Grönskärens pilot station (English)
The pilot station was established here in the mid 1870s and was shut down in 1903. The ruins from the houses still visible here are two residential houses, a school building, a pilot lookout and a cellar.
Five families
The pilots’ task was to help the ships pass the feared Pater Noster skerries.
Five families have lived here. One of the houses had three apartments, as well as a baking oven that all families used. In the other house there were two apartments. It was very crowded – in one of the apartments as many as nine persons would reside.
The photo above shows the pilot harbour at Altarholmen. The house in the middle accommodated three families. To the right, you can see the house of the pilot foreman. The school building is the silhouette next to it.
Three months' of school every year
The school had up to 15 students. The teacher lived in a small area with a kitchenette, hidden behind a curtain. When she had been teaching for three months, she sailed off to another pilot station. There were three stations that shared her duties. The last teacher at Altarholmen shared her position with Måseskär and Tylön.
The families lived mostly from fishing and hunting of waterfowl but they also held sheep, pigs and hens. Some of them hired a piece of land in Härön (neighbouring island) to grow potatoes – a way to increase the produce when they lived in such a barren environment.
There was also a well that provided water for the families. It is still there – you can see the lid close to the house remains.
The photo below shows where the pilot foreman had his office in this house, where two families also lived. The photo is probably taken around year 1900.
A dangerous job
Being a pilot in those days was very dangerous. A tragic accident happened here in 1878 when four pilots from the island drowned when on a rescuing mission.
When the pilot station was shut down in 1903, the houses were put down and moved to places like Tistlarna (Gothenburg), Tylön (outside Halmstad) and Mollösund (Orust).