Where are the ships now?

Ship - and company overview

Below is a list of all ships that have sailed, and a brief history of each of them. The numbers specified tells when the ships were in service in Hurtigruten, and at the bottom of the page the shipping companies are listed.

DS Vesteraalen SS Vesteraalen 1893-1932, 1940-1941. The first Hurtigruten-ship. Ran aground and sank in Valdersundet in 1913 but was raised and put back into service. Was torpedoed during the war in 1941 while she was sailing as a replacementship in Hurtigruten, by a waiting Russian submarine outside Øksfjord. The ship was virtually pulverized and sank in seconds. 7 survived, while 60 people lost their lives.

SS Sirius 1893-1895. Attacked by German aircraft in 1940 and sank. 11 survived, 7 lost their lives.

SS Olav Kyrre 1895-1903. Sank in 1909 on Hustadvika in fog.

SS Erling Jarl/Bodø 1895-1943. Was the first ship built specifically to sail as a Hurtigruten-ship. SS Erling Jarl wrecked by Brønnøysund in 1941 with a loss of a human life, but was raised and renamed Bodø and was in operation again in 1942. Sailed for nearly a year before it sank again after hitting a rock between Brønnøysund and Sandnessjøen. No fatalities.

SS Jupiter 1896-1910. Hit the bottom south of Trondheim two years after it left Hurtigruten.

SS Orion 1898-1903. Accident ship: Sank in 1874 but was raised and put back into service. During the rebuilding a boiler exploded in the machine, and at the end of 1903 a fire broke out on board. This put an end to Orion's career. 7 lost their lives.

SS King Halfdan 1898-1907, 1917-1918. Sailed as a replacement ship in Hurtigruten in 1917-18 when it went aground in Lenangen. No fatalities.

SS Capella 1898-1912. Sunk by German aircraft on Sunnmøre in 1940. Raised and repaired, and went in foreign trade til 1952.

DS Røst 1899-1920. Sailed as a replacementship. Sank in may 1952 in Oslo, but was raised and scrapped.

SS Astræa 1900-1910. Run aground by Florø and sank. No fatalities. Later raised and sold for scrapping.

SS Haakon Adelsten 1902-1930. Capsized and sank 17 years after leaving Hurtigruten.

DS Andenæs 1903-1932. Replacementship. Was scrapped in 1938.

SS Lyra 1905-1913. Sailed abroad in 1913 and was torpedoed in 1916.

SS Sigurd Jarl 1907-1940. Sunk in Vågseterbukta by German aircraft. No fatalities! Was raised and broken up.

SS Richard With 1909-1941. The 2nd ship that was built specifically to sail as a Hurtigruten-ships. Notable events include two groundings, one in 1913 and one in 1919, and the loss of the propeller on the East Sea in 1938, and one controlled grounding during air raids in May 1940. Her faith hit in september 1941, when SS Richard With was nortbound. Due to high German activity along the coast of Finnmark, the crew decided to stop and return south from Honningsvåg. When Richard With passed the southern tip of the island Rolvsøya, on the way to Hammerfest, the British submarine HMS Tigris, which had been lying at the bottom to "recharge their batteries", discovered SS Richard With. HMS Tigris settled slowly on the opposite course line and fired two torpedoes from a n.mil's distance. SS Richard With was hit amidships, broke in two pieces, and sank within a minute. 103 people lost their lives while 32 survived by keeping afloat on wreckage. Norwegian "Skolpen" arrived 15 minutes later and picked up the survivors.

SS Midnatsol 1910-1950. Run aground in Finnmark in 1915. Was set back into service. Saved over 200 Germans after their two boats were torpedoed close to Midnatsol. Come out safely through the war years. Was named Sylvia during her last year in service.

SS Polarlys 1912-1951. Was taken by the Germans in 1940. They painted the name of Satan on the ship, and after that it was named Tan, but shortly after it was handed back to Hurtigruten again, as Polarlys.

SS Finnmarken 1912-1956. The ship that opened Risøyrenna in 1923. Collided with a cargo ship in 1956 without major damage. Survived the war. Was named Vågan during her last year in Hurtigruten.

