Osmussaar
Encyclopedia
Osmussaar is an Estonia
n island situated in the mouth of the Gulf of Finland
in the Baltic Sea
, 7.5 km off the Estonian mainland. Administratively the island is part of Noarootsi Parish in Lääne County
. Its area is 4.8 km² (1,186.1 acre).
Before the Soviet Union
occupied Estonia during World War II
, around 130 people, mainly Estonian Swedes
, lived on the island. The continuous settlement of Swedes on Osmussaar had dated back for centuries. Currently Osmussaar has only two permanent inhabitants and the island is a nature reserve.
, who, according to a legend, is buried on the island. The origin of the Estonian name Osmussaar is not clear.
. The island's population varied considerably with time, for example the plague epidemic of 1710 left according to popular stories only a few people alive. In the 20th century the island's population continued to rise and was the highest in the beginning of 1930s. During the Estonian census of 1934 131 people lived on Osmussaar, all of them Swedes except for the lighthouse keeper
and his family.
In 1765 the first lighthouse
was built on the northern coast of Osmussaar. In 1850 it was replaced with a new one, which was demolished in 1941 by the retreating Soviet garrison. Current lighthouse was completed in 1954.
In 1914, during World War I, the German light cruiser Magdeburg
ran aground and sank near the northern tip of Osmussaar.
All inhabitants of Osmussaar were forced to leave the island during World War II. On 12 June 1940 the islanders were evacuated to Vormsi
as the island was set aside as a Soviet military base. The next year Osmussaar was the last foothold in Estonia that was given up by the Red Army to the advancing German army
. In 1942, during the German occupation
, the islanders could return to their homes, but the approaching Red Army forced them soon to leave permanently. The last 46 people left for Sweden
in February 1944.
After Moscow intermediate peace treaty between Finland and the Soviet Union starting 19th September, 1944, according to the treaty, article 17, Finland was obliged to hand all the commercial vessels for the use of the Allies. In the late September, 1944, the Soviet Union ordered 50 galeas
and 50 motor boats to be delivered with Finnish crews to Osmussaar on 2nd October, 1944. This Finnish navy unit on the Soviet service was called detachment Arho according to its commander, commander Olavi Arho. The chief of this galeage navy was lieutenant commander Paul Hongisto. The galeas and motor boats were taken to the state service involuntarily, but for the crews were offered voluntarily pay 250 Finnish marks per day in service. From 2nd to 8th October, 50 galeas towed one motor boat to Estonia with food supplies for the crews for ten days. Detachment Arho served the Soviet military logistics on Hiiumaa
and Saaremaa
establishing connections to Tallinn. Every galeas had a captain, chief machine operator and two other crew members. The motor boats had two member crew. In Estonia all the military badges were removed from the uniforms and the detachment acted like civilian one. Also the marks of the Finnish nationality like the flags were removed.
From Osmussaar many vessels sailed to Rohuküla
of Haapsalu
to support Moonsund Landing Operation to the occupied Hiiumaa
and Saaremaa
islands. On 4th October the Finnish galeas shipped the Soviet soldiers, horses and cannons to Heltermaa
of Hiiumaa
. Every galeas shipped about one Soviet infantry company. The same day later, the Finnish vessels were ordered to Saarenmaa proper, where the Germans had retreated from Muhu
. On 5th October, 1944, two Soviet detachements and two brigades were shipped to Taalikuu and Triigi
.
The last galeases and motor boats came back to Finland on 7th November, 1945. Due to the seafare out of 50 galeases nine was lost and due to the warfare were destroyed seven of them, altogether 16 out of 50. Also one galeas more, Greta I, had disappeared either on 4th or 5th October on its way to Osmussaar. 16th October the German submarine, U-481, sank the galeases Endla, Dan and Maria with its gun fire and pushing them. On 25th October U-958 sank the galeas Linnea with a torpedo. Eight Finnish soldiers were deceased in these operations with the galeases. The other German attacks were not successful. Of all the 50 motorboats were lost 22, but without the losses of the human lives. The vessels of the detachement Arho were returned to Finland to Hanko and 2nd November, 1944, the headquarters of the Finnish navy ordered the liquidating the unit. The crews were freed from the service and the vessels were returned to their civilian owners.
Some navy activities were undertaken on the waters neat Osmussaar as late as 1945. One German submarine, U745 was destroyed by a seamine, 4th February, 1945 and later U676 for the same reason, 19th February, 1945.
During the Soviet Era the island was used by the Soviet Navy
. Originally there were plans to house on the island a unit consisting of up to 1200 men, but the large unit was probably disbanded already in 1947 and later the island was home to a small navy unit consisting of a maximum of 40 men.
