laststandonzombieisland

While the Royal Danish Navy was tasked with policing and defending the far-flung colony of Iceland, and, generally, a station ship or patrol boat of some sort was on location since 1859, the locals knew the score.

Denmark was 1,300 miles away and, during the Great War, with the country sandwiched between the Brits and the Germans, only one ship could be spared from the neutrality patrol to police both Iceland and the Faeroes, the 730-ton cutter (Inspektionsskib) Islands Falk (Icelandic Falcon), a humble 13-knotter with a pair of 6-pounders and another pair of 3-pounders.

After Iceland gained a measure of self-autonomy in December 1918, Falk (which fired the first 21-shot salute to the new country’s first official flag while tied up at Reykjavik) began spending more time in Greenland and the Faeroes.

Plans were already afoot to get something more local.

In conjunction with local Icelandic philanthropists and the Iceland Fishing Boat Association (Fiskifélag Íslands), the Björgunarfélag Vestmannaeyja, a volunteer uniformed search-and-rescue/salvage organization, was founded in August 1918 and later morphed into ICE-SAR, the national lifesaving organization.

The BV soon set about looking for a blue water vessel to use for local fisheries patrol and as an offshore rescue ship (Björgunarskipið). By August 1919, they had cobbled together enough money (292,385 kroner, mainly from donations and grants from the Icelandic parliament, the Althing) to purchase an aging 190-ton, 115-foot British-built (Edwards Bros) trawler, Thor, which the Danish Navy had used as a survey ship and patrol boat.

With her name retained but Icelandized (Þór) and flying an early Icelandic pennant, she was eventually armed with two surplus M/96 57mm guns obtained from the Danes.

Her crew was volunteers from the BV, with Jóhann P. Jónsson, who had been a wartime officer in the Danish navy, appointed captain.

By late March 1920, Thor was underway and protecting local herring and cod grounds, chasing off her first foreign vessel, a British trawler, two days into her inaugural patrol.

She was effective, venturing out for the annual three-month winter season then spending the rest of the year working as a coaster, hauling passengers, goods, and mail around the island in an attempt to offset her costs.

In 1922, she captured 12 Norwegian ships for illegal fishing, to which the local government duly issued fines.

In 1924, she took eight foreign trawlers and a herring ship.

In 1925, two Norwegian herring ships, four Danish draggers, and 10 British trawlers.

Slowly, the Althing was forced to vote for more and more money for Thor, as even a shoestring operation needed, well, shoestrings. By 1926, a resolution was passed to purchase Thor for the token fee of 80,000 kroner, and put her to work in a more official capacity.

Thor’s service led to the formation of a dedicated local force, the Landhelgisgæslan, or Coast Guard, on 1 July 1926. That year, with a crew of her first “regulars,” Thor took 26 illegal fishing boats and raked in 270,000 kroner for the budding country’s coffers.

Between 1922 and 1926, Thor took a total of 131 ships in territorial waters and was responsible for fines of one million kroner. She searched for lost boats 80 times during this period and towed 40 ships to shore. She also transported passengers, goods, and mail on 73 coastal trips.

While Thor was wrecked in 1929, by that time the LHG had two other purpose-built cutters in operation, the smaller Odin (70-foot, 240hp diesel, one 47mm gun) and the larger Aegir (170-foot, with a 1,800shp diesel and two 75mm guns).

Fast forward to today, and the service is still Iceland’s only military branch, and the three-time Cod Wars victor. 

Further, the service has had three different Thors since then, with the current one being the LHG’s flagship.

A great 3~ minute sizzle reel showing some of the LHG’s greatest hits: