- Bergen Steamship Company
-
TS Leda, a BDS Newcastle to Bergen ferry
The Bergen Steamship Company or Bergenske Dampskibsselskab (BDS), was founded in 1851 to operate a shipping service between the Norwegian ports of Bergen, Stavanger, and Kristiansand and the German port of Hamburg with the paddle steamer Bergen. The company funnel was black with three widely spaced narrow white bands. BDS progressively expanded its routes to provide world wide services. The company operated a regular passenger service from West Norway to the UK from 1895, and took part in the Norwegian coastal service, the Hurtigruten, from 1894 until 1979. Cruise liners were run from 1921 until 1971 when BDS partnered Nordenfjeldske Dampskibsselskab in setting up the Royal Viking Line. At its height, between about 1920 and 1970, the company had up to 2500 employees and 30 to 40 ships.
During World War II, according to the newspaper Bergens Tidende, the Company profited highly from shipping contracts entered into with the German occupiers of Norway. The Company's management was investigated by Bergen police for 18 months after the end of the war, but no charges were made[1].
Under the name Bergen Line (not to be confused with the Bergen Line railway) ferries were operated between Newcastle, Bergen and Stavanger. These continued after 1984 when the company was taken over by Kosmos Line. After being sold again in 1988, the company lost any individual identity.
UK Passenger Service
The UK passenger service ran between Newcastle and Bergen, with some sailings also calling at Stavanger and Haugesund. From 1928 the service terminated at the purpose-built Tyne Commission Quay, North Shields, only two miles from the Tyne piers. The service continued after 1984 when the company was taken over by Kosmos Line. After being sold again in 1988, the company lost any individual identity.
On June 14, 1888, the Norwegian Parliament agreed to support a weekly mail service from Newcastle to Bergen and Trondheim. Initially the service was provided jointly by the Bergen Line and Nordenfjeldske. The Bergen Line vessel, Mercur (995 grt), inaugurated the service, departing from Bergen on May 31, 1890 at 9 p.m., arriving in the Tyne early on June 2. In June 1893 the Bergen Line ship Venus (1095 grt), built on the Tyne by Swan Hunter, entered the service and remained on regular sailings until 1931.
In 1912 the Norwegian Government entered a contract with the two companies to increase the frequency of sailings to seven per week. In August 1914 the Bergen Line's contribition was provided by Venus, Vega (1164 grt) and Irma (1322 grt). The service continued in World War I and in 1915 they were joined by Jupiter (2625 grt) built at Gothenburg. The service was interrupted in 1916 after Vega had been intercepted and sunk by a German U-boat, but Jupiter was chartered by the British Government for sailings between Aberdeen and Bergen with a British crew and under the British flag.
The service was re-opened by Irma on November 26, 1918. Nordenfjeldske withdrew in October 1921. The service continued with Jupiter and Venus, joined by Leda (2519 grt), a sister to Jupiter powered by steam turbines, newly built on the Tyne in 1920 by Armstrong Whitworth.
In 1931, in response to a new service opened by Swedish Lloyd from Gothenburg to Tilbury, Bergen Line ordered a new Venus, a 20-knot motorship of 5406 grt, which maintained the service with Jupiter during most of the 1930s. In 1936 the peak season was covered by Jupiter and Venus, each with two round trips weekly.
The next ship to be built for the service was Vega of 7287 grt, built by Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico of Trieste in 1938 to offset Italian purchases of fish from Norway. The two large motorships maintained a summer service of four round trips per week until the outbreak of World War II, with departures from Bergen at 11.00 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and from Newcastle at 19.30 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Southbound trips by Venus on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and northbound trips by Vega on Tuesdays and Saturdays also called at Stavanger and Haugesund.
By 1945 both Venus and Vega had been sunk while in German hands, and the service was re-opened with Lyra (1525 grt), a regular passenger service re-starting in January 1946 on which she was joined by Astrea (3190 grt). Jupiter took over from Lyra in March 1946. Vega's main engines were salvaged in 1949 and installed in two ships, one of which continued in service until 1969. Venus had been discovered sunk in Hamburg harbour in 1945 and judged capable of rebuilding, and she reappeared on the service in April 1948 with a larger profile (6269 grt). She maintained summer sailings from Newcastle and operated cruises from Plymouth to Madeira in the winters from December 1948 onwards, which also took advantage of the cargo opportunity provided by the import of fruit and vegetables to the UK.
