Former Norwegian lighthouse tender visits and is open to the public

A former Norwegian lighthouse tender, which is now a museum ship, arrived in Kirkwall today, and will be open to the public at times during the stay, before leaving on Friday.

The MV Gamle Oksøy is owned by Lindesnes Lighthouse Museum, which is completely dependent on external help and voluntary work carried out by the Association of Friends of Gamle Oksøy.

The vessel is visiting Orkney while on its way to attend the Nordic Coast Cultural Societies Annual Coast Cultural Festival in Siglufjordur, north-Iceland, in early July.

The vessel was built in 1962 as MT Oksøy at Brødrene Lothe in Haugesund on commission from the Norwegian Coastal Administration.

Built as a tanker, she carried paraffin and gas to beacons and lighthouses along the coast of southern Norway.

The ship was equipped with large tanks which could carry 170,000 litres of paraffin, and a hold for gas cylinders. The crew also carried out maintenance work on lights and lanterns.

As time went by the vessel was employed in the conversion of automated lighthouses to solar panel operation. When this work was completed in 1996, the ship was taken out of service.

An initiative was later launched to preserve the vessel as a floating cultural monument.

This ship is representative of a type of specialised vessel from a unique period in the history of Norwegian lighthouses and is open to the public today, Wednesday, afternoon 2pm-6pm, the again from 10am-Noon and 2pm – 6pm on Thursday.

More details about the visit of the ship in The Orcadian next week.