Interview with Elieser Joensen

Elieser Joensen from Mykines tells. It has to be mentioned, that this is a word by word copy by the journalist Janus Mohr of a tape recording made by him in 1965 and the story in this way is as Elieser spontaneous told about Mykines in the former time and in the present at that time. Translated from faroese by kindly permission from Janus Mohr. © Janus Mohr..

At sea Old hymns - Kingohymns Faroese song and dance Fishing Catching of birds Goblins Eiriks house Travel conditions Grain growing and the oxen Cattle in the village House building

At sea

One of the years, when I went fishing, the following happened. We were at Føroya Banka, when the ship got some damage and we began sailing towards land. It became foggy when we came closer to land and a violent breaker hit the ship, it was frightening. The mainsail and the mizzen sail were torn into pieces. We continued towards land under Nýpuna, drifted south wards and was not more than a "snørislongd" (ca. 100 meters) from the coast south of Nýpuni, - oh yeah, maybe two "snørislongdir", yes, it must have been around that.

When we reached Tangan, we got a breeze astern of and managed to raise the main foresail and by that we managed to reach Miðvág.

When we left Miðvág again and started fishing again, there was nothing to get. Because of that, we headed for the Vestlandet on Iceland, but there was nothing to get there either. When we returned back home, the weather was very bad and all the sails were torn into pieces. We began sailing north at Nesið. We were at Mánaroyggjagrunden when a gale began blowing from North East. We has to leave the fishing gear and reefed the sails twice, the wind blowing from North East and luckily we got clear of the cost. We were very close and the deck was filled up with fish, 1600. Yes we had 1660, when the bad weather began.

We weathered the storm until the morning and began then to clean the fish while we sailed eastwards. We began sailing home in the autumn. Coming east of Langanes, we thought that we were going a little slowly took out the third reef out of the sail and continued south of Nesið. But when we stack, the main sail again was torn and this time totally: we had no other main sail, not an other main sail, so we had to patch it as well as possible, before we began sailing homewards again.

We sailed into the Farskrúðsfjørð and again mend the sail, - tried to patch it. We went all the way into the bottom of the fjord and there the wind blowed not as forcefully. The the wind turned west. We again sailed out. The we had an eventless journey until we were close to the Faroes. Then we met a shower and lost the jib, the big jib and the main sail were torn just above the second reef. When we were just out side Rivtangen and worked all night to pass Mýling and heading south the Saxun mountains. We had the big foresail if is was possible to have it. Finally we reached Flógvan and first there we felt that we were in smooth sea again. We had two more reef in the main sail than we had in fine weather.

A trawler was lying there and they asked how the weather was and we answered: bad weather. There was nothing else than bad weather. And happy we were when we came ashore again. We arrived back with hardly any sails. Yes in that way it often was with these old sloops.

The name of the ship was Mary Broys.

Old hymns - Kingohymns

When the old hymns were sung, it was the parish clerk, Jógvan í Ábrahamsstovu, who began. Once it was Ísak fyri Handan Á. - But that was before I can remember. The old men was often the cause of general amusement in the church, because they could not come to any agreement. There they sat drunken the morning on Christmas day. One occasion I do specially, was a case where an old man, who often came drunken into the church. This special morning Isak also came drunken. They had been sitting outside the church and taken a little more than the thirst demanded. And one of them began on a hymn, then the other also began. Yes, so it was. Once he went all the way up into the choir singing and then Eiriks-Ísakur had to stop his singing. Yes, so it was at that time. They were drunk when they went into the church.

I remember, that they sung when the went fishing. We were not more than twelve years of age when we began to join the fishing men. They sung so many different hymns. Four verse of the hymn: "Now I flight to Your grace", they sung, four verse of "Give still peace in our Land" they also sung now and them, when they went fishing and they also now and them only sung one verse, a single verse, among others this: "Jesus Christ, we now call on You". My father also sung this verse now and then, before he went out. And "God Almighty grudge us to live here" he also sung as well "I advise You all, that You think it over". When they returned home, they used to sing "God Almighty of the Kingdom of Heaven"

I myself could not sing the old hymns. I have also heard them sung in the wireless, but I don't like the melodies they use there. We at least didn't use these melodies out here. But once I heard a man from Kvívik sing "Give still peace in our Land". It was Jóan Pauli á Eystaruhellu. Such a beautiful voice that man had. -No, here in Mykines there is nobody who is able to sing it with the melody it ought to be sung with. But Karl (Sivertsen), who lives in Tórshavn, I must tell You, he usually knows the melodies to the Kingohymns, at least to some of them. He has a beautiful voice and is also very musical.

