The main reason is perhaps that his triumphs in designing successful regatta boats, his glorious achievements as a regatta sailor winning countless regattas and two Olympic gold medals, and his hard work as an office-holder over many years in the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club (KNS), have been amply described in the club jubilee books of 1933, 1958 and 1983. But that is not the whole story – Johan Anker was a man of many facets and I will give ample evidence of his political, social, and cultural engagement in the following.

FAMILY BACKGROUND
Nini Roll Anker was first married, at the age of 18, to Peter Anker, the cousin of Johan. Her father was a judge and was promoted to an office in Christiania (later Oslo). She thus came to the capital from Molde at the age of 15. Her brother became engaged to a Miss Anker from Halden, hence she entered the orbit of the Ankers. The Anker family was the nearest one could come to an aristocracy in Norway; their forebears played a leading part in the making of the constitution in 1814, and owned substantial forests down in Halden, near the Swedish border. Both Peter and Johan took up positions in the family’s wood processing business. Johan himself married young and had three sons by his first wife. Two of them, Christian and Erik, followed their father as regatta sailors, Erik winning the gold medal with Crown-Prince Olav and Johan Anker in the Amsterdam Olympics, and both of them winning the Gold Cup with their father in 1931. Erik was a much loved character in KNS, was commodore for a period after the Second World War, and died quite recently (August 1994) over 90 years of age.

Both for Johan and Nini, however, the first years of this century were marked by domestic upheavals. With Nini it was the awakening of her social conscience and dissatisfaction with her elevated life as hostess in polite society to constant dinner parties on the family estate, in contrast to the difficult and impoverished life of the factory girls employed by her husband. She also thirsted after knowledge, realising that women’s educational opportunities were far inferior to men’s, even among the upper classes. With Johan, it was frustration at not being able to concentrate on what was his passion in life – boat design and sailing which he had indulged in since he was a small boy – because of his involvement in the family business. Ironically enough, he had taken his engineering degree at Charlottenburg Hochschule, Berlin, with yacht design as his main subject. His adult life in his twenties he described as "the years of wasted talents".

They both now rebelled as mature adults – she left her husband and returned to Molde, he also separated from his wife, gave up the family business, and bought himself into the well-established boatyard at Vollen in Asker, becoming a partner with Christian Jensen (the partnership lasted until 1915, but the designation Anker & Jensen for the boats continued).

Reading between the lines of the various "polite" accounts, we can imagine how dramatic these domestic upheavals in reality must have been – this was 1906, not 1996. To round off the familial story, when Nini and Johan married in 1910, Peter, her ex-husband, retaliated by marrying Johan’s sister Borghild, and it seems they all became the proverbial "good friends"! But will Nini and Johan be compatible? Physically they are both tall, she with a buxom figure and with a face which shows great character but which is not exactly beautiful. In her early twenties, because of various health problems, she had been told she could not have children. She had developed a strong interest in writing, and politically had become extremely radical. In the year 1905, when Norway broke away from Sweden, she was anti-royalist and not keen on Norway having a Danish prince as king! Johan was also republican at this time, but politically more conservative. To match his new wife’s writing ambitions, he is extremely interested in art, and supports Edvard Munch and Gustav Vigeland in their struggles and endeavours, himself buying their works. He likes music and reading aloud. Above all, he has strong opinions about the subjects which interest him, and believes in achieving results. He is undiplomatic at times, extremely forthright, with an aristocratic bearing, but has immense charm, which wins people over to his point of view.

LILLEHAUGEN IS BUILT
While Johan and Nini travel to the French Riviera on their honeymoon, Lillehaugen, with its beautiful view over the Oslofjord, is built for them. The site is perfect, not far from the boatyard at Vollen. When they return, there is plenty to do choosing furniture and decorations, and planning the garden which descends down to the Oslofjord. Under the large birch tree, a big sculpture is mounted, a wedding present from Vigeland. Over the fireplace is placed one of Vigeland’s bronze sculptures "Man and Woman". There are several Munch paintings on the walls, a Blüchner grand piano in the sitting room, which well-known pianists come to play, and a long shelf in the ante-room with Johan’s sporting trophies. Besides sailing, he is also a "huntin", shootin’ & fishin’ man" (he soon became a top figure in the associations representing these interests), and a keen skier and skater – his wife shares an interest in most of these pursuits. So now the Ankers embark on a happy life together of nearly 30 years at Lillehaugen.

JOHAN ANKER’S NEW CAREER 1905 – 1915
It is high time I return to the story of Johan Anker’s sailing prowess and career in yacht design. What has Johan Anker been doing since establishing himself at Vollen in 1905? The first challenge both he and Christian Jensen face as partners is to build a boat to capture the Kattegat trophy, which marks the serious beginning of yachting competition in Scandinavia. The result is Johan Anker’s boat of nine sailing lengths, BRAND 2, which can be seen as a model at Vollen today. It is a masterpiece in exploiting the Copenhagen rule and avoiding its weaknesses. In 1906 Denmark does not challenge for the trophy, so the contest is between Norway and Sweden, still rather estranged because of Norway’s break with Sweden in 1905. BRAND 2 wins both regattas down in Gothenburg. At a celebration dinner afterwards, Johan, with typical patriotic enthusiasm, expresses the hope that the Cup will never leave Norway again! It did not in fact, because KNS won it outright after 3 victories.

The dissatisfaction with the development of the Copenhagen rule led to the international conference in London of 1906 – the first international meeting of European sailors. Johan Anker took a leading part in the deliberations, establishing a life-long cooperation with Alfred Benzon, the Danish sailor. The new rule decided upon laid down a common standard so that boats would be evenly matched in each class. No handicap system was now needed. Another result of the conference was the International Yacht Racing Union, set up in 1907.

There was now a spate of yacht building conforming to the new rule, with extra weight being compensated for by stronger construction and heavier keels. Johan Anker’s 8 metre BRAND 3, an experiment, was unmatchable in 1907 at home and in Copenhagen. But in 1908 his FRAM did not meet with success in the first real sailing Olympics at Cowes – the two English Fife boats, COBWEB and SORAIS, were superior in light winds. In fact, Fife still reigned supreme, and the Anker and Jensen boatyard was still building boats to Fife’s designs, with KNS commodore Alfred W. G. Larsen being their foremost customer (with his MAGDA 6, 7 and 8 – the boats are named after his wife. MAGDA 8, when Larsen sold her, became MAGNOLIA. A replica of this 12 metre will shortly be under sail).

Johan Anker learnt a lot from his trip to the seat of English Yachting on the Isle of Wight. He decided to be daring and build a 12 metre boat himself. BRAND 4 was Norway’s first Norwegian designed 12 metre boat and in 1909 this boat swept the board in Copenhagen, Øresund and Kiel. These occasions are notable for the German Kaiser’s exclamation when handing over the trophy to Anker: "Sie fahren ja wie ein Dampfer", while his victory in Copenhagen aroused Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, the famous Norwegian dramatist, to send the following telegram "Mit norske hjerte fryder sig, det er ennu friskt" (My Norwegian heart is bursting with joy, it is still healthy). Johan is given the sobriquet "the flying Norwegian"! Johan Anker has indeed "arrived" – his 10 metre creation SKUM 2, ordered by Dr Johan Friele from Bergen, is equally successful down at Kiel. By 1910, Norway and Sweden are good friends again, and Johan designs and builds the 12 metre FIGARO for Fred. Olsen to compete in Gothenburg. His boats win in all classes (except the 7m).

But Johan Anker cannot rest until he takes on the English boats and wins on their home ground. Recently, in CLASSIC BOAT No.90 (in English) and CLASSIC LINES No.3 (in Norwegian) the story of ROLLO’s success at Cowes in 1911, when the first Europe Week was held, has been told in some detail. To repeat the famous remarks made at the celebration dinner, the President of the Royal Yacht Squadron lavished praise on Johan Anker and his crew as follows: "Our Norwegian friends have built their own boat, have sailed across the North Sea, manned by their own crew. They arrived here safe and sound, and they have now won nearly all the first prizes in the races. That is what I call sport". This triumph fired the imagination of the Norwegian public, and it has been pointed out by several Norwegian commentators subsequently that Fife, Nicholson, Herreschoff and a few others may have been equally eminent designers, but they could not match Anker’s talents as a regatta sailor.

