According to Page 1 of the archive documents, Bestik was in Mobile when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940, having arrived from Trinidad on Apr. 6. It'll be noticed that she spent quite a long time in Philadelphia later that year. She had arrived there from New York on Aug. 27 and departure is given as Oct. 11, when she proceeded to Botwood. Her 1941 voyages also start on this document and continue on Page 2 (which shows a long stay in New Orleans that summer).

Tony Cooper, England has told me that Bestik left Sydney C.B. in the slow, eastbound North Atlantic Convoy SC 46* on Sept. 24-1941 (cargo of sulphur, station 73), but returned to Sydney with boiler trouble the following day, then left again on Sept. 29 for Manchester, with arrival destination on Oct. 22, Convoy SC 47*. Alaska, Bonde, Bruse Jarl, Fidelio, Gezina, Loke, Senta and Solsten are also named in SC 46, while Berto, Danio, Don, Fido, Heimgar, Ingertre, Marit II, Petter II (returned), Spes, Veni and Victo are listed in SC 47. Eglantine was among the escorts for the latter convoy for a while (see SC convoy escorts). Bestik subsequently returned with the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 35, which left Liverpool on Nov. 9. She had station 24, and was bound for Sydney, C.B. There's a note in the Commodore's narrative for this voyage stating that Bestik broke down with engine trouble on Nov. 20, and was still absent from the convoy on Nov. 23. According to A. Hague, she arrived St. John's, N.F. with weather damage. Page 2 gives her arrival St. John's as Nov. 26, and as can be seen, she remained there for a long time; departure is given as July 28-1942, when she proceeded to Sydney, C.B., later making voyages to Montreal (where she also stayed for quite a while) and Rimouski.

In Sept.-1942 we find her in station 14 of Convoy SC 102*, which had originated in New York on Sept. 19, but Bestik, carrying a cargo of lumber and steel, joined from Sydney, C.B., arriving Liverpool Oct. 6. Her voyages in this period are shown on Page 3. She had again been in the company of several other Norwegian ships, namely Aragon, Aun, Borgfred, Fjordheim, Nea (returned), Norvarg, Orwell, Solitaire (returned) and Solsten. At the end of that month Bestik joined the westbound Convoy ON 142*, leaving Liverpool on Oct. 30. The archive document gives her destination as New York, but it looks like she experienced some problems again, because she arrived Belfast Lough on Oct. 31, later joining Convoy ON 144* from there (originated in Liverpool Nov. 7). Other Norwegian ships in ON 142 were Carmelfjell, Fjordheim, Jenny, Kirsten B (joined from Halifax), Norvarg, Primo (from Halifax), Rio Verde, Sevilla (from Halifax), Solitaire, Temeraire and Vinland, while Bencas (joined from Halifax), Borgfred, Cetus, Ingertre, Minister Wedel, Norlom, Orwell, Suderøy and Titanian are listed in ON 144. Eglantine, Potentilla, Montbretia (sunk, as were several other ships - follow the link for details) and Rose were among the escorts for the latter for a while - see ON convoy escorts. According to the archive document, Bestik arrived New York on Nov. 29, proceeding to Newhaven, Conn. on Dec. 6, remaining there for almost a month before returning to New York.

With a cargo of steel and lumber, she's later listed in station 71 of Convoy SC 118* from New York, together with Annik, Cetus, Daghild (sunk, along with several others - follow link for details), Glarona, Grey County, Maud, Norbryn, Petter II and Sommerstad. This convoy left New York on Jan. 24-1943 and arrived Liverpool on Febr. 12; Bestik stopped at Clyde on the 11th. She joined the westbound Convoy ON 169 later that month (Liverpool-New York, Febr. 22-March 21 - Commodore in Geisha), but put into Reykjavik with weather damage on March 3, later joining the first convoy in the ONS series, Convoy ONS 1*, which had sailed from Liverpool on March 15; Bestik joined from Iceland on March 20 and arrived Halifax Apr. 4 (Page 3). Cetus, Gausdal, Grado, Grey County, Mathilda, and Petter II (Vice Commodore ) are also listed in this convoy, and Eglantine, Potentilla and Rose are again named among the escorts (see ONS convoy escorts). Bestik did not leave Halifax until May 26, when she joined Convoy SC 132, arriving Loch Ewe on June 11, cargo of steel and pulp. According to the archive document, her destination was London. She arrived Gravesend on June 16, and again had a long stay in port.

Her next Trans-Atlantic voyage was made with Convoy ONS 14*, which originated in Liverpool on July 26-1943, and which also had Acasta, Boreas, Karmt, Marie Bakke, Norhauk, Snar, Solstad and Tercero in its ranks. Bestik arrived Halifax on Aug. 9, having started out from Oban July 27. She now made voyages to Douglastown, N.B. and Chatham, N.B. (Page 3), then returned to Halifax in order to join Convoy SC 141 on Sept. 3, cargo of steel and lumber for Ipswich, arriving there (via Loch Ewe and Methil Roads) on Sept. 21. The following month she joined the westbound Convoy ONS 20* (originated in Liverpool Oct. 9, arrived Halifax Oct. 26), together with Arosa, Cetus, Elg, Iron Baron, Snar, Solstad, Tercero, Tropic Star and Vinland. Bestik joined from Loch Ewe and arrived St. John, N.B. on Oct. 27, continuing to Hantsport on Nov. 3, later returning to St. John, N.B., then on to Halifax, where she joined Convoy SC 147 back to the U.K. on Nov. 19, cargo of wood pulp for London. She arrived Gravesend, via various other ports, on Dec. 9 - see Page 4 (it'll also be noticed, that she had quite a long stay in Hull at the end of that year).