SS Hera 1913-1931. Darkness, high winds and currents lead to the ship grouding at full speed on an underwater reef north of Havøysund. SS Hera immediately began taking on water and sinking. Officer Einar Ramm ("The hero of Havøygavlen") swam to land with a long line and rescued people on to the shore. 56 survived, 6 died. The sea tore a little girl out of her father's arms, while others died of cold and exhaustion in the pebbles. The survivors set off on foot across the mountains (with the deceased) to Havøysund. DS Hera broke and sank in deep water. A much-needed beacon was later set up at Havøygavlen, while Einar Ramm was awarded a Gold Medal for Heroism.

SS Haakon Jarl 1914-1924. Collided with SS Kong Harald on the Vestfjord in dense fog and sank. 17 lost their lives. The survivors were picked up and taken back to Bodø by SS Kong Harald. During the trip back to Bodø two of the survivors from SS Håkon Jarl died onboard of shock.

DS Olaf Trygvesøn 1919-1921. Replacementship.

SS Kong Haakon/Kong Sverre 1919-1950. Run aground by Rongevær in 1924 but returned to Hurtigruten after reparations. Sailed under the name Kong Sverre from 1942-1946.

SS Kong Harald 1919-1950. The ship with nine lives. Collided with SS Håkon Jarl on the Vestfjord (between Stamsund and Bodø) in 1924, but got no serious injuries. A fire broke out on board in 1929, but it was repaired and put back into service. Was taken by British naval forces during the Lofoten-raid in 1941, but due to small amounts of fuel onboard the ship was released again. Was attempted torpedoed by Norwegian MTBs on Frøysjøen in 1943, but the torpedo missed and exploded in the pebbles. The summer after, a submarine aimed at the ship with two torpedoes on Folla (south of Rørvik), but both torpedoes missed, and passed below the bottom of the ship. SS Kong Harald was the company's only survivor after World War 2, but in 1950 the ship grounded by Florø and was laid up and taken out of service. In 1954, after three years in Belgium, SS Kong Harald was broken up.

SS Neptune 1919-1921. Only two years in service. Sailed abroad from 1921 to 1928.

SS Haakon VII 1922-1929. Strong wind and currents set the ship off course, and SS Haakon VII went aground with 12 knots south of Florø. Layed with 90-degrees listing and the stern under water. Boatswain Anders L. Andersen had evacuated the ship by a rope from the ship onto the island. The crew on the bridge never got to send distress signals, and the survivors wasnt discovered and rescued from the island until the following morning, thanks to a search done in connection with another loss in the area. 18 lost their lives. Anders L. Andersen was awarded a Medal for Heroism.

SS Dronning Maud 1925-1940. Sailed as a hospital ship during the war, but was bombed by German planes in Foldvik in Gratangen. People jumped overboard while they were taking fire from one of the planes. SS Dronning Maud caught fire and was towed away from the wooden pier in Foldvik, where it capsized and burned out in the spring. 19 were killed, and 31 injured.

DS Mosken 1927. Replacementship.

SS Sanct Svithun 1927-1943. Got attacked on Stadt by six British planes with fire bombs and plane-guns. Several people onboard were shot and killed by the planes, while others jumped overboard in panic. The ship caught fire after being hit by bombs, and the captain put the ship ashore on an island to prevent it from sinking. The numbers are insecure but over 70 saved their lives by getting onto the island, and nearly 60 people were killed. The ship slipped of the island later, and sank.

SS Mira 1927-1937, 1941. Got attacked with bombs in eight innings by the Germans when she went in a England-route in 1940, but survived. Was later occupied by the Germans along with the company ship SS Polarlys, but was released again by the end of 1940/41 and put into service again in Hurtigruten. Was bombed by the Germans east of Svolvær and sank. 7, possibly 8 killed.

DS Nova 1930. Sailed as a replacement ship during the 1930s.

SS Kong Gudrød 1930-1935. Sailed without major incidents.

SS Irma 1931-1944. The Irma-tragedy is written in Norwegian seawar-history as one of the biggest mistakes committed during WW2. SS Irma was, together with another Norwegian ship, bombed and sunk by two Norwegian MTBs on Hustadvika in 1944. Both the ships and the people who ended up in the ocean was fired upon with over two thousand shots from the MTBs together. 61 were killed, while 9 survivors from Irma was picked up by a lifeboat from the other Norwegian ship which also sank. In retrospect, there is much about the accident that is still unclear, but it is claimed that it is beyond all doubt that the ships was recognized before they were attacked.