After Estonia regained independence, the military left in 1993, leaving behind ruins of different fortifications and military buildings. During the property reform the pre-1940 landowners of Osmussaar were not allowed to directly reclaim their land and property, because a cadastral survey
had never been conducted on the island and until the Swedes left during World War II, land ownership had been based on old customs. After the departure of Soviet army Osmussaar was uninhabited until 2001, when 2 people moved to the island.
In 1996 the Osmussaar Landscape Protection Area, covering the whole island, was formed for the protection of local geological formations, plant communities and bird fauna.
The highest elevation of the island is 8 m.
Osmussaar is the westernmost point before Öland
where the Baltic Klint
emerges from the Baltic Sea. Essentially Osmussaar is a relict
island of the klint. The height of the cliff on the island's north and east coast is up to 6 meters, but compared to the surrounding seabed, the height of the island is 60 meters.
The island has a relatively thin (up to 2 m) cover of Quaternary
marine sediments overlying the Ordovician
limestone
bedrock
.
The island arose from the sea 2000–3000 years ago, the uplift
continues at a rate of about 3 mm/year. Extensive shingle
fields, consisting of limestone pebbles, have developed on the western coast of the island.
A number of large erratic boulders can be found scattered on the island. Their diameter reaches 10–20 meters, but more remarkable is
their petrological composition - a relatively unique type of breccia
, which formed in the course of the impact that created the
Neugrund crater
.
The most powerful recorded earthquake
in Estonia, measuring 4.7 magnitudes in Richter scale, occurred on 25 October 1976 near Osmussaar and is known as the Osmussaar earthquake . The earthquake caused the collapse of some sections of the cliff on the island's northeast coast and damaged some buildings on the island. The focus of the earthquake was 5–7 km northeast of the island at a depth of 10 or 13 km.
9 km to southeast, which is the starting point of
most boat trips to the island. Until 2008, when a floating wharf was installed, the island itself had no decent landing facilities.
The popularity of Osmussaar as a tourist destination increased remarkably in 2002, when around 2000 people visited the island. Since then up to 3000 people visit the island every summer.
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
n island situated in the mouth of the Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland
The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn...
in the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
, 7.5 km off the Estonian mainland. Administratively the island is part of Noarootsi Parish in Lääne County
Lääne County
Lääne County , or Läänemaa , is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in western Estonia and borders Baltic Sea to the north, Harju County to the north-east, Rapla County to the east, Pärnu County to the south, and the island counties of Saare and Hiiu to the west...
. Its area is 4.8 km² (1,186.1 acre).
Before the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
occupied Estonia during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, around 130 people, mainly Estonian Swedes
Estonian Swedes
The Estonian Swedes, Estonia-Swedes, or Coastal Swedes are a Swedish-speaking linguistic minority traditionally residing in the coastal areas and islands of what is now western and northern Estonia...
, lived on the island. The continuous settlement of Swedes on Osmussaar had dated back for centuries. Currently Osmussaar has only two permanent inhabitants and the island is a nature reserve.
Name
The island's Swedish name Odensholm (or Odinsholm) derives from the Vikings' chief god, OdinOdin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
, who, according to a legend, is buried on the island. The origin of the Estonian name Osmussaar is not clear.
History
The continuous settlement of Estonian Swedes on Osmussaar, which lasted until World War II, goes back at least to the 14th century, though little is known of the island's history before 18th century. The exact time of colonisation is also unknown and the island was possibly inhabited already in the Viking ageViking Age
Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...
. The island's population varied considerably with time, for example the plague epidemic of 1710 left according to popular stories only a few people alive. In the 20th century the island's population continued to rise and was the highest in the beginning of 1930s. During the Estonian census of 1934 131 people lived on Osmussaar, all of them Swedes except for the lighthouse keeper
Lighthouse keeper
A lighthouse keeper is the person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Keepers were needed to trim the wicks, replenish fuel, wind clockworks and perform maintenance tasks such as cleaning...
and his family.
In 1765 the first lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
was built on the northern coast of Osmussaar. In 1850 it was replaced with a new one, which was demolished in 1941 by the retreating Soviet garrison. Current lighthouse was completed in 1954.
In 1914, during World War I, the German light cruiser Magdeburg
SMS Magdeburg
Seiner Majestät Schiff Magdeburg was a light cruiser of the German Imperial Navy. The first of her class, she was built as part of the 1908 German naval program. Her class was notable for being the first to introduce a new hull form and replace the bow ram with a cruiser bow shape...
ran aground and sank near the northern tip of Osmussaar.
