Klassiske Linjer nr 15 mai 2007 - Klassisk Treseiler Klubb

CHRISTIAN JENSEN: 1905 – 1915
A PARTNERSHIP WHICH TURNED SOUR
By: Chris Ennals
There has been a certain amount of speculation over the
years as to the exact personal relationship between
Christian Jensen and Johan Anker during their ten-year
partnership (1905-1915), and indeed afterwards. In particular,
it has been difficult to understand why Christian
wanted to go his own way and dissolve the partnership
when the firm Anker and Jensen was doing so well.
Halfdan Hansen, the KNS (Royal Norwegian Yacht
Club) luminary entrusted with most of the writing-up of
the club´s history until he tragically perished in a mountain
snow-storm while skiing during Easter 1953, touched
upon this enigma in his obituary of Christian Jensen (1949),
quoted in the article on sources (KL no. 11, November 1999).
He stated that it was a great pity that Jensen left, and that
Norwegian yachting suffered as a result.
I followed this puzzle up with “research questions” in my article for
the Freundeskreis KY magazine of May 2000. I wrote: “Why, then,
did Chr. Jensen suddenly decide to break out of the partnership in
1915? One possibility is that Jensen felt that his own talents as a
designer were not getting enough recognition. But in 1911 the two
partners agreed that from then on the boats should be designated as
coming from Anker and Jensen, not as before, designed by Johan
Anker alone, but built by Anker and Jensen. A subtle difference perhaps.
Or did Jensen want to be his own master again (a clash of temperaments
between the strong-willed Anker and the self-effacing
Jensen) and perhaps make more money alone? This latter hypothesis is
strengthened by the following circumstance: not long before (early
1915) a gap had been left open by the retirement of Colin Archer
down in Larvik. Nini Roll Anker was keen on the idea that her husband
should expand down there, but Johan wished to stick to pleasure
yachts. Did Christian now decide to seize the business opportunity of
building working boats following the Archer tradition, while remaining
in Vollen?”
We now have a clearer picture of this relationship, both on a businesss
and personal plane, thanks to the superb biography on Johan
Anker published in 2003 (in Norwegian), authored by Elin Kragset
Wold and Ole Engen, our two club members both living in Larvik.
The two authors have delved deeply into the diaries of Nini Roll
Anker (from 1910 onwards). We should, of course, realize that Nini´s
version, which has lived for posterity, may not be completely objective.
From a formal reply sent by Johan to Christian, pasted into her
diary, we can see that the years of the partnership were financially
rewarding. The profits paid out to Christian rose from ca. 2000
kroner in 1906-07, to 8000 kroner by 1910-11, to nearly double this
amount by 1914.
However, as regards professional recognition, there were some
grounds for Christian feeling dissatisfied. If one looks at the KNS
yearbooks from 1907-08 onwards, one is struck by the almost blanket
domination of Johan Anker as a designer of international rule boats.
Christian must have felt increasingly frustrated as the years went by –
he was hardly credited with any designs at all coming from the yard.
KLASSISKE LINJER NR. 15 MAI 2007
1908
Again, Halfdan Hansen remarks that Christian probably had a
hand in far more designs. In 1910, for example, the drawings
of FIGARO 2 are signed by Chr. Jensen, but in the KNS
yearbook and Veritas papers Johan Anker is credited with
the design.
In 1909 Christian is listed as having designed
RIGOLO (six sailing lengths) and in 1911 the international
6 metre SONJA 3 (built by Aslak Hansen down
in Drammen). SONJA 3 took a fifth place in the
Stockholm Olympics in 1912.
In fact it was the owner of SONJA 3, a dentist named
E.G.Christiansen, who sparked off a major rumpus
between Christian and Johan. In July 1914, just before the
all-important Europe Week, Christian handed in his notice.
He was upset and agitated. At a KNS board meeting Johan
Anker had made an extraordinarily tactless remark about the capabilities
of Jensen – that he was not qualified to be on the committee
classifying the Norwegian double-enders. The dentist, who was a
board member, leaked these remarks to Christian. As a result,
Christian wanted the partnership dissolved, offered 10,000 kroner for
his share, and wanted to start his own boatyard again.
This time, Johan managed to persuade Christian to think again.
Johan refused to budge from the terms of their original contract.
A year later Christian again wrote a letter of resignation. Johan was
still adamant about the proviso that Christian should not set up a
rival establishment for at least 2 years. Even so, by the autumn an
agreement had been hammered out, and Johan for his part set up a
new company. According to Nini, Christian was in a state of mental
anguish at this time: he did not know whether to stay or leave. For a
very short while it seems that Christian was employed as works foreman
in Johan´s new firm, until the whole situation was transformed
by the sudden announcement in the spring of 1916 that Christian
was going to build Roald Amundsen´s new polar vessel. Later on that
summer, Christian´s mother tried to intercede on Christian´s behalf
with Nini, to get the two men together again, but Johan seems to
have been fed up. Nini makes disparaging remarks about Jensen in her
diary, while Johan at any rate feels that Christian is consumed by
feelings of jealousy.
What can we make of all this? Christian surely had some justification
in feeling that Johan right from the start only intended him to be
the boatbuilder of his designs rather than an equal partner with the
opportunity to design as well and get credit for this. If we also take
into account the difference between them in social rank, we can
understand that Christian felt increasingly uncomfortable in dealing
with the boatbuilding demands of the rich international customers
that Johan had attracted through his triumphs on the regatta circuit.
Christian felt it had become a ”circus”. He looked back nostalgically
to the more down to earth Norwegian customers he had started with
prior to 1905 and immediately afterwards. One wonders whether
STORM, the most solid 12 metre (approx.) double-ender constructed
by Jensen in 1913, was almost an act of defiance in the face of all the
counter-stern international rule boats designed by the Anker and
Jensen yard for racing in sheltered waters. See photos next page.
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