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D/S Bestum To Bestum on the "Ships starting with B" page. Owner: Skibs-A/S Grøm Built by Dominion Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Toronto in 1919. Previous name: Hessa until 1934. Captain: Bardon Christophersen Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives: Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database). Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each. Where the "Convoy" column is left blank, it means that convoy is not known. It'll be noticed that some of the listings are incomplete. (The links in bold text in the "Convoy" column go to convoys that are available on my own website). Errors may exist, and several voyages are missing.
Judging from the information found on Page 1 of the archive documents, Bestum was on her way from Philadelphia to Cienfuegos when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940. It'll also be noticed that she spent quite a long time in Philadelphia later that spring. As can be seen, she made a voyage from Halifax to Liverpool in July that year. I have no convoy information for this voyage, perhaps she had sailed independently? She subsequently had a long stay in Garston. Together with the Norwegian Evanger, Olaf Fostenes, Solhavn and Thorøy, she's later listed in Convoy OB 205, which left Liverpool on Aug. 29 and dispersed on the 30th (this convoy lost several ships - ref. link at the end of this page. See also Olaf Fostenes, which rescued survivors from one of the torpedoed ships). Bestum arrived Glasgow that same day, then travelled to Iceland a few days later - see the external convoy links provided within the Voyage Record above. A. Hague gives her arrival Reykjavik as Sept. 9, while the archive document says she arrived on the 14th. From there, she's said to have made a voyage to Sydney, C.B. the following month, but again, no convoy is given. She arrived Sydney, C.B. on Oct. 31, having sailed from Reykjavik on Oct. 10, according to the archive document, while A. Hague gives departure as Oct. 23. She was scheduled to return with the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 13 on Nov. 22, but instead joined the next convoy on Nov. 30, SC 14, cargo of lumber for London. She arrived Clyde on Dec. 15, remaining in that area for quite a while. Her 1941 voyages also start on Page 1 (showing a long stay at Tyne, or Shields, early that year). As can be seen, she made another voyage across the Atlantic (from Reykjavik) in Apr.-1941, but again, convoy is not known. At the beginning of June we find her, again with a cargo of lumber for London, in Convoy SC 33 back to the U.K., and in July she joined the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 1, which originated in Liverpool on July 26. Her destination is given as Lewisport, where she arrived independently on Aug. 10, the convoy having been dispersed the day before. Her voyages in this period are shown on Page 2. She returned at the end of that month with Convoy SC 42, which lost several ships. Bestum, with a cargo of pulp wood, became a straggler but made it safely to Iceland on her own, arriving Reykjavik Sept. 14. This convoy originated in Sydney, C.B. on Aug. 30, but Bestum had started out from St. John's, N.F. on Aug. 31. Please follow the link to my page about SC 42 for some details on this battle and the names of ships sunk. See also the external link at the end of this page for more information.
Bestum had left Tyne on Nov. 19-1941 with 3160 tons of coal for London in convoy (A. Hague has included her in Convoy FS 651 - external link, incomplete listing. Brisk, Cresco and Reiaas are also named). In the afternoon of the 21st she ran aground near Shipwash in foggy weather. A drifter attempted to refloat her in the early morning hours of the following day but without success. At 07:30, the tug Kenia (salvage vessel stationed at Harwich) arrived on the scene and managed to refloat her that afternoon. By then the rest of the convoy had continued on, so Bestum was ordered to proceed to Harwich, following behind the drifter which had remained close by. That afternoon, when just outside Harwich, a pilot came on board and a few minutes later she was attacked by a German Do 217 aircraft from KG 2, dropping 5 bombs from the port side. The 1st bomb appears to have exploded alongside her on the port side, the 2nd passed through the port side and ended up in the coal cargo in No. 2 hold without exploding (it was later removed by a Naval disposal party). The 3rd bomb struck the deck between the forward part of the bridge and No. 2 hatch, then skid across the deck and out through the deck rising plate on the starboard side before it exploded on the outside. The 4th bomb hit the starboard side of the navigation bridge and went out between the bridge and the bridge deck, falling close by the captain who fell through the hole in the deck and injured his foot. The 5th bomb was a near miss on the starboard side. She had a crew of 25 at the time, including 4 British gunners, no casualties. Bestum eventually grounded on the southern end of the Cork Spit about 3 miles from Harwich. The crew were brought ashore in the pilot boat and most of them continued to London, except for the 1st mate, the chief engineer and the steward. After about a week she was refloated again and towed to Harwich for repairs. See also Page 2, which says she later arrived Southend on Dec. 12 in tow of a tug. Some of her 1942 voyages are also listed on this document, with more on Page 3 and Page 4 (showing another long stay at Tyne, or North Shields, that spring). Convoy information can be found in A. Hague's Voyage Record above. In. Aug.-1942, she was scheduled for Convoy RU 35 from Reykjavik to the U.K., but instead joined the next convoy a week later, RU 36, cargo of herring meal for London. Her 1943 voyages start on Page 5 and continue on Page 6 (she had a long stay in Sunderland that spring). In July-1943 I have her in Convoy RU 82 from Reykjavik, bound for Garston with stores, arriving there on July 24. The rest of her voyages are listed on the various archive documents (which show occasional long stays in port), with some convoy information in the above Voyage Record. It'll be noticed, when going to Page 9, that she spent a long time in Hull, where she had arrived from Southend on Oct. 17-1944. Departure is given as May 24-1945, when she proceeded to London. The reason for this long stay is unknown. From Page 10, we learn that she got to go home to Norway in Aug.-1945, making several more voyages home before that year was over, and again early in 1946.
According to this external page, she was managed from 1952 by Otto Chr. Bøhme, Oslo (still owned by Skibs A/S Grøm), same name. From 1955, sailed as San Pedro for Panajotis Vrangos, Panama. From 1956, Cia.Transmediterranea de Nav. S.A., Panama, no name change. Sold in 1960 to Yugoslavia for breaking up by Brodospas, Split, commencing May 9-1960. Related external links: S/S Bestum - Some technical data (Darren Dypevåg). Back to Bestum on the "Ships starting with B" page. Other ships by this name: The company had previously had another Bestum. This was originally the Den of Airlie (Dundee), built in Glasgow 1895, 3520 gt - whale factory. Named Vasca da Gama 1911-1915 (Chr. Nielsen & Co., Larvik), Samnanger 1915-1916 (H. Westfal-Larsen, Bergen). In 1916-1917 she sailed as Bestum for K. Th. Einersen, Kristiania. Sunk by shelling from a German U-boat on Aug. 12-1917, voyage Baltimore-London with flour and grain. ("Damp - Dampskipets æra i Vestfold"). Another Bestum was originally laid down as War Raven 1917, then renamed Lake Lillian - became Norwegian Bestum in 1923, Chinese Hai Jui in 1934. Sunk in Shanghai Dec. 8-1941, during the Japanese invasion. The website Historical Collections of the Great Lakes has quite a bit of information on this ship - type "Bestum" in the search field for 'vessel', then on the page that comes up, click in the little box with the item number for Lake Lillian. A click in the picture thumbnail will bring up a larger photo. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I, and misc. other as named within the above narrative - ref My sources.
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