Hop

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The graves at Balista

D/S Hop of Bergen Norway. 1365 GRT.
Built by Boele's Sheepswerven & Maschinefabriek, Holland, to August Kjerland, Bergen in 1916.
The 'Hop' was sunk east of Shetland on February 4th 1940, by the German submarine U37. The whole crew of 17 lost their lives.
The 'Hop' was on her way from Bergen to Tyne in ballast when she was attacked. not long after, bodies started to drift ashore in Shetland. Four bodies came ashore on Unst, another three on Fetlar and one in Lunna. They were all assumed to come from the 'Hop'. One of the men had a Norwegian flag tattooed on his forearm, another had the name 'Hop' on his vest. And a piece of wood with the name 'Hop', drifted ashore too. The Unst bodies were buried in Balista Churchyard, while the Fetlar bodies were buried in the Churchyard there. The one in Lunna is one of the three Norwegian wargraves at Lunna Kirk.
The 'Hop' was one of the 55 Norwegian ships that were lost during the neutrality period, September 3rd 1939 - April 9th 1940.

Memorial plaques were erected, in Balista Fetlar and Lunna.

The Names of the crewmembers were:

Kristoffer A. Lutentuhn, born 1899 Håkon D. Pedersen, born 1906 Peder K. Silseth, born 1899 Brynjulf Bøe, born 1895 Sverre K. Nerland, born 1907 Tor A. Freidmann, born 1921	Einar M. Endresen, born 1907 Olav Ingebriktsen, born 1918 Olav Ystebø, born 1920 John Soltvedt, born 1902 Robert E. Larsen, born 1904 Henry A. Olsen, born 1885	Alfred Stenseth, born 1903 Olav I. Henriksn, born 1910 Lars Sjøtun, born 1907 Fredrik A. Lauritsen, born 1910 Finn Jensen, born 1920