The Barque Nellie Moody - Photograph of a Painting
In a little fjord along the road to the blacksmith Hans Gjertsen at Sund on the island Flakstad
in Lofoten - North Norway - you will find the remains of a shipwreck sticking out of the clay.
An old tradition in Flakstad tells that this once was the slave ship "Nellie Moody".
The body of Nellie Moody came to Sund at the beginning of this century. Laying in the harbour of Sund
she served as a bakery - and as a platform for cod liver oil production. To keep her floating
an ingenious system of wind-mills was constructed - running two drawing pumps.
She was laying in the harbour some few years. But fearing that she was going to sink, she was moved to
the small fjord Skinnfjord - where you now can view the sad remains of her bygone beauty.
The blacksmith Hans Gjertsen at Sund has his own museum. Among the many interesting objects he has
collected, you will find the anchor of Nellie Moody. Hans Gjertsen is also an artist - and at the
top of the anchor he has placed one of his famous wrought iron cormorants.
A brief research told us that Nellie Moody once belonged to a Yarmouth company of ship-owners (10 part-owners).
She was built in 1873 at the ship-yard belonging to E. Raymond at Green Cove in Nova Scotia.
Nellie was a three-masted barque of 746 register tons. She was 163 feet long - 33,5 broad and 19,5 feet deep.
She was partly metalled with plates of iron and copper.
Her first captain was George Earl - olso one of the owners. But sadly he died on the ship
- while still at sea - on the 16th of September 1880. George Earl was followed by captain George Doty.
In 1886 captain Webster got the command on Nellie Moody. He was onboard down to the year 1897 when Nellie
was sold to the norwegian ship-owner J. M. Johannessen at Halden in South Norway. (Info. from the Norwegian
Maritime Museum in Oslo.)
The first norwegian captain was O. Larsen. In 1902 he was followed by captain D. F. Olsen.
In September 1906 Nellie Moody was sailing in ballast (with no cargo) over the North Sea from Abberdeen to
Norrmaling. She was then hit by rough weather - and got so damaged that she was condemned after
reaching the harbour of Halden. Nellie was sold and unrigged - and finally she reached her last
harbour at Sund on the island of Flakstad in Lofoten - where in Skinnfjord near by - you still can view
the sad remains of her bygone beauty.
The sad Remains of a bygone Beauty - in the Skinnfjord in Flakstad
On this page you will find another photo of Nellie Moody's anchor:
Sund Fisheries Museum
This "Nellie Moody" page is maintained by
The Andersen Family HomePage
E-mail:leande@online.no