Fredrik Anton Olai Baade
(Ref.: "Torvald Baade: The family of Chief Wreck Surveyor Daniel Baade of Trondheim")
Lost at sea along with his two eldest sons. He was much involved in local governance and the Liberal politics of the turbulent 1880s, and was a pioneer in matters of fishing and agriculture. In 1938, his friends erected a memorial stone in his memory.
The newspaper Vestlandsnytt of the 21st of June, 1996, reported:
"Saturday marks the centenary of the day when the farmer from Voksa, Fredrik Baade, and his crew of four were wrecked and drowned in Breisundet, on their way to a sailing regatta in Trondheim. The forty-eight-year-old Fredrik had with him his two sons Peter (14) and Kornelius (12), together with two young men from Haugsbygda — Ragnvald Jakobson Hauge (20) and Knut Jakobson Saure (19).
The details of the wreck, which occurred on the 22nd of June 1896, have never come to light — only that the accident happened in Breisundet and that the bodies were never found. Baade's lister-rigged vessel went down south of Hogstein lighthouse.
Fredrik's cousin, also named Fredrik Iverson, had sailed ahead in his Møre boat and arrived safely in Ålesund through the storm. The crew were among the first sportsmen from Sande municipality. The previous year, Baade's boat had won a regatta in Kristiansund.
The tragic accident left deep marks on the local community, and above all at the Baade farmstead at Voksa. Peter and Kornelius were the two eldest sons of Birthe and Fredrik Baade. The five children who remained were in 1896 between one and ten years of age.
His wife Birthe (née Sivertsdatter Helland) thus had busy years ahead of her before the children could grow up and take over the farm. Many subsequently spoke warmly of her resolute manner of getting through that difficult period. Her son Torvald, who later became mayor of Sande, took over the farm. Torvald was the youngest of the children, born in 1895.
In 1938, friends and family — with Sandsøy Liberal Youth Association as a major driving force — erected a large memorial stone at the Baade farmstead, forty-two years after the accident. The memorial honoured the pioneering figure of Fredrik Baade: a man involved in founding the Sande and Rovde Savings Bank, active in the parish council and local government, a deputy to the Storting, and church warden when Sande church was built in 1890.
"Friends erected this stone" is the simple inscription on the copper plate. Karl Rønneberg and Ditlef Olsen were strongly involved in raising it; an article in Sunnmørsposten records that the stone was erected "with the best assistance from Johannes Ristesund and Anders Hovden."
As many as 800 people gathered for the unveiling on Whit Monday in 1938. Headmaster Olav Riste gave the unveiling address; from Ørsta came Henrik Straumsheim "with song and music." Parish priest Johannes Ristesund had written a special "Sande Song" for the occasion, receiving its world première at Voksa. Around thirty motor cutters from the entire district made a boat parade around the island, stopping in the bay south of Sande church where the bells were rung. The organisation of the boat parade was handled by merchant Ditlef Olsen of Sandshamn, who later admitted he had wondered whether he had taken on rather too much when he saw all the boats converging from every direction. The event proved very well received.
The Baade family, who purchased the whole of Voksa and divided the island among themselves, descend from Danish official nobility — perhaps explaining their fondness for the island's flat, open farmland, not unlike Denmark.
The newspaper Dagen wrote of Fredrik Baade: "He was Norwegian-minded and liberal-minded and a true democrat — a Liberal to his core, deputy to the Storting, and much more besides."
The memorial stone stands on the farm now run by Freystein Baade (son of Torvald). Another Fredrik Baade lives at Voksa today — named after his grandfather, now a retired farmer — who recalled the 1938 unveiling: "I was ten years old. There had probably never been so many people at Voksa before or since. The whole bay was full of boats; the largest was Juvel. Long tables had been set up in the barn where the great crowd of guests ate their dinner. People also sat over all the hills."
In many of the 1938 speeches, Baade was described as a "chieftain." The memorial stone still stands and bears witness to one who stood a head taller than the others — in more than one sense.