These talents were used to the full by Alfred W.G. Larsen the following year, 1912, when the Stockholm Olympics took place. Johan was "sailing master" on board MAGDA 9 in the 12 metre class; Larsen had now deserted Fife for Anker to design his Olympic boat, and could rejoice in his choice, winning over the Swedish ERNA SIGNE, which was a Fife boat. To top it all, Anker’s 8 metre TAIFUN won an even more crushing Olympic victory over his rival designer’s LUCKY GIRL. During 1913 and 1914 – as it turned out, the grand finale of the old world before the catastrophe of the First World War – orders streamed into the Anker and Jensen boatyard. From Germany comes an order for a 15 metre, and Johan Anker designs and builds ISABEL ALEXANDRA, which does so well in her class in Europe Week 1914. He also designs the first Bermuda rigged 6 metre, MOSQUITO, to be followed by SYMRA, winner of the 12 metre class in the same event with him on board. The successful boats of the other classes in Europe Week 1914, 10 metre ADORNA, 8 metre QUINTA, 7 metre MARTHA 2 (these three boats still survive in our club) and 9 metre VAV all were designed and built by Anker.

One might have thought Johan would have been completely tied down by his work at Vollen, but he still had time to act as ambassador for KNS, and was elected vice-commodore from 1912–14 under Sam Eyde, before finally becoming commodore of KNS in 1915. The fatal gun shots at Sarajevo, which triggered off World War I, put an end to international European sailing for four summers, but Anker seizes the initiative to establish the Scandinavian Yacht Federation so that the neutral countries can continue to hold regattas. Together with Ljungberg (Sweden) and Alfred Benzon (Denmark) he proposes the S (Scandinavian) rule to replace the International R (rating) rule in 1917. As it happens, this rule is only a temporary affair until the R rule is revised again in 1919.

NINI BECOMES A FAMOUS AUTHOR
Having now followed Johan’s incredible burst of energy and the ten years of his partnership with Christian Jensen, during which he achieved international fame for his regatta results and magnificent boats, let us return to the domestic scene and to Nini’s efforts to establish herself as a writer. Nini, up to the outbreak of the war, has had to back up her husband playing host to the rich Danes, Swedes and Americans who visit Lillehaugen to order their boats. But she also pursues her own interests, taking on social work in Asker county to help the poor and mentally sick – she became a member of the board of Blakstad mental asylum. Having written her first novel "Benedicte Stendal" in 1909, which was well received, she is now a respected member of the Norwegian authors’ society and becomes a great friend of Sigrid Undset, whose "Kristin Lavransdatter" was later to bring her the Nobel prize for literature. Johan Anker himself found time to campaign for funds to support Munch’s exhibition of his draft plan for mural paintings to decorate the University Aula – and to get Munch’s designs accepted. The Ankers were both still involved with Gustav Vigeland – the fountain and sculptures of the famous park were secured for Oslo largely through the efforts of Johan – but he gradually wore them out, with his polemics against fellow artists, so that Nini preferred the quiet artist Erik Werenskiold, who held court at Lysaker and was particularly famous for his etchings. The Garborgs, Fernanda Nissen, and Gunnar Heiberg were also in Ankers’ circle.

When the war breaks out Nini is anxious about her sister who is living in Paris and expecting a child. So in 1915, in spite of the war, Nini visits her while her novel "The weak sex" is published in Norway. In it, she glorifies the roles of women as lovers and mothers and adopts an anti-clerical stance. The book arouses a great deal of debate. Later in the war, she and Johan cross the North Sea to visit England, and are lucky not to be torpedoed by the Germans. Johan now wished Norway to join in on the side of the allies, while Nini maintained a pacifist attitude. However, she did not approve of the Bolshevik revolution because her socialism was the gentle "Fabian" variety which favoured improving educational opportunities and bettering the cultural life of the working classes. At this time she starts local theatricals in Asker, and writes a play "The Church", which is put on at the National Theatre at the end of the war. King Haakon and Queen Maud attend a performance, and thus she is introduced to them. Finally the war ends. She and Johan visit France and Germany, and see the terrible destruction. They travel home with Fridtjof Nansen, who tells them about his gruesome experiences in Russia.