All inhabitants of Osmussaar were forced to leave the island during World War II. On 12 June 1940 the islanders were evacuated to Vormsi
Vormsi
Estonia's fourth largest island, Vormsi , is located between Hiiumaa and the mainland with a total area of 93 square kilometers. It is part of a rural municipality Vormsi Parish. From mainland, Vormsi is separated by a narrow strait – Voosi Kurk, and from Hiiumaa by a bit wider Hari...
as the island was set aside as a Soviet military base. The next year Osmussaar was the last foothold in Estonia that was given up by the Red Army to the advancing German army
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
. In 1942, during the German occupation
Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany
After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Army Group North reached Estonia in July.Initially the Germans were perceived by most Estonians as liberators from the USSR and its repressions, having arrived only a week after the first mass deportations from the Baltics...
, the islanders could return to their homes, but the approaching Red Army forced them soon to leave permanently. The last 46 people left for Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
in February 1944.
After Moscow intermediate peace treaty between Finland and the Soviet Union starting 19th September, 1944, according to the treaty, article 17, Finland was obliged to hand all the commercial vessels for the use of the Allies. In the late September, 1944, the Soviet Union ordered 50 galeas
Galeas
The galeas is a small type of trade ship, which was common in the Baltic Sea and North Sea from the 17th to the early 20th centuries. The characteristics of the ships depend somewhat from where the ship originated. Swedish versions had two masts and were rigged as ketchs, sometimes as schooners...
and 50 motor boats to be delivered with Finnish crews to Osmussaar on 2nd October, 1944. This Finnish navy unit on the Soviet service was called detachment Arho according to its commander, commander Olavi Arho. The chief of this galeage navy was lieutenant commander Paul Hongisto. The galeas and motor boats were taken to the state service involuntarily, but for the crews were offered voluntarily pay 250 Finnish marks per day in service. From 2nd to 8th October, 50 galeas towed one motor boat to Estonia with food supplies for the crews for ten days. Detachment Arho served the Soviet military logistics on Hiiumaa
Hiiumaa
Hiiumaa is the second largest island belonging to Estonia. It is located in the Baltic Sea, north of the island of Saaremaa, a part of the West Estonian archipelago. Its largest town is Kärdla.-Name:...
and Saaremaa
Saaremaa
Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago...
establishing connections to Tallinn. Every galeas had a captain, chief machine operator and two other crew members. The motor boats had two member crew. In Estonia all the military badges were removed from the uniforms and the detachment acted like civilian one. Also the marks of the Finnish nationality like the flags were removed.
From Osmussaar many vessels sailed to Rohuküla
Rohuküla
Rohuküla is a village in Ridala Parish, Lääne County, in western Estonia....
of Haapsalu
Haapsalu
Haapsalu is a seaside resort town located on the west coast of Estonia. It's the administrative centre of Lääne County and has a population of 11,618 ....
to support Moonsund Landing Operation to the occupied Hiiumaa
Hiiumaa
Hiiumaa is the second largest island belonging to Estonia. It is located in the Baltic Sea, north of the island of Saaremaa, a part of the West Estonian archipelago. Its largest town is Kärdla.-Name:...
and Saaremaa
Saaremaa
Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago...
islands. On 4th October the Finnish galeas shipped the Soviet soldiers, horses and cannons to Heltermaa
Heltermaa
Heltermaa is a village in Pühalepa Parish, Hiiu County in northwestern Estonia....
of Hiiumaa
Hiiumaa
Hiiumaa is the second largest island belonging to Estonia. It is located in the Baltic Sea, north of the island of Saaremaa, a part of the West Estonian archipelago. Its largest town is Kärdla.-Name:...
. Every galeas shipped about one Soviet infantry company. The same day later, the Finnish vessels were ordered to Saarenmaa proper, where the Germans had retreated from Muhu
Muhu
Muhu , is an island in the Baltic Sea. With an area of 198 km² it is the third largest island belonging to Estonia, after Saaremaa and Hiiumaa....
. On 5th October, 1944, two Soviet detachements and two brigades were shipped to Taalikuu and Triigi
Triigi, Saare County
Triigi, Saare County is a village in Leisi Parish, Saare County in western Estonia....
.
The last galeases and motor boats came back to Finland on 7th November, 1945. Due to the seafare out of 50 galeases nine was lost and due to the warfare were destroyed seven of them, altogether 16 out of 50. Also one galeas more, Greta I, had disappeared either on 4th or 5th October on its way to Osmussaar. 16th October the German submarine, U-481, sank the galeases Endla, Dan and Maria with its gun fire and pushing them. On 25th October U-958 sank the galeas Linnea with a torpedo. Eight Finnish soldiers were deceased in these operations with the galeases. The other German attacks were not successful. Of all the 50 motorboats were lost 22, but without the losses of the human lives. The vessels of the detachement Arho were returned to Finland to Hanko and 2nd November, 1944, the headquarters of the Finnish navy ordered the liquidating the unit. The crews were freed from the service and the vessels were returned to their civilian owners.
