– Nice to get a taste of the kind of weather we might encounter in the Northwest Passage

The first three legs of the One Ocean Expedition are complete, and the ship is now underway on the fourth. Statsraad Lehmkuhl is sailing south in the Atlantic and was west of Ireland on May 15. It will still be a few weeks before the next port: Nice, in the Mediterranean.

Raised at sea

Marcus Seidl was in command during the expedition’s first three legs. Marc has sailed with Statsraad Lehmkuhl for nearly 40 years, but his life at sea began long before that.

He was born in Vancouver, Canada, and first grew up on his family’s sailboat in the Pacific, then on the galeas Moder, which once transported stockfish along the Norwegian coast. His father bought the boat in Kristiansund, renamed it Barba Negra, and for two years Marc and his brother David lived aboard with him while it was being rebuilt.

In 1973, the small family sailed from Kristiansund across the Atlantic, and then cruised around the Caribbean for a few years. In 1980, Marc and David signed on as students aboard the school ship Christian Radich. The brothers later worked at their father’s shipyard for a few years, but the dream of life on board a sailing ship proved too strong. They returned to Radich as deckhands, and then enrolled in the navigation school in Tønsberg.

In 1986, they both joined Statsraad Lehmkuhl, and have worked together on board ever since. Marc is now captain; David is chief officer.

We spoke with Marc one week after he returned to Bergen, having sailed Statsraad Lehmkuhl from Bergen to Lerwick, then to Tromsø, and finally to Reykjavik.

– It’s always nice to come home, it’s great to catch your breath now and then, but it doesn’t take long before I start longing to get back out again, he smiles.

Just a few minor issues

Last year, Statsraad Lehmkuhl underwent a complete refit. The hull was inspected, masts and yards taken down, all rigging replaced, and the galley and bathrooms rebuilt. The voyage north and then across to Iceland was the first long journey after the scientific equipment had been fully installed.

– We did some short trial trips to Shetland to calibrate technical systems and make a few rigging adjustments. There were some minor faults that are hard to detect before you’ve actually used the rig. But everything came together well, no major problems, Marc reports.

And perhaps most importantly, the galley worked perfectly after the rebuild.

– If we can’t keep the cooking going, everything stops pretty quickly. The chefs manage to make things work no matter the weather, but now it’s even easier. We’ve installed a kind of stove where they can prepare many different dishes at once on a single surface. It uses a lot of power, but it’s much more efficient, so everyone’s happy with the galley so far, Marc smiles.

Ice and snow

When Statsraad Lehmkuhl set out on the One Ocean Expedition on April 11, it was sunny and 11 degrees C in Bergen. In Tromsø, there was minus one degree and 83 centimeters of snow when the ship docked on April 20. A good training opportunity, says Marc.

– It was really good that we got to test the equipment in the cold. Nice to get a taste of the kind of weather we might encounter in the Northwest Passage. These are the kinds of conditions we need to be prepared for, even though it can actually be warmer there than it was in Tromsø in April.

On a ski trip, gloves and mittens are essential. But not in the rigging of a sailing ship.

– We have a ban on using gloves in the rigging. If you wear gloves, you don’t get a good enough grip, or a good feel for what you’re holding onto. So you just have to deal with your fingers going a bit numb when you’re securing a sail that’s stiff with cold. But it worked fine, says Marc.

The cold didn’t change the routines on board. Watches lasted just as long. The helm was manned, lookouts kept their posts, and sail handling continued as normal. For some of the trainees, it was a challenge. In Tromsø, students joined the ship, and not all were used to winter conditions at sea.

– Some of the international students hadn’t brought enough warm clothes. It doesn’t take much wind when it’s biting cold before you really start to feel it, says Marc. But we always have plenty of warm clothing on board, so it worked out fine. It was good to see people enduring the cold weather.

A “fish” under the keel

During the renovation, the crew installed what they call a “fish” under the forward part of the keel - a small, elongated protrusion designed to house echo sounders and other scientific equipment. Marc was curious to see whether it would affect the ship’s sailing performance.