When the new hymns came, there were nobody in the church, who could sing them. But them Niels Paul (Mohr, the teacher) arrived. And Laurits, my brother and Jóhannus, they sung together with him. But there also were women, who had fine voices. They the learned from them and at least we got an organ.

Faroese song and dance

I have many times joined in the Faroese dance. Especially I liked to sing "King Sverke" and I also was able to sing many ballads. They often danced out here in former time and we drank as other men. But now most of the people have move. Now we are only a little number left. - Yes, "King Sverke", I was able to sing very well when I was young. But I didn't ever really learned these Faroese ballads. I never joined in. But they who were young then, among others , Hans í Ábrahamsstovu, my son and the others, they sung the Faroese ballads.

Fishing

I have been fishing as a man. I began fishing as a boy and continued fishing here from Mykines until I became twenty years old. Then I began joining the fishing with the sloops at far away places and continued to participate in this for eighth or nine years. After that i again fished here form Mykines, we got a boat used it for fishing. They also fished here during the First Word War. I didn't fished at that time but went sailing, during the First World War we fished quite a lot. And it was real fish we got, all of ti was cod. To catch five centner of cod right out here at Pollinum wit short line, that was normal; now and the we also got smaller fish. It was during the First World War.

During the Second Words War we got a boat with inboard motor. I went fishing together with Jogvan í Ábrahamsstovu and Jákup (í Handanastovun?). We fished a lot. Then we didn't sleep at night. We went fo Vágar with the fish at night. It was not that always that way, but quite often.

-I do remember a period when fishing was done with twelve roving boats from Mykines. IN the summer they used the smaller boats for two, there, four or even five men. - Jørgin rowed himself as the fifth man. They had great confidence in me, somebody, yes the had. The Túgvál yeoman also owned a boat, Sakaris and all them, - and Martin. I began fishing together with them. It was the first boat with motor which went fishing from here: And I used to wake them up in the morning, when we were going out fishing.

Often we left early, because we were two time at Guttamið a day, - two shifts of the tide at Guttamið. - There was not more than two nautical miles to the nearest fishing grounds.

But we used drift along with the currents out at sea, just straight through, - just to horizon as Aleksander said. - Yes in low tides we were just straight out there with a five men boat, when it was fine weather and we were five men aboard. We the drifted back to the nearest fishing grounds, the a little out again, out at Guttamið here south of again it shifted towards north and we went along and the boat was so full of fish, that there was not space for even one more. Then we began to clean the fish. Raised the sails, when we came north. We cleaned the fish and as the boat became lighter, we began fishing a little again.

-Then Laurits, my brother, said that we should row homewards.
I said to him. We can through out the heads of the fish we had on board, then there would be space for even more. - No, now enough is enough! - We had yet some more heads of fish on board. We hadn't thrown all of them out. The boat was heavy loaded, yeas more than that, because it was fine weather. We had between around twenty three centner in it. The boat carried quite a lot because ti was a quite broad boat.

They landed the catch on Mykines in former time. In the beginning, when I got married, forty years ago, they came almost always twice a day fully loaded. They also salted the fish out here. The used longline to the end of June, no maybe to the middle of the month. When the sheep were to be drifted, there was less fishing, but somebody continued fishing, because then there were people enough for manning the drift in the different outfields. The cods were also then very big.

Catching of birds

Laurits, my brother, was a very competent fleygeman, yes, he was very good to fleyge. But I am not boasting, he was also a very competent man in the mountains, he went everywhere, where it was possible to go. - And as a fleygeman he was one of the best. Once he fleyged more than 900. It was just out here at Eggini í Múla. He went out there in the evening and he didn't return before the evening after. Símun went out there after him and got even one hundred more after Laurits has stopped. And Andrias fleyged also close to 1000, - it was Andrias á Túgvál, father to Sakarias. And Abraham also that day caught more than 900 that day, - Ábraham í Ábrahamsstovu. - I do believe that it of the most that we ever have caught one single day. And Jørgen also was one of the most clever fleygemen. The greatest number Jørgen ever fleyged, was 800 om a single day, I do believe. He left in the evening. He always had the right to the better fleygesesses, as it also was natural.

