Shipping provided people with a unique opportunity to travel and see large parts of the world. Norwegian ships transported goods between continents, and when the ships docked to load and unload, it was possible to explore the port cities. Most seafarers were young men. On a cargo ship, there might be around 40-50 employees, while there could be several hundred on a passenger ship. 

On the ship, there was a close-knit environment where the boundaries between work and leisure, and between workplace and home, were broken down. In this tight male community - with little room for privacy - it was important to adapt to your shipmates, to blend in and find your place. Being queer in such an environment could pose many challenges and much resistance, but it could also provide opportunities.

The exhibition Queer at Sea is based on interviews with informants - seafarers - who sailed on Norwegian cargo and passenger ships between 1950 and 1980. 11 men, one woman, and one trans woman have shared their experiences with us. Some are queer, others are heterosexual. They talk about the ship as a home, the male community, silence and taboos related to sexuality, opposition, and opportunities.

How do you create an exhibition about queerness at sea? Normally, museums display objects, but this time we had to do it differently. The exhibition's main focus is on film and audio interviews where the seafarers tell their stories. In four zones - 1. A male dominated environment, 2. the ship as a home, 3. Opposition, and 4. Possibilities - we get glimpses of life on board through scenery, sound recordings, film clips, quotes, and short texts.

We recommend that you take your time in the exhibition and relax. Then it is very likely that you will leave Queer at Sea with new knowledge and insight!

Ever wondered why Norway is called a maritime nation? Bergen Maritime Museum tells the story of Norwegian seafaring through thousands of years and about Bergen - the maritime city that has always had its eyes on the world.

Let yourself be inspired by our extensive collection of everyday objects, ship models, ship paintings, and maritime archaeological findings. Each item has its own exciting story, but they also contribute to a larger narrative about international trade, technology, seafaring life, war, and migration. The Maritime Museum encompasses all of this and more.

The permanent exhibition covers topics such as the Viking Age, the lives and work of sailors, shipbuilding, training ships, utility boats along the West Coast, steamships, passenger transport, World War, dangers and rescue operations, and today's merchant fleet.

This part of the exhibition deals with Norwegian and particularly western Norwegian maritime history from ancient times until the middle ages. From this period we know of many ship findings in Norway. At the museum you can see several original ship findings and models, including from the Halsnøy boat dated from the period 390-535 AD, the Kvalsund ship from the eighth century AD, in addition to models of the well-known Viking era-findings (800-1050), Oseberg and Gokstad.

The nineteenth century is commonly referred to as the golden age of sailing vessels. This is one of the best represented periods in the museums collections. The golden age of sailing vessels, during the nineteenth century, is one of the best represented periods in the museum’s collections. Apart from models and pictures of the most common ship types, this part of the exhibition sheds light on sailors daily lives at sea. For many young Norwegians, embarking on a seafaring career was an obvious choice. Rope work, ship in a bottle, drawing and painting were common activities among sailors during this period. The museum has a number of such items displayed in the exhibition.

When the training ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl celebrated its 90^th anniversary in 2004, the museum renewed and extended its collections on training ships with a range of new material from “Statsraaden”, as the vessel is well-known among locals in Bergen. A new temporary exhibition was opened in connection with the vessel’s 100^th anniversary in 2014. The Statsraad Lehmkuhl was transferred to Bergen in 1923, and was for many years a welcome education facility for youth seeking a career at sea. Today the Statsraad Lehmkuhl is preservation-worthy, and is in use virtually all-year round. A deck house from «Statsraaden» has been exhibited at the museum since 1999, and in front of it a section of the ship’s deck has been reconstructed with a boom, sail and shroud. The exhibition also includes a dinghy from the «Statsraaden», exhibited between davits from the vessel.

Small boats and freighters used along the coast and into the fjords, on lakes and rivers, are called inshore craft. These originate from the period prior to the Viking Age. The museum has a considerable collection of such boat models from western and northern Norway. In addition, the collections include several full-size boats.

