Nólsoyar Páll
Encyclopedia
Nólsoy
Nólsoy is an island and village in central Faroe Islands, located to the east of the capital Tórshavn in Streymoy. There is only one settlement on the island: Nólsoy on the north-west coast on Stongin, a peninsula attached to the rest of the island by a metres-wide isthmus...
– 1808 or 1809, near Sumba
Sumba, Faroe Islands
Sumba is the southernmost place of the Faroe Islands on the island of Suðuroy. It is located in the Sumbiar municipality.The municipality has 385 inhabitants. 258 of these people are living in Sumba. The other villages in the Municipality of Sumba are: Lopra , Akrar , Víkarbyrgi .Sumba is known for...
) is a Faroese
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
national hero
Folk hero
A folk hero is a type of hero, real, fictional, or mythological. The single salient characteristic which makes a character a folk hero is the imprinting of the name, personality and deeds of the character in the popular consciousness. This presence in the popular consciousness is evidenced by...
. He was a seaman
Seaman
Seaman is one of the lowest ranks in a Navy. In the Commonwealth it is the lowest rank in the Navy, followed by Able Seaman and Leading Seaman, and followed by the Petty Officer ranks....
, trader, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, farmer and boat builder who tried to develop direct trade between the Faroes and the rest of Europe and introduced vaccination
Vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
to the islands. He went missing in the winter of 1808/09 sailing home from England.
Life
Poul Poulsen was the fourth of seven children. He and his brothers all took the additional name 'Nolsøe' for the island where they were born. After his father's death in 1786 he fulfilled his ambition of going to sea, and travelled widely; he supposedly served in both the British and the French Navy, captained a US merchant vessel, and also sailed on pirate ships in China. In 1798 he married a woman from his home island, Sigga Maria Tummasdóttir, and was based in Copenhagen for a couple of years, then returned to the Faroes in 1800. His wife died, and in 1801 he remarried to Maren or Marin Malene Ziska, the daughter of a wealthy crown tenant near KlaksvíkKlaksvík
Klaksvík is the second largest town of the Faroe Islands.The town is located on Borðoy, which is one of the northernmost islands ....
on Borðoy
Borðoy
Borðoy is an island in the north-east of the Faroe Islands. There are eight settlements: Klaksvík , Norðoyri, Ánir, Árnafjørður, Strond, Norðtoftir, Depil and Norðdepil. There are also three abandoned settlements: Skálatoftir, Múli and Fossá, all in the north...
, and took over another crown tenancy nearby. He was so successful farming there that the Danish Royal Society for the Advancement of Agriculture awarded him a silver medal, although he died before he could receive it.
His innovations in shipbuilding, a longer and more sharply rising keel
Keel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...
and a less square sail closer to the lateen
Lateen
A lateen or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction....
, were rapidly adopted. He also designed an improved spinning wheel.
Denied a loan to buy a ship to demonstrate the possibilities of fishing from larger ships, he, his brother-in-law Per Larsen, Jacob Jacobsen and Poul's brothers bought a wrecked ship at auction and rebuilt her at Vágur
Vágur
Vágur meaning Bay is a town on the Faroe Islands of Suðuroy, it is situated on the east coast of the island on the Vágsfjørður fjord, and dates from the fourteenth century. Expansion has meant that the nearby town of Nes is now a suburb of Vágur...
. Launched on 6 August 1804 and christened Royndin Fríða (Beautiful Trial), this schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
was the first sea-going ship built in the Faroe Islands, and the first Faroese-owned vessel since the early Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
.
Since 1805 was a bad year for fishing, he instead took loads of coal from Suðuroy across the Atlantic to Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
and Copenhagen, trying to open up direct trading, but was prevented from importing goods to the Faroes by the Danish Royal Trade Monopoly authorities. Instead, by vaccinating members of his crew successively using material from the previous man, he succeeded in bringing the first smallpox vaccine
Smallpox vaccine
The smallpox vaccine was the first successful vaccine to be developed. The process of vaccination was discovered by Edward Jenner in 1796, who acted upon his observation that milkmaids who caught the cowpox virus did not catch smallpox...
back to the Faroes, and with the help of one of his brothers spread vaccination through the islands. The following year, after again attempting to trade directly, he was convicted and fined on two charges of contravention of the trading laws, but cleared of smuggling goods back to the Faroes, having sold them to a Swedish ship in the Kattegat
Kattegat
The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by the Jutland peninsula and the Straits islands of Denmark on the west and south, and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden on the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Øresund and the Danish...
. He reacted by counter-suing the Tórshavn district sheriff, Joen Christiansen Øre, for large-scale smuggling; the Monopoly officials appear to have been conducting personal trading on the side. However, he seems to have dropped the lawsuit. In 1807, after a year's effort to overcome refusals by the local government in the Faroes and by the Monopoly, he sailed to Copenhagen on Royndin Fríða as one of a deputation of five presenting a popularly supported proposal for a three-year experimental lifting of the trade restrictions. They had to illegally sell 2,600 knitted sweaters and other merchandise to a Norwegian merchant to finance the voyage, but Crown Prince Frederick
Frederick VI of Denmark
Frederick VI reigned as King of Denmark , and as king of Norway .-Regent of Denmark:Frederick's parents were King Christian VII and Caroline Matilda of Wales...
