Shetland bus boats
Encyclopedia
The Shetland bus
was the name given to a clandestine special operations group that made a permanent link between Shetland, Scotland
, and German-occupied Norway
. From mid-1941 until the end of the war it operated a number of vessels, mostly Norwegian fishing boats.
on 9 April 1940, and despite the efforts of the Norwegians and the British, the Germans controlled most of the country by the beginning of May. The occupation of Norway and the oppression which followed immediately prompted a number of Norwegians to escape and make landfall in the Orkney and Shetland Islands
.
Only a few weeks after the occupation began, the first boats of an "armada" of fishing vessels and other boats began to arrive in Shetland. Many of these boats made several journeys across the North Sea carrying refugees. The boats were of many types and shapes, but most of those later used as the "Shetland Bus", were from 50 to 70 feet (21 m), with two masts and equipped with a 30 to 70 hp single-cylinder semi-diesel engine
, which made the characteristic 'tonk-tonk' sound. They had a maximum speed of 9 knots (18 km/h).
These engines were very unusual, and spare parts were not available in Britain, but that was easily solved. Norway's largest engine factory, Wickman Diesel
, at the time under German control, was located at Bømlo
, near Bergen. The agents in the area received messages about which parts were needed, workers in the factory, many of them active members of the Resistance Movement, smuggled them out, and the parts were sent to Shetland with the next "Bus".
There were "Hardanger Cutters", with a straight bow and long stern from the Bergen area, and the more rounded "Møre Cutters" from the area around Ålesund
. It appeared that the "Møre Cutter" was the strongest and best fitted for the heavy weather in the North Sea
. Most of their crossings were done in the dark winter months with storms and heavy seas.
Although these crossings were, by their nature, carried out in a manner to avoid enemy contact. The crews managed to equip the boats with several concealed weapons. David Howarth
, who was with Special Operations Executive
and Norwegian seaman, Per Blystad (1911-1942) invented many of these constructions. The most ingenious of these was a concrete-lined oil drum bolted to the deck. When the removable lid was lifted, a pair of ready loaded Lewis Gun
s were telescoped into firing position, with the aid of a counterweight below decks. A steel shield came automatically up to protect the gunner. Oil drums were a natural thing to carry on a fishing boat's deck. Once in the North Sea, one of the boats was inspected by a suspicious British Navy ship, all other weapons were confiscated, but they did not find the two twin machine guns mounted on deck! Special low mountings for twin 0.50" Colt machine guns were mounted in the netroom, at the aft of the boat. These were not totally hidden, but with the use of folding handles, triggers, aims and shields they managed to keep them just above the edge of the gunwale, and they were easy to camouflage with a net. A similar construction was mounted in the bow, with a tarpaulin over, of the same shape as the covering of the whaling harpoons many of the Norwegian fishing boats had in the bow. At last all of the Bus boats carried seven or eight mounted, ready armed machine guns, and were able to protect themselves against enemy aircraft attacks.
In October 1943 three American submarine chasers, , Vigra and Hessa, were delivered, which made the journeys across the North Sea much safer. The submarine chasers made more than 100 crossings with no losses of ships or men. The only damage that occurred on the boats was when the Hessa was attacked by an Allied aircraft.
, 65 feet (20 m) long, the first "Shetland Bus" boat, arrived Shetland on 5 May 1941 with 20 refugees. Skipper Anders Nærøy chose the Aksel on the first official "Shetland Bus" mission, on 30 August 1941. Aksel later made several journeys to Norway with different skippers.
On 8 December 1942, Aksel, on its way from Kristiansund
, skippered by Bård Grotle, sent out a SOS
signal 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) north of Shetland. A Catalina
flying boat and an MTB
were sent out to search for the vessel. The next day the Catalina found the lifeboat with the crew, and the Aksel nearly sunk nearby. The sea was too rough for the aircraft to land, and the MTB had to return to Lerwick before they reached the lifeboat because of lack of fuel. The crew were never found again. Several aircraft and boats searched for days, but the crew of six were lost.
