His Life Before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Edited by Stephanie Trimboli

Henry LarsenHis Life Before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

19

Chapter 1 : The Early Years

Chapter 2 : Going to Sea

Chapter 3 : Going North

9

3

2

Finland

Austria

ItalySpain

SwedenNorway

Germany

France

Portugal

Hungary

Romania

Bulgaria

Turkey

Denmark

Poland

Belarus

UkraineCzech Rep.

Slovakia

Greece

Cyprus

North Cyprus

Neth.

Ireland

Albania

Moldova

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Switzerland

And.

Macedonia

Iceland

Algeria

Libya Egypt

Saudi Arabia

Tunisia

Morocco

Jordan

Israel

Lebanon

ArmeniaAzerbaijan

Georgia

Syria

Iraq

Russia

RussiaUnited Kingdom

Malta

Bosniaand

Herz.

Iran

Kazakhstan

SerbiaMontenegro

Belgium

SloveniaCroatia

Herføl IslandLarsen’s birthplace

Finland

Austria

ItalySpain

SwedenNorway

Germany

France

Portugal

Hungary

Romania

Bulgaria

Turkey

Denmark

Poland

Belarus

UkraineCzech Rep.

Slovakia

Greece

Cyprus

North Cyprus

Neth.

Ireland

Albania

Moldova

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Switzerland

And.

Macedonia

Iceland

Algeria

Libya Egypt

Saudi Arabia

Tunisia

Morocco

Jordan

Israel

Lebanon

ArmeniaAzerbaijan

Georgia

Syria

Iraq

Russia

RussiaUnited Kingdom

Malta

Bosniaand

Herz.

Iran

Kazakhstan

SerbiaMontenegro

Belgium

SloveniaCroatia

Chapter 1

The Early Years

4

Arnholmen, Norway

5

...the sea not only provided most people’s livelihood, but was also the main highway. The sea became my great love from the moment when I first set out with the pilot boats during my summer holidays.

Henry Asbjorn Larsen was born on September 30, 1899 on the island of Herfol to Severina Olava Olsen. Herfol is at the end of a chain of the Hvaler islands located in extreme southeast Norway. It is not far form the hamlet of Borge from which Roald Admundesn, the first man to lead a successful transit of the Northwest Passage, hailed some years

earlier. Larsen’s family had occupied a small peninsula called Arnholmen as far back as the mid 1600s and made a marginal living by fishing and farming. Larsen was orphaned as an infant and was brought up by relatives in Sweden until the age of 6 or 7, when he returned to Herfol to attend school.

In his own words

Growing Up by the Sea

6

Living next to ocean waters in his early years, Larsen developed a great love of the sea, which eventually dominated his life. While still in school, many of his holiday hours were spent aboard various types of small vessels – pilot boats, pleasure boats, fishing smacks – anything to get salty breezes blowing through

Norwegian Heroes

his hair. Larsen heard the siren call of the polar regions while still at school, reading as all good Norwe-gian boys did, of national heroes and Nordic polar explorers: Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen and Otto Sverdrup. Canadian Vilhjalmur Stefansson did not escape his attention either.

Otto Sverdrup Fridtjof Nansen Roald Admundsen Vilhjalmur Stefansson

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I developed an early yearning for new lands and a curiosity for the history of the past...I was immediately fascinated by the books written by such people as Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Admundsen and Otto Sverdrup, and, of course, Vilhjalmur Stefansson...I wished that I could follow in the footsteps of these brave men, over the sea to unknown lands in the northern ice.

In his own words

8

Finland

Austria

ItalySpain

SwedenNorway

Germany

France

Portugal

Hungary

Romania

Bulgaria

Turkey

Denmark

Poland

Belarus

UkraineCzech Rep.

Slovakia

Greece

Cyprus

North Cyprus

Neth.

Ireland

Albania

Moldova

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Switzerland

And.

Macedonia

Iceland

Algeria

Libya Egypt

Saudi Arabia

Tunisia

Morocco

Jordan

Israel

Lebanon

ArmeniaAzerbaijan

Georgia

Syria

Iraq

Russia

RussiaUnited Kingdom

Malta

Bosniaand

Herz.

Iran

Kazakhstan

SerbiaMontenegro

Belgium

SloveniaCroatia

LondonLarsen arrived in London during a German Zeppelin raid.

ParisLarsen traveled from Norway to Brest via London and Paris.

BrestLarsen left Brest on the Baunen, headed south for Barbados.

Chapter 2

Going to Sea

10

Brest, France

11

My first run was with lumber to Swedish and Danish ports. The skipper was an uncle of mine, but the work was very hard and anything but exciting, so after a year of this I left and signed on the bark Baunen bound for Pensacola, Florida, from the French port of Brest.

At the age of 14 Larsen went to sea with two of his uncles on the Anna, a ship almost identical to Amundsen’s Gjoa. The Anna plied the waters between Norway and other Scandinavian ports in Denmark and Sweden, delivering shipments of lumber, fish and cobblestones. Larsen needed a wider horizon and he was

not long in expanding it. Leaving his uncle’s boat, he shipped out on truly international ships that went farther afield. He signed on as an ordinary seaman on the Baunen, which was headed for the United States, the Caribbean, South America, and then back to Europe.

