One Ocean Expedition 2025-2026 

A 12-month global voyage with the Norwegian tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl - a floating ambassador for the UN Ocean Decade. Combining sail training, ocean science, education and diplomacy to inspire action for a sustainable ocean. 

2025 - 2026

One Ocean Expedition

Statsraad Lehmkuhl arrived in Dublin, Ireland April 5. The plan was to stay until April 11, but a powerful low-pressure system north of the British Isles has delayed the departure.
Next, and last port is hometown Bergen, Norway, arriving April 18. 

Over the course of a year, the expedition has visited ports across three continents. Several legs have been open to the public - no sailing experience needed. Join us in welcoming Statsraad Lehmkuhl home to Bergen on April 18 at 11:00.

Sailing route

Docked in the port of Dublin

Follow our journey

There is an old saying among sailors - a captain has either already run aground, or will someday. On 16 July 1926, it was Gabriel Kielland's turn, on board Statsraad Lehmkuhl.

When Statsraad Lehmkuhl ran aground

“Statsraad Lehmkuhl” is painted in gold letters on the ship’s white hull. This is the story of Kristofer Lehmkuhl – the man it honours.

Statsraad Lehmkuhl, the man

Statsraad Lehmkuhl visits Dublin April 5 - 11, 2026

Dublin, Ireland

Latest news

Latest videos

Following the success of the One Ocean Expedition 2021–2023, Statsraad Lehmkuhl is once again setting sail on a 12-month circumnavigation to promote ocean sustainability. The voyage will include 27 ports of call across three continents, combining ocean science, education and international cooperation to raise awareness about the crucial role of the ocean for a sustainable future.

On The One Ocean Expedition, Statsraad Lehmkuhl is filled with students, researchers and voyage crew who all work together to sail the big ship and gather experience and knowledge about the ocean.

Life on board

Tromsø, Norway

Bergen, Norway - Lerwick, UK

Reykjavik, Iceland

Nice, France 

Ponta Delgada, the Azores (Portugal)

Nuuk, Greenland

St. John's, Canada

Bermuda

Los Angeles, USA

Bermuda - Panama Canal 

Vancouver, Canada

Seattle, USA

San Francisco, USA

San Diego, USA

Ensenada, Mexico

La Paz, Mexico

Herradura, Costa Rica

Cartagena, Colombia

Herradura, Costa Rica - Panama Canal

Norfolk, USA

Cádiz, Spain

Brest, France 

Bergen, Norway

The sailing ship Grossherzog Friedrich August was built in 1914 as a training vessel for the German merchant fleet. After the First World War she was taken over by the British as a war prize. In 1921 the ship was brought to Norway and put into service training Norwegian cadets two years later.

Many of her voyages were along the Norwegian coast. The weather can be unpredictable, but the sounds, islands, skerries and shoals have long been well known and carefully marked. Cairns served as navigation marks, and Norway’s first lighthouse, Lindesnes Lighthouse, was first lit in 1655.

The Norwegian Mapping Authority was established in 1773, and systematic surveying of the coast began in 1785. Reefs and shoals were charted on nautical charts, making ships less dependent on carrying a pilot on board than before.

On 16 July 1926, Statsraad Lehmkuhl was proceeding under power toward Fredrikstad in the outer Oslofjord. Near Asmaløy in the Hvaler archipelago there was a heavy jolt - the ship had struck Vidgrunnen shoal and run hard aground.

The shoal was well known, clearly marked on the chart and even indicated with a navigation pole. Statsraad Lehmkuhl was firmly stuck, but fortunately the hull remained intact. Only a minor leak developed in the provisions store.

To prevent a sailing ship from heeling too much when wind fills the sails and presses on the rig, ballast is carried low in the hull. In this case, 400 tons of cobblestones, the same kind used to pave city streets, were stowed in the ship’s bottom.

