The egg-shaped lifeboat that was going to America

[ombugge]

The voyage by Ole Brude and his crew from Ålesund, Norway to Gloucester north of Boston in a egg-shaped covered lifeboat in 1904 has been mentioned here before.

Epic Small Boat Voyages

Capt. Ole Brude and his crew of three sailed from Aalesund, Norway to near Boston, USA to prove the seaworthiness and survivability of his design, the first covered lifeboat in the world. Here is a short article (in English) about his invention and the 5 month trip across the Atlantic in the winter of 1904-05: (Second part)

Now a documentary about this adventure has been made. The first part was shown NRK1 TV today and the second part will be shown tomorrow:

Egget som skulle til Amerika

Unfortunately it is only available in Norway and only with Norwegian text (AFAIK)

The documentary was made by a local company:
http://tindefilm.no/?avada_portfolio=uredd-2
BTW; the commentary are spoken in the local dialect.

[ombugge]

23 of these “eggs” were built, but the idea did not catch on among shipowners, or Maritime Authorities before in the 1970s.
https://mjellemogkarlsen.no/Brudeegget.html?fbclid=IwAR0RNH7CiawQOlzJtYxLhmN97sLeRfqom1mVJK7dUl8_NEi9Yk4MEmjZESQ

[Chief_Seadog]

The idea did not catch on…at the time. He was ahead of his time considering ships being built today are all enclosed.

[ombugge]

Apparently there was another Norwegian that had the same basic idea even earlier than Ole Brude. Capt Dønvig’s Life-Saving Globe was developed and presented at the World Expro in Paris in 1900:

Dønvigs bøye – Store norske leksikon

Like Ole Brude his idea came about after being involved in a shipwreck;

LOST WIFE AND SON
It was one day in March 1891 that the bark “Dictator” ran aground off Virginia Beach on the east coast of the United States. The captain on board was Jørgen M. Jørgensen from Skåtøy, who later changed his surname to Dønvig.

In the shipwreck, the captain lost the ship, half the crew and his wife and four-year-old son, who were on the voyage.

Broken down after the dramatic and personal tragedy, Captain Dønvig spent much time after the shipwreck pondering what could have been done to save the family and crew.

This invention differ in shape from the Brude Egg, but is otherwise similar in that it involves an enclosed “rescue capsule” in steel.

Why is nothing about this earlier invention is mention in the documentary about Brude and his invention?
Of course the documentary is about the voyage across the Atlantic, but I have not seen it mentioned anywhere in the history of the Brude Egg. (I could have mist it)

In any case, none of these inventions gained acceptance before in the 1970s.
Brude’s Egg-shaped lifeboat in the form of today’s enclosed and free-fall lifeboats.
Capt. Dønvig’s Globe is more like that of the Whitaker Capsule:

Survival Capsule Firm Rides Waves of Future