October 11, 1944

The home base for British supply operations to Norway was established in Scalloway in the Shetland Islands in the summer of 1942. The supply operations originally used fishing boats and other small craft, but in late autumn of 1943, the small boats were replaced with three American subchasers – the Hessa, the Hitra and the Vigra.

It was quite a transition to switch from fishing boats to sub-chasers. The fishing boats had been accustomed to one fifty horsepower Wichmann semi-diesel that could manage 7 or 8 knots in fine weather. The twin engines of the sub-chasers together produced 2400 horsepower and were able to cruise at 15 knots and go a little faster if needed. The travel time across the North Sea was halved and they could better predict arrival times. When they had urgent assignments they maintained full speed for hours at a time.

The fishing boats had either had a Lewis machine-gun hidden in a barrel or just hand-held machine-guns for defence. In contrast, the sub-chasers bristled with guns: a 40 mm Bofors gun, dual 20 mm Oerlikons on each side aft of the bridge deck, and a powerful six pounder on the aft deck. The six pounder was known elsewhere as a “Pom-Pom” but that the Shetlanders had Norwegianized to “Pong-Pong.” Two Colt machine guns were mounted on the bridge, one on each side. The boats were equipped with radar. With the new ships they had repeatedly fought off the enemy, and even with patrols more frequent on the Norwegian coast, they were confident that they would survive any encounter.

The Norwegians were enthusiastic about the subchasers. In the words of Shetland Larsen: “There is nothing better at sea in storm and foul weather.” By the time the Canadians made their emergency landing in Os, the sub-chasers operating out of Shetland had established routes over the North Sea to harbours up and down the Norwegian coast. Agents, weapons and explosives were landed, and agents and refugees were boarded for the return trip.

Things had gone well with the new boats with one exception. In early October, the Hessa brought a load of agents and cargo to Nordhordland, but when the boat was 20 to 30 miles west of Utvær light on the return trip, the boat was attacked from the air. A plane flew over the Hessa, which sounded its alarm, but nothing more happened and the plane flew off.

Half an hour later another plane flew over and this time attacked. Two depth-charges hit the water on one side of the ship, and a third off the bow. The pressure from the explosions raised the sub-chaser clear out of the water, and all electrical power was lost. Everything was thrown helter-skelter in the engine-room. But Hessa righted itself and continued on course. The machinist in charge of the engine-room had also been thrown across the room, but he managed to get the electrical power restored very quickly.

The Hessa opened fire, but its crew then began to wonder as the plane turned on a powerful searchlight. Only Allied aircraft had that capability. The Hessa sent Morse messages with their call sign, and the plane flew off. Afterward, it was determined that the plane was Canadian and had taken Hessa for a German submarine in the dark. The Hessa had been damaged and had to be in dry-dock for two or three weeks, but was then put back into service as good as new.
Now, they had to deal with Canadians again, but this time instead of being attacked by Canadians, they needed to rescue some Canadians.

On October 11, Shetland Larsen and a couple of his men met with the British commander of the base and were briefed on a new mission. The commander's name was Arthur William Sclater, but few knew his real name – on the base he went by Major Rogers. He used the pseudonym because he was married to a Norwegian woman, and with all the people going to Norway and the risk of capture and torture, he didn't want the Germans to learn that the commander of the British activities directed against Norway had family in Norway.

Leif Larsen was well known in Os. His father was from there and he had sailed in the Islands in his younger years. From intelligence reports he know that there were several German strongholds in the area with long-range guns and that the German navy conducted exercises in Bjørnafjord. He could not imagine how a bomber could have landed in this hornet's nest without its crew being captured. But Larsen was willing to do his part and pick up the crew at Austevoll [33].

Experience had shown that it was safer that the rendezvous point be as close to the coast as possible so that the sub-chasers would not have to venture too far into the fjords. The base commander had charts of the water around Austevoll in front of him and pointed to a small island that was their rendezvous point. He told them that there were reports that enemy patrol activity in the area had increased in recent months.

“Major Rogers” walked to down to the Vigra and wished the crew good sailing. In addition to the crew and the already stored load of weapons for the underground, the ship carried a radio-operator who would be landed when the Canadians were picked up. In minutes, the 21 man crew was in place and they were ready to set off.

Watched by crew members of the other sub-chasers, the Vigra headed out. After the sub-chaser cleared the harbour, it headed northward along the Shetland coast, with a collection of hungry gulls hovering over the aft gun. Once past Muckle Flugga, the northernmost point of the Shetland Islands, the skipper ordered full speed ahead.

An Allied Catalina flying-boat flew over them on an easterly course, and the radio-operator sent a friendly flare to signal the sub-chaser. The weather began to worsen, but the Vigra plowed through heavy swells without reducing speed.