The story of the Norwegian boulder

On 3rd September 1931, Copenhagen ship P. N. Damm sailed along the coast of Northern Norway on her way to deliver a cargo of wood to England, when something went amiss.

There was a haze, so visibility was poor for the ship’s crew when they tried to sail through the narrow strait Tjeldsundet between the Lofoten islands and the mainland. Suddenly, a powerful blow shook the ship when she went aground off the small village of Sandtorg.

The ship’s encounter with solid ground was so hard that a boulder weighing four tons wedged itself into the stern of the ship.

The ship sailed on to the nearby town of Lødingen, where the cracks in the hull were sealed. Curiously, it was decided not to remove the boulder. Instead, it was to be removed once the ship reached the shipyard Helsingør Værft, where the ship had been built the previous year. Here, the boulder was at last removed and the steamship given a complete overhaul before she continued with her cargo to England.

But how did the boulder end up in Hornbæk?

Well, a ship owner living in Helsingør decided to have the big, heavy boulder transported to his summer cottage in Hornbæk, where it was exhibited in the front yard of the house for several years. Why, the story does not say. However, the boulder was very nearly lost when the next owner of the house decided to bury it – He probably could not see why a huge boulder would be fascinating.

Luckily, two Helsingør citizens with a special interest in maritime history remembered the story of the boulder and heard of it being buried. In 2014, an enquiry was sent to the current owner of the house, and she said that she thought the boulder was still in the front yard. With her permission and several sponsors, the boulder was finally released from its prison, and it is now proudly displayed on its new foundation on the harbour pier.

The boulder mainly consists of the mineral dolomite, a pale groundmass related to calcite. The big, very dark spots on the boulder consist of the mineral hornblende: A sign that the boulder was once heated to a very high temperature that caused the beautiful black crystals.

The story is hard to believe, but several photos of the boulder wedged into the steamship’s hull exist. Come visit Hornbæk harbour and see with your own eyes how big the boulder really is!

Source and picture: Helsingør Leksikon

Coordinates:  Latitude: 56.094168
Longitude: 12.456834