Furö is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

located in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

five

nautical miles A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude at the eq ...

(about 6 miles) off the east coast of

Oskarshamn Oskarshamn is a coastal city and the seat of Oskarshamn Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 17,258 inhabitants in 2010. History Etymology Döderhultsvik was the original name before a town charter was granted in 1856. The name was then chan ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

History

Historically the island has been used as base for fishing (mainly

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

and

flounder Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuary, estuaries. Taxonomy The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related speci ...

). Today there are no permanent fishermen on the island. The whole island is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

and forms part of the EU-wide

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...

-network.

Pilot and lighthouse

In 1874, the Swedish authorities located a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

and a

pilot station A pilot station is an onshore headquarters for maritime pilots, or a place where pilots can be hired from. To get from a pilot station to an approaching ship, pilots need to use fast vessels to arrive in time, i.e. a pilot boat. History Histor ...

to Furö. The lighthouse was built at the north-western end of the island. The building was also used as accommodation for the pilots. In 1921 a new, more modern, lighthouse was raised at the reef

Finnrevet Finnrevet is a Swedish lighthouse located on a shoal about outside Oskarshamn in Europe. General information The lighthouse was built in 1921 and is located on a reef just east of island Furö. The black and white tower is about high. The lig ...

just south-east off Furö. Today there are no pilots left on Furö, but their latest red wooden building from 1933 still exists, and is now used as a summer cottage. The island is today mainly used for recreation.

Shipwrecks

The waters around Furö are quite shallow. Many ships have run aground near the island. On the night of November 28, 1949 the British steamer ''Britkon'' ran aground at Furö during a heavy

gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface wind moving at a speed between .

. The fully loaded ship was stranded on the reef

just off the island. Eleven men and women reached the shore by lifeboat. The remaining 27 of the crew was rescued by the pilots on Furö. The Britkon was hard stranded and broke in half two days later. Today nothing is visible above the surface since the wreck has been partly

broken up Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

and salvaged.Information and newspaper articles from the accident.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furo Islands of Kalmar County Småland Oskarshamn Municipality Tourist attractions in Kalmar County Nature reserves in Sweden