It is believed that Devonshire was carrying cash – a large amount and possibly government/royalty papers/jewells. We know a Norwegian lady boarded the good ship just as she was about to depart. That lady has never been fully identified. She landed close to the cruiser via a Norwegian seaplane, taken off and then embarked Devonshire. The time is given in Devonshire’s log, but I cannot recall the exact time at the moment. Earlier, she had been taken off a Hurtigruten ferry along with a large suitcase. This lady was obviously important, but all attempts to identify her have drawn a blank, although some think she was the ‘mistress’ of a senior government official (nothing changes!)

To say I was pleased when I saw your posting was an understatement as it confirms that something of interest was aboard, but I don’t think it was gold the marines were guarding as there would have been a stricter prescence, but Norwegian cash/important papers etc., would have seem less worthy of a strict guard, but accompanied by sidearms of course just to put off the ‘enterprising’ types, i could be wrong of course.

There is no mentioning of removal of valuables in the log, but later in London a suitcase appears with cash and papers. The code name for this was ‘light luggage’ whilst the gold was understandably called ‘heavy luggage’. I think it’s fair to say that not a lot of effort went in to those code names!

A bigger mystery is that HMS Enterprise sailed to UK with the last cargo of gold – Devonshire was just behind her, but although badly beaten up due to ops, weather and near misses, she made for Plymouth rather than a Scottish port – which would seem logical considering her state and what she was carrying – she was also unescorted and sailed down the west coast of the UK.

Thanks again, James – as you say another part of the jig-saw slots together.

Both my father and my maternal grandfather were serving aboard Devonshire at this time.My father had joined as a Boy sailor in 1938 and Devonshire was his first ship. My grandfather had served as a regular before, during and after WW1 and, as a reservist, was called back to the service in 1939 when war appeared imminent.

I recall both of them speaking of this episode, neither knew what the ship was carrying (other than the King) but they recalled that two Marines were constantly present at the locked door of one of the forward chain lockers. The Marines were not ostensibly ‘standing guard’, they often were just chatting or playing cards, but, significantly, both wore side arms.

Neither my father or grandfather, both gone many years now, of course, ever knew what was in the locker but their presumption was that it was either bullion, the Norwegian crown jewels or perhaps both.

Sorry I can’t give you anything more definite but I hope it adds a little colour to some small part of the jigsaw.

Norwegian Gold Bullion Snatch

http://royalnavymemories.co.uk/norwegian-gold-bullion-snatch/

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Flight of the Norwegian National Treasury

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_Norwegian_National_Treasury

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M/S BOMMA
The Transport of Norway’s Gold

http://www.mlms.logan.k12.ut.us/~ckircalli/snow%20treasure/Bomma.htm

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The world’s biggest coin deal
http://www.dokpro.uio.no/umk_eng/blanding/gullbehold.html

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The gold transport
http://www.monthuset.com/English/always-looking.html

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Hitler’s gold: the story of the Nazi war loot – Google Books Result
Arthur Lee Smith – 1996 – Business & Economics – 256 pages

Much of the credit for rescuing Norwegian gold went to Oscar Torp. minister of finance. He personally supervised the transport of the gold from Oslo to the …

books.google.com/books?isbn=1859739210…

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Precious Gold Cargo Escapes

http://www.annassecretlegacynovel.com/gold_escape.html

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Invasion of Denmark and Norway
World War II Database
9 Apr 1940 – 10 Jun 1940

ww2db.com › Events › The European War

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Nini Haslund Gleditsch – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nini Haslund Gleditsch (22 June 1908 – 25 July 1996) was a Norwegian … Nini followed the transport of four truckloads of gold by ships from Molde to …

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nini_Haslund_Gleditsch

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FAQ – Gold reserves – Norges Bank
Apr 4, 2011 … If you visit Statistics Norway’s website, you will find the price of gold under “Spot prices metals”. Gold transport in 1940: How large were …

http://www.norges-bank.no/en/faq/gold/