Johan Nyberg
On 21 May 1915, wreckage and a dead man were found in the waters northwest of Husum. The dead man was floating on a lifebuoy and life vests from the ship Johan Nyberg. He was later identified as one of the ship’s two stokers. Rescue boats were dispatched and found more wreckage. In the end, it was concluded that the steamer Johan Nyberg had been shipwrecked and that none of the twelve people on board had made it. It was the ship’s fourth and final shipwreck.
In 1871, the passanger steamer Vaxholm was built in Stockholm. Seven years later, the ship capsized for the first time. After salvage and repairs, it was put back into service on Ångermanälven under the name Bollsta. In 1885 the accident occurred again – the ship capsized near Veda, north of Härnösand, and several people died.
After new repairs, the ship was sold to Nordmaling and renamed Johan Nyberg. A not-too-nice nickname was added, too: Fyll-Jonke, or “Drunken Johnny”. The ship was known for its aft saloon where wine and spirits were served, so perhaps its ability to capsize also contributed to the nickname. In 1897 it sank a third time, this time in the Finnish archipelago.
The very last time Johan Nyberg was sighted was at 20:50 on the evening of 20 May 1915. She passed Holm’s fishing village on her way north but sank later that evening, probably at Långroudde. The weather was apparently good, just some residual swell. The wreck has been found but is badly deteriorated. We will probably never get an answer to what happened.