ΠΑΓΟΘΡΑΥΣΤΙΚΟ SAMPO, ΚΕΜΙ: Η ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ

The giant in the ice fieldsThe icebreaker Sampo serving Finland in 1961-1987

Introduction

The famous Karhu class icebreakers

The duty period lasted from May to December

A wide operating range from Röyttä to Kattegat

Tough work for tough men

Collisions were not avoided

Heavy duties require heavy fun

Niilo Wälläri and the legendary strikes

Time for a new icebreaker class

Work continued with tourism

Table of contents

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Text: Mika KuljuPictures: Olli Aarreharju and Kustaa HyvärinenLayout: Mainostoimisto Plusmark

�The giant in the ice fields - The icebreaker Sampo serving Finland in 1961-1987

The icebreaker Sampo operated in active icebreaking duty in 1961-1987 before its reassignment to its current task at the port of Ajos in Kemi. Its good quarter of a century of service saw some colourful phases not entirely without drama. All in all, the Sampo’s decades of service are a part of the Finnish winter maritime shipping history.

Finland is the only country in the world, where all ports freeze during wintertime. During the coldest periods of normal winters, temperatures can drop even below -30°C. In Finland, the coldest ever measured tempera-ture, -51.5°C, was recorded in Kittilä’s Pokka, in Janu-ary 1999.

Due to its geographical location, Finland’s import and export industries rely greatly on maritime transport and, therefore, having winter ports operational is essential for international competitiveness.

In arctic conditions, icebreakers are responsible for the functioning of maritime shipping. Icebreakers mainly

assist merchant vessels and clear paths important to the industry.

Towards the end of the Sampo’s active icebreaking duty, 35 percent of the Finnish maritime shipping occurred dur-ing wintertime. For example, in the winter of 1984-1985, Finnish ports recorded a total of 13 382 overseas vessel de-partures and arrivals, with total cargo of 18 million tons.

In the coastal shipping between Finnish ports, 2184 de-partures and arrivals were recorded. These vessels carried cargo of total 2.2 million tons. These numbers give a good picture of the significance of icebreakers.

Since 1970, all 22 of the Finnish winter ports, from Ajos in the Bothnian Bay to Röyttä, have been kept operational all year round. The only exception in the Sampo’s history can be tracked to March 1972, when the ports of Kemi, Oulu and Raahe were forced to close for four days due to exceptionally heavy pack-ice. In addition to the actual winter ports, the Sam-po assisted maritime shipping to numerous smaller ports.


Icebreakers at work in the mid-1960’s. The photo was taken aboard the Sampo.

The Sampo was constructed in 1960 at the Wärtsilä shipyard in Helsinki. The vessel was named after its predecessor, which was built in 1898 and served the country for over half a century. The new Sampo was an essential part in rebuilding the Finnish icebreaker fleet that took place during the decades after the Second World War.

The first new generation icebreaker, the Voima, was launched in 1952, and was given to the Finnish Mari-time Administration a few years later. As a new tech-nical feature, the Voima had two fore propellers that guaranteed a stronger stream to the bow, which in turn reduced resistance in breaking the ice. The same

The famous Karhu class icebreakers


technique was utilised later when constructing the Sampo.

In 1958, constructing the first so-called archipelago ice-breaker was completed. The vessel was named Karhu. Its sister vessels were the Murtaja, completed in 1959, and the Sampo, completed in 1960. In addition, in December 1966, the Finnish Maritime Administration acquired the ‘stepsis-ter’ of the aforementioned vessels: the Hanse, which was constructed in Finland for the Federal Republic of Germa-ny. These vessels were called the Karhu class icebreakers.

The Sampo may have played an important role in the de-velopment that led Germans ordering the Hanse. In the spring of 1965, Sampo spent a week at an exhibition in Hamburg to impress the Germans.

The Sampo’s sister vessels, the Murtaja and the Karhu, waiting for winter at the Saukko coaling port.


The duty period lasted from May to December

One gets a good example of the Sampo’s everyday duty by examining the events of the harsh winter of 1965-1966. In terms of the amount of ice, the winter was extremely difficult, and all the ports of the Gulf of Bothnia were forced to close due to ice problems. Shipping to Kaskinen was cut between 6 February and 10 April, to Rauma between 13 February and 5 March, and to Pori between 20 February and 20 March. An indication of the harshness of the winter is that even the southern port of Hamina was forced to close for a while.