. Built by Einar Helland, Vestnes 1937. 60 feet (18 m) long, with 85 hp Haahjem engine.
On its first voyage in November 1941 the Heland was skippered by one of the owners, Sevrin Roald, and made for Shetland, with two Company Linge agents Karl Johan Aarsæter and Åsmund Wisløff aboard. Using the false name M/K Per, it managed to get undamaged through the same storm in which the Blia disappeared, and returned to Norway with supplies to other agents.
Another agent transport was made in January 1942. On 27 February 1942, the Heland arrived at Lunna with 23 refugees, among them, Milorg
's district leader in the Ålesund area, Trygve Rypdal and family. Sevrin Roald brought his wife, Inga, with him and they both became part of the land crew in the "Shetland Bus" operation in Scalloway
.
As a "Shetland Bus", the Heland made several tours to Norway, mostly skippered by August Nerø, but with other skippers too. There were many narrow escapes, but the vessel always returned safely to Shetland. In 1943, when the submarine chasers arrived, the Heland became a reserve vessel and made transport voyages to Scotland.
When the war ended, the Heland returned to Norway and became fishing vessel again. In 1971, it was donated to Sunnmøre
Museum. The Heland is now preserved as a typical representative fishing vessel of the "Shetland Bus" fleet.
, in 1939 for Lorenz Knudsen a.o., Brandanes. The Vita had a 40 hp Wickmann engine.
The Vita arrived at Shetland on 9 May 1940 with four Norwegian Navy officers and two other refugees aboard. The Vita started as a "Bus" boat before the "Shetland Bus" was officially established. Her first voyage to Norway was on 22 December 1940, skippered by Hilmar Langøy. The next was on 27 March 1942, this time skippered by Ingvald Johansen, who became her skipper for the rest of her missions. Johansen's crew were; Åge Sandvik, H.W. Olsen, Jens Haldorsen and J. Hermansen.
In May 1941, they picked up the twelve refugees from M/B Signal (M331A), which had suffered an engine failure and was drifting 60 nautical miles (111.1 km) off the Norwegian coast. In mid-September 1941, the Vita made a 900 nautical miles (1,666.8 km) journey to North Trøndelag
.
Johansen did not always follow the security rules. Once he posted a letter in Norway to his fiancée. He told her when and where he would be back, and asked her to meet him and come with him to Shetland. The girl got the letter, met him, and followed. In Shetland they got married, and Johansen was not punished.
Vita made seven successful voyages to Norway before her last. On 22 September 1941, she journeyed again to North Trøndelag, this time to Rekøy, to pick up some refugees. A traitor had told the Germans about the transport, and the Vita was seized and the crew arrested. The crew spent the rest of the war in prison, while the Germans used the Vita as a watch boat. After the war she became fishing boat in the North Sea again, until she was donated to the "Trondhjems Sjøfartsmuseum" (a sea museum) in 1990. In 1995 she was taken over by "Kystmuseet i Sør-Trøndelag" (South-Trøndelag Coastal Museum) at Hitra
. She is currently being renovated by local craftsman Per Johnson.
The owners gave their approval to use the Olaf in a refugee transport. It arrived at Lerwick
on 30 September 1941 with seventeen refugees. The vessel was handed over to the "Shetland Bus" operation and Per Blystad from Fana
became skipper. In the winter of 1942, the 'Olaf' made five voyages to Norway with agents and supplies, and returning with refugees. The crew on these tours were; Olai Hillersøy, Arne Nipen, Leif Kinn and Olav Kinn. On 17 April 1942, the Olaf went to Telavåg
with the Company Linge agents Arne Værum and Emil Hvaal. The agents were discovered by the Germans, and that led to the "Telavåg Tragedy", were the whole population were jailed or put into concentration camps, and all the houses burned in revenge for two German Gestapo officers deaths.
