S  t  a  t  e  m  e  n  t
  
 
                      of Captain Kristian  E v e n s e n  of the Norwegian Whale
 
                       Cooker "OLE WEGGER", captured on 14 January 1941.
     
When questioned by the Prisoner Officer, Captain Evensen said the following:
     
          The "OLE WEGGER" whaling expedition he commanded left Halifax on 10 October 1940, bunkered oil in Curacao, and then continued its journey to the Antarctic whaling grounds via Rio de Janeiro. Two whaling boats, which had been stationed in Montevideo during the summer, rendezvoused with them in the whaling grounds, and the remaining five boats joined from Rio.  
     
          The "OLE WEGGER" cooking plant, formerly owned by A/S Theo Dahl in Sandefjord, has been confiscated by the Royal Norwegian Government and now operates on their behalf.  The previous insurance contract for the ship and cargo was invalid. He was required to undertake to the representative of the Royal Norwegian Government to comply with the secret instructions for merchant ships issued by the English Admiralty, since payment of the insured sum in the event of an accident, etc., was dependent on them.   
     
          The previous catch of 7700 tons of whale oil (= 514 whales) was described by Evensen as average.  
     
          When they were intercepted by the German warship, they were in the process of delivering whale oil to the Norwegian transport ship "SOLGLIMT." The cruiser's approach went unnoticed.  No distress signals or other telegrams have been sent. The ship was unarmed. The all-Norwegian crew consisted of 188 men on the "OLE WEGGER," plus 13 men on each fishing boat.  
     
          To his knowledge, the English whale factories are armed. He was unable to say whether the fishing boats are also armed. He was not aware of the English catching area; he presumes it is west of his location. He was unable to provide information about warship movements in the North and South Atlantic or in the Antarctic.  
     
          He had agreed without hesitation to comply with the cruiser commander's wishes, since as a prisoner of war he had little choice and, moreover, he wanted to keep the ship because this seemed to him to be far more advantageous for himself and his men.  "SOLGLIMT" brought him mail from Norway dated October 1940. His relatives had not raised any complaints. The issue of food shortages in Norway, so casually discussed abroad, did not seem to apply to Sandefjord.  
     
     
     
     
Click the flag to view the above page from the original German KTB
     
     
 
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          When accused during a later interrogation of having been dishonest about his armament, since a cannon packed in a crate had been found on deck, he replied that the crate had come aboard a few hours before the ship was taken into custody and that he had forgotten about it in the excitement of the initial interrogation. He later learned that these crates, containing cannons and accessories, had arrived on the "SOLGLIMT" in New York, who expected him to be able to set up and operate such a thing. None of his men had ever been instructed in the operation of a cannon.