SS Prinsesse Ragnhild 1931-1940. What happened is still not clear. The ship passed the island Landegode north of Bodø, when an explosion tore up the bottom. SS Prinsesse Ragnhild sank with the bow first, and was gone a few minutes later. It is believed to be a ocean-mine or an internal explosion onboard the ship that caused this. The number of passengers onboard when Prinsesse Ragnhild left Bodø on her way to Stamsund is uncertain, but plausible suggestion indicates that there were almost 400 people on board. 140 was rescued by a cargo ship nearby. 7 died onboard the cargo ship, and altogether, the number of persons killed was nearly 300 people. In 2000, a memorial-stone of those who died was raised in Bodø.

SS Lofoten 1932-1964. Was attempted sunk several times but escaped. In 1964 it collided with a cargo ship outside Stamsund and got minor injuries. Sailed under the name Vågan during her last voyages in Hurtigruten.

SS Nordnorge 1936-1940. The ship was requisitioned by the Germans and came to battle with a British force that resulted in the ship sinking by Hemnesberget west of Mo i Rana.

SS Prins Olav 1937-1940. Sailed side by side with SS Ariadne on the way to the Faroe Islands as they both were attacked by six German aircraft. SS Prins Olav was next after SS Ariadne already had been bombed and evacuated. SS Prins Olav was hit by two bombs, caught fire and sank. 1 was killed, while the rest was evacuated in two lifeboats. The survivors went to the Faroe Islands in the lifeboats, and was found and rescued in the morning.

SS Nordstjernen 1937-1954. Survived the war, but run aground in Brønnøysund in 1948. Was repaired and put back into service. In June 1948 a fire broke out in the cargo, but firefighters from Molde managed to extinguish the fire. In 1954, SS Nordstjernens ended her time in Hurtigruten. She ran aground in Raftsundet and tore up the bottom and sank. 5 lost their lives.

SS Ariadne 1939-1940. Sailed as a hospital ship during the war. Sailed side by side with SS Prins Olav on the way to the Faroe Islands as they both were attacked by six German aircraft. SS Ariadne caught fire after a bomb hit, and was evacuated. The ship capsized and sank. 8 were killed. The survivors went to the Faroe Islands in the lifeboats, and was found and rescued in the morning.

MS Hadsel 1941-1950. Had good years in service. In 1958 it went aground and sank in the Lofotens. No one died.

SS Barøy 1937, 1940-1941. Was torpedoed by British aircraft at Tranøy north of Skutvik and sank in two minutes. 19 were saved and 112 died.

SS Ryfylke 1940-1941. Was stopped at Stadt by a british submarine. The passengers and crew got to evacuate the ship before the british sunk her.

SS Christiania 1944, 1947-1948. Ran aground at Aana-Sira but did not sink. Ran aground later and sank, but was raised and put back into service.

MS Ragnvald Jarl 1942-1956. Sailed without major incident. Was named Harald Jarl in 1956.

SS Sigurd Jarl 1942-1960. Ran aground twice before it was sold to China.

SS Skjerstad 1945-1958. Ran aground on Folla and sunk later because of another boat that heeled over Skjærstad and caused the sinking. Was raised and put back into service.

SS Lyra 1945-1949. Was lost in the Red Sea in foreign trade in 1958.

SS Tordenskjold 1946-1950. Without incidents.

SS Dronningen 1945-1946. Sailed as a replacement ship in Hurtigruten.

SS Nordnorge (II) 1944. Former "Mariehamn". Was taken over by the company ODS in 1942 to replace the SS Barøy in Hurtigruten. On her first and last trip, the ship was hit by a powerful explosion under the stern by the city Ålesund. The ship sank in one minute, and 11 died. It is not known whether the SS Nordnorge (II) was torpedoed or a mine exploded.

SS Lyngen 1947-1949. Sailed as a replacement ship in Hurtigruten.

SS Oslo 1948. Sailed as a replacement ship in Hurtigruten.

SS Ottar Jarl 1947-1948, 1951. Sailed as a replacement ship in Hurtigruten.

SS Salten 1946-50. Sailed as a replacement ship in Hurtigruten.