, who was governing as regent for his father, and others in Copenhagen were sympathetic, and trade would have been opened up if war with England had not begun.
The British Navy began a six-year blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
of Denmark, cutting off the Monopoly barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
trade which had supplied 80% of the Faroes Islanders' grain needs. To stave off famine, Nólsoyar Páll obtained a pass from the British and brought a load of barley back with him in October 1807. The following summer, after two British ships in succession had plundered the Faroes of all Danish government property, he sailed back to Denmark at the request of the Tórshavn commandant to try to obtain more grain, but Royndin Fríða was seized by a British warship and irreparably damaged. Taken to London, he and his crew obtained the Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
's sympathy and a replacement ship, the North Star; in this ship they sailed soon after 17 November 1808 with what was to have been the first of several grain shipments, but were lost at sea, presumably in the heavy storms of November and December that year. The famine was not averted until 1810, when an arrangement was made with the British. The depth of the hatred between Nólsoyar Páll and the Tórshavn commandant is demonstrated by his expressing satisfaction the next April at Páll's having not returned, even though he had asked him to sail for help; and by the resulting suspicion, which still persists, that he had arranged Páll's death, perhaps by commissioning a Norwegian privateer, the Odin, to sink his ship south of the Faroes.
Poetry
Nólsoyar Páll was a talented poet known for satirical ballads. He and his youngest brother Jákup often collaborated on poems; the first mature work which can be unequivocally ascribed to Páll is "Krákuteiti," about the case of a law-man who refused to recognise the baby he had fathered on his housekeeper: he is portrayed as a heron, the housekeeper as a duck, the judge he tried to buy, a cuckoo and the unwanted child a Red KnotRed Knot
The Red Knot, Calidris canutus , is a medium sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the Calidris sandpipers, second only to the Great Knot...
. "Jákup á Møn" is about an unlucky suitor, and mocks the parochialism then very prevalent in the islands. "Fruntatáttur" mocks the fashion for women to wear a fringe
Fringe (hair)
Fringe are a shaped cutting of the front part of the hair so that it is combed forward and hangs or curls over the forehead. A classic fringe is cut fairly straight at or above the eyebrows, but fringes can also be ragged or ruffled, spiked up with hair gel, swept to one side or the other, and...
. "Gorplandskvæði" memorialises the cowardice of the commandant of the Tórshavn garrison, who surrendered without a fight to a British gunboat. A rather rushed work, it has been claimed for another poet, but the tone of the mockery and characteristics such as Nólsoy vocabulary indicate it is by Nólsoyar Páll.
His best known work is "Fuglakvæði" (Ballad of the Birds), a 229-stanza work in which birds of prey symbolise the Danish authorities, and the poet himself warns the smaller birds in the guise of an Oystercatcher
Oystercatcher
The oystercatchers are a group of waders; they form the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, Haematopus. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia...
, which was later chosen to be the national bird of the Faroe Islands. The ballad said in poetic form what could not have been said in plain speech; it sold many copies.
Influence
Nólsoyar Páll almost succeeded in opening the Faroes to direct trading over half a century early, although most of his inspiration was posthumous. His ideas, Royndin Fríða and the training he provided to Faroese in ocean-going sailing began the development of deep-sea fishing, which later brought the islands prosperity; Klaksvík, where he lived and hauled up for the winter, has become one of the fishing ports. He was an exemplary patriot and has become a national hero. In his poem "Heimferð Nólsoyar Páls" (The Return of Nólsoyar Páll), Janus DjurhuusJanus Djurhuus
Jens Hendrik Oliver Djurhuus, called Janus Djurhuus, was the first modern Faroese poet...
wrote of his voyage home, drawn by Beinisvørð
Beinisvørð
Beinisvørð is a 470 meter high sea cliff in Suðuroy, Faroe Islands, the highest sea cliff in Suðuroy. It is located between the villages of Lopra and Sumba. Beinisvørð has vertical cliffs facing the sea and a green slope down towards the village of Sumba...
, symbolising the independent islands.
In fiction
- Johannes Helms. Grib, en Fortælling fra Kulsvierlandet i Kapertiden. Copenhagen: Reitzel, 1893. novel
- Steinbjørn B. Jacobsen. Nólsoyar Páll. Tórshavn: Fannir, 2000. ISBN 9991849289 drama
Sources
- Jakob JakobsenJakob JakobsenDr. phil. Jakob Jakobsen, , was a Faroese linguist as well as a scholar of literature. He was the first Faroese person to earn a doctoral degree...
. Poul Nolsöe, lívssøga og irkingar. 12 parts. Tórshavn: Jakobsen, 1908–12. Repr. ed. Chr. Aigens, 1966. - Ernst Krenn. Der Föroyische Dichter Páll Nólsoy und sein Vogellied. Illinois Studies in Languages and Literature vol. 23, no. 4. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1939.
External links
- "Heimferð Nólsoyar Páls" - "The Return of Nólsoyar Poul", poem by Janus DjurhuusJanus DjurhuusJens Hendrik Oliver Djurhuus, called Janus Djurhuus, was the first modern Faroese poet...
and 2004 postage stamp featuring it at Faroeartstamps.fo