At the beginning of the new year she's listed in Convoy OS 66/KMS 40, voyaging from Oban to Lisbon with coal. This convoy started out in Liverpool on Jan. 24-1944 and split up Febr. 5, the Gibraltar bound ships arriving there on Febr. 7, while the OS convoy continued to Freetown, with arrival Febr. 15. Elg, Novasli (returned) and Rena (Commodore Vessel) are also listed. Bestik was in the KMS section*, and arrived Lisbon on Febr. 6, according to the archive document, having detached from the convoy that day to proceed to her destination. She later returned to the U.K. with Convoy SL 150/MKS 41, joining with the MKS* portion from Gibraltar on March 3, cargo of iron ore, voyage Aquilas-Loch Ewe (again, see Page 4). Elg is again listed, as are Norvarg, Olaf Bergh and Ragnhild. Bestik arrived Loch Ewe on March 14, continuing to Middlesbrough and Immingham. The following month she joined Convoy OS 73/KMS 47*, together with Lago and Rutenfjell. This convoy departed Liverpool on Apr. 3; her voyage information is given as Oban-Tunis with coal in station 61, and she arrived Tunis Apr. 21 (KMS convoy*), having sailed from Oban Apr. 4.

Together with Rutenfjell, she returned to the U.K. in May with Convoy SL 158/MKS 49. Bestik (MKS portion*) had a cargo of pyrites and arrived Loch Ewe on June 4, continuing to Grangemouth the next day, where she remained for about a month (Page 5). In July she can be found going in the other direction again (along with Astrid and Novasli) in Convoy OS 83/KMS 57*, which originated in Liverpool on July 12 and split up July 23, the Gibraltar portion, in which Bestik sailed, arriving there on July 25, while the OS convoy arrived Freetown on Aug. 3. Bestik was bound for Tunis again, where she arrived on July 29, cargo of coke and coal. Her subsequent voyages can be found on the archive document referred to above. Later that year we find her in Convoy SL 173/MKS 64. The SL portion of this convoy (in which the Norwegian Arosa took part) had departed Freetown on Oct. 9-1944, but Bestik, on a voyage from Huelva to Ipswich with a cargo of pyrites, joined with the MKS portion* from Gibraltar on the 19th, taking up station 104 of the combined convoy, which arrived Liverpool on Oct. 28; Bestik arrived Ipswich on Nov. 1.

According to Arnold Hague, she was involved in a collision on Nov. 22, when in Convoy EBF 43 to Milford Haven (external link - Kolsdal, Leka, Sjofna and Thordis are also listed), but the name of the colliding ship is not given and no further details are available. She arrived Milford Haven on Nov. 23 (Page 5), subsequently joining Convoy OS 96/KMS 70*, cargo of pitch and coal, voyage Milford-Huelva in station 13 of the convoy, which originated in Liverpool on Nov. 23 and also included Alaska and Troubadour. Bestik sailed from Milford Haven on Nov. 24 and arrived Huelva on Dec. 3 - see Page 6. With a cargo of pyrites, she returned to the U.K. again with Convoy MKS 71*, which left Gibraltar on Dec. 16 and arrived Liverpool on Christmas Eve.

Bestik encountered a storm and witnessed the British Ashbury running into the cliffs near Black Rocks, Talmine Skerries on Jan. 8-1945 with the loss of all on board - both ships were in Convoy WN 667 at the time (external link - If you read Norwegian, Captain Eidbo-Hansen writes about it in this pdf file, also external link). Bestik managed to drop both anchors and rode the storm for 36 hours, then continued to Methil (via Kirkwall). It'll be noticed, when going back to Page 6, that she later spent a long time in Blyth, where she had arrived from Methil Roads on Jan. 20. Departure is given as March 25 - the reason for this long stay is not known. About a week later, she made a voyage to Gibraltar with coal in Convoy OS 120/KMS 94*, which originated in Liverpool on Apr. 2. She arrived Gibraltar on Apr. 11, continuing to Augusta that same day. With a cargo of iron ore, she headed back to the U.K. on May 20 with Convoy MKS 102* from Gibraltar. Ragnhild and Tai Yin are also listed.

More details on all the OS/KMS convoys and SL/MKS convoys mentioned here can be found via the external links provided within the Voyage Record above.

Her subsequent voyages are listed on Page 6 and Page 7. As can be seen, she made several voyages to Norway, the first one already in July-1945; in fact, it looks like Christmas was celebrated there that year.

* The entire SC series will be updated and completed, including the already existing convoys (some have already been updated) - see ships in all SC convoys. The ON and ONS convoys will also be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course, with more information on each. In the meantime, the ships sailing in them (and escorts) are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys and ships in all ONS convoys. Additionally, the KMS and MKS convoys will be added, see ships in all KMS convoys and ships in all MKS convoys.

More information on the other Norwegian ships named on this page can be found with the help of the alphabet index below, or go to the Master Ship Index.

Back to Bestik on the "Ships starting with B" page.

Norway had previously had another ship by this name, laid down as War Valour, completed as Lake Tulare 1918. Sold in 1923 to Skibs A/S Manitowoc, Oslo and renamed Bestik. Became Hai Hsiang of Shanghai in 1934, bombed and sunk in China 1941, scrapped 1946.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan, and misc.

Aa–Al	An–Ar	As–Av	Ba	Be	Bi–Bl	Bo	Br–Bu	C	D
E	F	G	Ha	He	Hi–Hy	Hø	I	J	K
L	M	N	O	PQ	R	Sa–Sc	Se–Sj	Sk–Sn	So
Sp–St	Su–Sø	Ta–Te	Th–Ti	To	Tr–Tø	U	V	W	Ø

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