The Olaf was attacked and damaged by German aircraft several times, but it always managed to get back to Shetland. The worst damage occurred on 12 May 1942. Three crew from the wrecked Frøya, along with some others, went out with the Olaf to search for a raft with four of the Frøya crew. They were attacked five times by a German Dornier bomber. The vessel was severely damaged, and some of the crew wounded. One of the three men from the Frøya, Hans Johansen, later died of his wounds. The Olaf made no more journeys and after the war it was returned to the owners who sold it in 1948.
Nordsjøen, 20 October 1941
M/K Blia (H197S), 14 November 1941
Sjø, August/September 1942
M/K Arthur (M192B), October 1942
M/K Aksel (M40G), 8 December 1942
M/B Sandøy, 10 December 1942
M/B Feiøy (H10AM), January 1943
M/K Bergholm, 23 March 1943
M/K Brattholm (M172HØ), 30 March 1943
Those boats are the ten "Shetland Bus" boats that were lost from the base in Scalloway
. For different reasons, there were some boats that started out from a base in Peterhead
, and some of them were also lost.
M/B Frøya (M32G)
M/B Streif (H261B)
Bodø
Shetland bus
The Shetland Bus was the nickname of a clandestine special operations group that made a permanent link between Shetland, Scotland, and German-occupied Norway from 1941 until the German occupation ended on 8 May 1945. From mid-1942 the official name of the group was "Norwegian Naval Independent Unit"...
was the name given to a clandestine special operations group that made a permanent link between Shetland, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and German-occupied Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. From mid-1941 until the end of the war it operated a number of vessels, mostly Norwegian fishing boats.
Background
Germany launched their invasion of NorwayOperation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...
on 9 April 1940, and despite the efforts of the Norwegians and the British, the Germans controlled most of the country by the beginning of May. The occupation of Norway and the oppression which followed immediately prompted a number of Norwegians to escape and make landfall in the Orkney and Shetland Islands
Shetland Islands
Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
.
Only a few weeks after the occupation began, the first boats of an "armada" of fishing vessels and other boats began to arrive in Shetland. Many of these boats made several journeys across the North Sea carrying refugees. The boats were of many types and shapes, but most of those later used as the "Shetland Bus", were from 50 to 70 feet (21 m), with two masts and equipped with a 30 to 70 hp single-cylinder semi-diesel engine
Hot bulb engine
The hot bulb engine, or hotbulb or heavy oil engine is a type of internal combustion engine. It is an engine in which fuel is ignited by being brought into contact with a red-hot metal surface inside a bulb....
, which made the characteristic 'tonk-tonk' sound. They had a maximum speed of 9 knots (18 km/h).
These engines were very unusual, and spare parts were not available in Britain, but that was easily solved. Norway's largest engine factory, Wickman Diesel
Wickman Diesel
Wichmann Diesel was started by a local blacksmith on the island of Bømlo in Norway who decided to manufacture his own engine for his boat.The engine proved to be a success and local people soon gathered around the workshop to have the blacksmith make them one.The company expanded and was renamed...
, at the time under German control, was located at Bømlo
Bømlo
Bømlo is a municipality in Sunnhordland, in the southern part of the county of Hordaland, Norway. It is also the name of the main island of this archipelago, consisting of about 900 islets, located west of Stord....
, near Bergen. The agents in the area received messages about which parts were needed, workers in the factory, many of them active members of the Resistance Movement, smuggled them out, and the parts were sent to Shetland with the next "Bus".
There were "Hardanger Cutters", with a straight bow and long stern from the Bergen area, and the more rounded "Møre Cutters" from the area around Ålesund
Ålesund
is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre, and the center of the Ålesund Region. It is a sea port, and is noted for its unique concentration of Art Nouveau architecture....
. It appeared that the "Møre Cutter" was the strongest and best fitted for the heavy weather in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. Most of their crossings were done in the dark winter months with storms and heavy seas.
Although these crossings were, by their nature, carried out in a manner to avoid enemy contact. The crews managed to equip the boats with several concealed weapons. David Howarth
David Armine Howarth
David Howarth was a British historian and author. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, he was a radio war correspondent for the BBC at the start of World War II. Howarth joined the Navy after the fall of France...