That winter, the Sampo began its preparations on 10 No-vember, and the operational pennant was raised six days later. First, the Sampo embarked to the Bothnian Bay to assist ship-ping at Oulu, and if necessary, at Rautaruukki. This mission occupied the Sampo all the way to the early days of January.

Next, the Sampo moved to Vaasa and Kaskinen, and as-sisted there up to mid-January, after which it was trans-

ferred to the Gulf of Finland. At the end of January, the Sampo mainly assisted shipping at Porkkala and Hanko. For a little over a week at the beginning of February, the Sampo was hard at work by Utö.

After Utö, the Sampo assisted the shipping of ports in Eastern Finland, up until 7 April. The longest assign-ments reached all the way to northern parts of the Baltic Sea. Next, the Sampo moved back to Porkkala, and by the end of April, the vessel was back operating at Utö waters.

At the end of the winter, the Sampo was again transferred to the Gulf of Bothnia, where it first mainly assisted ship-ping to Kaskinen at the Bothnian Sea, and then in May at the southern part of the Bothnian Bay. As the last as-signment of the spring, during 23 -26 May, the Sampo assisted shipping to Kemi, Oulu and Rautaruukki. The Sampo returned to Helsinki on 28 May, at which point the operational pennant was lowered down.

The Sampo’s crew members, Pekka Hyv‰rinen and Olli Aarreharju, posing under the propeller.

The freezing cold winter of 1985-1986 also gives a good example of an above-the-average difficult operating envi-ronment. The sea began to freeze as normally, in mid-No-vember, but due to the cold winter the ice coating became much wider than usually.

The ice coating was at its largest on 2 March, when the Gulf of Bothnia, the northern parts of the Baltic Sea, and the Gulf of Finland were almost totally covered by ice. In the Baltic Sea, only the eastern side of Gotland and the open seas between Bornholm and Gotland remained open. At its widest, the ice-covered operating area of the icebreakers was 337 000 square kilometres.

In the winter of 1985-1986, the thickness of fast ice was 45-83 centimetres in the Bothnian Bay, 46-60 centimetres

A wide operating range from Röyttä to Kattegat

6The giant in the ice fields - The icebreaker Sampo serving Finland in 1961-1987

Mess-boy Raimo Niiranen and ship’s dog Otto.

in the Bothnian Sea, 32-60 centimetres in the Archipelago Sea, 40-54 centimetres in the Gulf of Finland, and 30-60 centimetres in the central Bothnian Bay. Especially the coastal fronts were abundantly covered with packed ice.

The North-Baltic Sea and the Åland Sea were freed from ice at the beginning of April, the Gulf of Finland at the beginning of May, the Bothnian Sea at the end of May, and Bothnian Bay not until the turn of May-June. These were the conditions in which the crew of the Sampo did its freezing cold duty.

During its history the Sampo, along with other icebreak-ers, took part in maritime rescue missions when needed. For example, in March 1963, the Sampo retrieved an ap-pendix patient from a Polish vessel in Kattegat, and further transported the patient to be treated onboard a Danish ice-breaker. The Sampo also participated in searching for per-sons missing at sea.

The Sampo served the Finnish government for 26 years.

Depending on the job description, the crew of the Sampo worked in various conditions. Up on the deck blew pierc-ing strong winds, which made the men’s cheeks ruddy. As to the engine room, it was so warm that the men used to go out on the deck in their T-shirts to cool themselves.

At its longest, the crew was at sea for a couple of weeks without pause. The work was done in four-hour shifts: four hours of work, and four hours of free time. The men did not get much sleep, which made the work hard at times. Furthermore, sleeping was also impeded by the fact that during the worst patches, the noise inside, from the ice breaking against the steely hull, grew overwhelming.

Some of the crewmembers worked constantly under high-risk conditions. For example, in 1968, danger situations that resulted from bollards breaking and from the use of synthetic fibre ropes became an issue. Also, the fire safety of tankers with highly flammable cargo was discussed.

