Isak Hals is on shore leave between sailings when we meet him in Stokmarknes, his hometown and the birthplace of Hurtigruten.

Built across the Arctic islands of Hadseløya and Børøya in the Vesterålen archipelago, Stokmarknes lies at the edge of the blue-green sea, with cloud-topped mountains lining the horizon in every direction. On the waterfront, the modern Hurtigruten Museum has been built around our ship DS Finnmarken from 1956, preserved like a ship in a bottle.

Stokmarknes is forever connected to the history of Hurtigruten. It was from this small town that our founder, the shipping pioneer Richard With, changed the future of the Norwegian coast, establishing a quick and reliable voyage linking northern and southern Norway.

That route, which continues today, was Hurtigruten.

But, as much as Richard With was a visionary, he couldn’t have created Hurtigruten without the support of the people of Stokmarknes and the people of the coast as a whole – people like Isak Hals and his family.