, who was with Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
and Norwegian seaman, Per Blystad (1911-1942) invented many of these constructions. The most ingenious of these was a concrete-lined oil drum bolted to the deck. When the removable lid was lifted, a pair of ready loaded Lewis Gun
Lewis Gun
The Lewis Gun is a World War I–era light machine gun of American design that was perfected and widely used by the British Empire. It was first used in combat in World War I, and continued in service with a number of armed forces through to the end of the Korean War...
s were telescoped into firing position, with the aid of a counterweight below decks. A steel shield came automatically up to protect the gunner. Oil drums were a natural thing to carry on a fishing boat's deck. Once in the North Sea, one of the boats was inspected by a suspicious British Navy ship, all other weapons were confiscated, but they did not find the two twin machine guns mounted on deck! Special low mountings for twin 0.50" Colt machine guns were mounted in the netroom, at the aft of the boat. These were not totally hidden, but with the use of folding handles, triggers, aims and shields they managed to keep them just above the edge of the gunwale, and they were easy to camouflage with a net. A similar construction was mounted in the bow, with a tarpaulin over, of the same shape as the covering of the whaling harpoons many of the Norwegian fishing boats had in the bow. At last all of the Bus boats carried seven or eight mounted, ready armed machine guns, and were able to protect themselves against enemy aircraft attacks.
In October 1943 three American submarine chasers, , Vigra and Hessa, were delivered, which made the journeys across the North Sea much safer. The submarine chasers made more than 100 crossings with no losses of ships or men. The only damage that occurred on the boats was when the Hessa was attacked by an Allied aircraft.
M/B Aksel (M40G)
Aksel of GiskeGiske
Giske is an island and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It lies north-northwest of the town of Ålesund in the Sunnmøre traditional district. The municipal center is the village of Nordstrand on the island of Valderøy. Other population centers include the villages of Roald and...
, 65 feet (20 m) long, the first "Shetland Bus" boat, arrived Shetland on 5 May 1941 with 20 refugees. Skipper Anders Nærøy chose the Aksel on the first official "Shetland Bus" mission, on 30 August 1941. Aksel later made several journeys to Norway with different skippers.
On 8 December 1942, Aksel, on its way from Kristiansund
Kristiansund
Kristiansund is a city and municipality on the western coast of Norway, in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. It was officially awarded township status in 1742, and it is still the major town for the region. The administrative center of the municipality is the city of Kristiansund...
, skippered by Bård Grotle, sent out a SOS
SOS
SOS is the commonly used description for the international Morse code distress signal...
signal 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) north of Shetland. A Catalina
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other...
flying boat and an MTB
Motor Torpedo Boat
Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy.The capitalised term is generally used for the Royal Navy boats and abbreviated to "MTB"...
were sent out to search for the vessel. The next day the Catalina found the lifeboat with the crew, and the Aksel nearly sunk nearby. The sea was too rough for the aircraft to land, and the MTB had to return to Lerwick before they reached the lifeboat because of lack of fuel. The crew were never found again. Several aircraft and boats searched for days, but the crew of six were lost.
M/K Heland (M5V)
Owned by Sevrin Roald, Arne Roald and Olav Røsvik, of VigraVigra
Vigra is an island and former municipality on the west coast of Norway. It is in the present-day municipality of Giske in Møre og Romsdal county. The former municipality was made up of the island of Vigra along with many smaller islets surrounding it...
. Built by Einar Helland, Vestnes 1937. 60 feet (18 m) long, with 85 hp Haahjem engine.
On its first voyage in November 1941 the Heland was skippered by one of the owners, Sevrin Roald, and made for Shetland, with two Company Linge agents Karl Johan Aarsæter and Åsmund Wisløff aboard. Using the false name M/K Per, it managed to get undamaged through the same storm in which the Blia disappeared, and returned to Norway with supplies to other agents.
Another agent transport was made in January 1942. On 27 February 1942, the Heland arrived at Lunna with 23 refugees, among them, Milorg
Milorg
Milorg was the main Norwegian resistance movement in World War II....
