Forfjorden[1] is a fjord on the west side of the island of Hinnøya in the Vesterålen archipelago in Nordland county, Norway.

The area around the fjord has rich resources for small and large game hunters, rivers and mountain lakes attracting sports fishermen from near and far,[2] and a nature reserve with the oldest living pine trees on record in Northern Europe.

[5] It is assumed that this forest served as source of timber and tar for viking ships, and there are settlements and burial sites that have not yet been excavated.

Among weather descriptions and catch reports, they contain well-written stories of adventurous European monarchs visiting, his being imprisoned by British soldiers for not supplying them for free, barely surviving polar bear encounters, and nearly freezing to death in then barren Svalbard during the frozen Arctic winters.

Hans Michael left behind his second wife Else (Antonsen) and 15 children, most of whom stayed in Forfjorden and Nordland, including two from his first marriage to Elisé (Lise) Jakobsdatter of Hadsel, who emigrated: Jenny (Furfjord) Sutherland to Canada and Elise (Hansdatter/Hanssen) Hermanson to McGregor, North Dakota, United States.