MS Erling Jarl 1949-1980. Was hit by fire at the quay in Bodø in 1958. 14 people lost their lives. Was rebuilt and put back into service the same year. Ran aground twice since. First in Raftsundet in 1972, then in Steinsundet in 1980. The damage was so big that it was taken out of Hurtigruten and broken up in 1985.

MS Midnatsol 1949-1983. Collided with a freighter in Steinsundet. Went later aground in Brønnøysund, but was repaired again. Under reparations she sank at the pier due to leakage.

MS Vesterålen 1950-1983. No incidents.

MS Sanct Svithun 1950-1962. Went aground on an island on Folla due to a navigational-fault. The bottom tore up and the ship sank. 42 lost their lives.

MS Nordlys 1951-1983. Had a large fire on board in 1988, and during towing to Bilbao she hit the bottom and it created such damage that the ship sank.

MS Håkon Jarl 1952-1982. In the route without incident.

MS Polarlys 1952-1993. In foreign trade today. Had good years in Hurtigruten.

MS Barøy 1953-1964. Got a machine-damage in 1959 but was repaired and put back into service. Fell due to a mechanical damage in foreign trade in 1973.

MS Alta 1950-1958. Sailed as a replacement ship in Hurtigruten.

MS Sørøy 1950-1965. Sailed as a replacement ship in Hurtigruten.

MS Salten 1953-1963. Sailed as a replacement ship a few months each year.

MS Meteor 1955-1958. Sailed as a replacement ship in Hurtigruten.

MS Ingøy 1956. Sailed as a replacement ship in Hurtigruten.

MS Jupiter 1953, 1955. Sailed as a replacement ship in Hurtigruten.

MS Nordstjernen 1956-2012. Hit the bottom by Brønnøysund in 1993. Was repared in Bergen and from 1994 she sailed as a replacement ship for several years for various Hurtigruten-ships, but sailed in fulltime service the last years. Did cruises on Svalbard every summer until 2008. Had an engine failure south of Florø in 2007, and hit the bottom. Nordstjernen has been sailing for 56 years and is the longest living Hurtigruten-ship in history, but gets beaten by todays MS Lofoten on effectiv sailingtime. The ship was taken out of service on march 22nd 2012 and replaced by MS Finnmarken. After completing a season with summer-cruises on Svalbard she will be sold from Hurtigruten in the fall, 2012. Read more about MS Nordstjernen here.

MS Finnmarken 1956-1993. Had two groundings. First by Svolvær in 1981 because of bad weather, later by Øksfjord in 1986. Is today a part of the Hurtigruten-museum at Stokmarknes.

MS Ragnvald Jarl 1956-1995. Was sold and sailed as a school ship in Norway, named "Gann", until 2007.

MS Harald Jarl 1960-2001. Collided in 1969 with a boat on Hustadvika and got minor injuries. Hit the bottom in Raftsundet in 1973, and on Åboskjæret by Brønnøysund in 1989. Collided with a boat in Stokksundet in 1990. Got such hull damages that it had to be repaired after sailing in bad weather between Stamsund and Svolvær in 1995. Saved the year after a man who had jumped overboard on Folla. Ran aground in Risværsund north of Rørvik in 1997. Repared and put back into service.

MS Lofoten 1964 - Sailed as a replacement ship from 2002 and 2007. Is now back in service full-time, as the second oldest ship, but the ship with the longest effectiv sailingtime in Hurtigruten. Ran aground in Risøyrenna in March 1970. June 1976 she collided with SS Erling Jarl. And in July 1977 she grounded in Tjeldsundet and had to be repaired.

MS Kong Olav 1964-1997. Ran aground by Rørvik in 1987 due to a blackout onboard. Ran later aground by Florø in 1994.

MS Nordnorge 1964-1996. Had a machine-breakdown in 1977, and crashed two years later with a boat in Kristiansund. Collided in Kjøllefjord with another boat in 1984.

MS Midnatsol/Lyngen 1982-2007. Was renamed MS Lyngen in 2005 and sailed in Hurtigruten til 2007.

MS Narvik 1982-2007. Was sold and has now taken over as the school-ship "Gann".

MS Vesterålen 1983 -. Had a engine failure in March and May 1988, and a grounding in Harstad in May the same year. Still sailing..