THE POST-WW 1 SAILING SCENE
Now that the war is over, the big question is how soon the allies – Germany is excluded – will start up the international yacht racing programme. Through an initiative by Anker and the Scandinavian Yacht Federation, who send a letter to King George V, the British monarch dispatches Sir William Burton and Brian Heckstall-Smith, president and secretary of the International Yacht Racing Union, to the Scandinavian capitals to see what advances have been made during the war years. KNS also urges the British Yacht Racing Association not to become isolationist. Luckily, Philip Hunloke, who is in charge of the YRA, is positive towards new international co-operation, and he invites delegates to a conference in London again. Johan Anker and Halfdan Hansen are the Norwegian representatives. A new international rule is passed – a more sturdy hull and less sail area, encouraging fast seaworthy boats, are key elements; the new R rule of 1919 is Anker’s victory by one vote over the American Universal Rule, which the British committee supported, although Fife was willing to back up Anker. However, Britain was still not keen on international regattas disturbing the traditional programme of the British yachting events – this attitude is reflected in Britain’s poor turn out in the sailing Olympics of 1920.

In CLASSIC LINES we have now published articles describing the post-war period in some detail. By 1920 KNS was at the zenith of prosperity, because the war had been good for Scandinavian business. The club had a fleet of 1288 boats, including 23 metres, 15 metres and masses of 12 metres. In Arild Marøy Hansen’s article on Dr. Friele (KL 3/95) and my article on the first four metre-boat Olympics (KL 4/96), we read how Norway sent a substantial fleet down to the sailing Olympics in Ostende, Belgium, and won virtually all the medals, without much competition from other countries. Johan Anker was team leader but did not take part in the Olympic regattas. He merely had the satisfaction of seeing his boats win. Unfortunately, the bubble of prosperity, which had lasted in business circles since the war broke out, soon burst. A recession set in, and the Norwegian government imposed a luxury tax on yachts, with disastrous effects.

At this time, 1921, Johan Anker is on a family visit to France and meets French yachting representatives who suggest Norway should make a challenge for the Coupe de France. This trophy had a history going back to the 1890s, when it was set up to encourage French yachting construction. In 1922, when the challenge had been sanctioned by KNS, Johan duly visits Le Havre, and his 8 metre BERA beats Madame Heriot’s L’AILE 2, designed by Arbaut. The following year there is a return match in Horten:

RANJA beats the challenger NAMOUSSA, and then beats COQ GAULOIS and L"AILE 4 in 1924 and 1925 respectively.

But in 1926, France finally gets her revenge: CUPIDON beats the Norwegian Ingar Dobloug"s ROLLO 2. Our club has this regatta on videotape, with film of Madame Heriot as a judge on her enormous schooner L’AILE VI. In KL 4/96, Gustav Dietrichson’s article on ROLLO 2 gives an account of the challenges. So ended an interesting chapter in bilateral yachting competition. Through his original initiative, Johan has stirred the interest of the Norwegian public again. In 1924, he is made the fourth Honorary Member of KNS after his second 4-year period as commodore.

However, his boat building is not going so well. There is now a lack of rich Norwegian customers. So Johan visits USA again in 1925 to try and get American clients to purchase his boats. He is lionized everywhere he goes, takes part in regattas and wins with his boats; however, Nini is not so enthusiastic about American attitudes (especially of Norwegians living in USA) and "big business". Neither does she quite approve of the behaviour of young "flappers", but in her way, being sympathetic to young authors and artists, she tries to understand the modern generation.

THE ANKERS BECOME FRIENDS WITH THE NORWEGIAN ROYAL FAMILY
Home again, the following period was marked by Johan Anker’s special involvement with Crown Prince Olav, now in his early twenties (born 1903). Olav, as a teenager, had been informally tutored by Johan Anker in the art of sailing, and was now ready to order his boats at the Anker and Jensen boatyard. The Crown Prince often dropped by to see how the boats were progressing, and called in at the Anker home, where he was allowed to bathe at the bottom of the garden, with his own bathing hut! For 1926, Olav ordered the 6 metre OSLO, and won first and second prizes at Cowes that year. He then ordered NOREG for 1927 as a member of a consortium. Magnus Konow was chosen to sail it in America to try and capture the Gold Cup. In fact he won the Seawanhaka Cup instead! As a specialist in the 6 metre class, Olav then orders NORNA with the idea of competing in the Amsterdam Olympic Games of 1928. As we remember (KL 5/96) the Crown Prince is selected, but requests that Johan should be helmsman and Erik Anker is also brought in from Paris as another crew-member. They win the gold in spite of a hair-raising collision. Anker’s FIGARO 5, built in 1927, wins the Gold Cup in Stockholm. 1928, then, is a triumphant year for Johan Anker. But he does not rest on his laurels, because 1929 marks his brilliant and popular invention – a cheaper boat – the Dragon!

