Tony Cooper, England has told me that Bestik left Sydney C.B. in the slow, eastbound North Atlantic Convoy SC 46 on Sept. 24-1941 (cargo of sulphur, station 73), but returned to Sydney with boiler trouble the following day, then departed again on Sept. 29 for Manchester, with arrival destination on Oct. 20, Convoy SC 47. Other Norwegian ships in SC 46 were Alaska, Bonde, Bruse Jarl, Fidelio, Gezina, Loke, Senta, and Solsten, while Berto, Danio, Don, Fido, Heimgar, Ingertre, Marit II, Petter II, (returned), Spes, Veni, and Victo are listed in SC 47. The Norwegian corvette Eglantine is named among the escorts for the latter convoy. Bestik subsequently returned with the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 35, which left Liverpool on Nov. 9-1941. She had station 24, and was bound for Sydney, C.B. There's a note in the narrative for this voyage (follow the link to page 2 from the ON 35 page) stating that Bestik broke down with engine trouble on Nov. 20, and was still absent from the convoy on Nov. 23 (according to A. Hague, she arrived St. John's, N.F. with weather damage on Nov. 27).

In Sept.-1942 we find her in station 14 of the eastbound Convoy SC 102, which had originated in New York on Sept. 19, but Bestik, carrying a cargo of lumber and steel, joined from Sydney, C.B., arriving Liverpool Oct. 6. She was again in the company of several other Norwegian ships, namely Aragon, Aun, Borgfred, Fjordheim, Nea (returned), Norvarg, Orwell, Solitaire, and Solsten. At the end of that month Bestik joined the westbound Convoy ON 142*, leaving Liverpool on Oct. 30, but it looks like she experienced some problems again, as she's said to have arrived Belfast Lough on Oct. 31, later joining Convoy ON 144* from there (originated in Liverpool Nov. 7), and is said to have arrived New York on Nov. 29. Other Norwegian ships in ON 142 were Carmelfjell, Fjordheim, Jenny, Kirsten B (joined from Halifax), Norvarg, Primo, Rio Verde, Sevilla, Solitaire, Temeraire, and Vinland, while Bencas (joined from Halifax), Borgfred, Cetus, Ingertre, Minister Wedel, Norlom, Orwell, Suderøy, and Titanian are listed in ON 144. Eglantine, Potentilla, Montbretia and Rose were among the escorts for the latter.

In Jan.-1943 Bestik, cargo of steel and lumber, is listed in station 71 of the eastbound Convoy SC 118 from New York, together with Annik, Cetus, Daghild, Glarona, Grey County, Maud, Norbryn, Petter II, and Sommerstad. This convoy left New York on Jan. 24 and arrived Liverpool on Febr. 12. She joined the westbound Convoy ON 169 later that month, (Liverpool-New York, Febr. 22-March 21), however, she arrived Iceland with weather damage, later joining the first convoy in the ONS series, Convoy ONS 1*, which had originated in Liverpool on March 15-1943, Bestik joining from Iceland on March 20. The Norwegian Cetus, Gausdal, Grado, Grey County, Mathilda, and Petter II are also listed in this convoy, and Eglantine, Potentilla and Rose are again named among the escorts. In May that same year we find Bestik in station 12 of the eastbound Convoy SC 132 from Halifax to the U.K., and at the end of July she made another North Atlantic Crossing, this time with Convoy ONS 14*, which originated in Liverpool on July 26, and in which the Norwegian Acasta, Boreas, Karmt, Marie Bakke, Norhauk, Snar, Solstad, and Tercero also took part. Bestik arrived Halifax on Aug. 9, and headed back to the U.K. at the beginning of the following month with Convoy SC 141, cargo of steel and lumber for Ipswich. In Oct. she joined the westbound Convoy ONS 20* (originated in Liverpool Oct. 9), together with Arosa, Cetus, Elg, Iron Baron, Snar, Solstad, Tercero, Tropic Star and Vinland, and on Nov. 19-1943 she's listed as leaving Halifax in station 44 of Convoy SC 147. As will be seen by following the links provided, many Norwegian ships took part in these SC convoys as well.

At the beginning of the new year she's listed in Convoy OS 66/KMS 40, voyaging from Oban to Lisbon with coal in station 36; Bestik was in the Gibraltar section, KMS 40*, which arrived there on Febr. 7, Bestik having detached from the convoy the day before to proceed to her destination. She later returned to the U.K. with Convoy SL 150/MKS 41, joining with the MKS* portion of the convoy from Gibraltar on March 3-1944, cargo of iron ore, voyage Aquilas-Loch Ewe. The following month she joined Convoy OS 73/KMS 47*, which departed Liverpool on Apr. 3-1944, voyage Oban-Tunis with coal in station 61, returning to the U.K. in May with Convoy SL 158/MKS 49*. In July-1944 she can be found going in the other direction again in Convoy OS 83/KMS 57*, which departed Liverpool on July 12, with the Gibraltar portion, in which Bestik sailed, arriving there on July 25, while the rest of the ships arrived Freetown on Aug. 3. Bestik was bound for Tunis again, cargo of coke and coal, station 72.

Bestik encountered a storm and witnessed the British Ashbury running into the cliffs near Black Rocks, Talmine Skerries on Jan. 8-1945 with the loss of all her men - both ships were in Convoy WN 667 at the time (external link). Bestik managed to drop both anchors and rode the storm for 36 hours, then continued to Methil. A couple of months later she made a voyage to Gibraltar with coal in Convoy OS 120/KMS 94* (station 13) which departed Liverpool on Apr. 2-1945. She returned to the U.K. the following month with Convoy MKS 102* from Gibraltar.

Further details on the OS/KMS and SL/MKS convoys, as well as on the SC convoys that are not included on my own site, are available via the external links provided within the above table, or at the end of this page. As will be seen, the OS and SL convoys also had other Norwegian ships.

* All the ON and ONS convoys mentioned here will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course, with more information on each. In the meantime, the ships sailing in them are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys and ships in all ONS convoys. The KMS and MKS convoys will also be added, but for now, see ships in all KMS convoys, and ships in all MKS convoys.

For more information on all the other Norwegian ships named on this page, please see the alphabet index below, or go to the Master Ship Index.

Related external link:
OS and OS/KMS Convoys - The site also has a section on the returning SL/MKS convoys. As will be seen, Bestik is listed in all the SL and OS convoys mentioned in my text above, as are many other Norwegian ships.

Back to Bestik on the "Ships starting with B" page.

Norway had previously had another ship by this name, laid down as War Valour, completed as Lake Tulare 1918. Sold in 1923 to Skibs A/S Manitowoc, Oslo and renamed Bestik. Became Hai Hsiang of Shanghai in 1934, bombed and sunk in China 1941, scrapped 1946.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan, and misc.

Aa–Al	An–Ar	As–Av	Ba	Be	Bi–Bl	Bo	Br–Bu	C	D
E	F	G	Ha	He	Hi–Hy	Hø	I	J	K
L	M	N	O	PQ	R	Sa–Sc	Se–Sj	Sk–Sn	So
Sp–St	Su–Sø	Ta–Te	Th–Ti	To	Tr–Tø	U	V	W	Ø

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