Shipping Out

In his own words

12

Larsen spent most of World War I at sea. In January 1917, after several months of sailing between South America and New York, Larsen was back in Oslo with no prospects for work on shore, so he did what he knew best — he put out to sea again. He sailed southern seas once more, this time heading for Norfolk, Vir-ginia on the Indian Girl. In July of

World War I 1918, when the Indian Girl anchored in New York, Larsen decided to leave, despite his fondness for both the ship and the crew. In those days it was almost a matter of prestige to go from one ship to another. After three weeks on shore he joined the crew of the General Gorden, a proud Norwegian four-master, and set sail for Montevideo, Uruguay.

While we were ashore all the church bells suddenly started to ring out, the traffic came to a halt and an enormous crowd of people gathered at the docks.

Viva Americano! Viva Angleterro! Viva Noruego! Just about every nation got its viva. It was November 11, 1918, and the Armistice had just been announced. All the ships set off their sirens and rockets were fired while the sailors streamed ashore in hordes.

In his own words

13

Montevideo, Uruguay

14

Shipwreck In February 1919, on his way home to Oslo, Larsen was shipwrecked on the American coast near Charleston, South Carolina, during a 24-hour hurricane. Though this interrup-tion did not change his plans to get home, it did put a major detour in his

homeward itinerary. He shipped out of Charleston on his first steamer ever, the Vinstra, which was powered by coal instead of wind, reaching Norway via Cape Town, Java, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Aden, Suez, Port Said then Gibraltar, Rotterdam and finally Oslo.

Sail after sail was blown out and both our lifeboats were smashed. Almost buried in water, the ship started to drift; and the hurricane lasted for a full twenty-four hours. We ran aground for good on the morning of February 18, 1919, with the deck barely above water. In spite of an offer to stay and work on a plantation near Port Royal I set off for New York.

In his own words

15

The End of Sailing Ships

In an effort to broaden his skills, since his considerable experience in sailing ships would soon no longer be prized due to the rapid disappearance of this type of vessel, Larsen entered the Norwegian State Navigation School from which he graduated in the summer of 1920. He then joined the navy for a compulsory two-year

I was never to stand on the deck of a square-rigger again. The era of the sailing-ships had come to an end. At least, there were not many left by the time I graduated from the Navigation School during the summer of 1920.

After ten days of exams we were given our diplomas and were declared fully qualified to navigate steam as well as sailing-ships anywhere in the world.

A square-rigger circa 1920

stint of military service. In 1922, his responsibility fulfilled, Larsen signed on as a fourth mate aboard a Norwegian motor ship, the Theodore Roosevelt, and embarked on a series of four round-trips to Hawaii and the west coast of North America, including Seattle and Vancouver.

In his own words

16

Roald Admundsen

It was on one of these trips that Larsen met polar exploration hero, compatriot Roald Amundsen, who came aboard the Theodore Roosevelt in Seattle. Amundsen was arranging passage back to Norway for his pilot, Oscar Omdahl. Omdahl shipped out on the Theodore Roosevelt, where he had many long conversations with

Meeting His Heroes

Larsen. This chance meeting with the first navigator of the Northwest Passage and his pilot fanned Larsen’s smoldering interest in the North into a flaming passion. Once Larsen set his sights on somehow ending up in Arctic waters, he embarked on a course of action and followed it unerringly until it took him there.

Oscar Omdahl

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Omdahl and I quickly found each other...

During the next weeks we spent hours talking about his various trips and his plans for the future...

We had no crystal ball in my cabin in the Theodore Roosevelt, but one thing I did know; I had to get to the North. In spite of a promotion to Third Mate and the promise of a good career with the shipping line, I made up my mind to give it all up in order to realize my dreams.

Knowing that my future was in the North, I left the ship and was on my own.

In his own words

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Greenland

Russia

Iceland

U n i t e d S t a t e s

Canada

M e x i c o

The Bahamas

Cuba

Panama

El SalvadorGuatemala

Belize

Honduras

Nicaragua

Costa Rica

Jamaica Haiti

Dom. Rep.

PuertoRico

Venezuela

Colombia

ChukchiSea

Beaufort Sea

C a r i b b e a n S e a

Hudson Bay

Gulf ofAlaska

Ba�n Bay

G u l fo f

M e x i c o

Norwegian Sea

BeringSea

A T L A N T I C

O C E A N

P A C I F I C

O C E A N

ARCTICOCEAN

VancouverLarsen left the Theodore Roosevelt here.

SeattleLarsen signs on with Klengenberg. They sail north.

Rymer Point, Victoria IslandKlengenberg’s home.

Herschel IslandLarsen meets members of the RCMP here.

Point Hope

Greenland

Russia

Iceland

U n i t e d S t a t e s

Canada

M e x i c o

The Bahamas

Cuba

Panama

El SalvadorGuatemala

Belize

Honduras

Nicaragua

Costa Rica

Jamaica Haiti

Dom. Rep.

