Boat Trip
As soon as we were settled in the boat the two oarsmen guided it out from amongst the rocks into the fjord and quickly settled down to a strong rhythmic stroke. We saw that they had the oarlocks well muffled with rags and noticed the sounds of their efforts were kept down to a minimum.
The Norwegians had not uttered a word; they seemed to be completely ab sorbed by the task at hand. We silently tried to take in our surroundings but visibility was not too good and we could see little other than the white caps of the waves close to the boat. The rain was now quite a bit heavier and we, unlike the Norwegians, were poorly dressed for the conditions.
George Deeth and I were sitting beside each other in front of one of the Norwegians. George whispered to me that he hoped he would not be bothered by the roll of the sea, as it was rather rough. I told him that I was not bothered by the sea but that the rain running off my hair down my neck was a source of annoyance. The Norwegian behind us stood up in the boat, took off the raincoat he was wearing and threw it over our heads. Before sitting down he leaned forward and asked in a form of Brooklyn accented English: "How's that Bud, feeling any better now?"
This was our introduction to Nils Rottingen; you can imagine our surprise to learn that he spoke English. Years later we learned that the other oarsman was Torvald Jacobsen.
We travelled on for about 500 metres and as we neared land we noticed an other boat secreted against the shore. There were three men in the boat and it was obvious that they were waiting nervously for us to appear. As we came close the Norwegians in the second boat waved to us and greeted us with broad smiles, indicating how relieved they were that we had made it thus far.
The two boats drifted together close to shore as the Norwegians held a hurried whispered conference; one of the men in the other boat, who appeared to be the leader of the group, turned to Nils Rottingen, gave him instructions and Nils, acting as interpreter, then told us that three of us were to travel in each boat, and indicated who was to get into the other boat. It was apparent that their confer ence was about the distribution of weight in the two boats for we had noticed how they seemed to appraise us as they spoke. We later learned that the apparent leader was Einar Evensen and the other two men with him were Magnus K. Rottingen and Hans Holmefjord. After splitting the crew, I remained where I was with George Deeth and one of the other boys; we followed as the other boat pulled away from the shore and continued on.
Visibility, which had been very bad, improved somewhat, and we were able to see further from the boat. We were able to detect that we were passing in between a number of islands, hugging the shoreline some of the time and at other times we were further out in the fjord. We pressed on and just as it appeared to me that we might be within sight of our destination, although I had no idea where we were, we would once again enter what appeared to be the open sea.
As we quietly put more distance between ourselves and Bjomatrynet there was cause for concern by the Norwegians as Hans Holmefjord spotted a patrol boat crossing our path. Rowing in both boats stopped and we drifted along in hushed silence for a while. The patrol boat continued on its way oblivious to the fact that their prey was so close and within sight. The Norwegians congratulated themselves for having made a wise decision in not using boats with power for the mission. They were convinced that had they done so all would have been lost.
On we went; more than twenty four hours earlier we had jokingly suggested that we would not return that night to the squadron, and there we were in the dead of night being rowed about on a Norwegian fjord in an attempt to stay out of the hands of the Germans.
We were in open water for about fifteen to twenty minutes when once again we were moving between islands. We eventually reached a larger land mass and as we turned to starboard, continuing closer to the shoreline which was to our port side, our attention was drawn to a light from a building at the water's edge.
Framed in the window was a sentry. He did not notice us slip by and we continued on our way for a very short distance.
The lead boat pulled over close to shore on our port side and one of the Norwegians clambered ashore. He silently slipped into the underbrush and was lost from sight. We later learned that he was to reconnoitre to be sure that it was safe to proceed. Apparently he felt that all was well for it was not long before we were on our way again.
Soon we were able to see land on either side of us and realized that the waterway was narrowing, bringing us into a very narrow channel. As we proceeded we saw looming out of the darkness a bridge across our path. This is the bridge between Bruaroy and Rottingen. The bridge is about three metres wide and less than three metres high. Standing in the middle of the bridge was a German sentiy. The crew were alert and concerned about the problem but the Norwegians seemed not unduly worried and we continued on our way.
As we approached the bridge the German looked down at us and we felt certain that we were in for a major problem, but as we slid silently under the bridge he simply turned and walked off the bridge. We were shocked at the turn of events but at a loss to understand why the sentry acted as he did. We rowed on for a couple of hundred metres and once again headed in to shore. Soon the sound of someone approaching through the trees was heard and our scout rejoined us.
We had been on the water for well over two hours when finally, after crossing more open water, we pulled to shore on what we later learned was Strono, an island some four and a half kilometres long by two and a half kilometres wide.
