M.B. Andholmen
Buckie, Iceland and special operations
Andholmen was one of many Norwegian boats to come to Buckie. It is an important boat because of the role it played in the war and the Home Front Museum at Akershus Fortress in Oslo has a model of the boat. The detailed technical specifications and documentation about the vessel are in the archives in Tromsø.
Andholmen was built in Brattvaag, Møre og Romsdal for Karl Gregussen, of Bø in Vesterålen in 1938. The boats was was requested by Norwegian naval authorities in northern Norway during the campaigns in the Ofotfjord and Narvik areas in April-May 1940. The Germans controlled the only deep-water mooring place the area and consequently the 20,000 Allied soldiers had to be landed by many smaller Norwegian vessels, including Andholmen. |
In June 1940, the naval command was hired aboard the Andholmen and the vessel sailed to Scotland under the command of Ensign Finn Lagaard Eriksen and it arrived initially in Buckie before sailing on to Orkney before becoming a patrol boat based in Iceland. Finn Lagaard Eriksen would would later have an important personal connection to Buckie. Andholmen sailed at least one season between Shetland - Norway as part of the Shetland Bus.
After this Andholmen was moved to Peterhead where a new and top-secret Norwegian base was established to carry out missions to the west coast of Norway. Many dozens of trips, which to were subject to a veil of secrecy, were carried out in the second half of the war. |
The vessel returned to Norway around 20 May 1945, and had been under the Norwegian naval command continuously for the five years of the war. Andholm represents a significant part of Norway's naval history with few boats having been in continuous service. The Andholmen is still a sea-going vessel and a trust exists to ensure her preservation for the future.
Finn Lagaard Eriksen
Finn Lagaard Eriksen, who was born in Sørvågen on the Lofoten Islands in 1914, saw service throughout the war including on the North Atlantic conveys. He returned to Buckie on a number of occasions and it was in the town, in 1943, that he married Noreen Farmery. They later lived in Grimstad. He later wrote an account of the boat (reproduced below, in Norwegian).
|