D/S Hestmanden
(still exists - see pics below and Post War details at the end of this page - Hestmanden also has her own Facebook page; external link - you need to be logged in at Facebook to see the page).

Updated Oct. 20-2011

To Hestmanden on the "Ships starting with H" page.

Post war picture, when named Vegafjord - see Post War below.
Courtesy of the webmaster for Riversea International (which now appears to have ben taken down)
Another picture is available on this external page (click in it to make it larger).

And here she is today, completely restored!

Both pics received from Finn Thorsen.

Misc. WW II:

Hestmanden was requisitioned by the Norwegian Navy in Apr.-1940 for use as military transport. Returned to Vesteraalens D/S a month later, and placed in service with coal to Svalbard. Escaped from Norway to Thorshavn on June 7-1940, arriving June 12 (my page about D/S Finmarken has background history on this event) and was mostly in service around the U.K. during the war. Page 1 shows the rest of her 1940 movements - her 1941 voyages also start on this document. Convoy information can be found in the Voyage Record above.

She had a crew of 19 and 2 gunners. Captain Jentoft, who had taken the ship over to Thorshavn in 1940, was on board for most of the war but became ill and died in Glasgow in 1944. The boatswain on board, Bendik Kristiansen, also deserves a special mention. He had joined the ship in 1914, and served on her for over 30 years altogether, until Hestmanden returned to Norway in June-1945.

In the summer of 1941, she's listed in Convoy OB 347, which originated in Liverpool on July 16 and also included Akabahra, Astra, Balduin, Bjørkhaug, Fido, Gudrun, Leka, Marga, Maridal, Orania, Siak, Spes and Sveve (see link provided within the table above). Hestmanden sailed from Milford Haven on July 15 and arrived Reykjavik on July 31. From there, she later joined the eastbound North Atlantic Convoy SC 41 in order to return to the U.K. This convoy had started out in Sydney, C.B. on Aug. 24 and arrived Liverpool Sept. 11; according to Page 2 of the archive documents, Hestmanden left Reykjavik on Sept. 5 and arrived Clyde on the 12th. Tis convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section, but for now, the ships sailing in it are named in the section listing ships in all SC convoys. In addition to Hestmanden, the following Norwegian ships also joined SC 41 from Iceland: Audun, Heien, Hildur I, Lom and Nesttun. Also in this convoy were Einvik (sunk - follow link for more info), Akabahra, Astra, Balduin, Blink, Carrier (returned), Evviva, Fagersten, Fanefjeld, Grado, Gudrun, Heien, Ledaal, Leka, Marga, Orania (returned), Reiaas, Siak and Spes.

Hestmanden is said to have "collided" with a German bomber in the Bristol Channel at some point during the war - date not known. The aircraft crashed in the sea, while Hestmanden's only damage was a broken mast.

As mentioned above, she got to go home to Norway already in June-1945, arriving Oslo on June 27 - see Page 11.

POST WAR:

Served as transport in connection with the rebuilding of Finnmark until 1951 (having been rebuilt at Akers mek. Verksted in the summer of 1946, at which time she was converted from coal to oil fuelling. New cabins were also installed). Sold in 1955 to Høvding Skipsopphugging, Sandnessjøe (breakers), renamed Vegafjord and used as salvage vessel, Høvding having purchased the rights to German wrecks/cargoes. She was later laid up near Sandnessjøen. In the fall of 1979, she was taken over by Norsk Veteranskipsklubb, and was later towed to Trondheim, where restauration work was begun in 1982. 10 years later, she was moved to Kristiansand, where Agder Krigsseilerforening initiated a new restauration project in 1995, which commenced the following year at Bredalsholmen Dokk og Fartøyvernsenter, Kristiansand, financed by a grant from the Government, as a memorial to the contribution of the Norwegian Merchant Fleet and seamen during the two world wars. She now has the name Hestmanden again, and is the last remaining ship from Nortraship's fleet. The plan is to turn her into a floating museum about seamen's struggles. Completion was planned for 2008, but the project came to a stand-still for quite a while, due to lack of finances. (I had the privilege of being taken on a tour of the ship when I visited Kristiansand in the fall of 2007). Finally, on Sept. 23-2011 she was officially re-launched. As mentioned at the top of this page, Hestmanden has her own Facebook page (external link - works only if you're logged in at Facebook).

Below are pictures of what Hestmanden looked like while being worked on, taken by Finn Thorsen. Pictures of the completed ship have been posted at the top of this page.

Related external links:
Picture of Hestmanden on the website of Norsk Veteranskibsklub (Norwegian Veteran Ships Club), which rescued the ship from being broken up in 1981. The website also has several pictures of other Norwegian coastal ships, as well as the Tirpitz and other foreign ships. There now appears to be a new website for this Veteran's club.

Here's a list of links to websites about other old, restored vessels (text is in Norwegian on all of them):
Veteranbåtar (Veteran Ships). The main page is Norhordland Veteranbåtlag.

Back to Hestmanden on the "Ships starting with H" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Skip og menn", Birger Dannevig - and misc. other.