PuertoRico

Venezuela

Colombia

ChukchiSea

Beaufort Sea

C a r i b b e a n S e a

Hudson Bay

Gulf ofAlaska

Ba�n Bay

G u l fo f

M e x i c o

Norwegian Sea

BeringSea

A T L A N T I C

O C E A N

P A C I F I C

O C E A N

ARCTICOCEAN

Chapter 3

Going North

20

Although the most crucial element that eventually got Larsen into the North was his single-mindedness about getting there, luck as also an important ingredient. After leaving the Theodore Roosevelt in Vancouver in 1924 Larsen happened to read a newspaper article about Chris-tian Klengenberg. Klengenberg had come to Seattle at that time to purchase a schooner to return to his home in the Arctic. Larsen lost no time in heading for Seattle harbor and where he began looking for Klengenberg’s schooner, the Maid of Orleans, which was said to be berthed

The Maid of Orleans was a fine two-masted schooner, white-painted and easy to find on the waterfront. An elderly, white-haired man was pacing the deck while two olive-skinned young fellows were sunning themselves on the hatch...I was asked to come aboard and was hired on the spot. It was really all pretty simple, for they were badly in need of a navigator.

there. Klengenberg quickly hired the Norwegian since he was in need of a licensed navigator for his trip back home to Victoria Island. Larsen was impressed that Klengenberg had met Amundsen and Stefansson when they had run into each other on Herschel Island in 1906, the year Amundsen finally headed south from nearby Kin Point after successfully conning the tiny Gjoa through the Northwest Pas-sage. Klengenberg was a world sailor from Denmark who, in the 1890s, had stepped off a whaling ship in the Arctic and settle down with an Inuit woman on Victoria Island.

From Seattle to Alaska

In his own words

21

Seattle, Washington

22

Herschel Island, Canada

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Once Larsen was hired on as the mate of the Maid of Orleans, he was immediately occupied making the two-masted schooner ready for sailing. Apart from the owner and his sons, Larsen and four others formed the crew. Klengenberg had loaded his ship with supplies of all kinds to trade with the Inuit, and the Maid of Orleans headed north in June of 1924. On the way they stopped at Herschel Island, where Larsen met members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, from whom he learned that the force was to build a

supply vessel to service their Arctic detachments since commercial ves-sels did not provide a satisfactory service.

For the next two years, Larsen piled up his Arctic sailing experience during two stints with Klengenberg and his schooner, interrupted by a round trip to the tropics on another ship while the Maid of Orleans was being refitted. At the same time, the vessel changed names to become the Old Maid as another ship was already registered in her original name.

As I became increasingly friendly with the policemen, I told Inspector Caulkin that my dream was to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police...he was convinced that with my specialized experience I could more or less count on Northern service,and that was what I wanted above all.

Herschel Island

In his own words

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A Winter AshoreThe winter of 1926-27 was the first I spent ashore in a good many years. I did not care much for it, for I did not know what to do with myself. I had never worked on land before.

I ended up as a road worker at a pay of fifty cents an hour and stayed with this until February. Even though I did not like that type of work I valued the experience, for at lest it taught me that this kind of work was not for me...I also met Corporal Pasley, my old friend from the Mounted Police, who told me that it now was fairly certain that the Force was going to build a ship of its own. He asked me to keep in touch with him...

In his own words

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Vancouver, Canada

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Larsen in his RCMP uniform

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Joining the RCMP

In May 1928 while in Vancouver on other business, Larsen applied for Canadian citizenship which he was granted. He was now one step closer to his burning desire, more deter-mined than ever to stay in Canada and one way or another to get up into the Arctic. The RCMP had definitely decided to have a ship built the fol-lowing year, 1928, for the specific pur-pose of patrolling northern waters and Pasley had been chosen to command her. To make Larsen’s dream com-

plete, Pasley told him that he wanted him as a member of the crew. Larsen’s next step was clear. He had to apply and be accepted as a member of the RCMP. Larsen applied and shortly afterwards, was summoned to resent himself to the Vancouver Detachment on April 16, 1928. Although he was the most junior member of the St. Roch’s crew, Larsen was appointed captain during the ship’s maiden voyage based on his experience and Arctic navigation skills.

During one of my visits to Vancouver I applied for Canadian citizenship and appeared before Judge Grant on November 18, 1927...I took the oath of loyalty to my new King and Country...the RCMP now had decided definitely to start building its ship the following winter. Corporal Pasley had been given command of the ship and he wanted me on board. This was just what I had been dreaming about, and we agreed that I would apply for the Force shortly after New Year’s.

In his own words

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Kenney, Gerard I. Dangerous Pas-sage: Issues in the Arctic. Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2006. Print.

Larsen, Henry A., Frank R. Sheer, and Edward Omholt-Jensen. The Big Ship. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1967. Print.

Sources Larsen Riedel, Doreen. “Henry of “Big Ship”” Lib.ru: Contemporary Literature. Lib.ru, 01 Aug. 2011. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://lit.lib.ru/t/tatarin_l_s/msword-29.sht

This book was designed and printed by Stephanie Trimboli in fall 2011 for Visual Information at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. This book was set in Adobe Caslon Pro and Frutiger.