 Bamse was bought in Oslo, Norway by Captain Erling Hafto, the master of the Norwegian whale-catcher "Thorodd", and he was taken to sea from an early age.In her childhood memories of pre-war Honningsvåg, Captain Hafto's daughter Vigdis remembers Bamse as a very kind dog that would look after the children while they were playing.At the onset of the Second World War, "Thorodd" was drafted into the Royal Norwegian Navy as a coastal patrol vessel, based in Hammerfest, and Bamse was enrolled as an official crew member on 9 February 1940.