The historic fishing village of Sørvågen, on Moskenesøya island, sits at the precipitous reaches of Norway’s Lofoten archipelago. The road runs out little over a mile further on, just beyond the cod liver oil factory, where glaciated peaks plummet unflinchingly into inky sea.
And yet in this outlier of a place lies a historic landmark of modern communications: the world’s second ever wireless signal, transmitted in 1906. For the hundreds of fishermen who flocked to Lofoten for the migrating skrei (Arctic cod), the Sørvågen Radio was a critical warning signal during perishing winter storms, as well as an invaluable tool for tracking the fish. For the remotest communities on Røst and Værøy islands – unreachable by sea cable and separated by a dangerous maelstrom – the Sørvågen Radio was near-enough their first and only link to the rest of the world.
