Light on the waves – lightship Kemi

Light on the waves – lightship Kemi

The lighthouse ship or lightship is a curiosity among shi­ps. In its role of remaining stationary and showing a guiding light to seafarers, it is not really even a means of transport. It does not move people and goods from one port to another, but ensures that other ships succeed in this task.

It is believed that the first lightship was commissioned by London businessmen Robert Hamblin and David Avery in 1731. Anchored at the mouth of the Thames, the single-masted sloop Nore, named after the sandbar it guarded, guided seafarers with two anchor lanterns hung from the ends of its mast’s timbers. There are records of spar buoy vessels guarding the fairway off the Finnish coast as far back as the 18th century, but the first actual lightship, the Qvarken (Snipa), lit a turnip oil lantern in the summer of 1868. Such vessels were wooden-hulled and, typical of early lightships, lacked their own propulsion machinery.

Between the strong growth in shipping and the completion of the lighthouse network, there was a period of floating lighthouses, when as many as 11 lightships were stationed in different parts of the Finnish sea areas from Koivisto to Kemi and one on Lake Ladoga (Taipaleenluoto).

M/A Kemi

Built in 1901 at the Pori Engineering Works to the order of the Pilot and Lighthouse Board, the 11th lightship was a modern model that could be propelled by its own machinery, its lantern was powered by acetylene gas and its weather deck provided protection from the elements.

Named Äransgrund after its first station, the strong-hulled vessel did not need to escape to the winter dockyards when the first thin crust of ice appeared, and thus could serve the early winter sea traffic better than its predecessor. The ship proceeded ever further north in her career, first from Helsinki to Rauma’s Relanderinmatala in 1921, and from there to the furthest corner of the Gulf of Bothnia at Kemi in 1956. It was our most frequently renamed and relocated lightship and, in the early 1900s, it also served as a spare lightship at Nahkiainen in Raahe, Verkkomatala in Koivisto and Helsingkallan off Uusikaarlepyy. Its work history also includes a small detour as a support vessel for the Maritime Administration’s marine survey expedition in the mid-1950s, then sailing under the name Rauma.

Over the decades, the nationwide fleet of lighthouses dwindled from its peak in the 1930s, as floating beacons were gradually replaced by stationary ones founded on the seabed. From 1960 onwards, M/A Kemi was the last of its kind, and in the autumn of 1973, two new stationary lighthouses, Kemi I and Kemi II, were lit off the coast of Kemi. However, they could not withstand the vibrations caused by the subsequent winter ice and stopped working before Christmas. As a result, the lighthouses were dismantled and it was time to return to the drawing board. Thus, by the summer of 1974, a lightship needed to be stationed once more before Kemi I was reconstructed. The last working day of the M/A Kemi on 2 September 1974 ended the era of lightships in Finland. The cultural and historical value of the ship was recognised and it was decided to museumise it to tell the story of a unique phase in the history of maritime safety systems and shipbuilding.

The transfer of the M/A Kemi from the Maritime Administration to the Finnish Heritage Agency required a restoration, and getting the necessary funds for it took some waiting. Finally, in the spring of 1989, Kemi’s new career in public service as part of the Maritime Museum of Finland was launched on the shores of Hylkysaari island in Helsinki. However, the maintenance of the ship, which had been accustomed to constant crewing and maintenance during its service life, proved difficult with the resources allocated to it as a museum ship. In addition, the deck structure solutions adopted in the previous dry-docking revealed some failings. In 2003, the ship had to be closed for an extended period due to urgent and extensive refurbishment needs. Finally, on 27 June 2022, as one of the most important museum ships in the country, the vessel opened to the public in a more intact state, completely renovated inside and out, from the lighthouse tower to the keel.

Life on a lightship

The ship’s crew in its final configuration consisted of a master, hostess, cook, two mates, a carpenter, machinist, machinist’s apprentice, stoker and three sailors. The ship also served as a base for pilots, as it was a pilot station in addition to its lighthouse role.

As a working environment, the lightship, which was driven to its station when the ice had melted, was understandably special. The working and leisure life of the crew on duty was conducted on nothing more than a vanishingly small red dot on the open sea. The crew only went ashore when necessary, for example to pick up supplies and mail or to change crews and pilots. Good harmony and team spirit were the first prerequisites for such a community to function, and a job on a lightship was certainly not for everyone.

Despite the many duties, there was also free time. Remaining stationary, the vessel did not consume much coal, but a dartboard got worn out during the summer. The crew could fish, read books and magazines, listen to the radio and watch TV, or maybe play cards. And, of course, socialise with others with no need for a digital intermediary.

A sample from the collection of artefacts from the lightship Kemi reflects everyday life, which tended to be a little slow, but routinely repetitive. Work and rest, nourishment for the body and refreshment for the mind.

M/A Kemi:

• Names (permanent stations): Äransgrund, Relandersgrund/Relanderinmatala, Rauma, Kemi
• Builder: Porin konepaja (Björneborgs Mekaniska Verkstad)
• Completed: 04/1901
• Maximum length 30.9 m, maximum width 6.9 m, draught 2.7 m
• Displacement: 257 tn
• Hull material: steel
• Bilge keels on the hull to stabilise the vessel
• Main engine: twin-cylinder vertical compound steam engine with surface condenser, 166 hp
• Steam boiler: Siemens Martin, fire surface 720 square feet
• Auxiliary sails
• Three workboats

Captains:

• Otto Wecksell 1901–1917
• Michael Axel Lindqvist 1918–1919
• Viktor Theodor Lindroos 1920
• Carl August Dahlqvist 1921–1926
• Ragnar Stackelberg 1926–1953
• E. Hoppu 1954–1955
• Aarne Lehtinen 1956–1957
• Risto Sorela 1957–1964
• Job Heikkinen 1965–1974