In September 1875, the bark Bacchus was launched at Johan Lang’s wharf in Raahe. The Raahe residents did not quite understand the greatness of the ancient Roman name, wondering instead:

“What an ugly name for a handsome ship: Pakhuusi [‘Packhouse’]!”

J. Wicklund had been the master builder of the bark with a capacity of 425 lasts, and Fredrik Björkvist (1831–1891) was hired as its captain. The captain was known among the sailors as Nälkvist (‘Hungerkvist’), as the food in his ships was often bad and there was very little of it.

The vessel started ploughing through the seas in mid-September by sailing ballast-laden from Raahe to Reposaari, where timber was loaded onto the ship. The actual maiden voyage was made from Reposaari to Hull, England, in October–November 1875. At Epiphany in 1876, the voyage continued from Hull towards New Orleans, which was reached on 21 March. During its life, the Bacchus sailed mainly between Europe and North America, and the captain was always Björkvist.

In 1886, there was an incident that was widely reported in domestic newspapers. On its voyage, the Bacchus encountered the American schooner Ida Francis, whose crew were suffering from a lack of food and water. Essential supplies were handed over from the Bacchus to those in need, allowing Ida Francis to reach its destination in London. The Americans’ thanks to the captain and crew of the Bacchus were later published in The Times. Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, awarded Captain Björkvist a gold medal for his assistance to the crew of the Ida Francis in distress. The story does not tell whether the sailors stopped calling the captain by the nickname after the incident.

The Bacchus made its last voyage from Pensacola, Florida to Saint Nazaire, France in early 1888. As it continued its journey ballast-laden from Saint Nazaire towards Vyborg, the vessel ran aground off the coast of Jutland on 19 April at 2 a.m. The ballast was thrown into the sea and the anchors were lowered, but the currents and the wind carried the vessel to shore, where it ran aground on the sandy bottom. The captain called in a steam tug from Bremen, which tried to get the ship off without success. The ship was thus emptied of its movables and declared a wreck on 25 April. The next day, when the people on the ship had been found healthy and free of disease by the local health authorities, the crew of 14 disembarked. The crew of the Bacchus returned to their home country on board the familiar brig Ahto from Raahe. The Ahto arrived in Kotka on 15 May 1888.

However, the story of the Bacchus does not end here. Recently, our museum received an interesting e-mail from Denmark. Farm owner Mikael Bramsen wrote that there was a barn on his farm in Ulfborg that was built from pieces of the wreck of the ship Bacchus from Raahe. Parts of the wreck also found their way to another farm in Bjerghuse,

as the wreck of Bacchus was auctioned off after the shipwreck and its parts ended up in the possession of two local farmers. Both were able to build a barn on their farms from the parts of the wreck. There is even a Bacchus sign on the wall of one barn. Danish contemporary sources, such as the record of the auction following the shipwreck, as well as contemporary expert reports, prove that what Bramsen said is true. Truth is stranger than fiction! It warms our hearts to know that the ship that left Raahe all those decades ago continues its life as barn walls on the Danish coast, and stories of the ship and its wreck are still being told among the locals.

Captain Björkvist wrote his personal thanks in the guest book of the Danish family who accommodated him. The text has partly faded away, and the captain must have been emotional when he wrote his thanks, as the words and sentences have been formed quite carelessly.

In English, Björkvist’s words of thanks would be something like this:

My heartfelt gratitude for the care and sympathy that people have shown during my stay in the locality. I have never experienced anything like it before, and I will always warmly remember the kind people.

13 May 1888

Fredrik Björkvist from Raahe, Finland, who steered the late Bacchus, which was left here on the coast in small pieces.