ALTARHOLMEN

On 25 August 1878 the four pilots on Altarholmen board the open boat that they go out in when a vessel has flagged for a pilot.

On the Anna of Mollösund the cook has burned himself badly and needs attention. The pilots take him in their boat. The south-east wind stiffens. For an hour and a half the sail can be seen. Then, suddenly, it has gone. Later that day a Norwegian pilot picks up a dead man, drifting on a mast. It is one of the pilots from Altarholmen.

The others were never found. The wind was hard but steady. The men were experienced sailors. Presumably they were surprised by a gust and capsized. Four women were widowed and eleven children orphaned. A collection was taken, but then they had to leave Altarholmen. New pilots had to take over.

There were two houses on the little island, and a small school where the children were taught for three months of the year. Five families lived here, at one time representing nearly forty people. One of the children, Martina Classon, recalled that the spray flew up against the house when storms blew and that they had to stay in the middle of the island so as not to get sucked into the sea by the waves.

The roar of the sea and the backwash could always be heard. In 1903, after only 25 years, the station was closed. The houses were taken down and moved. All that remains of the pilot station is the steps to the look-out and the foundations.