Now everything has come to a standstill, there are nobody who fleyge any more, nobody pulling puffins, maybe there is one or two, who pulls out puffins, but it is only in a small number.

In former time they caught around 80.000 puffins. But there are no more fleygemen now, compared to what it was then. And the men who here are, don't fleyge, but concentrate their efforts to the fleyging in the winter, where they fleyge fulmars.

There is a lot of fulmars. If the weather is suitable, then they go fleyging fulmars. But they don't catch the young fulmars any more. But the young fulmars come flying back in the winter. The fulmar, yes the young fulmar, also were very fine in former time. They were so big that one was even enough for one man, yes some only managed to eat one forth, yes they were so big that th thigh was one thumb thick. They were very delicious.

And they do not catch the gannets, as they did in former time. Now there are no mountain men. Maybe there are a few who are able to go down on the shelf. - I do know that there have been caught close to one thousand gannet. Some of these later years they have caught 900 these later years. Because they have only been on the shelfs. They have not gone down in line either above or below the shelfs. So they always did in former time. And on one of the "boys", Píkarsdrangur, no one are coming any more. There they usually got around 40, at this the higher of the "boys". Now nobody are coming up there any more, because it is not possible to go out at Bølið, as it has been possible in former time. It is not possible to go out there any more. They used to row out in a boat and pull a line op upon the boy and at tighten the line by the men at Bølið. Yes, now it impossible to go there any more. They have been there a few times, when I was young. But now it is possible, it is as the edge of a knife.

There are many fine fleygesesses out there. They used to fleyge a lot out at Bølið in former time.

I have never been a skilful man in the mountains, because I have an arm, which has not been fully functional. The shoulder had grown wrong together after a fracture and I have not been able to lift the arm above my head. To descend in a line has not been possible for me. But I have been able to go to sea and to go fishing. At that kind of work, there have been no problems.

I have tried to do my part of the work with this shoulder, as I was able to do at the most. I was two or three years of age, when I broke it.

Goblins

I have never seen any goblin, but Jákup fyri Handan Á, he has seen more than most of us. And likewise Jákup á Túgvál. - He heard something now and then. Once he went along the edge, he he heard a voice fo a women, who sang for her child at the Mortansklett. They said that he had heard the voice laudly and clear.

And then there was Jákup fyri Handan Á, he owned eighth gylden. It is at this rock just above from here and one evening, when he had gone to gather in the hay. Then the old, the troll came along him and throw earth back into the holes. So they said he told. The troll also had gone to gather in the hay.

I myself have never experienced anything like that, but Niclas in contrary, at the time he served at Handanástovun. He saw and heard both this and that.

Eirikshús

I was married into Eirikshús. Ísakur died and they have got a kitchen range in the house, so they had not anymore any fireplace. It was heavy and cumbersome work to wash the wooden boards. But then they got a kitchen range and a chimney. Though the house is one hundred years old, most of the materials were more than two hundred years old. t was a big house then and most of the materials were reused.

My father in law knocked down the house and then rebuild it, but his father in law didn't like that he made the ground so high, that it could become a cellar. But when I came into the house i knocked down the northern wall. It was only stone the half way upwards. So the old people always did it. But i didn't liked it, and made the wall from bottom to top of stone, so high that came upon the ridge and after that the house has been so strong, that not even a singe piece of turf have been torn form the roof after I began living there.
When we had a calf, it was placed in the "roykstovan". - We once had two calves in the roykstovan, when I began living in the house. The cow was placed in the northern end of the house. Once Eirikshús was torn, it was when I was a boy. It was the part of the house for the hay which was damaged. The wall fell towards the cow. But it was also an unusual bad weather. There came three very hard blows just one after the other. What was in their way was broken. And I have never since experienced so bad weather, though it often have been bad weather out here.

The wind came from North East. It is the worst direction her in Mykines village. North East is the worst. Norther is a little better, because it more even. But even that the blows come from almost any direction. But North East is more directly down through the village.

Travel conditions

The longest time, as I remember, the the inhabitants of Mykines have been without connection to Vagar by boat is eighth weeks, in the winter, after Christmas. - That is the longest period and when we got mail and merchandise, it was with a boat at the northern shore of the northern part of the island, the first mail, margarine and sugar, and then the next day with flour, all of it at Álaberg. - Thats northern towards the Mykines fjord. It was a long way to carry it to the village.