According to the official maritime inquiry, one hundred tons of this stone ballast were thrown overboard, and the freshwater tanks were pumped out. This lightened the vessel enough for a tug to refloat her at high tide. She was then towed to Fredrikstad and placed in dry dock at Fredrikstad Mechanical Workshop.

The incident was reported in the newspaper Fredrikstad Blad, which noted that only two weeks later the ship had been repaired and was on her way to Horten under full sail.

The grounding could have been a serious blemish on Captain Gabriel Kielland’s record, but the maritime inquiry concluded that neither he nor his crew were to blame.

The newspaper Bergens Aftenblad quoted the inquiry:

– The chart used for navigation shows the pole marked on the west side of Vidgrunnen, and it is clear that the pole in reality stands on the southeast side.

Chief Engineer Siri Reimers at the Norwegian Mapping Authority helped us examined the archives and confirmed that this was correct. The chart was corrected by hand on 24 July, immediately after the accident, and in the next edition the navigation pole was marked in its proper position.

The inquiry makes no mention of the cobblestones removed from Statsraad Lehmkuhl being loaded onto another vessel. They were therefore most likely dumped straight into the sea.

Fredrikstad Stenhuggeri was a major supplier of cobblestones in the 1920s, so the ballast on board Statsraad Lehmkuhl later became a mixture of original German Kopfstein and granite from Fredrikstad.

Between 1921 and 1924 new cobblestones were laid at Bryggen in Bergen, supplied from Fredrikstad - a small detail that, a century ago, tied Statsraad Lehmkuhl even more closely to the city.

One reassuring observation - if you sail the same course toward Fredrikstad as Statsraad Lehmkuhl did, you will see that Vidgrunnen is now marked with a light as well as a navigation pole.

Kristofer Lehmkuhl was born in Bergen in 1855, at a time when Norway was moving from a fishing and farming society into a modern industrial and maritime nation.

Bergen has a well protected harbour, only a few days’ sailing from major ports further south in Europe. In the mid-13th century the city became part of the German trading alliance known as the Hanseatic League. Stockfish from Northern Norway was shipped here, reloaded, and sent onward into Europe. The short distance to the continent can still be heard in the local dialect: Bergen Norwegian shares intonation, grammar, and many words with German and Dutch.

In the 1850s, Bergen had about 23,000 inhabitants. The city lay partly on a peninsula, with mountains surrounding it to the east and west, farmland to the south, and the sea to the north. A medieval fortress dominated the entrance to the harbour, and church towers rose above rooftops of mostly wooden houses. Unlike today, the hillsides were bare, kept open by grazing animals. But what really gave Bergen its special character were the large wooden warehouses, many built on stilts out into the water.

Today, Bergen has nearly 300,000 inhabitants and has grown far beyond its original boundaries. The city has expanded around the mountains and across former farmland and pastures. Several major fires, the last in 1916, destroyed much of the old wooden city. Sadly, most of the Bergen that existed in the 1850s is now gone.

A well-known exception is Bryggen, the row of long wooden buildings that served as offices and warehouses for the Hanseatic merchants. Bryggen is a protected site and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kristofer Lehmkuhl was named after his grandfather, Christopher Diedrich Lehmkuhl. Christopher came to Bergen from Bavaria around 1800 to trade in stockfish and herring. Kristofer’s father, Joachim, joined the family business, and later Kristofer did the same.

Many well-known Bergen families, such as Mowinckel, Krohn, and Mohn, also arrived from Germany during the 1800s. They brought spirit, new ideas, and capital - and they built strong business networks, often strengthened through marriage. Merchants, bankers, and shipowners became closely connected.

The Lehmkuhl family were no exception. In 1886, Kristofer Lehmkuhl married Magdalena Michelsen. She was the sister of shipowner and later prime minister Christian Michelsen, and the daughter of Jakob Michelsen, head of the Bergen Stock Exchange. Through family and business, Lehmkuhl quickly gained strong connections in Bergen’s commercial life.

