Hessa and Vigra were sold to private owners. H essa changed hands several times and was finally wrecked on the coast of Sweden. Vigra, the ship that once carried Larsen to pinnacles of glory, suffered the humiliation of working as a sand barge until, in the mid ' 60s, laden with too heavy a cargo, she went down. Hitra, only somewhat luckier than her sisters, was sold for one Norwegian kroner(about$0.14) to a junior seamen's school at Croftholmen. She became a training ship, although the engines never once turned over during her three years in this capacity. The school so ld Hitra to an individual who claimed he would rebuild the vessel for pleasure cruising, but that failed. After that she moved from one short-lived ownership to another like an unwanted foster child. In 1968 H itra was purchased for 600 kroner (about $80) by lngemann Nordfjellmark, who had acquired two 3,000-hp locomotive engines he intended to install. His plan dissolved when two Swedish teenagers vandalized and then scuttled the ship by opening her seacocks. It would have cost approximately 125 ,000 kroner ($80,000) to sa lvage the vessel so Nordfjellmark decided to give Hitra back to the Norwegian navy on condition that it be raised. The navy did raise it but transferred ownership to Martin Fransson, director of Sweden' s Karlskrona Harbor. Fransson spent 30,000 kroner ($4,350) for repairs but then gave up the idea of making Hitra into a pleasure vessel and towed it instead toTjurko, a ships ' graveyard. Vandalism and exposure to the elements over the years took their toll until , for all anyone knew or cared, Hitra was lost forever. Reclamation The story would end here were it not for an incident of global significance that occu1Ted during the height of the Cold War. On 27 October 1981 a Soviet Whisky-class submarine ran aground near the Swedish naval base at Karlskrona. The event rocked the international community and was highly publicized. A Swedish naval officer, Captain Y. Roll of, wrote an article about the "Whisky on the Rocks" incident in which he concluded humorously that " not only the Russians were infiltrating Karlskrona waters , theNorwegianHitra has been here for years." The article, printed in a Norwegian magazine, was brought to the attention of Captain Stein Moen, director of the Royal Norwegian
SEA HISTORY 84, SPRING 1998
The Hitra was in a sorry state in Sweden (top) when she was brought to the attention of the Royal Norwegian Navy Museum in 198 1. Wh en the Hitra was raised (above) her hull was found to he surprisingly sound, and she was placed on a barge to he taken to Norway for restoration. (Photos, courtesy RNNM)
Navy Museum at the time. He and Ingvald Eidsheim , Hitra's old sk ipper, hurried to the site and confirmed that, sure enough , the Hitra , though in sad shape, was there. "A sorry s ight," Eidsheim commented as he gazed at the once proud vessel , only her bow and foredeck visible above water, her equipment and fixtures gone. Could Hitra be salvaged? The way she looked in the spring of 1982 it took a great deal of optimism to believe this was possible. An organization was formed cal led "The Friends of the Shetlands Bus" for the purpose of reconstructing Hitra. It soon became apparent thatHitra had lots of friends. The campaign for her restoration mounted quickly and monies began pouring in ,
notjustfrom Norwegians but from many other countries as well. From older citizens who vividly remembered, to schoolchildren who had heard her story, the Shetlands Bus would neither be denied nor forgotten. The campaign was overwhelming! y successfu 1. Two-thirds of the funds were raised by public contribution , and the remainder was furnished by the Norwegian government. On 8 July 1983 , after her 36-year hiatus, Hitra was tenderly lifted onto a barge and brought to Oma shipyard in Leirvik, Norway. To everyone's surprise, much of her wooden hull was sound and usable. Drawings, original equipment and spare parts were obtained from the US and other countries. It took four years of effort to completely 19