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In a snow storm in the middle of December 1898 the Finnish sailing ship "Aimo" failed in a tacking maneuver
and sailed straight into the archipelago outside Nämdö and stranded on the skerries "Vitkobbarna".
With the two ship's boats, the whole crew got safely to the nearby island of Rågskär.
Eighteen soaking wet men doing a surprise visit in the early evening at the crofter's cottage!
The ship could not be saved. It was sold and the wood was used for building houses. Later the left-overs of the ship was used as an artillery target by the Swedish navy. Tacking, a maneuver by which a sailing boat turns its bow through the wind (Wikipedia) |
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At Långholmen, an island close to Runmarö (North of Nämdö), tradition says that part of a peer and part of a barn came from the Aimo ship.
The "slice" above has been ground to allow for a dendrochronological analysis. Several radii have been measured (Aimo.rwl) and a mean value of that was analysed. Litteratur:
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The analysis was done with a collection of 37 members, each representing a mean value curve (in .d12 or .wid format) from an area in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia and Finland.
The presumed Aimo sample was selected as the reference in CDendro and the command Test Towards reference was run from the collection.
The best matching results list like this: |
T- Over Corr Test lap Year all... 0.31 3.51 121 302 based on 37 members 3EP281AV 0.50 6.24 121 1792 Estonia Est002 (EXTRATERR) BratPIr 0.43 4.92 107 1792 Mälardalen (Bråthen), questionable segments removed NKarelia 0.37 4.29 121 1690 North Karelia, Finland se_005Go 0.35 4.10 121 1792 Gotland, Lunds univ. (EXTRATERR) EXFin002 0.35 4.06 121 1769 Fin002 N.Finland (EXTRATERR) gud14 0.49 4.00 54 2017 Gudbrandsdalen, Norway SE006-La 0.34 3.98 121 1769 Lappland, Lund (EXTRATERR) East Sve 0.34 3.91 121 1792 East Svealand Aneby+Askersu+Bettna+Sissham+Saltsjöba NFinland 0.34 3.91 121 1769 Northern Finland swed304S 0.33 3.88 121 1792 Tyresö, Sisshammar (SE Stockholm 5913 1821) Andreason PISY 1661-1910 ............ Year numbers occurring more than once: 1792 11 1769 3 1824 2 1913 2 1921 2 2010 2
| With the presumed Aimo sample provisionally dated to 1792 the matching of each member to that year could be analysed. With then only the best eigth members selected, I got: ... with corr >= 0.30 and with overlap >= 107 Results sorted according to decreasing correlation coefficient values. |
T- Over Corr Test lap all... 0.45 5.47 121 based on 8 members 3EP281AV 0.50 6.23 121 Estonia Est002 (EXTRATERR) (1516-1998) BratPIr 0.43 4.91 107 Mälardalen (Bråthen), questionable segments removed (1153-1904) se_005Go 0.35 4.10 121 Gotland, Lunds univ. (EXTRATERR) (1125-1987) East Sve 0.34 3.90 121 East Svealand Aneby+Askersu+Bettna+Sissham+Saltsjöba (1662-2005) swed304S 0.33 3.88 121 Tyresö, Sisshammar (SE Stockholm 5913 1821) Andreason PISY 1661-1910 (1661-1910) SödraDal 0.32 3.63 121 SDalar 1 Södra Dalarna PISY (1362-2005) DALARNA 0.30 3.49 121 Dalarna, Lunds universitet (EXTRATERR) (932-1888) NMVKMEAS 0.30 3.44 120 Kaptensudden, unknown origin in Stockholm area (1672-1870)
| I.e. the best T-value is 6.2 towards the reference from Estonia at year 1792. That is a quite certain dating of the outermost ring of the stock. |
| The "Aimo" was built in Åbo and launched in 1866. If this stock is a part from "Aimo" - which we have good reasons to presume - some 70 rings of sapwood have been cut away as the outermost ring in this "slice" grew in 1792. |
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A friend of mine came recently with a slice from their firewood cellar, at Baggensgatan in the Old Town of Stockholm, and asked if I could date it.
