Introduction

Aspö (Aspen island) is located in the Baltic Sea, in the Southeastern archipelago of Sweden, about half-an-hour’s ferry-ride to the south of Karlskrona, Blekinge. This ride is a pleasant journey among many small islands to the harbour in the Northern part, close to the large island Tjurkö in the East (see Photo 1 below). In the West is another big island, viz. Hasslö (Photo 2). In the South, there is open sea all the way to the European continent (Photos 3-4).

Apart from its rich nature, Aspö has a very interesting cultural history, in particular since it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre: The Naval Port of Karlskrona. It was founded in 1680 as the first ice-free Swedish naval port, including a shipyard. Naval ships, boats, and chiefly submarines like the one shown in Photo 1 are still manufactured here by SAAB. The most famous submarine relates to the ‘Whiskey-on-the rocks’ incident, that is the Soviet submarine of the Whiskey class that in October 1981 run aground on a rock outside Hästholmen located East of Tjurkö and Sturkö (Photo 5). This created one of the most serious crises ever between Sweden and Russia (then the Soviet Union). Historically, Karlskrona is also an important commercial port, of which mainly a ferry terminal remains. The ferries trafficking Poland pass Aspö daily (Photo 6). The former big sea pilot station on the island serving the commercial port was closed in the 1960’s. The pilot tower (Photos 7-8) – still an important landmark -, and the pilot bridge (lotsbryggan – Photo 9) abide from those days. The tower (‘Aspö Lotstorn’) has been turned into a unique hotel.