Lehmkuhl became deeply involved in the Society for the Promotion of Norwegian Fisheries, at the time the most important association for Norway’s fishing industry. As its leader, he helped organise Norway’s participation in the World Exhibitions in Barcelona and Paris in 1888 and –89, and in Chicago in 1893.

These experiences inspired him to take the initiative for a major national exhibition in Bergen.

The exhibition was first planned in the city centre. The building known as Permanenten was constructed to house permanent exhibitions. Because of limited space, the main exhibition was moved to the public park Nygårdsparken. 

The National Exhibition opened on 16 May 1898, attended by Crown Prince Oscar and Bergen’s mayor, Christian Michelsen. The exhibition was a huge success. A large exhibition hall was built, along with a restaurant, pavilions, and other temporary buildings.

Electricity was a central theme of the exhibition, still something new in Bergen at the time. All the buildings were lit with electric light, and electric street lamps were installed outdoors. 

Several conferences were held in connection with the exhibition, including an international fisheries conference organised by Lehmkuhl. 

After the exhibition closed, all the buildings were demolished and the area again became a public park. New national exhibitions were later held in 1910 and 1928, this time in the city park near Permanenten.

Towards the end of the 1800s, Lehmkuhl entered politics. He represented the Conservative Party in Bergen’s city council, and served on the city’s executive committee, the body that runs the city’s day-to-day affairs. For a time he was deputy mayor while his brother-in-law Christian Michelsen was mayor.

In 1899, the city council debated where Bergen’s new hospital should be built. Doctors on the planning committee recommended three smaller hospitals in the city centre. Lehmkuhl disagreed. He believed the city would grow southwards and proposed building one large hospital on the fields of the farm Haukeland, where there would be room to expand. His proposal was accepted, and Haukeland Hospital opened in 1912.

In 1902, his father-in-law Jakob Michelsen died. As head of the Bergen Stock Exchange, he had been at the centre of Norwegian and international business life. Kristofer Lehmkuhl took over the position and served as stock exchange commissioner until 1912.

In 1903, Lehmkuhl was elected to the Norwegian Parliament. He became known for speaking clearly and directly. His brother-in-law Christian Michelsen led the negotiations that dissolved the union with Sweden in 1905, became prime minister - and appointed Lehmkuhl as Minister of Labour.

Lehmkuhl left the government in 1907 and did not seek re-election. The story goes that he did not enjoy life in Kristiania, as Oslo was then named, and wanted to return to his beloved Bergen.

Back home, the most important chapter of his later life began. In 1908, at the age of 53, he joined the board of the shipping company Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab (BDS). In 1912, he became managing director.

When Lehmkuhl joined BDS, the company transported passengers, mail, and cargo between Western Norway and Hamburg, Great Britain, and the Baltic Sea. Together with the shipping company Nordenfjeldske Dampskipsselskap in Trondheim, BDS operated the Hurtigruten route, which still runs along the Norwegian coast between Bergen and Kirkenes.

Lehmkuhl had big ambitions. He ordered new ships, strengthened cooperation with Nordenfjeldske, and established the Norwegian South America Line. New routes to Iceland and the Faroe Islands were also opened.

He cared deeply about how the company presented itself. BDS had a small office at Bradbenken by the harbour, while its main office was on Torgallmenningen in the city centre. Lehmkuhl felt this was too modest. In 1913, he had a large office building constructed at Bradbenken, designed to be the most impressive building seen by ships entering the harbour.

Sadly, the building was destroyed in 1944 when a German cargo ship exploded in the harbour during the Nazi occupation of Norway.

Lehmkuhl played a key role in establishing the Norwegian America Line in 1910. After Norway gained independence on June 7 1905, building national institutions was important. The shipping line became the first major combined governmental and private project, partly financed also by the large Norwegian immigrant population in the United States. Lehmkuhl wanted Bergen to become a main link between Norway and the United States, with BDS acting as the company’s Norwegian agent.

