Lyø Trille (Lyø Bar) and Giesela

Amongst locals, the area west of the reef is called Nordre Brøndgrav (the Northern Trench, 55° 794’ N 010° 08.199’ E), because of the rapidly increasing water depth. This is a great spot for flatfish fishing. Off the coast of southern Lyø, you will find a similar area with much of the same characteristics – this area is simply called Brøndgraven (the Trench).

As the Lyø residents got out of bed on the morning of May 19th 1937, they saw the effects of Lyø Rev (Lyø Reef) not giving any shelter from eastern winds. “Giesela”, a German hoy of 46 register tonnes, was grounded close to the beach. On the night of May 18th, a terrible snowstorm had raged across the Archipelago, causing many vessels to seek shelter between the islands. Giesela had followed suit with a cargo of 60 tonnes of pearl barley. Unfortunately, things did not quite go as planned, and the chain cable snapped. Later that morning, a couple of Lyø residents and the local landwaiter went out to the ship to help the grounded crew ashore. They were concerned that a fall in the water level would make the ship heel over. The crew landed safely ashore, and divers went to investigate whether raising the ship would be worth the trouble. In actual fact, the hoy was never raised, and the islanders eventually started to carve up the old ship, selling bits as scrap iron or using pieces of it for other purposes. Today, the ship appears to have gone, although there might still be a few parts hidden under the sand…