Shetland bus boats facts for kids
The Shetland Bus was a secret group that helped people and supplies travel between Shetland, Scotland, and German-occupied Norway during World War II. From mid-1941 until the war ended, they used many ships, mostly Norwegian fishing boats, to make these dangerous trips.
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Why the Shetland Bus Started
Germany invaded Norway on April 9, 1940. Even though Norwegians and the British tried to stop them, Germany controlled most of Norway by May. This made many Norwegians want to escape. They sailed across the sea to the Orkney and Shetland Islands.
Just a few weeks after the invasion, many fishing boats started arriving in Shetland. These boats often made several trips across the North Sea, carrying people who were escaping. Most of the boats later used for the "Shetland Bus" were about 15 to 21 meters long. They had two masts and a special engine that made a 'tonk-tonk' sound. These engines were unusual, and spare parts were hard to find in Britain. But the Resistance Movement in Norway helped! Workers at Norway's largest engine factory, which was under German control, secretly smuggled out the needed parts. These parts were then sent to Shetland on the next "Bus" boat.
The boats came in different shapes. Some were "Hardanger Cutters" from the Bergen area, and others were "Møre Cutters" from around Ålesund. The "Møre Cutters" were stronger and better for the rough weather in the North Sea. Most of their trips happened in the dark winter months, often during storms and big waves.
Secret Weapons and Safer Journeys
The crews of these boats tried to avoid enemy ships. But they also secretly armed their boats. Two clever people, David Armine Howarth and Per Blystad, invented ways to hide weapons. One idea was a concrete-lined oil drum on the deck. When the lid was lifted, two machine guns popped up, ready to fire! A metal shield also came up to protect the gunner. Oil drums looked normal on a fishing boat. Once, a British Navy ship inspected a "Bus" boat and took all its visible weapons, but they never found the hidden machine guns!
Other machine guns were hidden in the net room at the back of the boat. They could be folded down to stay just above the edge of the boat, making them easy to hide with a fishing net. A similar setup was at the front, covered by a tarp. In the end, all "Bus" boats carried seven or eight hidden machine guns. This helped them protect themselves from enemy aircraft.
In October 1943, three American submarine chasers arrived: HNoMS Hitra, Vigra, and Hessa. These faster, stronger ships made the trips across the North Sea much safer. They completed over 100 crossings without losing any ships or crew members. The only damage was when the Hessa was accidentally attacked by an Allied plane.
Boats of the Shetland Bus
Many different boats were part of the Shetland Bus operation. Here are a few of their stories:
M/B Aksel (M40G)
The Aksel was 20 meters long and was the first "Shetland Bus" boat. It arrived in Shetland on May 5, 1941, with 20 people escaping Norway. The Aksel made its first official "Shetland Bus" trip on August 30, 1941. It made several more journeys to Norway with different captains.
On December 8, 1942, the Aksel sent out an SOS signal far north of Shetland. A search plane and a fast boat were sent to find it. The next day, the plane found the crew in a lifeboat, with the Aksel almost sunk nearby. The sea was too rough for the plane to land, and the fast boat had to turn back. The six crew members were never found.
M/K Heland (M5V)
The Heland was 18 meters long and built in 1937. On its first trip in November 1941, it carried two secret agents to Norway. It sailed through a big storm that sank another boat, but the Heland made it safely back to Norway with supplies for other agents.
In January 1942, it carried more agents. On February 27, 1942, the Heland arrived in Lunna with 23 people escaping Norway. The captain, Sevrin Roald, even brought his wife, Inga. They both later worked for the "Shetland Bus" on land in Scalloway.
The Heland made many trips to Norway as a "Shetland Bus" boat. It had many close calls but always returned safely. When the submarine chasers arrived in 1943, the Heland became a backup boat. It then made transport trips to Scotland. After the war, the Heland became a fishing boat again. In 1971, it was given to the Sunnmøre Museum. Today, the Heland is kept as an example of the fishing boats used in the "Shetland Bus" fleet.
M/B Vita (H95B)
The Vita was built in 1939 and had a 40-horsepower engine. It arrived in Shetland on May 9, 1940, with six Norwegians escaping. The Vita started as a "Bus" boat even before the "Shetland Bus" was officially formed. Its first trip to Norway was on December 22, 1940. Its captain for most missions was Ingvald Johansen.
In May 1941, the Vita rescued 12 people from another boat that had broken down off the Norwegian coast. In September 1941, the Vita made a long trip of about 1,667 kilometers to North Trøndelag.
Captain Johansen sometimes broke the rules. Once, he sent a letter from Norway to his fiancée. He told her when and where he would return and asked her to meet him and come to Shetland. She got the letter, met him, and came along! They got married in Shetland, and Johansen was not punished.
The Vita made seven successful trips to Norway. But on its last trip, on September 22, 1941, it went to Rekøy to pick up more people. A traitor told the Germans about the plan. The Vita was captured, and the crew was arrested. The crew spent the rest of the war in prison. The Germans used the Vita as a watch boat. After the war, it became a fishing boat again. In 1990, it was given to a maritime museum in Trondheim. It is now being restored.
M/B Olaf (M73V)
The Olaf was 16 meters long. Its owners agreed to use it to transport people escaping Norway. It arrived in Lerwick on September 30, 1941, with 17 people. The Olaf then joined the "Shetland Bus" operation. Per Blystad became its captain. In the winter of 1942, the Olaf made five trips to Norway, carrying agents and supplies, and bringing back people escaping.
On April 17, 1942, the Olaf went to Telavåg with two secret agents. The Germans discovered these agents, which led to the terrible "Telavåg Tragedy." In revenge for the deaths of two German officers, the Germans jailed or sent everyone from Telavåg to concentration camps and burned all their houses.
The Olaf was attacked and damaged by German planes several times but always managed to return to Shetland. The worst damage happened on May 12, 1942. The Olaf was searching for four crew members from another wrecked boat when it was attacked five times by a German bomber. The boat was badly damaged, and some crew members were hurt. One of them later died from his wounds. The Olaf made no more journeys. After the war, it was returned to its owners, who sold it in 1948.
Boats Lost During the Shetland Bus Operations
Many brave people and boats were lost during the Shetland Bus operations. Here are some of the boats that did not return:
- M/S Vita (H95B), September 1941: Captured by Germans in Rekøy, Norway. Crew arrested.
- M/K Blia (H197S), November 14, 1941: Disappeared in a storm on its way from Norway to Shetland. All seven crew members and 35 Norwegian refugees were lost.
- M/K Arthur (M192B), October 1942: Sunk on purpose in the Trondheimsfjord after a failed mission to attack the German battleship Tirpitz. The crew escaped to Sweden.
- M/K Aksel (M40G), December 8, 1942: Sunk in the North Sea on its way back to Shetland. All six men lost their lives.
- M/B Sandøy, December 10, 1942: Attacked by German planes and sunk. Seven men were lost.
- M/B Feiøy (H10AM), January 1943: Disappeared on its way to Norway. Eight men were lost.
- M/K Bergholm, March 23, 1943: Attacked by German planes and sunk. One man was killed. The rest of the crew reached Norway and later returned to Shetland.
- M/K Brattholm (M172HØ), March 30, 1943: Attacked by a German torpedo boat. Only one person, Jan Baalsrud, survived out of eight crew and four agents. The others were killed or captured, tortured, and shot.
These were the ten "Shetland Bus" boats lost from the main base in Scalloway. Some boats also started from a base in Peterhead, and some of them were lost too.
M/B Frøya (M32G)
The Frøya was a new 21-meter "Møre cutter." In April 1942, it was sent on a special mission to North Norway. Off the coast, a German plane bombed the Frøya, and it began to sink. The crew had a small lifeboat, only 3.7 meters long. Only five men could get in. The others made a raft from empty oil barrels, and the captain joined them on the raft.
The five men in the lifeboat soon lost all their food and water in the rough sea. They tried to sail towards Shetland. After several days, with no food and only rainwater to drink, they saw Muckle Flugga. Soon after, a ship rescued them. They told the rescuers about the four men on the raft. Ships and planes were sent to search.
Two men from the lifeboat were very sick and went to the hospital. The other three went to a refugee camp. After resting, these three men went out with the Olaf to help search for the raft. They were attacked again by German planes and barely made it back. One of these three men later died from his wounds.
Everyone thought the four men on the raft were lost. But after the war, it was discovered that they had all survived! After drifting for 12 days in the rough North Sea, a German plane spotted them and rescued them. They pretended to be ordinary shipwrecked fishermen. They were sent to a German prisoner-of-war (POW) camp, where they stayed until the war ended.
M/B Streif (H261B)
The Streif was sent on a mission to Norway with an agent and supplies. The crew was from another boat that had engine trouble. They left without a navigator because he was sick. The trip to Norway went well. But on their way back, the engine stopped, and they started drifting. After a few days, they got the engine working again, but they didn't know where they were. One day, they saw a British plane and flashed a signal. The plane turned east, and they thought they were west of Shetland, so they steered south towards Peterhead.
After some time, they ran aground on a sandbank. They realized they had reached the coast of the Netherlands, which was occupied by Germans. They quickly got rid of their weapons and other suspicious items before the Germans arrived. They told a story about escaping from the British who wanted their boat. The Germans believed them, and they were sent to a regular POW camp. If they hadn't been believed, they would have been executed. By chance, they met the crew from the Frøya raft in the camp and stayed with them until the war ended.
The Streif stayed in the Netherlands. The owner's son later received letters asking about the engine, even long after the war.
M/B Bodø
The fishing vessel Bodø left Peterhead for South Norway on January 1, 1943, carrying commandos for a secret mission. On its return, the Bodø hit a mine near the Scottish coast, and the entire crew was lost. One of the crew, Olaf Skarpenes, has his name on the monument in Scalloway.
Images for kids
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Malakoff & Moore's Slip in Scalloway, Shetland. This place was important for the Shetland Bus operations. Today, it helps fishing boats and salmon farm ships.
