Skomvær (barque)
An early photograph of Skomvær at sea
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| History | |
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 Norway
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| Name: | Skomvær |
| Namesake: | Skomvær Lighthouse |
| Owner: |
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| Builder: | Laxevaags Maskin- og Jernskibsbyggeri, Bergen |
| Cost: | 284,995 kroner |
| Yard number: | 31 |
| Launched: | 23 April 1890 |
| Sponsored by: | Augusta Rafn |
| In service: | September 1890 |
| Out of service: | 9 November 1922 |
| Identification: | Call sign HPVD |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap in 1924 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Steel-hulled barque |
| Tonnage: |
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| Length: | 257.4 feet (78.5 m) |
| Beam: | 38.2 feet (11.6 m) |
| Draft: | 22.4 feet (6.8 m) |
| Crew: | 23 |
Skomvær was the name of a steel-hulled barque built in 1890 for J. C. & G. Knudsen in Porsgrunn, Telemark, Norway. The ship, which was designed by naval architect Randulf Hansen and constructed at Laxevaags Maskin- og Jernskibsbyggeri in Bergen, was the first sailing ship constructed with steel in Norway and for a time the largest Norwegian sailing vessel ever built. However, the ship struggled to compete in the 20th century with the advent of the steamship, and in 1924 she was decommissioned and sold for scrap.
Skomvær entered the public eye once again in 1960, when musician Erik Bye wrote the song "Skomværsvalsen" as a tribute to the ship and her crew. A fundraising effort by the artist led to the construction of the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue boat Skomvær II that same year, and in 1986 the organization named another of its boats, Skomvær III, after the ship.
Christen Knudsen moved from his hometown of Saltrød, near Arendal, to Porsgrunn in 1855. There he became a very successful ship-owner, and built a shipyard on the former site of the Frednes farm at the mouth of the Porsgrunn River. In his older years, Christen Knudsen decided to gradually hand over control of his shipping company to his two sons, Jørgen Christian Knudsen and Gunnar Knudsen. These men would both go on to become successful politicians in addition to their shipping trade. Jørgen Christian Knudsen, who built the house on Øvre Frednes, was the mayor of Porsgrunn in 1893 as well as a long-running Conservative Party representative in Stortinget for Porsgrunn. He was a polarizing figure in both national and local politics—he argued in Stortinget to continue the union between Sweden and Norway and was the only vote in Porsgrunn City Council against the construction of a bridge across the Porsgrunn River, opting for a steam-powered ferry instead. Gunnar Knudsen was a Liberal Party politician who was Prime Minister of Norway from 1908 to 1910 and from 1913 to 1920, and was pivotal in the creation of the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate as well as SKK, the precursor to Skagerak Energi. The two men also both had close descendants that worked in politics—Jørgen Christian Knudsen's son, Christen Knudsen, was the Nasjonal Samling representative for Telemark during World War II, and his grandson, Harald Franklin Knudsen, was Vidkun Quisling's private secretary. Gunnar Knudsen's son, Knut Andreas Knudsen, was a deputy representative in Stortinget for Telemark.
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