Some navy activities were undertaken on the waters neat Osmussaar as late as 1945. One German submarine, U745 was destroyed by a seamine, 4th February, 1945 and later U676 for the same reason, 19th February, 1945.
During the Soviet Era the island was used by the Soviet Navy
Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...
. Originally there were plans to house on the island a unit consisting of up to 1200 men, but the large unit was probably disbanded already in 1947 and later the island was home to a small navy unit consisting of a maximum of 40 men.
After Estonia regained independence, the military left in 1993, leaving behind ruins of different fortifications and military buildings. During the property reform the pre-1940 landowners of Osmussaar were not allowed to directly reclaim their land and property, because a cadastral survey
Cadastre
A cadastre , using a cadastral survey or cadastral map, is a comprehensive register of the metes-and-bounds real property of a country...
had never been conducted on the island and until the Swedes left during World War II, land ownership had been based on old customs. After the departure of Soviet army Osmussaar was uninhabited until 2001, when 2 people moved to the island.
In 1996 the Osmussaar Landscape Protection Area, covering the whole island, was formed for the protection of local geological formations, plant communities and bird fauna.
Geography and geology
Osmussaar is the 14th largest island in Estonia. The island is 4.6 km long and 1.3 km wide, with its longer axis in a northwest–southeast direction. The island is located in the mouth of the Gulf of Finland and the Hanko-Osmussaar line is considered the border of the gulf.The highest elevation of the island is 8 m.
Osmussaar is the westernmost point before Öland
Öland
' is the second largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. The island has 25,000 inhabitants, but during Swedish Midsummer it is visited by up to 500,000 people...
where the Baltic Klint
Baltic Klint
The Baltic Klint is an erosional limestone escarpment on several islands of the Baltic Sea, in Estonia and in Leningrad Oblast of Russia...
emerges from the Baltic Sea. Essentially Osmussaar is a relict
Relict
A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.* In biology a relict is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas....
island of the klint. The height of the cliff on the island's north and east coast is up to 6 meters, but compared to the surrounding seabed, the height of the island is 60 meters.
The island has a relatively thin (up to 2 m) cover of Quaternary
Quaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
marine sediments overlying the Ordovician
Ordovician
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian Period and is followed by the Silurian Period...
limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
bedrock
Bedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
.
The island arose from the sea 2000–3000 years ago, the uplift
Post-glacial rebound
Post-glacial rebound is the rise of land masses that were depressed by the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, through a process known as isostasy...
continues at a rate of about 3 mm/year. Extensive shingle
Shingle beach
A shingle beach is a beach which is armoured with pebbles or small- to medium-sized cobbles. Typically, the stone composition may grade from characteristic sizes ranging from two to 200 mm diameter....
fields, consisting of limestone pebbles, have developed on the western coast of the island.
A number of large erratic boulders can be found scattered on the island. Their diameter reaches 10–20 meters, but more remarkable is
their petrological composition - a relatively unique type of breccia
Breccia
Breccia is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix, that can be either similar to or different from the composition of the fragments....
, which formed in the course of the impact that created the
Neugrund crater
Neugrund crater
Neugrund is a meteorite crater in Estonia. It is in diameter and is estimated to have been formed 470 million years ago in the Ordovician period. The crater lies at the bottom of the sea and is not exposed at the surface. However, boulders of gneissic breccia found on the coast of Osmussaar, a...
.
The most powerful recorded earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
in Estonia, measuring 4.7 magnitudes in Richter scale, occurred on 25 October 1976 near Osmussaar and is known as the Osmussaar earthquake . The earthquake caused the collapse of some sections of the cliff on the island's northeast coast and damaged some buildings on the island. The focus of the earthquake was 5–7 km northeast of the island at a depth of 10 or 13 km.
Transport and tourism
Osmussaar has no regular connection to the Estonian mainland. The nearest port is DirhamiDirhami
Dirhami is a village in Noarootsi Parish, Lääne County, in western Estonia....
9 km to southeast, which is the starting point of
most boat trips to the island. Until 2008, when a floating wharf was installed, the island itself had no decent landing facilities.
The popularity of Osmussaar as a tourist destination increased remarkably in 2002, when around 2000 people visited the island. Since then up to 3000 people visit the island every summer.