When Crown Prince Olav marries his Swedish cousin, Princess Märtha, and they are presented with a residence at Skaugum, not far from Vollen, the friendship between the ageing couple and the young royal couple blossoms. In 1929 the KNS clubhouse at Dronningen burns down, and Johan is involved with choosing the best architectural design for the new clubhouse. The following year Skaugum burns down, too, and the Ankers are out there at once to help and comfort Olav and Märtha.

Finally, at the end of this decade, Fridtjof Nansen dies, and Nini is one of the last to visit and comfort him on his deathbed. She and Johan had kept up their acquaintance with him ever since their first meeting after World War I.

THE LAST DECADE (1930–1940)
We now enter the last decade of Johan Anker’s life. The financial situation at Lillehaugen is depressing; the Ankers can hardly afford to keep their faithful servants, and the ugly question arises as to whether to sell off the boatyard. We must remember the Wall Street Crash of 1929 had repercussions over the whole world – hardly the climate for ordering regatta yachts! Perhaps to supplement his income, Johan has become the chairman of the board at the Norwegian Wine and Spirit Monopoly. Johan has also looked after the family interests in the Spitsbergen Coal Company for many years. For recreation, the ageing couple enjoy their hunting in the forest and mountain skiing. In the summer they even start to sail together for pleasure round the Hvaler islands, near the Anker estates in Halden. Nini is still writing novels and plays throughout the 1930s, and she champions up and coming writers in the Norwegian Authors’ Society. Her health is now deteriorating, whereas Johan still seems to have the energy to play a leading role in whatever he chooses to do. In 1931, at the age of 60, he sails in the Gold Cup, held this time in Gothenburg, with his sons Erik and Christian, and wins with ABU. In 1933, KNS celebrates its 50th jubilee; Johan becomes vice-chairman yet again, with Crown Prince Olav as chairman. The event is, of course, a great success. Our club is lucky enough to have the film showing a very healthy and imposing figure of Johan Anker walking with the Royal Party to the celebration dinner at Dronningen. At this dinner, Johan delivers a speech for the guests, emphasizing the importance of sailing as a sport to promote international comradeship – he even suggests that the Norwegian girls will kiss the foreign competitors on land if they need comfort after losing at sea! A great number of the boats competing in the jubilee regattas are those designed by Johan and built at the Anker and Jensen yard. (He has designed 12 metre VEMA especially for the occasion). Nevertheless he is facing increasing competition from Bjarne Aas down in Fredrikstad, who in 1936 designs the IOD, and Henrik Robert, much closer by. Even Christian Jensen, who broke out of the partnership as long ago as 1915 and intended afterwards to specialise in working boats, has now started to design regatta boats again.

But Crown Prince Olav is always faithful to his mentor. For the Olympics of 1936, Olav orders NORNA V, but is in fact pre-selected for another event. In the 8 metre class, Johan’s new VIKING has not been trimmed properly, so does not do well in the selection races; SILJA, Anker’s old 8 metre from 1929, is chosen and wins the silver medal. I have been told that Johan Anker had no desire to get involved with Hitler’s Germany, so that he was not himself in the running for selection.

Not to be discouraged, Johan designs the successful 10 metre ROLLO 4, which does well in Finland, for Ingar Dobloug. In 1937, he designs yet another NORNA, number 6, which wins the coronation regatta in England for Crown Prince Olav. With an indomitable will, and in spite of the gloomy economic situation, in 1938 Johan designs his final masterpiece in the metre boat classes: 8 metre SIRA. He himself is helmsman on SIRA and wins the Kattegat Cup in Gothenburg. He wins 3 days in a row – what an achievement for a man of 67! And the following year, when Crown Prince Olav takes over SIRA, Anker performs his final swansong with that boat, winning the Kattegat Cup yet again and then goes on to win the King’s Cup in the Hankø regattas the following week! FACIT, his experimental "big-Dragon" which sees the light of day in the spring of 1939, is his last gesture on the designing front, showing that Anker to the last could come up with new ideas.

The winter of 1939, with war declared as a result of the German invasion of Poland, is a sad one for the Ankers at Vollen. Johan has to wind down activity at half the boatyard, and they take serious steps to sell Lillehaugen and their precious pictures, to finance a possible move back to his family’s estate at Halden. Poland has already been ravaged. Will Scandinavia escape yet again? As if prescient, the Scandinavian Yachting Federation cancels its October meeting. In December, Johan is elected chairman of the newly constituted "Ex-club", a sort of "House of Lords" for previous office-holders in KNS, with Crown Prince Olav as honorary president.

