Narsaq Museum

Narsaq Museum

Fiskervej B-98
3921 Narsaq
Greenland

Erling Dahlsgaard: ”Hans Hedtoft”

By Courtesy of Narsaq Museum!

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”Hans Hedtoft” the Danish ”Titanic”
The construction of the ship was completed in 1958 at the shipyard in Frederikshavn, some 30 kilometers from Skagen in Denmark. It was named after a former Prime Minister of Denmark. The ship itself was said to be unsinkable. The ship was owned by KGH (the royal Greenlandic trading department), and was meant to sail between Greenland and Copenhagen the Danish Capital with passengers and articles. The ship made its last stop at the city of Qaqortoq (Julianehåb) in South of Greenland on the 29th of January 1959, before setting the course for Copenhagen again. A day later the ship hit an iceberg and sank – on the maiden voyage – just like the Titanic. All lives of 95 souls were lost that day in the cold and troubled waters of Cape Farwell.
The shipwreck has never been found, though many have tried to find it. The only remaining thing from the ship is a preserver, that landed on a beach on Iceland a year after the catastrophe.

Text: Jesper Stormly Enevoldsen