The Post Road across Åland Sea – the Peasant Post in Grisslehamn

There are few stretches in Swedish history that demanded so much courage from ordinary people as the waters between Grisslehamn and Eckerö. For nearly three centuries, Roslagen farmers rowed and sailed across the Sea of Åland with the kingdom's mail, in open boats, year-round, through storms, fog and drift ice. It was one of Sweden's most important communication routes – and one of its most dangerous. Today, the memory lives on in the annual Postrodden, a competition that honors the efforts of these unnamed mail carriers.

A mail route across the sea

The need for an organized postal service led to the establishment of the Swedish postal system in 1636. Two years later, in 1638, a mail route from Stockholm to Åbo was established – one of the kingdom's five main postal lines. The route went from Stockholm, like a relay from farmer to farmer, out to Gamla Grisslehamn on Väddö, then by boat across the Sea of Åland to Storby on Eckerö, onwards through Åland and across the archipelago to Åbo and further east. Since Finland was then part of the Swedish kingdom, this was not a foreign mail route but the backbone of communication between the kingdom's western and eastern halves. The open sea stretch between Grisslehamn and Eckerö is approximately 44 kilometers – a considerable distance to row in a small open boat.

Farmers' postal duty

The mail was not carried by employed postilions but by the farmers themselves, through a rotation system. Farmers in the archipelago were divided into postal rotation groups with as many men as needed to man a postal rotation boat, and they took turns according to an established order. The farmers on Väddö and Eckerö had the special responsibility for transport across the Sea of Åland itself. It was an obligation, not a profession one chose – and it came with the land. Worst was the so-called "menförestiden," when the ice neither held nor broke: then the crews had to drag the boats over ice floes, wade and row through drift ice, sometimes for hours. Added to this were autumn storms, winter cold and fog.

How many died?

That the journey claimed lives is well documented. (Uncertain information: the often-repeated figure that approximately 200 mail carriers perished appears in several popular accounts, but is not confirmed in more source-critical accounts. It should be regarded as an estimate, not a verified fact.) What is clear is that the mortality rate was significant and that the postal duty left deep marks on the affected villages, where the number of widows was high.

When the mail service ended

The farmers' mail service across the Sea of Åland survived remarkably long. Steamships began to take over mail traffic gradually during the latter part of the 19th century, but the farmers' formal obligation persisted longer. (Uncertain/precise dates: sources indicate that the Åland postal duty formally remained until December 31, 1910, and that the old mail route was used for the last time during the harsh winter of 1910/1911. The dates thus refer to different things – the formal discontinuation and the last actual crossing respectively.)

Postrodden today

The memory of the mail farmers was revived in 1966, when a rowing boat from Åland came to Grisslehamn with a mail sack. The idea took hold, and since 1974 Postrodden has been held annually, usually in June, with participation from folk boats from both Åland and Sweden rowing the classic route. The rowers are often dressed in period-accurate costumes, and the event combines sport, history and cross-border fellowship between Roslagen and Åland. For Grisslehamn, this small outpost at the far end of Väddö – where artist Albert Engström later settled and where the ferry to Eckerö still runs – Postrodden is a living link to the past.

Sources

• Postrodden, Postvägen Stockholm–Åbo – Wikipedia
• Sveriges viktigaste postväg gick över havet – Populär Historia
• Postvägen över Åland (Christer Kuvaja)