Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2011, Page 16

RAGNAR EDVARDSSON • ARNAR ÞÓR EGILSSON
The historical research into shipwrecks
in Iceland has to rely on many different
documents as no official record exists in
the country until the 20lh century. For
maritime disasters prior to the 19th century
the most important documents are annals,
folk tales and the writing of individual
scholars. In the 19th century newspapers
began to be printed in Iceland and they are
the most important documents for
maritime disasters of the 19th century. It is
not until the late 19th and early 20th
centuries ships began to be registered in
Iceland and the registry is now maintained
by the Icelandic Maritime Administration
(Siglingastoínun). Other important sources
for shipwrecks are probably to be found in
other countries, such as the Lloyds registry
in London, which lists ships and disasters
back to 1760 and the official Danish ship
registry, which is maintained at the Danish
Maritime Authority in Copenhagen. These
institutions can give detailed information
about Icelandic and foreign ships, building
year, size, their fate, etc.
The historical research for this paper
focuses mainly on the period 1875- 1890.
This period was selected because
newspapers become more common in
Iceland at this time, giving more details
about marine disasters, especially
Icelandic losses and during this period.
This period was also selected because of
the increasing activity of Norwegian
whalers and the construction of shore
whaling stations in Vestfirðir.
The historical records for this period
show that on average about 2 fishing boats
were lost per year in Vestfirðir (Isafold
IV., 6 1883, - XVI., 102., 1889). The most
common fishing boat in Vestfirðir in this
period was a boat with a crew of 7 and this
suggests that about 150 - 180 fishermen
drowned in the period 1875-1890. This is
quite a high toll in lives as this number
only represents the Vestfirðir peninsula not
the whole country.
Six large foreign ships were recorded
either sunk or stranded in Vestfirðir in
this period but this only represents marine
disasters that were reported (ísafold IV., 6
1883, - XVI., 102., 1889). Many ships
ífom other countries, French and English
fishing ships, probably perished on the
open sea in this period but such losses
were usually not recorded in Iceland at
the time. The total number of ships and
boats recorded lost in the period 1875 -
1890 in Vestfirðir was 33 and this number
does not include ships of other
nationalities than Icelandic, Danish and
Norwegian.
The most important trading posts in
the Vestfirðir peninsula were, Isafjörður,
Flateyri, Þingeyri, Patrekstjörður,
Tálknafjörður, Hólmavík and Borðeyri.
Many of these sites date back to the
Viking and medieval periods and in the
late Middle Ages they were important
Hanseatic trading sites (Jón Þ. Þór, 1984,
íslenskir annálar 1847). In the early 17th
century the Danish king imposed a trade
monopoly in Iceland and these sites were
taken over Danish merchants. All these
sites developed in the late 19th and early
20th century into towns or villages and
today they are the main population
centers in Vestfirðir.
Norwegian whalers established
whaling stations in a number of places in
Vestfirðir in the period 1883 - 1915. The
main stations where at Langeyri and
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