Photo: Northerner·CC BY-SA 4.0· Wikimedia Commons
Islands / Nesodden / Husbergøya
Island in the inner Oslofjord south of Langøyene. A cod liver oil and herring oil factory ran here from the early 1900s until 1982. After a fire during a military exercise the island was cleared up in 2009-2010, and it now has a viewing platform on the summit for birdwatching.
Husbergøya lies in Bunnefjorden south of Langøyene and north of Skjælholmene. It is a low, uninhabited island with a viewing platform on top. If you see a single building up on the height, that is the preserved director's house from the factory years.
Nature reserve (2008), seabird breeding area. The boundaries and the rules are in Naturbase, and they are worth checking before you land anywhere outside the marked areas.
Private boat or kayak.
No scheduled boat comes here. You will have to find the nearest public quay yourself, and the rest is your own boat or a kayak. Check the wind and wave forecast before you set out; the open stretches in the outer fjord turn unpleasant in a fresh breeze.
Early in the 1900s Heinrich Carl Hudtwalcker from Hamburg bought the island and built a cod liver oil and herring oil factory of 12,000 m², driven by steam engines. It produced several thousand tonnes of fish oil and cod liver oil a year, wheeled down to the harbour on a track of its own. Production ended in 1982, and the island was sold to Oslo municipality. It was then used for military exercises, and the factory burned down in 1989. The site was cleared and rehabilitated in 2009-2010.
No buildings are in use beyond the preserved director's house. Birds have the island now, and a lookout platform on the summit is there for watching them.
Come by private boat or kayak; there is no ferry.
Protection: nature reserve since 2008, a breeding area for several seabird species. Keep your distance in the breeding season.
A German businessman from Hamburg turned this islet into a fish oil factory that pushed out several thousand tonnes of cod liver oil a year. The smell is said to have carried far out over the fjord.
The factory ended up as a target during military exercises and burned down in 1989. What is left is the director's house and a bird platform where the industry used to be.
Oslo Sea Experience passes Husbergøya on its private fjord trips from Tjuvholmen.
The Norwegian version notes which facts were taken from each source: Husbergøya på norsk.