After we disembarked the pilot at 03.30 in the morning, we were out of the Oslo fjord entrance by 4 am. Then we started crossing the Skagerrak which is the body of water between the top of Denmark and the lower end of Norway. I had plotted a course straight through the middle so that we would avoid all the traffic going towards Scandinavia and also the traffic rounding the top of Denmark going into the Kattegat and the Oresund. Only later we came close to the western shore of Denmark but then we were past most of the traffic. I never believe to look for traffic hotspots if you can avoid them. Today we did not have much traffic of concern, apart from one Chinese car carrier who progressed through the sea with erratic speed bursts. Must have been doing engine tests or something. It got my Officer in the 8 – 12 watch highly excited as it changed his CPA (closed point of approach) on the radar plot from 2.5 miles to 0.5 miles every so often.

The main traffic off the Danish coast are commercial fishing boats who can be erratic as well. At least in our eyes. They are just fishing and most of them carefully plan to stay well away from larger traffic. It is just that in a small boat, 300 feet is a big distance, while from the bridge from a larger ship, 300 feet is very close. Thus a fishing boat might continue to approach closer and closer, happily fishing away, until it comes to its own safety margin and then make a full turn around and fish back the other way. All in order on the bridge of the fishing boat but the Prinsendam navigation team is by that time on full battle stations. If we are the give way vessel, then we will do so early, if we are the stand – on vessel (the other ship has to take the initiative to avoid a collision) then you are standing there waiting and waiting for something to happen. Especially when sailing in buoyed route and you can not change much course yourself, so the only solution is to slow down. Which if needed, will be done, but it takes more time and effort than a course change. Today we did not have any erratic fishing boats at all. One came quite close, but it showed its starboard side very early to let us know that he would stay away. That was exactly the only thing that we needed.

Around lunch time we passed the area where the battle of Jutland was fought. This was the largest naval battle of World war one. It was fought on 31 May 1916 between the British and the Germans as the Germans wanted to break the naval blockade of the other side. In total 250 ships were involved and when the scores were counted, the British lost 14 ships and the Germans 11. During the night the Germans returned to port, so there was never a final outcome, more of a status quo. From then on the Germans stayed in port, keeping the British fleet tied up with their blockade and the Germans started to focus more and more on the submarine war.

In the late afternoon we passed Friesland Junction which is a sort of Round-a-about at sea where ships meet; coming and going to and from various directions. It can be quite busy there but this time it was all quiet. During the night and tomorrow we will cross the North Sea towards the Thames estuary and as the good weather is set to continue we should have a good ending to our cruise.