From city to ocean

Øygarden municipality is situated west of Bergen in Norway and is the second largest municipality in Vestland county. The municipality of Øygarden aims to be one of the best places to live. Our vision is to create a lighthouse municipality in Western Norway.

• 39,400 inhabitants

• 2,800 employees

• Regional centre and municipal centre located in Straume and local committee centres in Skogsskiftet and Rong

• Area: 315 square kilometres

• 1,500 islands

• Growth municipality with important businesses within oil, gas, industry, trade,agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture

The England Crossing, The Nort Sea Traffic and The Telavåg Tragedy

By Joakim Z. Gusland, The North Sea Traffic Museum, Museum Vest.

On the morning og April 9th, 1940, Norway was invaded by German forces in a surprise attack that brought the Second World War to the previously neutral country. Despite intervention from British and French forces, the Norwegian land forces were forced to capitulate on June 9th. By this time, the King and government had managed to seek refuge in London. They became the first of a wave of Norwegians crossing the North Sea to escape occupation and join Allied forces.

England Fever

As the efforts to defend southern Norway were crumbling, scattered groups of British, French, and Norwegian soldiers commandeered civilian vessels to escape back to the UK. More boats followed, this time carrying civilians. Young men started to appear on the beaches of Shetland, having crossed the sea in fishing boats, sailboats, pleasure yachts or even rowing boats. By 1941, resistance activity in Norway had grown. This created a driver for further clandestine traffic.

In towns and villages along the west coast of Norway, secret transport routes were created by so-called “export organisations” to facilitate the transport of people out of Norway. These routes would end at a launch site somewhere on the coast where a boat would wait to take refugees over the North Sea.

By the end of 1941 almost 3000 people in more than 240 boats had crossed the North Sea and landed on Shetland. Mostly young men, they were driven by the prospect of joining armed forces overseas, to fight against the enemy. Norwegians called this urge “the England Fever.” Others were required to flee because they were under investigation by the Gestapo. Often whole families had to leave, as the Germans commonly would take family members as hostages.

In 1942 the traffic ebbed out as only 17 boats left. By then the Germans had better control over the coastline. In 1941 the death penalty was instituted for anyone attempting to leave for England. By means of infiltration, aided by Norwegian accomplices, the Gestapo managed to dismantle several resistance operations.

Once clear of enemy patrolled waters, the weather was the greatest threat. Though sturdy vessels, the fishing boats were designed for sailing close to shore and they would normally seek shelter in foul weather. In wartime they had to brave the winter storms. The sea took at least 160 people. The largest, single disaster was the Blia, which vanished in a storm in November 1941, carrying 43 people.

The Shetland Bus

But by now the North Sea traffic had been appropriated by the military and turned into an organised operation to feed intelligence and sabotage missions in Norway. Using the same fishing boats that previously had brought refugees to Shetland, the Special Operations Executive (SOE) set up a base on Shetland to transport agents and materiel to Norway, often bringing refugees on the return journey. The boats were manned by Norwegian fishermen and sailors, who knew the coast well. The unit, commonly known as “the Shetland Bus,” would keep a lifeline going between Shetland and Norway for the remainder of the war.

The Telavåg disaster

In April of 1942 in the village of Telavåg, the Gestapo carried out a raid on a house they suspected was connected to the North Sea traffic. As they burst into the attic room, they found two men hiding.

The men were Norwegian agents, sent by the SOE a few weeks prior. The two agents were armed and opened fire on the Gestapo officers. In the space of a few minutes the shooting was over. One of the agents was dead, the other one wounded and two Gestapo officers had been killed. This was a disaster for the Gestapo, and the Reichskommissar Josef Terboven, ordered that the entire population of Telavåg be arrested and the village razed to the ground. A week after the incident, only smoking ruins were left of the village. Every man had been sent to concentration camps in Germany, the women and children to captivity in Norway. Around 400 people in total. Of the 72 men 31 died in captivity. A further 18 men, arrested in a different case in Ålesund, were shot as punishment.

The tragedy in Telavåg marked the nadir of the Shetland Bus operation. In its wake the Gestapo dismantled virtually the entire export operation in Norway. On Shetland, both through shipwreck and German attacks, the Shetland Bus lost 33 men during 1942. But they managed to keep the operation going, rebuilding through 1943 with new crew and boats, and eventually reaching a steady flow of operations on the Norwegian coast in 1944 and 1945. Their regularity earning them the now famous nickname the Shetland Bus.

The “Blue Ribbon” is the Shetland Race Line Honor flag and is rewarded to the first yacht to cross the finish line in Lerwick – regardless of boatsize, class or rating.

Rune Aasberg has won the Blue Ribbon most; 4 times, and also holds the current BergenShetland record of 19 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds.