PUBLISHED JUNE 8, 2025 ·

The Liberation Convoy retraces Arnefjord’s heroic World War II voyage

DON PUGNETTI JR.
Gig Harbor, Wash.

By all rights, the 48-foot Norwegian boat should never have made it across the North Sea when a storm turned violent. Built to transport local people and supplies around fjords, it was not designed for the often-turbulent open ocean. But after a two-and-a-half-day, 200- mile struggle, the vessel made it safely to the Shetland Islands in September 1941 carrying 20 refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Norway.

Eighty-three years later, the same boat, Arnefjord, recreated that harrowing journey last month from Bergen, Norway, to Lerwick, Shetland, as part of a flotilla of historic ships and boats to commemorate Victory in Europe Day.

The Liberation Convoy left Bergen Harbor on May 5 with five historic vessels that included the only remaining Norwegian cargo ship in service for the allies during World War II and smaller fishing boats that were part of the famed Shetland Bus. The convoy arrived in Lerwick a day-and-a-half later greeted by cheering crowds waving Norwegian flags.

Organized by the Norwegian War Sailors Museum and the Norwegian-British Chamber of Commerce, the convoy’s sailors participated in three days of celebration leading up to and including VE Day on May 8. The flotilla’s focus was to honor the roughly 4,000 Norwegian merchant sailors lost and nearly 1,900 ships sank mostly by U-boats during the five years that the Nazis held Norway. It also recognized the 42 men and nine boats lost serving the Shetland Bus, a British-organized operation in which a fleet of boats shuttled and smuggled agents, weapons, and supplies into Norway and returned with refugees who had to flee Gestapo pursuit and Nazi persecution.

The trip was particularly meaningful for those aboard Arnefjord. Owner and captain Morten Neset, a retired Bergen ophthalmologist, is the grandson of the boat’s original owner, who sanctioned the near-perilous 1941 journey. Also along was Hugo Eikanger, a retired chief engineer whose father, Magnus, was among the passengers who made the war-time trip.

“This was very exciting and special for me,” Neset said just after the boat docked in Lerwick’s city harbor. “I didn’t visualize that we’d be going to Shetland with the convoy. But we worked day and night to get the boat ready for the privilege.”

As the skipper talked of his vessel’s history, his pride in its 1941 North Sea crossing and service during the war became clear.

His grandfather, Markus Neset, had Arnefjord built in 1917, when Morten’s father was 5. It ferried people, supplies, and mail among the various rural farms and villages along Arnafjord and a stretch of Sognefjord near the community of Vik, on the west coast of Norway.

After Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Norway in 1940, the Kristian Stein underground organization contacted Markus Neset about using the boat to transport Norwegians desperate to leave their home to escape the Nazis. Neset agreed to help and wrote a fake contract leasing his boat for fishing out of Hernar Island southwest of Bergen on the edge of the North Sea. The organization subsequently set up the North Sea trip.

The vessel, which had been renamed Arnafjord 1 to coincide with the fjord’s name change in the 1920s — set out about 10 p.m. on Sept. 27, 1941, with 15 men and five women. Seas had been relatively calm initially. But a storm swept over the North Sea, releasing furious, unconquering waves. I portrayed the horrific voyage in my historical novel A Coat Dyed Black: A Novel of the Norwegian Resistance.

“We were all so seasick,” Magnus Eikanger recalled in my interview with him in Norway in 1984. “People were in the cabin lying on benches and rolling around on the floor. Suitcases and buckets and everything floated back and forth in dirty sea water. The boat pitched and crashed down on the bottom of the waves. When the propeller came out of the water, it had a different pitch. The captain talked of turning back, but he continued on.”

At one point during the storm, a wave knocked the wheelhouse off its foundation. Only an exhaust pipe extending from the engine through the wheelhouse roof kept the structure from being carried away. Crew members also used an anchor chain to help secure it.

The tormented Arnafjord 1 with its sick and exhausted passengers and crew reached the Shetland Islands at the island of Mousa south of Lerwick. Magnus, who knew more English than the others, was sent to a lighthouse to get help. But residents on the island had already spotted the boat and alerted authorities, who escorted it to Lerwick.

“They took very good care of us after we arrived,” Magnus said. “They fed us. I remember one of the women saying, ‘Ah, white bread.’ Under the Germans, we hadn’t tasted that in a while.”

Magnus’ reason for leaving his homeland stemmed from his position as a district sheriff. He was responsible for issuing ration cards to fishing boats, which faced German-imposed limits on fuel they could buy to prevent them from sailing away. The Kristian Stein organization asked Magnus to provide ration cards beyond the limit, allowing boats to make crossings with refugees to Shetland and Scotland. After the Gestapo arrested someone who knew of his activities, he realized he had to flee. Magnus remained in England for most of the war, screening and collecting intelligence information from refugees. Near the end of the war, he returned to Norway as a Norwegian special forces agent.

The resistance organization, named after postal worker Kristian Elias Stein, played a significant role in country’s fight against the Nazis. But just a month after the Arnafjord 1’s voyage, Stein was arrested, send to Germany and later executed. More than 200 of his gang were rounded up and sent to concentration camps in Germany, and the organization collapsed.

“They lacked understanding of the need for clandestine work and the Germans and collaborators soon infiltrated the organization,” said Inge Bjørner Eriksen, historian and co-author of the book Sabotører I Vest about resistance activities in and around Bergen. “Their early work was a bitter lesson, but it galvanized the resistance in Bergen.”

The journey was the Arnafjord 1’s only trip across the North Sea during the war. Recognizing its otherwise limited durability for ocean voyages, the boat remained in the Shetland Islands serving the Shetland Bus transporting troops and supplies within the islands. It also was dubbed “the brigadier’s yacht” when British Army Brigadier William Fraser, who commanded Shetland Islands defense forces, used it to shuttle him to island defenses. The boat returned to Norway after the war.

More than eight decades later, Magnus’ son, Hugo, seized the opportunity to follow his father’s route across the North Sea. “I’ve had much interest in the war’s history and my father’s and family’s activities,” he said. “So, I’m glad I was able to do this. My father was very much on my mind when we were at sea.”

Morten, who bought the Arnefjord in 1990 from an owner outside the family and restored it to its original name, said the boat underwent a complete renovation from 2003 to 2008. A stronger, more secure wheelhouse and complete overhaul of the original engine were among the improvements.

“I’m happy that it’s much stronger now for taking it across the North Sea,” he said.

Morten, who ironically as a doctor performed eye surgery on Magnus in later years, was accompanied by an experienced crew. Besides Hugo, it included Jan Marius Solberg, a former airline pilot versed in navigation; Henning Nese, a boatbuilder who renovated the boat; Georg Johan Nese, an electrician and Henning’s son; and cook Bengt Bjørsvik, a former Norwegian chef now living in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Fortunately, the Liberation Convoy faced much better seas during last month’s voyage than in 1941, but still faced wind-driven, choppy waters. “Most of us got seasick,” Hugo said. “I’ve been at sea my whole career, but even I had to give up a little bit. The crabs in the sea had a good meal.”

The Hestmanden, a cargo ship that served the allies in both world wars and survived World War II Atlantic convoys while so many other cargo ships had sunk, served as the flagship for the Liberation Convoy. Also participating besides Arnefjord were the Heland and Erkna, both of which made multiple war-time voyages between the Shetland Islands and Norway as part of the Shetland Bus, and Andholmen, which had several North Sea crossings operating from a Scotland base of the Norwegian government-in-exile’s military.

The Arnefjord, which made steady progress at about seven knots in the choppy ocean, was the first to arrive just offshore of the Shetland Islands. While waiting for the rest of the convoy, the boat motored to Mousa Island and circumvented it to symbolically recognize it as the initial 1941 landing spot.

After linking with the convoy, the Norwegian ship and boats then were escorted by patrol craft into Lerwick in an orderly procession to the warm greeting. A replica Viking ship also sailed out to meet the group and hand out Scottish beer.

Over the next three days, the visiting crews took part in remembrance ceremonies and pageantry in Lerwick and at Luna and Scalloway. Luna was the original location for the Shetland Bus, which was launched by the Special Operations Executive, a secret British organization formed to carry out espionage and sabotage activities in Norway and other Nazi-occupied countries. The Shetland Bus later moved its operation to Scalloway. Wreaths were laid at memorials to those sailors lost.

“To us Shetlanders, VE Day is always when we think of the brave Norwegian sailors who gave their lives for us all to live in peace,” said Anita Georgeson, owner of Shetland Guided Tours. “It was very emotional to see the historic vessels returning to Shetland to mark the 80th anniversary of this momentous day. The links between Shetland and Norway are still very strong to this day and we will always be grateful for the sacrifice of our neighbors across the sea.”