Background
Following in his father’s footsteps Bachen started his maritime career at the age of 14 when he stowed away aboard his uncle’s windjammer cargo ship.
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Agnar Bachen
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Thereafter Bachen attended maritime college and became one of the youngest officers to gain a Master’s ticket.
Career
He is mainly notable for having taken the first major shipment of grain from the City of Duluth, Minnesota to Europe establishing Duluth as port city on America’s fourth seacoast one year before the opening of the Street Lawrence Seaway in 1959. He rapidly worked his way up through the ranks to become bosun. The couple settled in Wallasey, Merseyside, England where they had four children.
Bachen finally ended his career working out of the port of Hong Kong as senior Master Mariner responsible for officer training.
The movement of grain from Duluth to Liverpool via the proposed Saint Lawrence Ship Channel had been discussed in the Iowa Senate as early as 1911. On 29 August 1958 Bachen took his vessel the Norwegian freighter Steamship Fossum up the Street Lawrence Seaway and across the Great Lakes all the way up to the City of Duluth Minnesota, United States of America. This was an historic event for the city of Duluth thereby gaining status as a port city on America’s forth seacoast.
The Fossum became the first ship to move grain from Duluth to Europe with Captain Bachen and local river pilots successfully navigating the Fossum through channels as shallow as 14 feet. The Street Lawrence Deep Waterway opened one year later in 1959.