's district leader in the Ålesund area, Trygve Rypdal and family. Sevrin Roald brought his wife, Inga, with him and they both became part of the land crew in the "Shetland Bus" operation in Scalloway
Scalloway
Scalloway is the largest settlement on the North Atlantic coast of Mainland, Shetland with a population of approximately 812, at the 2001 census...
.
As a "Shetland Bus", the Heland made several tours to Norway, mostly skippered by August Nerø, but with other skippers too. There were many narrow escapes, but the vessel always returned safely to Shetland. In 1943, when the submarine chasers arrived, the Heland became a reserve vessel and made transport voyages to Scotland.
When the war ended, the Heland returned to Norway and became fishing vessel again. In 1971, it was donated to Sunnmøre
Sunnmøre
Sunnmøre is the southernmost traditional district of the western Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. Its main city is Ålesund. The region comprises the municipalities of Giske, Hareid, Herøy, Norddal, Sande, Skodje, Haram, Stordal, Stranda, Sula, Sykkylven, Ulstein, Vanylven, Volda, Ørskog,...
Museum. The Heland is now preserved as a typical representative fishing vessel of the "Shetland Bus" fleet.
M/B Vita (H95B)
Built by Lindestøl Shipyard, RisørRisør
is a city and municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway. The city belongs to the traditional region of Sørlandet. It is a popular tourist place. The surrounding area includes many small lakes and hills, and is known for its beautiful coastline as well....
, in 1939 for Lorenz Knudsen a.o., Brandanes. The Vita had a 40 hp Wickmann engine.
The Vita arrived at Shetland on 9 May 1940 with four Norwegian Navy officers and two other refugees aboard. The Vita started as a "Bus" boat before the "Shetland Bus" was officially established. Her first voyage to Norway was on 22 December 1940, skippered by Hilmar Langøy. The next was on 27 March 1942, this time skippered by Ingvald Johansen, who became her skipper for the rest of her missions. Johansen's crew were; Åge Sandvik, H.W. Olsen, Jens Haldorsen and J. Hermansen.
In May 1941, they picked up the twelve refugees from M/B Signal (M331A), which had suffered an engine failure and was drifting 60 nautical miles (111.1 km) off the Norwegian coast. In mid-September 1941, the Vita made a 900 nautical miles (1,666.8 km) journey to North Trøndelag
Trøndelag
Trøndelag is the name of a geographical region in the central part of Norway, consisting of the two counties Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag. The region is, together with Møre og Romsdal, part of a larger...
.
Johansen did not always follow the security rules. Once he posted a letter in Norway to his fiancée. He told her when and where he would be back, and asked her to meet him and come with him to Shetland. The girl got the letter, met him, and followed. In Shetland they got married, and Johansen was not punished.
Vita made seven successful voyages to Norway before her last. On 22 September 1941, she journeyed again to North Trøndelag, this time to Rekøy, to pick up some refugees. A traitor had told the Germans about the transport, and the Vita was seized and the crew arrested. The crew spent the rest of the war in prison, while the Germans used the Vita as a watch boat. After the war she became fishing boat in the North Sea again, until she was donated to the "Trondhjems Sjøfartsmuseum" (a sea museum) in 1990. In 1995 she was taken over by "Kystmuseet i Sør-Trøndelag" (South-Trøndelag Coastal Museum) at Hitra
Hitra
Hitra is a municipality and an island in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality covers the island of Hitra and several smaller islands, and is part of the Fosen region...
. She is currently being renovated by local craftsman Per Johnson.