As soon as we were settled in the boat the two oarsmen guided it out from amongst the rocks into the fjord and quickly settled down to a strong rhythmic stroke. We saw that they had the oarlocks well muffled with rags and noticed the sounds of their efforts were kept down to a minimum.
The Norwegians had not uttered a word; they seemed to be completely ab sorbed by the task at hand. We silently tried to take in our surroundings but visibility was not too good and we could see little other than the white caps of the waves close to the boat. The rain was now quite a bit heavier and we, unlike the Norwegians, were poorly dressed for the conditions.
George Deeth and I were sitting beside each other in front of one of the Norwegians. George whispered to me that he hoped he would not be bothered by the roll of the sea, as it was rather rough. I told him that I was not bothered by the sea but that the rain running off my hair down my neck was a source of annoyance. The Norwegian behind us stood up in the boat, took off the raincoat he was wearing and threw it over our heads. Before sitting down he leaned forward and asked in a form of Brooklyn accented English: "How's that Bud, feeling any better now?"
This was our introduction to Nils Rottingen; you can imagine our surprise to learn that he spoke English. Years later we learned that the other oarsman was Torvald Jacobsen.
We travelled on for about 500 metres and as we neared land we noticed an other boat secreted against the shore. There were three men in the boat and it was obvious that they were waiting nervously for us to appear. As we came close the Norwegians in the second boat waved to us and greeted us with broad smiles, indicating how relieved they were that we had made it thus far.
The two boats drifted together close to shore as the Norwegians held a hurried whispered conference; one of the men in the other boat, who appeared to be the leader of the group, turned to Nils Rottingen, gave him instructions and Nils, acting as interpreter, then told us that three of us were to travel in each boat, and indicated who was to get into the other boat. It was apparent that their confer ence was about the distribution of weight in the two boats for we had noticed how they seemed to appraise us as they spoke. We later learned that the apparent leader was Einar Evensen and the other two men with him were Magnus K. Rottingen and Hans Holmefjord. After splitting the crew, I remained where I was with George Deeth and one of the other boys; we followed as the other boat pulled away from the shore and continued on.
Visibility, which had been very bad, improved somewhat, and we were able to see further from the boat. We were able to detect that we were passing in between a number of islands, hugging the shoreline some of the time and at other times we were further out in the fjord. We pressed on and just as it appeared to me that we might be within sight of our destination, although I had no idea where we were, we would once again enter what appeared to be the open sea.
As we quietly put more distance between ourselves and Bjomatrynet there was cause for concern by the Norwegians as Hans Holmefjord spotted a patrol boat crossing our path. Rowing in both boats stopped and we drifted along in hushed silence for a while. The patrol boat continued on its way oblivious to the fact that their prey was so close and within sight. The Norwegians congratulated themselves for having made a wise decision in not using boats with power for the mission. They were convinced that had they done so all would have been lost.
On we went; more than twenty four hours earlier we had jokingly suggested that we would not return that night to the squadron, and there we were in the dead of night being rowed about on a Norwegian fjord in an attempt to stay out of the hands of the Germans.
We were in open water for about fifteen to twenty minutes when once again we were moving between islands. We eventually reached a larger land mass and as we turned to starboard, continuing closer to the shoreline which was to our port side, our attention was drawn to a light from a building at the water's edge.
Framed in the window was a sentry. He did not notice us slip by and we continued on our way for a very short distance.
The lead boat pulled over close to shore on our port side and one of the Norwegians clambered ashore. He silently slipped into the underbrush and was lost from sight. We later learned that he was to reconnoitre to be sure that it was safe to proceed. Apparently he felt that all was well for it was not long before we were on our way again.
Soon we were able to see land on either side of us and realized that the waterway was narrowing, bringing us into a very narrow channel. As we proceeded we saw looming out of the darkness a bridge across our path. This is the bridge between Bruaroy and Rottingen. The bridge is about three metres wide and less than three metres high. Standing in the middle of the bridge was a German sentiy. The crew were alert and concerned about the problem but the Norwegians seemed not unduly worried and we continued on our way.
As we approached the bridge the German looked down at us and we felt certain that we were in for a major problem, but as we slid silently under the bridge he simply turned and walked off the bridge. We were shocked at the turn of events but at a loss to understand why the sentry acted as he did. We rowed on for a couple of hundred metres and once again headed in to shore. Soon the sound of someone approaching through the trees was heard and our scout rejoined us.
We had been on the water for well over two hours when finally, after crossing more open water, we pulled to shore on what we later learned was Strono, an island some four and a half kilometres long by two and a half kilometres wide.