Wooden shipbuilding in the Bergen area has long traditions. However, it was not until 1784 that the first permanent wooden shipyard was established. More wooden shipyards followed and their importance peaked during the period 1850-1880. The exhibition includes tools from these shipyards, part of an original capstan and a model that shows careenage at the Nyhavn shipyard at Sandviken.

The paddle steamer SS Constitutionen was Norway’s first steamer in 1826, but it took considerable time before Norway had a steamship fleet of any significance. Bergen was in the forefront in the transition from sail to steam in Norway. The Bergen Steamship Company was established in 1851 as Norway’s first privately owned steamship company and started a route from Bergen to Hamburg with the paddle steamer SS Bergen. In 1883, Bergen’s steamship fleet exceeded its fleet of sailing vessels. Not until the early 20th century did the shift from a sail-dominant fleet to steam power take place for Norway’s merchant fleet as a Whole.

Apart from models of the SS Constitutionen and the SS Bergen, this part of the exhibition includes models of several other ships from the early steamship era in Norway. This includes steamers that were used in the fruit trade in Central America where Bergen steamers were prominent and the SS Kong Sverre which belonged to Norway’s first transatlantic steamship line (the Norwegian-American Steamship Company during the 1870s). Included in the exhibition is also a model of the U.S. paddle steamer SS Savannah which, in 1819, was the first steamer to cross the Atlantic.

The museum has a small section set aside to shipbuilding and mechanical engineering. Ships of metal have been built in Bergen since 1857, and Bergens Mekaniske Verksteder (BMV) was Bergen’s most important iron shipbuilders. Apart from models of Bergen-built ships and steam engines displayed throughout the exhibition, this part of the exhibition includes a model of a 26,000-ton (deadweight) ship under construction in sections. This was a building method introduced in great scale during World War II and which has continued ever since. The exhibitions also include a dominant model of an engine room from a freighter of around 8000 deadweight tons. An impression of the true size of such an engine can be made by a cylinder of a cutaway diesel engine from the M/S Hallanger (built in 1927).

For many Norwegian senior citizens, coastal and fjord steamers and their ports of call represent a nostalgic re-encounter with their childhood and youth. This part of the exhibition tells the story how steamers played a key role in the development of Norwegian society during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but also provides insight into life on board these steamers, the significance of the postal service, dangers at sea in addition to the local ferry services in Bergen. Well-known services such as Kystruten, Nattruten and Hurtigruten have more than a hundred-year history with the transport of passengers and freight. Today, only Hurtigruten remains in service.

Norwegian liner and tanker traffic prospered during the interwar years. Bergen had a key role in overseas liner traffic during the years leading up to World War II, but trailed behind other Norwegian ports when it came to tanker traffic. Yet, in 1939, Bergen had the largest Norwegian shipping company that specialised in tanker traffic, namely Westfal-Larsen & Co. A/S. As tanker traffic in its traditional form disappeared during the immediate post-war years, Bergen developed into a leading Norwegian port in the view of the shipment of crude oil and chemicals. The exhibitions include a wide range of models of ships from Bergen’s tanker and liner traffic.

At the beginning of both World War I and II, Norway had among the largest merchant fleets in the world. Several thousand Norwegian merchant sailors lost their lives at sea during both wars. During World War II Norway contributed greatly to the Allied war effort through the “Norwegian Shipping and Trade Mission” (NORTRASHIP) with almost 1,000 Norwegian vessels and 30,000 sailors. According to contemporary Allied propaganda, 40 per cent of British oil imports were at times shipped by Norwegian tankers.

The Norwegian oil age started in earnest with the discovery of the Ekofisk field in 1969. The finding generated increasing interest among Norwegian shipping companies to invest in the oil business. A number of supply vessels were commissioned and eventually also drilling platforms. This part of the exhibition includes a model of Odfjell Drilling’s drilling platform Deep Sea Bergen (built in 1983).