, sailed on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in 1913. The journey started in Kristiania, with stops in Kristiansand, Stavanger, and Bergen. From Bergen, the ship sailed to New York on 7 June, a date of great symbolic importance. On board were King Haakon, the entire government, members of parliament, and journalists.

 began regular service between Bergen and New York. This was a great honour for both the city and Lehmkuhl. BDS handled all mail, passengers, and cargo.

The following year the world changed dramatically.

The First World War broke out in 1914 and had a major impact on shipping in Europe. Before the war, BDS and Nordenfjeldske operated three to four weekly sailings between Bergen and Newcastle. Nordenfjeldske wanted to reduce services because of the danger from mines, but Lehmkuhl wanted the opposite – daily sailings.

Before the war, traffic between Russia, France, and Great Britain passed through Germany. The war cut Europe in two. With Germany and France at war, the fastest route between Britain and Russia now went through Scandinavia. Lehmkuhl wanted to move ships into the Bergen–Newcastle route to carry passengers and, especially, mail. He needed financial guarantees from the Norwegian government, and he obtained them.

Britain also became involved. Plans were made for a route from Petrograd through Stockholm and Gothenburg to the UK. Negotiations were scheduled in Petrograd in November 1914. Lehmkuhl learned of them through the Norwegian consul and travelled to Petrograd himself. He argued that Bergen was a better hub than Gothenburg. Despite Swedish opposition, he succeeded.

Bergen became the centre of a new international transport network.

The traffic created serious practical problems. Mailbags flooded the city, piling up along the quays and overwhelming the postal terminal. It was clear that Bergen lacked capacity. Still, Lehmkuhl wanted to carry on. He believed this traffic would continue after the war, as Russians would avoid travelling through Germany and prefer Scandinavian routes.

His vision ended with the Russian Revolution in 1917. When the Soviet Union was established, most transit traffic through Bergen stopped.

After the First World War, several German ships were handed over to the Allies as war reparations and later sold. In 1921, BDS bought one of them from the British – 

The British had also taken control of the three-masted barque 

. The ship had been launched just before the war and was built as a training ship for the German merchant fleet.

Several Norwegian cities already had training ships, Bergen too, the corvette 

 had room for only 65 students, and Lehmkuhl wanted a larger ship, bought 

, and brought it from Newcastle to Bergen in 1921.

The ship remained moored in Bergen for two years. But in 1923, Lehmkuhl succeeded in persuading the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, where he was a board member, to take over the vessel.

It set out on a trial voyage as a training ship with 200 cadets on board, and was subsequently donated to the Bergen Training Ship Institution as a replacement for the then 66-year-old 

The Bergen Shipowners’ Association wanted to name the new training ship after Lehmkuhl. Kristiania’s training ship, 

, was much smaller. Lehmkuhl was proud that Bergen would have a larger and more impressive vessel and accepted the honour.

 has been an important symbol of Bergen’s maritime identity. The ship has a permanent berth at Bradbenken, where BDS once had its headquarters.

After the First World War, passenger traffic changed. The United States introduced strict immigration laws in 1921 and 1924, reducing the need for large emigrant ships. Shipping companies had to find new uses for their vessels.

Cruising became increasingly popular during the 1920s. Many emigrant ships were converted into cruise ships, with new travel classes such as “cabin class” and “tourist class”.

 for cruising, and in 1927 built the luxurious 

, designed specifically for cruise travel. Strong marketing efforts made the ship an icon of Norwegian cruising.

Even so, Lehmkuhl continued the England service between Newcastle, Norway, and Sweden. He wanted passengers from Eastern Norway as well. For a time, trains ran directly from Kristiania to ships moored at the quay Skoltegrunnskaien through a new tunnel behind Bryggen.

 was launched for this route. On its delivery voyage from the shipyard in Helsingør, the ship first visited Oslo, where the king, Lehmkuhl, and other distinguished guests came on board.