Tough work for tough men


The sailors of the Sampo were professionals, but the win-ter conditions offered some surprises, against which it was practically impossible to prepare oneself. The Chief of Shipping of the Finnish Maritime Administration, A.O. Aalto, stated the following in his memo, signed in August 1968:

…vessels have been towed for centuries in various con-ditions, and a lot of experience and knowledge has been accumulated. All textbooks of seamanship give towing instructions, some more, some less. Nevertheless, not all scenarios can be specified with detailed instructions. Ex-perience and seamanship are crucial in leading and execut-ing towing. And no matter how skilfully and carefully the towing is executed, accidents happen as sudden strains are involved, especially in ice towing. No official guideline has been given for icebreaker towing in Finland, and I don’t think it’s necessary to issue one now…

Aalto knew what he was writing about, as he had been the first Chief at Sampo in 1961-1963.

Engine operator Olli Aarreharju in the engine room and îpanel roomî.


Icebreakers ensure the functionality of merchant shipping. The Sampo at work in the mid-1960’s.

The Sampo served Finland under harsh and arctic con-ditions, and it was not always possible to avoid danger situations. Along the years the Sampo suffered a few cases of ground touching and collisions, but the inci-dent that demanded the most investigation was the collision with a Dutch vessel in 1971.

At the time of the collision the Sampo was on a regu-lar assignment, assisting two vessels, the m/a Con-dulia and the m/s Baltic Arrowia to port. Visibility was only 100-150 metres in the foggy weather. The following extract of the Helsinki City Court verdict speaks of the icebreaker’s everyday life at its harshest and most dramatic:

Collisions were not avoidedThe Ma Eerbeek was on its way from Kotka to Tenerife. On its route, the vessel arrived to the fronts of Sommarö in the morning of 3 March 1971. The vessel was not able to contact the icebreaker Sampo, which at the time was assisting shipping at the Porkkala passage. The Ma Eerbeek continued its route and, according to the ship’s protest, Sommarö was passed by a distance of 0.6 nautical miles. The heading was established to be 205°, which was soon corrected to 195°. Sommarö was in the vessel’s radar at 0615, with the heading 110°, and with distance 0.6 nautical miles. The location is slightly to the west of the Oxenholm line. From this location, the Ma Eerbeek should have changed its course to the west, that is, in line with the Oxenholm line. The vessel, nev-ertheless, continued its route with the heading 195°. A change of course should have already been executed also because of the fact that the Ma Eerbeek had detected an approaching vessel in its radar. Thus, both of the vessels would have had paralleled courses, and the danger of collision would have been eliminated.

The crew had versatile free time activities.

According to the Finnish tradition, heavy duties were counterbalanced with some heavy-duty fun. The first years of the Sampo’s active duty were the last years of the traditional sailor romanticism.

Older sailors had been around the world, and they knew how to be quite roguish.

The tough sea dogs also had tough manners during their free time, and not everything went always by the proto-col. Alcohol and cigarettes were bought for a ”camara-derie price” at sea from merchant vessels that the Sampo had assisted. It is no wonder that the customs sometimes took an interest in the phases of the men’s journeys.

At times, the going got rowdy in restaurants of port cities, even though the men were supposed to be back onboard the vessel with one-hour notice in case of an emergency situation at sea.

Occasionally, some shady guests were also invited on-board for after-hours partying. For example, a police ex-amination record of 1962 speaks of two first engineers, one of which had heated up the sauna for the drunken


entourage without authorisation. The other first engineer had in turn gotten into a heated argument over a woman. In the power and might of his rising state of drunkenness, he had threatened his fight buddy with a pocketknife and had also threatened to shoot him. The first engineer had also declared himself a war hero and a Knight of the Man-nerheim Cross.

When questioned by the police, the first engineer was forced to admit that he did not have a firearm, nor was he a Knight of the Mannerheim Cross.

The colourful phases and events with wine, song, and women are a part of times that will never come back.

Some of the more composed forms of spending one’s free time were, for example, ice skating, ice hockey, and vol-ley ball, which were played at a field set on the ice. Ad-ditional income came from seal hunting, which was al-lowed back in the 1960’s.

All in all, abundant humour was the way to survive the day-to-day life. Once, a crewman of the Sampo won an ice fishing contest that was organised at the port, and even ended up in a local newspaper photo with the winning fish. The prize-win-ning fish came from the refrigerator of the Sampo.

