Beneath Norway’s waters lies a haunting wartime secret: the MS Rigel. It was the country’s deadliest maritime disaster, where over 2,500 lives were lost.
The rugged Norwegian coastline is a place of breathtaking beauty, with its towering fjords, jagged peaks, and remote islands.
But behind this stunning façade lies a darker history, one that has left scars on the country and its people. Beneath the waves and hidden in the shadows of its coastline are countless stories of shipwrecks, tragedies, and wartime secrets.
One of the most haunting is one I only learned about recently as I sailed past the location of the sinking of the MS Rigel—a maritime disaster that remains the deadliest in Norwegian history.
About MS Rigel
The MS Rigel, named after the brightest star in the constellation Orion, was built in Copenhagen in 1924 for a Norwegian shipping company.
However, her peaceful beginnings were overshadowed by a devastating chapter in World War II. During the German occupation of Norway, the Rigel was commandeered by the Nazis to transport prisoners of war.
Transporting Thousands of Prisoners
By November 1944, as the war neared its end, she was used to carry 2,838 passengers south from the Narvik area.
Among them were 455 German soldiers, a civilian crew of 29, three Norwegian coastal pilots, 95 German deserters, eight Norwegian convicts, and—most tragically—2,248 Soviet, Polish, and Serbian prisoners of war.
These prisoners had been forced into gruelling slave labour in Northern Norway, working in brutal conditions with minimal food, clothing, and shelter.
As the Allies advanced, German forces in Northern Norway began a scorched-earth retreat, destroying towns and infrastructure while evacuating their prisoners southwards.
The Rigel became part of this operation, a floating vessel of misery transporting exhausted and broken men to continue their forced labour in southern Norway.
A Fatal Mistake
On the morning of 27 November, 1944, the Rigel was escorted by two small German U-boats near the islands of Rosøya and Tjøtta, just south of the famed Seven Sisters mountain range.
A British patrol from the aircraft carrier HMS Implacable spotted the convoy and, mistaking the Rigel for a German troop transport, launched a devastating air attack.
The ship was bombarded with bombs and machine-gun fire, leaving its gutted hull barely afloat. Survivors in the water desperately tried to reach land, but British planes returned to fire on them, unaware of the ship’s tragic cargo.
Over 2,500 people died in the attack—soldiers, prisoners, and crew alike—making the sinking of the Rigel one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history.
Miraculously, the German captain managed to ground the damaged ship on the island of Rosøya, saving approximately 450 lives.
For many, however, it was too late. Survivors recalled harrowing scenes as the bodies of drowned German soldiers were separated from those of prisoners, with the soldiers buried with honours while the rest were discarded unceremoniously.
Why Was the Rigel Forgotten?
Despite its scale, the sinking of the MS Rigel is far less known than other maritime disasters.
Post-war authorities in both Norway and the UK preferred to keep the tragedy quiet—perhaps because of the painful implications.
The attack, while a tactical error, had devastating consequences for innocent lives, including the very people the Allies sought to liberate.
Wartime tragedies like these defy clear narratives of victory and loss, leaving them to linger in obscurity.
Honouring the Victims
The wreck of the Rigel remained half-submerged and forgotten until 1969, when it was finally raised. The remains of many of those who perished were brought to the Tjøtta International War Cemetery.
Established in 1970, this cemetery is a solemn site, featuring a grand obelisk and thousands of anonymous graves. Here, the victims of the Rigel—many of them Eastern European prisoners—are finally honoured with dignity.
It's located in Alstahaug on the Helgeland coast, between Sandnessjøen and Tjøtta. The war cemetery has a nice rest area (with restrooms) and makes for a good stop on a drive along the Helgeland coast.
For those traveling along Norway’s rugged coastline, the story of the MS Rigel is a sobering reminder of the horrors of war and the countless untold stories hidden beneath the waves.
The Seven Sisters and the surrounding waters are beautiful and serene today, but they carry echoes of a dark past.