In the late 1800s, Bergen’s business community wanted a school that taught commerce and economics. Two committees were formed, and Lehmkuhl served on both. Despite difficult economic conditions, he secured the funding needed. Bergen Commercial School opened in 1904.

Lehmkuhl continued his efforts and became a leading force behind establishing a university-level business school in Bergen. He chaired the association working to create the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) and raised large sums of money for the project.

Lehmkuhl had close ties to the royal family. When his brother-in-law Christian Michelsen died in 1925, Lehmkuhl proposed that Michelsen’s large villa, Gamlehaugen, become the royal residence in Bergen. Perhaps a “thank you for your help”? The king was among those who supported the decision in 1917 to locate NHH in Bergen.

It was not until 1936 that NHH finally became a reality. The economic crisis of the 1930s delayed the project. When the school opened, it was housed in a converted villa at Nygårdshøyden, close to Lehmkuhl’s own home.

Lehmkuhl understood early that aviation was the future. Together with the shipping company Fred. Olsen & Co., BDS established the airline Det Norske Luftfartselskap. The shipping companies provided sufficient funding, and the airline began domestic flights in 1935 on the route Oslo - Moss - Arendal -Kristiansand - Stavanger - Haugesund - Bergen.

In 1946, Det Norske Luftfartselskap merged with the Danish and Swedish national airlines to form SAS.

By the late 1930s, Lehmkuhl was an elderly man, but he continued working at Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab until retiring in 1936 at the age of 80. He remained active in Bergen’s financial and business life throughout the decade.

Kristofer Lehmkuhl died in 1949 at the age of 94.

Many of the families that Kristofer Lehmkuhl was part of, and friends with, are still well-known names in Bergen and Norway. The Lehmkuhl name, however, is now mostly associated with the sailing ship 

. The war must take much of the blame for that.

Kristofer Lehmkuhl had two sons, Joakim and Herman Kristoffer.

Herman, born in 1887, became a journalist and later editor of the newspaper Verdens Gang. In 1924 he moved to London as a correspondent for the newspapers Tidens Tegn and Aftenposten. 

During the war he worked at the information office of the Norwegian government-in-exile there. Herman did not move back to Norway when the war was over. He served as press counsellor at the Norwegian embassy and remained in London until his death in 1968.

Dublin is the largest city in Ireland, with a population of 1.3 million if the suburbs are included. The city is located where the River Liffey flows into the Irish Sea, the body of water between Ireland and Great Britain.

Norwegian ships have sailed into this river mouth for a long time. There is evidence of human activity here dating back to the Stone Age, and the first people to settle permanently were the Gaels in the 7th century, a people who lived across Ireland, Scotland, and the islands further north. But the city itself was established by Vikings just over a hundred years later and was named Dyflin. 

The river mouth was a perfect harbour for their longships, and it eventually developed into the Kingdom of Dublin – with a monetary economy and its own coins.

At the end of the 12th century, the Anglo-Normans took control of Ireland. 

At that time, the country consisted of several small kingdoms, but from then on Ireland was under English rule. Dublin grew rapidly during the 17th century and was for a short period the second largest city in the entire British Empire.

When Ireland became independent in 1922, Dublin became the capital. 

In addition to being the administrative centre, Dublin is an important industrial city and a centre for education, art and culture, and tourism. Dublin is an important cargo and ferry port, and many cruise ships also call at the city.

The River Liffey divides Dublin into two parts, and several smaller rivers and canals give the city a distinctive character. Outside the city there are low mountains to the south, otherwise flat grazing land - as in most of the rest of Ireland.

The proximity to the sea influences the climate. Summer temperatures are rarely much higher than 20°C, and winter temperatures are rarely lower than 4°C. 

The city lies on the east side of Ireland, and since most of the rainfall comes in from the west, it is much drier here than on the west coast. Over the course of a year, Dublin normally receives 772 mm of precipitation.

Average maximum temperature in April: 12.3 °C
Average rainfall in April: 55 mm