Varden sjøredningsmuseum

Museum at Ogna about the rescue stations along the Jæren coast, with the rescue boat “Trygg” and equipment for lifelines and rockets.

Opening hours unknown

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About the museum

The Jæren coast is exposed to bad weather, and many ships have been lost in the breakers off Jæren. Until the mid-1800s there was no rescue equipment. After the wreck of the schooner brig “Magdalene Christine” at Brusanden in 1852, work was done to procure equipment, and the first rescue stations were established in 1854, including at Refve, Obrestad, Husveg and Kvalbein.

In 1891 Norsk Selskap til Skipsbrudnes Redning (NSSR) (Norwegian Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked Persons) was founded, and in 1933 the society took over all the stations. Over time the stations became redundant, and by 1977 all except Reve had been closed. Equipment from the stations was preserved in the museum in Varden, which opened the same year.

The museum houses the rescue boat “Trygg”, a flat-bottomed surf boat built to Danish drawings. Here there is also complete equipment from the rescue stations, including firing equipment for lifelines and rockets, a launching trough, a cannon, a rifle, rope gear and a transport cart, as well as name boards and photographs of ships that were wrecked along the Jæren coast. The museum is a department of Jærmuseet.

Highlights

The rescue boat “Trygg”, a flat-bottomed surf boat
Complete equipment from the rescue stations on Jæren
Collection of photographs of wrecked ships
Bauta (memorial stone) to consul Tønnes Houge Puntervold and the sculpture “Brenning”