The last conventional passenger ferry was Leda (6670 grt), delivered in 1953 by Swan Hunter and powered by steam turbines giving a speed of 22 knots, making her the only ship which could complete three round voyages weekly, and she did so during the 1960s. From 1953 the service continued regularly for 15 years with Leda and Venus operating the summer service with up to five sailings per week, and Leda operating a twice-weekly winter service. Both ships were limited by their lack of drive-on car transport facilities, and Venus was withdrawn and broken up in 1968. Leda continued until its withdrawal in 1974 after steep rises in fuel prices[2].
Some timetables from the 1930s and 1950s are available on the web[3][4]. Individual ship histories are also available[5].
Hurtigruten
The Hurtigruten opened in 1893 to convey passengers and cargo along the Norwegian coast, initially from Trondheim to Hammerfest, later from Bergen to Kirkenes. At the start there were almost no lighthouses and other navigational aids in the north, and navigation was often done with a compass, chart and stopwatch. Until 1937 the Company's ships were around 1000grt but then, with Nordstjernen, the size was doubled. New ships built in the 1950s were also of about 2000grt, and these continued on the coastal route until the 1980s when larger passenger-cargo ships came into use, and into the 1990s when larger cruise-type ships of up to 15,000grt were introduced. By this time Bergenske Dampskibsselskab had sold its ships and withdrawn from the Hurtigruten. The Company contributed the following ships to the service from 1894 onwards[6]:
SS Sirius 1885, BDS 1894-1927, 962grt
SS Jupiter 1856, BDS 1896-1910, 652grt
SS Orion 1874, BDS 1898-1903, 681grt, 1903: Fire wreck
SS Capella 1885, BDS 1898–1912, 877grt
SS Astræa 1900, BDS 1900-1910, 765grt, 1910: Wrecked
SS Lyra 1905, BDS 1905-1912, 784grt
SS Midnatsol 1910, BDS 1910-1949, 978grt
SS Hera 1889, BDS 1910-1931, 1097grt, 1931: Wrecked
SS Polarlys 1912, BDS 1912-1951, 1070grt
SS Neptun 1890, BDS 1919-1921, 959 grt
SS Mira 1891, BDS 1928-1941, 998grt, 1941: War loss
SS Nordstjernen 1937, BDS 1937-1954, 1919grt, 1954: Sunk in Raftsundet
SS Ariadne 1930, BDS 1939-1940, 2029grt, 1940: War loss
MS Midnatsol 1949, BDS 1949-1982, 2098grt
MS Nordlys 1951, BDS 1951-1983, 2162grt
MS Polarlys 1952, BDS 1952–1993, 2163grt
MS Nordstjernen 1956, BDS 1956-, 2194grt; still in service in 2011
SS Jupiter 1916, BDS 1953, 1955, 2652grt
Photographs of most of these ships and others on the Hurtigruten can be found on the web[7].
References
- ^ Bergen Steamship Company
- ^ N.L.Middlemiss (1990), Fred Olsen/Bergen Line, Shield Publications, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, ISBN 1 871128 056
- ^ Timetable Images
- ^ More Timetable Images
- ^ Norwegian ships history
- ^ Hurtigruten ships
- ^ Hurtigruten photos
M.Kohli; S.Swiggum; Ted Finch (2005). "The Bergen Steamship Company / Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab (Bergen Line)". The Ships List. Archived from the original on 2009-11-06. http://www.webcitation.org/5kxfiGZiZ.
Tré, Mark (2009-06-01). "A New Concept in World Cruising". Cruise News. Archived from the original on 2009-11-06. http://www.webcitation.org/5l57vRKiS.
"Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab AS" (in Norwegian). Hurtigruten Museum. Hurtigruten. Archived from the original on 2009-11-06. http://www.webcitation.org/5l58OZ40c.
Rydheim, Per. "Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab 1851-1988" (in Norwegian). Hurtigrutene Information. Archived from the original on 2009-11-06. http://www.webcitation.org/5l58w0pFi.
Categories:- Shipping company stubs
- Norwegian company stubs
- Shipping companies of Norway
- Defunct companies of Norway
- Companies established in 1851
- 1851 establishments in Norway
- Companies disestablished in 1988
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