M/B Olaf (M73V)
Owned by Ansgar Sønderland and Johan O. Rørvik, Vigra. 52 feet long and with a 60 hp June-Munktell engine.The owners gave their approval to use the Olaf in a refugee transport. It arrived at Lerwick
Lerwick
Lerwick is the capital and main port of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, located more than 100 miles off the north coast of mainland Scotland on the east coast of the Shetland Mainland...
on 30 September 1941 with seventeen refugees. The vessel was handed over to the "Shetland Bus" operation and Per Blystad from Fana
Fana
Fana is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.-History:Prior to 1972, Fana was an independent municipality which territory also included today's boroughs of Ytrebygda, Fyllingsdalen, and the southernmost part of Årstad.-Geography:...
became skipper. In the winter of 1942, the 'Olaf' made five voyages to Norway with agents and supplies, and returning with refugees. The crew on these tours were; Olai Hillersøy, Arne Nipen, Leif Kinn and Olav Kinn. On 17 April 1942, the Olaf went to Telavåg
Telavåg
Telavåg is a small village in the municipality of Sund, located 39 km south west of Bergen, Norway, with a population of about 600.-Telavåg tragedy:...
with the Company Linge agents Arne Værum and Emil Hvaal. The agents were discovered by the Germans, and that led to the "Telavåg Tragedy", were the whole population were jailed or put into concentration camps, and all the houses burned in revenge for two German Gestapo officers deaths.
The Olaf was attacked and damaged by German aircraft several times, but it always managed to get back to Shetland. The worst damage occurred on 12 May 1942. Three crew from the wrecked Frøya, along with some others, went out with the Olaf to search for a raft with four of the Frøya crew. They were attacked five times by a German Dornier bomber. The vessel was severely damaged, and some of the crew wounded. One of the three men from the Frøya, Hans Johansen, later died of his wounds. The Olaf made no more journeys and after the war it was returned to the owners who sold it in 1948.
Boats Lost
M/S Vita (H95B), September 1941- Skippered by Ingvald Johannesen. Seized by Germans in Rekøy, Norway. Crew arrested.
Nordsjøen, 20 October 1941
- Nordsjøen, a minelayer, skippered by Gjertsen, was sunk in heavy weather off the coast of West Norway. All the crew survived and returned to Shetland on 31 October aboard the M/K Arthur.
M/K Blia (H197S), 14 November 1941
- Skippered by Ingvald Lerøy she disappeared in a storm on the way from Norway to Shetland. The crew of seven and 35 Norwegian refugees were lost. In the same storm, one man was blown overboard and lost from M/K Arthur, skippered by Leif Larsen.
Sjø, August/September 1942
- Sjø, a 28 feet (8.5 m) open boat, with Per Blystad and Mindor Berge was in Norway on a reconnaissance mission. They were taken prisoners by the Germans and later shot.
M/K Arthur (M192B), October 1942
- Skippered by Leif Larsen she was scuttled in the Trondheimsfjord after a failed attempt to attack the German battleship Tirpitz. Larsen and his crew escaped overland to Sweden, but a British agent following them was taken prisoner by Germans and shot.
M/K Aksel (M40G), 8 December 1942
- Skippered by Bård Grotle. Sunk in the North Sea on the way back to Shetland. All six men lost their lives.
M/B Sandøy, 10 December 1942
- Skippered by Harald Dyb, was attacked by German aircraft and sunk. Seven men were lost.
M/B Feiøy (H10AM), January 1943
- Skippered by Ole Grotle. Disappeared on the way to Norway. Eight men were lost.
M/K Bergholm, 23 March 1943
- Skippered by Leif Larsen. Was attacked by German aircraft and sunk. One man was killed in the attack. Larsen and six men, some wounded, managed to reach the coast of Norway by boat, and returned to Shetland later.
M/K Brattholm (M172HØ), 30 March 1943
- Skippered by Sverre Kverhellen. Attacked by a German torpedo boat. Of the crew of eight and four agents, only one, Jan Baalsrud, survived. The rest were either killed in the attack or taken prisoner by the Germans, tortured, and shot in prison.
Those boats are the ten "Shetland Bus" boats that were lost from the base in Scalloway
Scalloway
Scalloway is the largest settlement on the North Atlantic coast of Mainland, Shetland with a population of approximately 812, at the 2001 census...
. For different reasons, there were some boats that started out from a base in Peterhead
Peterhead
Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement , with a population of 17,947 at the 2001 Census and estimated to have fallen to 17,330 by 2006....
, and some of them were also lost.
M/B Frøya (M32G)
- A rather new 70 feet (21 m) "Møre cutter" which had arrived at Shetland on 16 March 1942, with the agent Knut Årsæter and four other men from the Ålesund area. Towards the end of April, the vessel was sent out on a special mission to TromsTromsor Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea...
, North Norway with a crew of seven and two agents. Off the coast of Trøndelag, the Frøya was bombed by a German aircraft, and began to sink. They had a small lifeboat, only 12 feet (4 m) long, and the skipper decided that only five men could board the boat. They made a raft of empty oil barrels for the others, and the skipper joined the men on the raft.
- The five men in the lifeboat soon lost all their provisions, as they were washed out in the heavy sea, and they had to keep up a continuous bailing. They had a sail and tried to steer for Shetland. After several days, with no food and only the rainwater they could collect to drink, they sighted Muckle FluggaMuckle FluggaMuckle Flugga is a small rocky island north of Unst in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is often described as the northernmost point of the British Isles, but the smaller islet of Out Stack is actually farther north...
. Soon after they were picked up by a ship and told about the four men on the raft. Ships and planes were sent out searching.
- Two of the men from the lifeboat were in a very bad condition, and were sent to hospital, while the other three were sent to the refugee camp in LerwickLerwickLerwick is the capital and main port of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, located more than 100 miles off the north coast of mainland Scotland on the east coast of the Shetland Mainland...
. After a 24-hour sleep, these three men went out with the Olaf to help search for the raft. They were again attacked by German aircraft, and hardly made it back to BaltasoundBaltasoundBaltasound is the largest settlement on the island of Unst in Shetland. Unst is the most northerly inhabited island in the United Kingdom. The village lies halfway along the island's east coast on a sheltered bay called Balta Sound....
. One of the three men later died of the wounds sustained in the attack.
- Everyone believed that the four men on the raft were lost, but when the war ended, it was discovered that they had all survived. After drifting for twelve days in heavy weather in the North Sea, they were spotted by a German aircraft and rescued. They said that they were ordinary Norwegian shipwrecked fishermen, and were put in a German POW camp, where they stayed until the end of the war.
M/B Streif (H261B)
- The Streif was sent out on a mission to Trøndelag, with an agent and supplies. The crew were that of the Harald, which had an engine failure. They went out with no navigator, because he had fallen ill, and there was no other available. The voyage to Norway went well, but on their return, the engine stopped, and they started drifting. After some days they managed to start the engine again, but they had no idea where they were. One day they saw a British plane, and flashed a signal. The plane turned eastward, and they believed that they were west of Shetland, and steered south, as they were bound for Peterhead.
- After some time, they grounded on a sandbank. They realized that they had reached the coast of HollandNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and managed to get rid of their weapons and other suspicious items before the Germans arrived. They told a story about escaping from the British who wanted their vessel. The story was believed, and all were sent to an ordinary POW camp. If not, they surely would have been executed. By coincidence they met the crew from the Frøya raft in the camp, and joined them until the war ended.
- The Streif stayed in The Netherlands, and the owner's son has said that long after the war, he received letters with questions about the engine.
Bodø
- The fishing vessel Bodø was sent out from Peterhead to South Norway on 1 January 1943, with commandos for "Operation Carhampton". On her return, the Bodø hit a mine near the Scottish coast, and the whole crew were lost. One of her crew, Olaf Skarpenes, has his name on the monument in ScallowayScallowayScalloway is the largest settlement on the North Atlantic coast of Mainland, Shetland with a population of approximately 812, at the 2001 census...
.
Other sources
- Howarth, David (1950) The Shetland Bus: A WWII Epic of Escape, Survival, and Adventure (Lyons Press) ISBN 978-1599213217
- Howarth, David (1998) The Shetland Bus (Shetland Times Ltd) ISBN 978-1898852421
- Iversen, Kaare (2000) Shetland Bus Man (Pentland Press Ltd) ISBN 978-1858218168
- Sorvaag, Trygve (2005) Shetland Bus: Faces and Places 60 Years on (Shetland Times Ltd) ISBN 978-1898852889