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M/T Buesten To Buesten on the "Ships starting with B" page.
See also this external site for another picture, as well as some more technical details on the ship. Owner: Tønsbergs Rederi-A/S Built by Barclay Curle & Co., Glasgow (616) in 1927. Captain: Otto Arnfred Farstad. Related items on this website:
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database). Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each. Errors may exist, and some voyages are missing. Compare Arnold Hague's info with these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Buesten is listed in Convoy OG 17* in Febr,-1940. As mentioned in the above table, this was a combination of Convoy OB 85 and OA 85, which formed OG 17 at sea on Febr. 6. I'm not sure whether Buesten had started out from the U.K. alone, or whether she had been part of the OA convoy or the OB convoy. Her destination was Constanza, where she arrived independently, but arrival date is not given. She headed back to the U.K. with Convoy HGF 22 from Gibraltar on March 9, arriving Liverpool on March 18. At the end of that month she shows up, together with the Norwegian Belinda, in Convoy OB 119, departing Liverpool on March 29. Her destination is given as Constanza again, station 52, but it looks like she headed to Milford Haven, later joining the next convoy from there a few days later, OB 120. This convoy also joined up with an OA convoy of the same number, forming the Gibraltar bound Convoy OG 24* on Apr. 3. Her destination is again given as Constanza, but a French visitor to my website has told me that she was seized off Algiers by French patrol boats on Apr. 10 (the day after the German invasion of Norway), and ordered to Oran, where she arrived on Apr. 11. Later released. (The external website that I've linked to within the above table has more on the OB and OA convoys; as will be seen, the Norwegian Augvald is also included in OB 120). The following month we find her in station 44 of the Gibraltar-U.K. Convoy HG 29, which left Gibraltar on May 7 and arrived Liverpool on the 17th. Buesten, however, was bound for Swansea and left the convoy for her destination on May 15. The Norwegian Katy and Finnanger are also listed. At the end of that month she shows up in Convoy OB 158, departing Liverpool on May 30-1940. This convoy joined up with Convoy OA 158 on June 2, forming the Gibraltar bound convoy OG 32F*, which arrived there on June 7. However, Buesten, in station 56, was bound for Aruba, where she arrived independently on June 20, having detached from the convoy on June 5. The Norwegian Abraham Lincoln, Kosmos II and Thorshavn are also included. Buesten headed back to the U.K. again in Convoy HX 54, which originated in Halifax on June 29, but Buesten joined with the Bermuda section on July 3, having left Bermuda on June 28. (The Norwegian Janna was also intended for this convoy, but could not find it and was torpedoed and sunk on July 11). Towards the end of Aug. that year Buesten is listed in Convoy HX 69, which also had a number of other Norwegian ships, as will be seen when following the link. Buesten, bound for Clyde with benzine, joined the convoy from Bermuda again and arrived Clyde on Sept. 11. Together with Abraham Lincoln and Harpefjell, she subsequently joined Convoy OB 219, originating in Liverpool on Sept. 25-1940, dispersed on the 30th; Buesten's destination is given as New Orleans on that occasion. She was scheduled to return to the U.K. with the Bermuda portion of Convoy HX 85 the following month (having previously made an independent voyage from Baton Rouge to Bermuda), but did not sail. There's a note in my document for this convoy indicating that she was to sail in the next convoy, HX 86. The Bermuda portion left on Nov. 3-1940, but returned on Nov. 5, however, Buesten failed to return when the convoy was ordered to do so. She's said to have arrived Oban on Nov. 21, so it looks like she made this voyage independently. At the end of Jan.-1941 we find her in Convoy OB 279, which originated in Liverpool on Jan. 28, dispersed Febr. 2, Buesten arriving Galveston independently on Febr. 25. Other Norwegian ships in this convoy were Beduin, Kristianiafjord, Madrono, and President de Vogue (A. Hague has also included Norefjord and Solsten). Braganza and Sandar were also scheduled, but did not sail.
In Baytown, Texas Buesten had loaded a cargo of kerosene in the forward tanks, benzine in the aft tanks on March 1-1941, about 7200 tons in all. According to A. Hague, she then made an independent voyage from Baytown to Bermuda (March 2-March 11), then on to Halifax from there, arriving Halifax on March 15. She subsequently joined Convoy HX 115, which departed Halifax for the U.K. on March 17. She stopped briefly at Belfast on Apr. 2, joining Convoy BB 3 the next day, and arrived Plymouth on Apr. 7, having detached from the BB convoy on Apr. 5. In the evening of April 9-1941 she's said to have been in a coastal convoy from Dartmouth for Southampton when the convoy was attacked by German He 111 aircraft (see also D/S Bjørnvik), but A. Hague states she was on an independent voyage at the time, having left Plymouth that same day. Note that Page 2 of the documents received from the Norwegian archives states that she had gone from Plymouth to Dartmouth that day, leaving Dartmouth again the same day. Buesten defended herself with her 4 machine guns, and the aircraft attacking her with gun fire as well as bombs had no hits. She was attacked several times and when 5 naut. miles off Berry Head a bomb eventually hit in the after deck, immediately setting her on fire (51 21 07N 03 24 11W). 19 Norwegians, 1 Danish, 1 Maltese and 7 British died on the after deck which was quickly engulfed in flames. In spite of the flames starting to reach the boat deck, 7 were able to get the motor lifeboat amidships launched and away from the ship and the burning sea around it. They were picked up by the escort an hour later and taken to Dartmouth the next morning. The steward and the 2nd mate were injured, but not seriously. Captain Farstad, who survived this attack, was killed just a week later during an air attack on London on Apr. 16. He's buried in London (Norwegian Cemetery). The maritime hearings were held in London on Apr. 19-1941 with the 1st mate, the 2nd mate, the 3rd mate and Ordinary Seaman R. Bjerke appearing. As mentioned, the captain had lost his life only 3 days before. A visitor to my website has sent me some information from "Shipwreck Index of the British Isles" and "Dive South Devon" saying that the Heinkel 111's attacked with bombs, but heavy anti-aircraft fire by 5 British gunners made them miss, so they used 7.92mm machine gun and 20mm cannon fire which set off the explosion. (The wreck was shelled and sunk the next day, according to "Nortraships flåte").
Related external link: Back to Buesten on the "Ships starting with B" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum), and misc. others for cross checking info. - ref My sources.
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