The shock comes unexpectedly in April 1940. Norway is invaded by Germany, but the entire Norwegian Royal Family manage to evade their pursuers by heading towards Hamar and the nearby Swedish border, which Crown Princes Märtha and the three royal children cross to the safety of Stockholm. After several near escapes from bombing, the King and Crown Prince move back across Norway with their troops, but have to be evacuated by British destroyer from Molde and are deposited up in a country cabin a half-hour boat ride from Tromsø with the Norwegian government in the town itself. It is now the middle of May 1940.

THE FINAL SUMMER
Johan Anker was keen to get up to North Norway himself to see what was happening to his Spitsbergen Coal Company; he was chairman of the Board of Directors. What now follows is largely based on his own report, which I was granted access to in the University of Oslo Library. I also rely heavily on the account given by Egil Ulateig, the author of a book tracing the Norwegian Royal Family’s peregrinations during the Second World War. See "Sources" at the end of this article.

Anker managed to get an exit visa with permission to travel to Sweden – once there, he read in the newspaper that the Norwegian Nygaardsvold government had expropriated his company! In Stockholm he got the exiled President of the Storting, C.J. Hambro, to send his telegram of protest to the government in Tromsø. While he was in Stockholm, Johan also met Sigrid Undset, whose son had just fallen in battle against the German invaders, and Crown Princess Märtha, who gave him a letter to take to her husband.

Anker and two companions then travelled through Finnish Lappland, where they could see the devastation caused by the winter war, and crossed into North Norway, arriving in Tromsø 24th of May. He immediately demanded to see Prime Minister Nygaardsvold, who more or less apologised for the government’s precipitous action over the coal company. Johan also had an argument with representatives of the Bank of Norway, when he asked for credit to pay his coal miners. He soon felt there was no point in talking any more with administrators in Tromsø, so he rang "Trangen", the country cabin where King Haakon, Crown Prince Olav and adjutants were residing, and was immediately asked to come over by boat. There was a happy reunion, and tales to be told. Johan wanted the King to keep his distance from the Nygaardsvold government, because he maintained nobody had confidence in it anymore. And King Haakon asked: who, then, could form a government? And Johan said "I could do it"! In his report, written upon his return to Vollen, Johan adds "I was moderately happy to either live or die, so that I did not care a damn!" (Jeg var nemlig akkurat så passelig glad med å leve eller dø, så jeg kunne gi fanden i meg selv).

He then returned to Tromsø, where he met coal miners who had not received wages, and he arranged for them to be paid from another bank. He had still not heard from the Bank of Norway about his loan, and to his consternation discovered that the Minister of Supply wished to uphold the decision to nationalise the coal company! Enraged as he was with the Nygaardsvold government, Johan tried to persuade King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav that they should stay up in the North of Norway and let the government sail its own sea, rather than go into exile with them. He visited the King and Crown Prince again on 1st June; they had just heard the fateful news that, in spite of the improved military situation after the recent defeat of the Germans in a battle at Narvik, so that holding the North could have been a real possibility, Winston Churchill had decided to withdraw all allied troops from Norway, in view of the catastrophic situation on the western front – Belgium had now fallen, and France was crumbling.

Churchill’s decision put paid to any hope of realising the Mowinckel plan, to which some members of the Norwegian government had been clinging. This idea was to create a buffer zone at Narvik between the Norwegian/allied troops and the Germans, manning the demarcation line with neutral Swedish troops. The next stage would have been an armistice, allowing the extreme north, Troms and Finnmark, to remain a free Norwegian kingdom. Whether Hitler was interested in such solution was, of course, another matter.

Even upon hearing this bad news, Johan’s conviction was that King Haakon, or at least Crown Prince Olav, should stay, because he maintained that the royal presence would hamper the German occupiers. Although in their hearts King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav might have felt the same, that they should stick it out with their people come what may, when they consulted their government, the answer was that under no circumstances should the King or Crown Prince offer themselves as hostages. Neither did the constitution permit such a course. Even then, after Anker visited them yet again on 4th June and used his powers of persuasion, the King had doubts and wrote a private letter to the British minister, Cecil Dormer, who was in Tromsø, suggesting that the correct course might be for him to stay; King Haakon asked Johan Anker to deliver the letter in person. Dormer and Anker did not hit it off – there was absolutely no empathy. The final attempt made by Johan was to try and convince C.J. Hambro, the President of the Storting, who had now arrived in Tromsø from Sweden. Again his arguments fell on deaf ears. While Johan urged that the consequences of an ultimate German victory should be discussed, Hambro was convinced that Britain would win in the end. He therefore presented the King with a memorandum to the effect that the King must abide by the wishes of his government. This put a stop to any further independent action by the Norwegian King.

