Aland Islands, Finland
The Aland Islands, an archipelago of some 6,500 small islands and skerries, are situated in the Gulf of Bothnia between Finland and Sweden. Only about eighty are inhabited and 80 percent of the population live on the principal island Fest-Aland, most of those in Mariehamn and its environs. The islands have been an autonomous Swedish region within the Finnish state since 1921, when the League of Nations unexpectedly ruled in favor of Finland against the wishes of the islanders, all of whom are Swedish in language and culture. The reason for this state of affairs has everything to do with the geopolitics of the region. The islands have been a strategic anchorage for centuries: even today most of Finland’s marine fleet is based in Mariehamn. In the complicated and recurrent struggles for national supremacy in the Baltic, the Aland Islands have been a much sought after prize, with the flags of many nations successively flying here. Since 1954, the Aland Islands have possessed their own flag, a golden cross bordered by a red cross on a light-blue background.
Our first stop of the morning was a landing on the island of Kobba Klintar, on which a solitary lighthouse - and attendant fog horn – have stood for generations to guide shipping through the treacherous skerries. In 1933, an elegant schooner Plus sank off the coast in a winter storm with serious loss of life. A recent dive located some of the world’s oldest and rarest champagne on board, still drinkable. Until 1972 the island also served as the pilot station for the harbor of Mariehamn.
The highlight of the day for many was our afternoon visit to the Pommern. Built in Glasgow, Scotland, this beautiful vessel is a surviving example of a four-masted bark still in its original condition. Between the two world wars, local ship owner Gustaf Erikson owned some 47 windjammers, an apparently archaic mode of commercial transport in the age of steam. Yet he made a shrewd financial calculation. Sailing ships require no fuel and they were readily available at low prices. He even recruited hands in need of sea time on sailing vessels for their certification at next to no financial outlay. These vessels did in fact compete successfully with the steamers, sailing to Australia in the grain trade in a three month voyage, the length of which might be reduced to as little as 75 days, as in a record-breaking voyage from Hull in England to port Victoria in Australia in 1932. As such vessels like Pommern in fact represented the optimum development of the age of sail. Touring the vessel was awe-inspiring; the cavernous holds breath-taking. Yet just 24 men crewed around Cape Horn and through the ‘roaring forties’ and ‘screaming fifties’ until she retired from service in 1939, on the eve of the Second World War.
Optional late afternoon guided walks, with either a natural history or historical emphasis rounded off the day, with some guests taking the opportunity to sample the local restaurants during our evening alongside in Mariehamn.
