Grøtøy and Manshausen
Grøtøy old trading post was established in 1698, but people have lived here and used these protected waters and rich fishing grounds since time immemorial. In its heyday this was the largest trading post in Nordland.
Strategically placed to command the Grøtøya strait, Manshausen was an integral part of the trading post’s operations. Every year, up to a thousand fishermen would gather at Grøtøy and Manshausen for Lofoten’s lucrative winter cod fishing. It was on Grøtøya that the first bank and post office in the Steigen region was established.
Manshausen seen from Grøtøy
The main reason for establishing the trading post was the location. Manshausen is one of the last sheltered harbours before sailors enter the notoriously stormy Vestfjord. Despite its name, this is an open stretch of sea and not a sheltered fjord. Fishermen from the south lay here in wait for good weather before sailing over to the fishing grounds. It was here they bought their equipment and sold their catch. Manshausen was all about fishing, processing and transport of fish, and this was the basis for hundreds of years of continuous operation for Grøtøya as trading post.
This photo shows the main building of the trading post on the left, and the large Manshausen wharf in the background on the right.
Bustling life on Nordskot
Thanks to its protected harbour, the 14-acre island Manshausen was used as a storage and export port for fish. In the late 1800s, substantial resources were used building stone quays and houses on Manshausen. Workers dried and salted fish for further transport to the continent. The main house, which still stands today, was called “bødtkerboligen” because it was where the cooper (barrel maker) lived. This is now the oldest surviving building on Manshausen.
This photo is from Nordskot, the village on the mainland where many of the workers lived.
Manshausen Wharf
Nordland’s biggest wooden building, Manshausen Wharf, was erected where three of our Sea Cabins are now. With its three floors and numerous hoists, this 80-metre-long building was an impressive sight.
The red boathouse, which is now a workshop, and the main house are the oldest preserved buildings on Manshausen. Both date from the latter half of the 1800s.
The name Manshausen is probably a variant of the word “mannshaue” (man’s head). Possibly there was once a rock formation on the island that resembled a human head, and that it was cut up to make the stone blocks needed to build the large stone quay.
Bankruptcy and new owners
The photo on the right shows a time when you were just as likely to see women in fancy dresses with parasols on Grøtøya as in Paris!
However, in the early 1900s, things changed. The system of royal privileges that prevented ordinary rural people from establishing shops and trading posts was eliminated. The era of the sailing ships also came to an end. Freighters became bigger and better, and ports like Grøtøya were too shallow for the largest vessels. Moreover, as fishing boats were equipped with engines, the fishermen were suddenly free to deliver their catch wherever they wanted. Competition intensified and in 1924, Grøtøya trading post went bankrupt.
Since the bankruptcy Manshausen has had several owners. Until the late 1970s there remained fish processing and a small shop for building materials on Manshausen. Then the island was used as a private residence and resort, until Børge Ousland purchased it in 2010.