Dagmar Aaen
The fishing cutter of Arved Fuchs

Dagmar Aaen

History

The DAGMAR AAEN was built as a fishing cutter in 1931 in the Danish city of Esbjerg at the N. P. Jensen shipyard and was given the registration number E 510.
The hull was built out of six cm oak planks and oak frames. The space between the single frames is sometimes so small, that a fist can hardly fit between them.
Because of this and due to the addition of extra waterproof bulkheads, the hull was given a remarkably high strength. The ship was often used in the Greenland region because of its solid built and its choice building materials. Journeys through ice-fields and months of overwintering in frozen fjords and bays meant daily routine to a ship of this type.

The famous Greenland explorer Knut Rasmussen chose just such a ship for one of his expeditions in the Arctic regions.
The DAGMAR AAEN was employed for the fishing industry until 1977. Niels Bach purchased her in 1988 together with the Peters shipyard in Wewelsfleth Germany and the Skibs & Bædebyggeri shipyard, owned by Christian Jonsson in Egernsund Denmark, built her into expedition ship with ice reinforcements. Since this time there have been many repairs and changes done at the shipyard, in order to adapt the ship to the different conditions on each expedition.

Equipment

Call sign

DIXX

Year of construction

1931

Shipyard

N.P. Jensen Werft in Esbjerg, Danmark

Building materials

6cm oak planks on oak frames

hull coated with 6cm aluminium bow
stern and keel reinforced with up to 3cm of steel

Deck

Oregon Pine

Mast and top mast

22 metres high out of Douglas Pine

Length over all

23,90 metres

Rumpflänge

17,95 m

Beam

4,80 metres

Draught

2,50 metres

Sail area

220 sq. metres

Sails

1 mainsail with 3 reefs

1 staysail, 1 jib, 1 flying jib, 1 topsail, 1 trysail and 1 storm jib

Sail material

Dacron

Engine

Callesen Diesel, 3 cylinder, 180 h.p. at 500 rpm, variable pitch icee propeller

Auxiliary engines

12 KW diesel generator 230/380 V, Fischer Panda
2 KW diesel generator 24V, Fischer Panda

Fuel capacity

4.800 ltrs
500 ltrs, 1 water-making machine

Navigation

1 Furuno GPS, 1 Silva GPS, Furuno radar, Furuno sonar, AIS (Automatic Identification System)
Transas electronic charts

Communication

complete Thrane & Thrane:
Inmarsat C TT-3606 Message Terminal
Alarm Panel Sailor AP 5042
Printer Sailor SC 4000
FBB Fleet Broadband Sailor 500/250
Iridium Sailor SC 4000
SSB/HF Sailor System 500MF/HF 150 W
VHF (two) Sailor RT 5022
VHF GmdSS handhold Sailor SP 3520

 

Others:

NOAA Sat. Receiver

Safety

Liferaft 12 pers. especially equiped for the Arctic,
2 EPIREB's (ELT's) 406 Mhs Cospass / Sarsat
Survivalsuits, portable VHF DSC radios, Lifevests each
with homeing device, radar transponder SART 9 GHz

Sailplan

Deckplan

Journeys

1991

ICESAIL - Part 1
Spitzbergen, Franz Josef Land

1992

ICESAIL - Part 2
Sibirische Arktis

1993

ICESAIL - Part 3
Northwest Passage

1994

ICESAIL - Part 4
Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Canada

1995

SEA, ICE & MOUNTAINS - Part 1
South Pacific, Patagonia, Cape Horn

1996

SEA, ICE & MOUNTAINS - Part 2
Sail around both American continents, return-journey to Germany

1997

ARCTIC PASSAGES - Part 1
Spitzbergen

1998

ARCTIC PASSAGES - Part 2
Overwintering in eastern Greenland

1999

TRAINING SAIL
Scotland

2000

SHACKLETON 2000
With the "James Caird II" in the Antarctic Ocean (as accompanying ship for the television team)

2001

TRAINING SAIL
Baltic Sea, the Baltic, Scandinavia

2002

NORTHEAST PASSAGE
Transition of the legendary Northeast Passage - Hamburg - Dickson - Dutch Harbor

2003

RING OF FIRE
Dutch Harbor  - Aleutian Islands - Northwest Passage to Cambridge Bay (overwintering)

2004

ICEBOUND
Transition of the Northwest Passage
Cambridge Bay - Greenland - Hamburg

2006

EASTERN GREENLAND
Exploration of the east coast of Greenland
Flensburg - Daneborg - Kiel

2007

SVALBARD

Circumnavigation of Svalbard
Flensburg - Svalbard - Flensburg

2008

TRAINING SAIL
Flensburg - Irland - Brest - Flensburg

2009

NORTH POLE DAWN
Hamburg - Island - Upernavik
(overwintering in Upernavik)

2010

NORTH ATLANTIC
Upernavik - Neufundland - Nova Scotia - Dingle (Ireland) - Hebriden - Fair Isle - Hamburg

2011

NORTH EAST GREENLAND
Flensburg - Húsavík - Scoresbysund - Húsavík - Flensburg

2012-13

 EXPEDITION LOFOTEN
Flensburg - Bergen - Alesund - Tromsö

2013

EXPEDITION SVALBARD
Tromsø - Vardø - Murmansk - Vardø - Longyearbyen - Flensburg
2014 PITTARAK
Flensburg - Reykjavik - Scoresbysund - Tasiilaq - Isafjördur - Flensburg
2015-16 OCEAN CHANGE
Hamburg - Vigo - Cap Verde - Guinea-Bissau - Rio de Janeiro - Ushuaia - Cape Hoorn - Antarctica - Ushuaia -
Piriápolis - Rio de Janeiro - Azores - Brest - Hamburg