose 40 years earlier. Today, 63 years later, Harald says "when you’ve read and understood what others couldn’t, and then you think you’ll be able to do it, it often doesn’t go well.
“Theron” damaged the rudder, they only had five degrees of exposure to port, and at most 85 degrees to starboard. It was a hopeless situation. I was in despair. I speculated, and when the people calmed down, I mentioned my idea to mate Engeseth. We didn’t get out of here with our own help, so the situation couldn’t get any worse. In the old days, we would have turned the rudder back towards ice floes. But it was with much less skids and rudders. The mate thought I was crazy, but I had little to lose. We were in an opa vokke, it was probably about 300 feet. I went down onto the ice, and after a bit of searching I caught a large flake with a large and suitable ice foot that I thought would be worth a try. I went on board again, and informed the engineer what I was thinking. On the first attempt, I was a bit careful, had a bit too little speed when we hit the ice, the steering machine howled. I noticed that the rudder had bent a few degrees. I gained even more faith in the project, so I took a new approach, with more speed. The steering engine roared, and the ship shook. When I checked, the rudder had bent five degrees too much, but it was as good as perfect compared to how it was before my somewhat risky repair attempt. It was two in the morning. I was like I was drunk, I was so happy. I went and scolded expedition leader Fuchs and said that we could continue. At first he was a little skeptical, but after a short time he was as happy as I was, and asked if he could send a telegram. I said he could send a hundred if he wanted. I was so satisfied, and went to the top and held out the sealing glass. When I came down to dinner the next day, there were many congratulatory telegrams, including a personal telegram to me from “ho gutina there”, Harald points to the wall and the picture of Queen Elizabeth on the congratulatory telegram on the occasion of the 100th anniversary. And from the Admiral, “I liked the way you straighten up your Rudder, however I do not think I will use it for my Fleet.” I was very satisfied, while at the same time I thought about the shame it would have been to be lying fast and have to spend the winter there in the pack ice."
Harald steered further east before he continued through the ice shelf again. This time it went better and on 30 January they began unloading expedition equipment at what was called Schakelton Base 77°59’20’‘S, 37°09’20’'W. There was a storm and “Theron” had to leave the base and come back later to pick up the people who were supposed to be with him. Eight men were to winter over and prepare for next year’s crossing of Antarctica. Summer in Antarctica was in full swing, and the days were getting shorter and shorter. Harald was impatient, and on 8 February expedition leader Fuchs and he agreed that now it was enough, and “Theron” began the journey out through the ice shelf.
Harald and “Theron” were later honored by the expedition, a mountain range they discovered and mapped was named “Theron Mountans” and “Maro Cliffs”.
After the conversation with Harald, I have read a little more about this expedition, what Harald did not say, but which is clear to me in retrospect, is that expedition leader Fuchs had a theory that there should be a different route into the Weddel Sea than the traditional one, thus the expedition entered much further west than the known route. This cost the expedition a month, and Harald countless hours of bowing in heavy ice. This is probably the background for his words about believing that one can manage something that others have had to give up.
When “Theron” came back to London there was great pomp, lots of people along the quays, ships whistling and saluting, streets blocked off and an enormous crowd.
In 1970-71 “Theron” and Harald Marø visited Antarctica again, this time with an Argentinian expedition.
Mapping, seismic and various research missions were activities “Theron” was also used for. Two lesser-known missions Harald and the schooner took part in were to transport material to Greenland and the Labrador coast to facilities for Early Warning - i.e. early warning of attacks with long-range rockets. Later in the 70s, “Theron” was used to set out listening buoys.
"Basically, we didn’t like the seal catch, we didn’t like killing these innocent animals. But it happened when I became skipper, then it was the seal catch that was exciting. The other skippers, both Norwegian and Canadian, were in teams and all heard from the plane that was looking for where the seal was, and went in a pack and followed each other. E liked to go my own way, run away from the others and think for myself.
One of the years at the end of the 50s, the entire fleet lay together. The plane came and told where the seal was located, 100 nm further north. With the exception of “Polarhav”, skipper Sigmund Bøe and another Canadian schooner ¨"Aderin", the fleet was off guard. I blamed machine damage, so we were at a stand still, but of course that was not the case. In the end, Bøe was also hired, and left. I started to bow through the ice, and wanted to enter the land. I had mapped the area and knew that the ice was drifting south at three knots. So we entered and not long after the seal came drifting, while the whole fleet lay 100 nm further north and saw no seal. A couple of days later the plane came again, and the other skippers were called green schoolers and worse. We were there alone and took about 18,000 receipts. I had always heard that there was supposed to be a throw inside Bell Isle, this time e took the chance and went inside. There I experienced the uncanny, on a huge field with screws all around, the graylings lay together. The adult animals passed the screw yards and went into the lake, while the grayling was still lying. We took 10,000 animals. Then we went out to Bell Isle.
All the ships and the aircraft searched for the missile launch, but no one found it. The clapper mouse always throws in large and heavy ice. On the way out to the field we had passed large ice. I started to think about it, and decided that I should go down to Fogo Island and check if the big ice could get stuck there, and that Klappmyssen cast there. Yes, it was true, we had a little bit of engine power, so we didn’t quite get in, but the people went on the ice and caught. Of course the plane came over us and saw us. Then he shouted over him, this is the worst thing I have ever seen, here Harald is lying in the middle of the clapper without saying a single word! By the way, it wasn’t true, I had called my brother, Henrik, “Polarbjørn”, but I knew everyone was listening and pointing, so I just said “South”. None of the other skippers understood what I said, unfortunately neither did Henrik. I love myself, I think it was great to fool all the other skippers. We were fully loaded, more than 32,000 animals."
It is the adventure, the excitement and the good trips that Harald wants to remember today, the toil and the bad trips he does not think about.
Harald Marø, retired in 1976. He helped to catch more than 750,000 seals, and with that led to the country’s very large assets.
To be able to meet such a committed, up-and-coming and capable 101-year-old is in itself a joy and a great honour. Harald’s war history humbles me and fills me with respect.