MS Kong Harald 1993 -. The second ship with this name. Had a smaller engine failure at Helgeland in 2004. Has collided with a boat in Raftsundet, and a grounding at Lepsøyrevet between Ålesund and Molde in April 2011, due to unforeseen extreme low tide.

MS Richard With 1993 -. Named after Hurtigruten's founder and is the second ship with this name. Was the first ship to sail in the Geiranger Fjord in August 1997. Ran aground in January 2009 in Trondheim, and took in water. Was towed to Germany for repairs and got back into service. Saved 5 men from a sinking fishing-vessel in may 2008, and two years later saved 3 tourists from another sinking fishing-vessel.

MS Nordlys 1994 -. The second ship with this name. Had a engine-failure in February 2002, between Nesna og Ørnes. In 2008 an accident in Honningsvåg with strong side winds made the ship struck the pier and damange her sidedoor. In September 2011 MS Nordlys was hit by the biggest accident in Hurtigrutens recent time, with a large fire onboard outside Ålesund, where two of the crew-members lost their lives and several were injured. Is scheduled to be back in service in march 2012.

MS Polarlys 1996 -. The third ship with this name, and one of today's ships that have had impeccable years in service.

MS Nordkapp 1996 -. First ship with this name. Got a total engine-blackout outside Henningsvær in Lofoten November 2001, but came from it without injury. Had an accident during a drill where one of the crew-members lost his life, and in January 2007 she grounded in the Antarctic. Is now sailing along the coast, having undergone several winter-cruises in Antarctica.

MS Nordnorge 1997 -. Sailed cruise in the Antarctic every winter for several years, and has been rented out as hotel ship on several occasions. Rescued 100 passengers and 54 crew members after the cruise ship Explorer collided with an iceberg and sank in the Antarctic in November 2007. Is sailing along the norwegian coast now, fulltime. Is one of today's ships that have sailed without incidents. Was the scene for "Hurtigruten - minute by minute" in 2011.

MS Finnmarken 2002 -. The third ship with this name. A storm at Stadt in November 2004 smashed an emergency exit door onboard. M/S Finnmarken is also one of today's ships that have sailed without major incidents. Finnmarken served as a hotel ship in Australia for last two years, and was back along the norwegian coast in february 2012.

MS Trollfjord 2002 -. The first ship with this name. Hit the bottom in Svartsundet off Trollfjorden in May 2007.

MS Midnatsol 2003 -. The fourth ship with this name. December 2003 she had a engine-blackout at Stadt in heavy weather. All passengers were ordered to the lifeboats, but the crew got the engines started again when the ship was 150 meters from the shore.

MS Fram 2007 -. Is a little smaler then the newest ships and is only sailing cruises, mainly abroad. Ran on an iceberg in Antarctica in 2007 due to a engine-blackout and received damage to the ship's side.


MS Finnmarken and the cruiseship Queen Mary 2 in Geiranger. © Tor Arne Aasen, Samferdselsfoto.no	MS Richard With and Queen Mary 2 in Geiranger. © Tor Arne Aasen, Samferdselsfoto.no	MS Vesterålen and Queen Mary 2 in Honningsvåg. © Jan Almås

Shipping companies:

Vesteraalens Steamship Company (VDS) (merged into ODS 1987, and on to OVDS)

Bergenske Steamship Company (BDS) (sold their Hurtigruten-ships to TFDS in 1979)

Nordenfjeldske Steamship Company (NFDS) (the company and all the ships was taken over by TFDS in 1988/1989)

Det Stavangerske Steamship Company (DSDS)

Finnmark County- and Route Company (FFR)

Ofoten Steamship Company (ODS)

Troms County Steamship Company (TFDS)

Ofotens and Vesteraalens Steamship Company (OVDS) (merger between VDS and ODS)

Hurtigruten ASA (merger between TFDS and OVDS)

Incorrections or info missing? Please write and let me know. Email address at the bottom of the page.

Sources:
- Book: Fra De Taptes Saga, by Steinar Oppedal (norwegian)
- Hurtigruten-poster of Radcon Norway
- Book: Livslinje og eventyrreise - Historien om Hurtigruten (norwegian)
- Wikipedia
- Rydheim.no