Bergen Steamship Company

Cruise liners were run from 1921 until 1971 when BDS partnered Nordenfjeldske Dampskibsselskab in setting up the Royal Viking Line.

During World War II several BDS ships were sunk by Allied action on the Norwegian coast, including MS Rigel in which over 2500 people died.

According to the newspaper Bergens Tidende the Company profited highly from shipping contracts entered into with the German occupiers of Norway.

On 14 June 1888 the Norwegian Parliament agreed to support a weekly mail service from Newcastle to Bergen and Trondheim.

In June 1893 the Bergen Line ship Venus (1,095 GRT), built on the Tyne by Swan Hunter, entered the service and remained on regular sailings until 1931.

From August 22 of that year all British mail for the Far East was sent via Newcastle and Bergen and the route became the only safe one for the exchange of personnel between the Western Powers and their Russian ally.

Venus had been discovered sunk in Hamburg harbour in 1945 and judged capable of rebuilding, and she reappeared on the service in April 1948 with a larger profile which had the forecastle built one deck higher (6,269 GRT).

She maintained summer sailings from Newcastle and operated cruises from Plymouth to Madeira in the winters from December 1948 onwards, which also took advantage of the cargo opportunity provided by the import of fruit and vegetables to the UK.

The last conventional passenger ferry was TS Leda (6,670 GRT), delivered in 1953 by Swan Hunter and powered by steam turbines giving a speed of 22 knots, making her the only ship which could complete three round voyages weekly, and she did so during the 1950s and 1960s.

[7] The Hurtigruten opened in 1893 to convey passengers and cargo along the Norwegian coast, initially from Trondheim to Hammerfest, later from Bergen to Kirkenes.

Alexey Krylov was a member of the board, "mainly to participate in the inspection and testing of the acquired steamers and to monitor the building of the ordered ones."