Krags and Polar Bears

[butlersrangers]

'BMF' posted some neat Norwegian photographs on Gunboards.
The pics show Norwegian hunters with Krags bagging Polar Bears.

"The 6.5mm got him".

"Ya, but we need a bigger boat".

[Culpeper]

And that is why the polar bear went extinct. Wait. It was global warming. No, no. Global cooling. CLIMATE CHANGE!

What? You say they are not extinct? But. But. But Greta said if we got rid of the polar bears everything would be lollipops and cotton candy for humans.

The 6.5 is a great cartridge. Too bad I don't have any rifles for it. Yet.

[butlersrangers]

You can always buy a Swedish Maus .... erh ... ooo ... blasphemy!

[waterman]

Back in 1974, I met an tiny old woman who told me a tale about Krags and Polar Bears. In 1916, she had just graduated from Columbia University, in Manhattan, with a degree in Applied Arts. She was a professional photographer. On her 20th birthday (1916), she married Ken, a geologist employed by a Norwegian coal mining company. Ken took his wife to Spitsbergen, stopping in Tromso, Norway, where he bought her one of the Krag Boys Carbines and a case of ammunition, all 160 grain soft point loads. From gunshop to the rifle range, where Martha learned to shoot and to clean her carbine. On Spitsbergen (now Svalbard), the bears were everywhere. They had already killed 2 coal miners.

Martha continued her photography, but always with her carbine at the ready, 5 in the magazine and 1 in the chamber, safety on (?) and always with 2 men (also with Krags) standing guard. One day, Martha had to relieve herself. She went behind some rocks for privacy, always with her Krag in one hand. When her trousers were around her ankles, a bear appeared, just a few feet away. Never mind trousers. She stood and shot the bear, hit it in the shoulder. Probably broke the shoulder. #2 it in the head, maybe between the eyes, but the bullet just cut a groove along the skull. The bear stood. 3 shots in the chest. One hit a lung, another the bear's heart. When the bear was right on top of her, she stuck the carbine in the bear's mouth and fired shot #6. #6 went through the roof of the bear's mouth and then through it's brain. The bear fell dead at her feet. It was still falling when her guards arrived. Time elapsed, maybe 12 seconds.

In October, 1917, Martha was in Norway, still had her Krag, but she was with several other women. They were captured by the Bolsheviks, who stole the Krag. Martha heard a rumor that they were about to be rescued by the French Foreign Legion. "Figured I'd be better off with the Bolsheviks. They were decent men, just wanted to be paid fairly." The women were later turned over to the Norwegian Marines. No shots fired. She didn't get her Krag back.

[butlersrangers]

Great stories, Waterman! Martha sounds like Wonder Woman!

[scottz63]

Absolutely a great story. Thanks!

[Bernt]

Yes, good story, BUT, bolsjeviks and French foreign legion in Norway?????????????

[waterman]

Yes, good story, BUT, bolsjeviks and French foreign legion in Norway?????????????

Bolsheviks were only successful in Russia, but there were militant groups elsewhere. That's what ultimately led to Finland's independence. The cause was popular among Norwegian coal miners, to the point of an actual rising but no shooting. Probably a harder sell in Ireland, because of the Catholic Church, but the IRA was fighting with the Brits and the Bolsheviks were stirring the pot.

The 1914-1918 war was in full swing. War industries needed coal. In the Arctic, the Norwegian coal companies were doing well, but the miners didn't share in the prosperity. The Bolsheviks had a receptive audience, already armed because of the polar bears.

Here's Martha's self-portrait on her 21st birthday, taken in their cabin on Spitsbergen. The man is her husband Ken. She had already killed the polar bear.
Martha told me about setting up this photo, used a light meter to take readings in the corners, made sure the tripod was stable, set the focus and shutter speed, pushed the timer, ran around the tripod, picked up her sewing and plopped her butt in the chair "so she'd look like a proper housewife." Ken looks like the cat who just ate the canary.

[waterman]

The original photo is much clearer than this. It had to be reduced too much to post it here.

Martha knew a lot about cartridges. Even when she was 90, she could recognize any that were used in the Arctic during her time. In the Arctic, money had no value because there was nothing to buy. But cartridges were useful, so they became the medium of exchange. So she learned about them. "No more complicated than learning about English coinage," she said.

Military cartridges were not valued highly, because the bullets went clean through an animal and didn't kill efficiently. Only proper loads, with soft points, were wanted. In Norway and Sweden, 6.5x55 was the coin of the realm. East of there, 7.62x54R. In Greenland, you had to be careful, because the Danish were careful about who had guns, even if the natives all had illegal ones.
In the Canadian arctic, .44-40s were used as money. 1 cartridge for a big fish, 2 for enough fish for a big family meal. Five .44-40s = 1 seal. An average sized polar bear was worth 2 boxes of .44-40s, or 100 cartridges. A really big male polar bear was worth a lot more.

Of the British big game cartridges, only one had any value. The British sporting rifles were too expensive and too delicate for the Arctic. But the ".256 Gibbs", the British caliber of choice for the Arctic, was really just another 6.5x55.

[Bernt]

There was actually an uprising among mining workers in Norway in 1917. Not an armed one though and prpably not bolscheviks either. It was in Sulitjelma in Northern Norway. The most famous uprising here were in 1907. It's just been released a film about it. The mining company payd lousy wages, and the work was hard. The company owned all the houses, the only store etc.. So the workers were realy exploited. Agitation and organization were totally banned. A Swedish woman, the agitator Kata Dalstrøm visited the mines a few years before the uprising and described the place as "Lapplands hell" in a series of articles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5tYE-ZxcKo