Hilmar Reksten - Wartime

Wartime

Reksten showed a remarkable capacity for investments; by the time of World War II the widower had six ships in operation. At the German invasion of Norway, he was drafted for military service at the naval centre of Marineholmen in Bergen. In the morning of April 9, 1940 he returned there, dressed in civilian clothes, got past the German guards there and smuggled the Norwegian commander out, along with important, secret papers. In the following days he conspired further, building up a network called "the Reksten circle" of people from the resistance movement. Gradually fearing for his life, but also because he wanted to continue his work within shipping, he chose to leave his five children behind while he himself fled to England. He went on to New York City with the intention of building up Nortraship in the USA. Five of his ships were abroad and could help the Allied with the war effort. However one of them, Hadrian, was stuck in Dakar and later in German service, until sunk by the Soviets outside Sevastopol in May 1944.

Reksten ended in conflict with more of Nortraship's leaders. In the autumn of 1940 he transferred his ship Octavian to a company registered in Panama and run by himself, thus breaking the rule that all Norwegian ships be controlled by Nortraship, albeit he claimed to have obtained a dispensation from Norwegian authorities. He was not fired, but transferred to the accounts department. In September 1941 he returned to London, where he cooperated closely with prime minister in exile, Johan Nygaardsvold, foreign minister Trygve Lie and other government members. He negotiated with the British Ministry of War Transport about Norwegian interests and transfer of British tonnage as replacement for Norwegian loss of ships. There were protests against him interfering with Nortraship's interests, and in February 1942 he was returned to New York to evaluate Nortraship and its leaders there. Reksten was particularly critical to the Head of Nortraship Øivind Lorentzen, and felt himself to be more competent at running Nortraship. Instead he was employed at the Nortraship office in Montreal, negotiating with American authorities about renewals of the Norwegian fleet, repairs and indemnity.

Since 1941 he had been Head of the London-based board of Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani. He left for Svalbard in June 1943 on behalf of the company and as a representative of the army, where he was an officer. On Svalbard Reksten, being fluent in German, was permitted to join an expedition meant to conquer a cottage functioning as a German weather station. The expedition succeeded, as the five Germans stationed there had fled in advance; but while Reksten was on guard outside the cottage, a German submarine surfaced in the bay, opening fire at the Norwegians. Reksten was unhurt though and returned to England.

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean a number of times during World War II, Reksten was well aware of the pressure faced by the Norwegian sailors. He made sure that their families in Norway received the sailors' pay throughout the war. His concern for their welfare was genuine. Three of his four ships in Allied traffic were sunk during World War II, and in August 1943 he applied for indemnity paid in advance. He received £70 000, and invested in a British steam ship, Marsden. The Brits accepted this, provided Marsden sailed under British flag.