Anyhow the thin ring widths indicated that the wood was not too young.
Later, I found that the 60 innermost rings had a mean width of 2 mm, the outermost 152 rings had a mean width of 0.7 mm! Where can I buy that quality of wood today? I've measured three radii from the "slice", available here as a .rwl file. When Tested Towards References like for the Aimo stock, the best matching result looks like: |
T- Over Corr Test lap Year all... 0.31 4.79 212 1619 based on 37 members BratPIr 0.56 6.79 101 1619 Mälardalen (Bråthen), questionable segments removed SödraDal 0.38 5.99 212 1619 SDalar 1 Södra Dalarna PISY Gagnef-s 0.36 5.66 212 1619 Gagnef-Djura DALARNA 0.33 5.09 212 1619 Dalarna, Lunds universitet (EXTRATERR) 9M45678 0.31 4.65 212 1353 Denmark (WestDK) Old version swed304S 0.34 4.53 164 1958 Tyresö, Sisshammar (SE Stockholm 5913 1821) Andreason PISY 1661-1910 Saltsjob 0.29 4.37 212 1958 Saltsjöbaden ..... Year numbers occurring more than once: 1619 7 1958 5 1755 2 _ With the reference dated to 1958, there was no better match than corr-coeff = 0.34 So 1619 might be a good candidate! With the reference dated to 1619, the best matches were: T- Over Corr Test lap all... 0.42 6.63 212 based on 5 members BratPIr 0.56 6.79 101 Mälardalen (Bråthen), questionable segments removed (1153-1904) SödraDal 0.38 5.99 212 SDalar 1 Södra Dalarna PISY (1362-2005) Gagnef-s 0.36 5.66 212 Gagnef-Djura (1362-1831) DALARNA 0.33 5.09 212 Dalarna, Lunds universitet (EXTRATERR) (932-1888) SWED305B 0.31 4.14 169 Björbo, Dalarna (1451-2002)
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I.e. that tree actually grew between 1407 and 1619 (we can be very certain about that number!), though there may be some sapwood cut away, so the tree was cut some years after 1619.
I.e. it is of the same time as the old Wasa ship!
We do not know from which house the wood originates, as old wood is often placed in containers when houses are repaired - and from there that wood is sometimes saved by people with a need of firewood. |
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In 1719 Russian troops burnt down towns, houses and forests along the Swedish Baltic coast. Few houses were left.
Today, old houses of this region are almost never from the time before 1719. At Dalarö was a fortification - Dalarö Skans, today a museum - which the Russians did not approach.
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I got the slice above from Jesper Steen. It was cut when the house at Jutholmen was rebuilt and the slice had been laying for some years.
I measured seven radii of various length from the slice. The measurements are available here as JH001.rwl The size of the slice is 5 * 11 inches. |
T- Over Corr Test lap Year all... 0.30 3.82 150 1725 based on 37 members se_005Go 0.39 5.14 150 1725 Gotland, Lunds univ. (EXTRATERR) SWED302N 0.39 4.97 143 1725 Nämdö, Stockholm archipelago 3EP281AV 0.33 4.28 150 1725 Estonia Est002 (EXTRATERR) _ Bettna_M 0.31 3.98 150 1984 Bettna, Eastern middle-Sweden, west of Stockholm SE006-La 0.30 3.84 150 643 Lappland, Lund (EXTRATERR) EXFin002 0.30 3.82 150 1787 Fin002 N.Finland (EXTRATERR) ..... Year numbers occurring more than once: 1725 4 1611 3 1984 3 1946 2 With the reference dated to 1725: T- Over Corr Test lap all... 0.30 3.82 150 based on 37 members se_005Go 0.39 5.14 150 Gotland, Lunds univ. (EXTRATERR) (1125-1987) SWED302N 0.39 4.97 143 Nämdö, Stockholm archipelago (1583-1995) 3EP281AV 0.33 4.28 150 Estonia Est002 (EXTRATERR) (1516-1998) gud14 0.28 1.77 38 Gudbrandsdalen, Norway (1687-1950) NKarelia 0.24 3.04 150 North Karelia, Finland (1472-2001) Bettna_M 0.24 1.58 42 Bettna, Eastern middle-Sweden, west of Stockholm (1683-1997) Gagnef-s 0.23 2.93 150 Gagnef-Djura (1362-1831) FINL2_4_ 0.23 2.82 150 SouthEast Finland (536-2002) East Sve 0.22 1.80 64 East Svealand Aneby+Askersu+Bettna+Sissham+Saltsjöba (1662-2005) DALARNA 0.21 2.61 150 Dalarna, Lunds universitet (EXTRATERR) (932-1888) BratPIr 0.19 1.51 62 Mälardalen (Bråthen), questionable segments removed (1153-1904) SödraDal 0.19 2.36 150 SDalar 1 Södra Dalarna _ With only the three best matching members: T- Over Corr Test lap all... 0.43 5.74 150 based on 3 members se_005Go 0.39 5.14 150 Gotland, Lunds univ. (EXTRATERR) (1125-1987) SWED302N 0.39 4.97 143 Nämdö, Stockholm archipelago (1583-1995) 3EP281AV 0.33 4.28 150 Estonia Est002 (EXTRATERR) (1516-1998)
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I.e. the sample matches best (and with quite sufficient probability) to the year 1725 towards references from the nearby island of Nämdö and from Gotland - quite distant.
Probably the tree has grown neither on Nämdö nor on Gotland. Currently we do not have more references that might reveal from where the tree came. There are probably a few outermost year rings which were cut away when the house was built. It is reasonable to state that the tree was cut sometime in the interval 1725-1750.
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At Långholmen close to Runmarö is an old "fisherman's croft" with an old barn. A thick plank in the barn wall draw the owner's attention: Where did it come from?
It was heavily infested by the house longhorn beetle, so only chance to measure it was to cut off a slice from the plank. With a sufficiently large ground surface
there could be a chance to find a measurement path between the windling grub tunnels.
I have measured three radii from that plank. The .rwl file is available as WBERG.rwl. |
T- Over Corr Test lap Year all... 0.36 5.35 193 1736 based on 37 members swed023_ 0.54 8.96 193 1736 940 1 Jamtland, historisch proj EXTRAT. - no PCAB NFinland 0.46 7.21 193 1736 Northern Finland EXFin002 0.46 7.19 193 1736 Fin002 N.Finland (EXTRATERR) SE006-La 0.42 6.48 193 1736 Lappland, Lund (EXTRATERR) NKarelia 0.42 6.44 193 1736 North Karelia, Finland _ FINL2_4_ 0.34 4.96 193 1866 SouthEast Finland SödraDal 0.33 4.85 193 1736 Södra Dalarna, Axelson, Israels. PISY DALARNA 0.31 4.45 193 1736 Dalarna, Lunds universitet (EXTRATERR) ... Year numbers occurring more than once: 1736 9 1896 3 1860 2 With the reference (the plank) then dated to 1736 and with only the five best matches of the collection: T- Over Corr Test lap all... 0.57 9.47 193 based on 5 members swed023_ 0.54 8.96 193 Jamtland, historisch proj EXTRAT. - no PCAB (1107-1827) NFinland 0.46 7.21 193 Northern Finland (1410-2001) EXFin002 0.46 7.19 193 Fin002 N.Finland (EXTRATERR) (6-1993) SE006-La 0.42 6.48 193 Lappland, Lund (EXTRATERR) (-309-1993) NKarelia 0.42 6.44 193 North Karelia, Finland (1472-2001)
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With that high T-values the dating to 1736 can be considered correct and the origin of the tree is somewhere along the coasts of the the Gulf of Bothnia (North of the real Baltic).
With at least 14 unmeasured outer rings, the felling year of the tree shifts from 1736 to 1750, though we do not know how much sapwood that has been cut away! Anyhow it seems that grandpa actually used some flotsam timber that "blessed the coast" to build the barn! Perhaps that type of planks which were used to cover the openings to the hold (the cargo space) of a ship. Note: "Flotsam and jetsam"?, see Wikipedia on "flotsam" |