Meanwhile, the Norwegian King’s letter, via Dormer, had reached London. Lord Halifax and Winston Churchill both sent immediate replies killing the contemplated royal heroics. They wanted King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav out of the clutches of the Germans; another important consideration was that the allies especially needed the Norwegian merchant fleet out of German control – a government in exile could achieve this. The final confirmation of this decision that the King and his government should go into exile, was passed in council by the Norwegian government not long afterwards.

The last evening, before King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav were to embark on HMS Devonshire that night, 7th June, they came over to dine in Johan’s rented house in Tromsø. Anker had got hold of two bottles of champagne – it was an evening full of nostalgia. The King thanked Johan for his company in the difficult days they had just been through and for being so frank with his advice. And then Johan made his farewell speech to his beloved friend and King – he said that it was the end of an epoch, that the King had done his duty and had been the best monarch Norway had ever had. King Haakon wondered if they would ever meet again – Johan joked "no doubt on a South Sea island"! They drove together down to the quay. Johan Anker, in 1905 a convinced Republican, was now the only civilian representative in company with the military, General Ruge, to say farewell as the King and Crown Prince boarded the launch to take them out to the waiting British destroyer.

Johan Anker left Tromsø, which was in chaos and waiting for the Germans to march in. He travelled south on the coastal express boat and spent the rest of his last summer at Lillehaugen. He was visited there by various prominent men of the hour, who wished to know exactly what had happened up at Tromsø; they were trying, no doubt, to reach a modus vivendi with the German occupiers. Johan managed to cross the boarder to Stockholm one more time, together with Nini, and evidently tried to persuade Crown Princess Märtha to return to Norway – this really does seem rather a crazy idea – but plans had already been made for her and the royal children to make their way from Petsamo (in North-Finland) to the United States, on an American ship; the USA was , of course, still neutral at this time.

Johan was no doubt heartbroken at the failure of all his attempts to "save" the Norwegian Royal Family – according to own patriotic convictions. In his defence we must remember that the governmental situation in the Norwegian capital during the months of June, July and August was extremely volatile. There were enough Judases willing to ditch an absent King, and the Germans played on this.

In the late summer Johan’s health suddenly broke down, and he died at the Red Cross Hospital on the 2nd of October 1940. At the last, he was at peace with himself and told his friends that he had done his bit and life had no more to offer – he had lived life to the full. In the funeral oration, he was described as a true Norwegian patriot, a free spirit who would not compromise with his ideas of doing what was right. In spite of the first dark autumn of the occupation, a large audience of KNS members managed to gather together at the end of October to hear the obituary speech on his sailing achievements delivered by Halfdan Hansen; this was subsequently published in SEILAS. Johan Anker was buried with his coffin covered with the KNS flag and a guard of honour formed by members of KNS.

Nini survived him only 18 months, dying in the spring of 1942. She had stayed on at Lillehaugen, in spite of the domestic economic crisis brewing in the winter of 1939 - 40. She was able to write her last novel, and the happy memories of her life with Johan inspired her to write several poems.

EPILOGUE
In 1971, to mark the centenary of Johan Anker’s birth, his son Erik unveiled a monument, set up by KNS through voluntary subscription, at Garnholmen, a landmark just before entering the Hankø sound. In 1982 the Johan Anker Fund was established at the Norwegian Maritime Museum to bring together and catalogue as many of his original boat designs as possible.

At the end of the 1960s, Lillehaugen was purchased by Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse and has since become a course-centre. The bank has most kindly defrayed the production costs of this article.

So ends my story. The vast canvas of his life has been presented in these relatively few pages for the first time in English. I only hope that one day Norwegian historians or researchers will delve deeply into the many aspects of Johan Anker’s life and honour him with a fully fledged biography.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Sophie Berner did a brilliant job deciphering and word processing my scribble. I am deeply indebted to her for all her hard work – thank goodness Sophie studied at Oxford.