The end of the summer season was traditionally celebrated with a crab party. Spouses were also welcome.

Heavy duties require heavy fun

The Sampo at an exhibition in Hamburg in the spring of 1965.

assisted grew notably after the turn of 1950-1960. The waterline width of the Karhu class icebreakers was only 17.4 metres, which was, in many cases, smaller than that of the modern merchant vessels to be assisted.

In addition, the Sampo’s propeller output (7500 hk) was in-sufficient in relation to the vessels to be assisted. During the final years of the Karhu class icebreakers, the problem was that the icebreakers themselves may have gotten stuck in ice while helping vessels in distress. Year-round maritime shipping re-quired faster and more efficient icebreakers than before.

Time for a new icebreaker class


In the 1960’s, an essential part of the Sampo’s colourful years were also the maritime shipping strikes, which left the icebreakers stuck at ports for even several weeks.

The hardened chairman of the Finnish Seamen’s Union, Niilo Wälläri, was aware of the significance of icebreakers to the Finn-ish industry. Thus, icebreaker strikes became a strong strike weapon for the Union, and it was used quite abundantly.

Back in the 1950’s people used to joke that icebreaker strikes can be predicted just by looking at the thermometer. When

Niilo Wälläri and the legendary strikes the temperature dropped low enough and the sea froze, ‘the strike limit’ was reached. At worst, strikes were as common and regular a phenomenon as the arrival of winter.

There were two sides to Wälläri that led the Finnish Sea-men’s Union in 1938-1967. On one hand, the working conditions of seamen and social security were improved a lot, and in terms of these, Finland was at the top of inter-national development.

On the other hand, labour costs grew rapidly due to these improvements, and Finland was rising to the top also in costs of maritime shipping.

Time began to pass by the Karhu class icebreakers at the turn of 1970-1980. The Finnish Maritime Administration stated in its annual report of 1981 that the Karhu, the Mur-taja, and the Sampo would be worn out during the next few years. Their maintenance and repair costs had grown, and getting spare parts had become more difficult each year.

The biggest problem for the Karhu class icebreakers turned out to be the fact that the size of the vessels to be


The Sampo was purchased by the city of Kemi in October 1987.

In the supplementary budget of 1985, the Finnish Maritime Administration was authorised to acquire another icebreaker to substitute the Karhu class, which meant that the Sampo’s active duty ended in 1987. As the new generation of ice-breakers came along, the Murtaja of the Karhu class icebreak-ers was scrapped, whereas the Karhu and the Sampo were sold. In 1986, the Karhu ended up in Soviet Union, whereas after a deal made on 14 October 1987 for one million Finnish Marks, the Sampo found a new home in Kemi.

The Sampo’s new task was with tourism, which was not entirely new to the vessel; along the years it had been used in various occasions. For example, in August 1963, the Sampo served the Ministry of the Interior during an Inter-

Work continued with tourism pol conference, and in 1969 the vessel served as one of the hosts during the visitation of the President of Senegal.

The Sampo as a tourist attraction is entirely a story of its own. The late City Manager of Kemi, Juhani Leino, was a man rich with ideas, and came up with the thought of the city of Kemi purchasing the vessel from the government. In those times Leino’s idea raised some eyebrows, and even some fierce resistance, but since 1988 the Sampo has been one of the major tourist attractions of Kemi.

The icebreaker’s season begins a little before Christmas, and lasts for about four months. Every year approximately 10 000 – 12 000 tourists take a cruise on the Sampo, and along the years people from over 50 countries have visited the Sampo.

Main sources

Documents of the Finnish Maritime Administration 1961-1987Interview of Olli Aarreharju (engine operator at the Sampo 1963-1966)Interview of Kustaa Hyvärinen (electric motor operator at the Sampo 1962-1965)Jorma Pohjanpalo: 100 vuotta talvimerenkulkua (the Finnish Maritime Administration 1978)Yrjö Kaukiainen – Pirkko Leino-Kaukiainen: Navigare necesse – the Finnish Maritime Administration 1917-1992 (the Finnish Maritime Administration 1992)

ΠΑΓΟΘΡΑΥΣΤΙΚΟ SAMPO, ΚΕΜΙ: Η ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ

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