From the slopes in Borgardal, it is fairly long, three - four nautical miles. I also do remember Jóan Heina úti í Løvu, the elderly; he went down on Álaberg. And when returned. He pulled himself up by the chain, which was lying there. When he was almost at the top, he looked upwards and the sack of flour that he carried on his neck, slipped away. Naturally it went into pieces. Yes, it was terribly, because at that time the bread was baked and eaten among some families. But some few had a little flour left.

Grain growing and the oxen

Mykines was a fine place for growing gain, but now and then it was unsuccessful. But it was also heavy work to stand and drill the mill. The grain which was bought at the stores on the Faroes, was milled. I do remember that there was quite a lot of grain in the village, which was not Faroes grain. It came to the village from Godtfred and also from the folks in Vágsbotn. But the quality of the grain was not always good, sometimes it was black. But I remember that we had a little of dried grain, a little now and then, not very much, just that we could get a little taste of it, thats was all. The place where we grew grain was fine, if the weather wasn't too humid. The potatoes yielded a fine result sometimes and at other times almost nothing. In that way it has been at all times.

They cut and worked the soil in many ways, among others by cutting of the edge of the turf and cover the manure on the field with upside down turned the turf in stead of top soil alone. They often worked the soil in that way, they dug and worked the top soil; and they have never used a plough out here. The hoe was the preferred tool.

At that time the dunghill were not filled up, as they now are lying. Some had six or eighth cows and in addition to that they had the oxen to they were about four years of age and there was almost always a pair in every house, I mean the houses of the King's yeomen.

The big men always had oxen. Jákup á Túgvál and Jákup fyri Handan Á allways had two each, which they had to deliver every year. When they were four or three years of age. One year they were in the outfield, the next year they were tethered in the infield and then they were in the outfield for the rest of their time.

I do remember many different oxen. Uncle Jóan Heini úti í Løvu used to have one or two. And Jákup fyri Handan Á allways had two to ship and likewise the King's yeoman of Túgvál and old Heine also had oxen for the most the time. The small farmers, who didn't had enough grass for an oxen, they had instead sheep. One had to own nine gylden for each sheep and they who had oxen on the Holm, had to have two marks for each, but now, after they took ground for the lighthouse, the area for one oxen became 36 gylden and for one sheep one had to own nine gylden.

But now it isn't in that way any longer, - now nobody have oxen anymore, they are only interested in sheep.

This year there are only two oxen on the Holm, two young oxen, two or there years of age.

Cattle in the village

There used to be more then 40 cows, which were in the outfield in the summer. And at that time the girls and women went milking, as was the habit at that time. They who didn't owned enough ground to have the right to have cows they didn't either went out to milk. But some smaller farmers, who had oxen, but they had to lease the right to do so by the the richer farmers. We once had one, I do remember. My father had got the right to have one by somebody. Two bulls there also was and then the 40 cows, but right now there is nothing no bulls or nothing at all.

Now there are fourteen or fifteen cows in the village. We had two, but that we have no longer and that we had for a long time ago. Once we had a very nice cow, so good, that we didn't wanted to slaughter it. We got it from Benadikt; yes it was a very nice cow, but I don't know from where it originated.

The farming on Mykines is disappearing little by little when the farmers leave then there will be no more farming. And the few people who are left, they also leave, and in that way the people left have no more energy to do anything anymore. Jógvan í Ábrahamsstovu, he is now the only man left to round up the sheep of Líðarhauge. Olli has done the round up before, but now he is not able to do it anymore, he is all in.

Jens try to manage Heimangjógv, but also he is old and weak. If Jens would like to leave the island, he easily could get work some other place, - he is the kind of man who is able to perform any kind of work. He is skilful both as a joiner and carpenter.

House building

-It was not very expensive to build in former times. We, Laurits and I, build a house. I helped them to build and got no wage for that. I dragged the stones for the foundation together and I carried the timber up from the Landingplace and participated also in the stonemason work of the fundament. Struggling with the big stones without the aid of any crane. There are some quite big stones among them. It is the house which is lying close to the Churchyard, to which we chopped off the stones for. At that time every stone had to be so very precisely and accurate.

The houses were not very costly. I think they got 40 crowns for the stonemason work of the foundation. Around 80 crowns for erecting the house. It wasn't more costly than that, and he got the timber for 1200 crowns from Rasmus í Stovu, he northwards.