– We were a bit concerned it might affect the speed. When we tested it, it was with the engine in calm water, and it turned out that if the fish has any impact, it’s very minor - almost negligible. So far, so good!

The instruments on board constantly monitor ocean conditions, and on the way to Tromsø Statsraad Lehmkuhl stopped several times to take seawater samples.

– It was good training, and important for checking that everything worked, says Marc. In Tromsø, we received the remaining boxes of scientific equipment we had been waiting for, so the main part of the research really began when we left Tromsø.

As still as possible

In Tromsø, researchers from the Nansen Center - experts in environmental and climate research - came on board, along with representatives from ESA and NASA, and Ocean DataLab, which analyzes satellite imagery. They brought with them students from several countries.

Satellites capture a lot of interesting data, but interpreting what they reveal isn’t always straightforward. Stopping Statsraad Lehmkuhl to conduct surface and deep-sea measurements helps the researchers make sense of what the satellite images show - not just in the areas where the ship is, but also in entirely different parts of the world.

Smart! And a valuable learning experience for the students - future environmental and climate experts.

On the way to Iceland, the researchers studied the Lofoten Vortex, a 60-kilometer-wide ocean current where water circulates deep down into the sea. Water samples were collected down to 1,000 meters, and buoys were deployed to measure the current’s speed and direction.

Marc’s task was to keep the ship as still as possible, to avoid the long cable tilting too much in the water. Not an easy job.

– The current moves at half a meter per second, but the speed varies with depth and where you are in the flow. We didn’t feel it in the ship’s motion, but it did drift us slightly, and the wind is always pushing a bit too, Marc explains.

The ship also made research stops inside the fjords of Iceland.

– We collected water samples, deployed buoys to study current patterns, and recorded whale sightings, Marc says. It was a great experience, and the researchers were positively surprised by how well Statsraad Lehmkuhl works as a research vessel.

The Northwest Passage

Marc now has four weeks off before flying to Nice on June 7 to relieve Captain Jens Joachim Hiorth.

– Our rotations vary between five and seven weeks, but this time I’ll be on board for a month. I’ll first sail to the Azores, then disembark for a month, and rejoin the ship in Nuuk, Greenland, at the end of July. From there, we sail to Cambridge Bay in Canada, arriving at the end of August.

So it will be Marc who has the honor of captaining Statsraad Lehmkuhl through the Northwest Passage. How was that decided? Did you and Jens draw straws - or maybe arm wrestle? Marc laughs.

– No, we’ve known that for a while. We have a rotation system, and we try to take turns being on board at the end of the year - because of Christmas, you know. So it just worked out that way.

There are exceptions, Marc says - but not this time.

– Sometimes we do split watches, like when we rounded Cape Horn in 2022, so that everyone could be part of such a special experience. But for the Northwest Passage, the bridge crew needs specialized training in polar navigation, so we had to divide the team.

A floating eye-catcher

The goal of the One Ocean Expedition is to raise awareness and share knowledge about the vital role the ocean plays in our environment and climate. So no, Statsraad Lehmkuhl isn’t heading to Nice for a Riviera holiday - but because it’s impossible not to notice a beautiful sailing ship and become curious about what’s going on aboard.

During the days Statsraad Lehmkuhl is docked in Nice, the UN will host a major ocean conference there - UNOC. The goal of UNOC is to bring together government authorities, international organizations, scientists, businesses, NGOs, and others to accelerate efforts to protect the ocean.

Statsraad Lehmkuhl will remain moored as a floating eye-catcher and meeting place for conference participants throughout the event. One of the people who will walk up the gangway is Crown Prince Haakon, a “goodwill ambassador” for the One Ocean Expedition. School classes and students have also been invited on board.

Join us!

During the Northwest Passage, researchers and students from the University of Tromsø will be on board - but you can sail with Marcus from Nice to the Azores. There are also vacancies if you’d like to sail from the Azores to Greenland.