1. Still, Hilmar Reksten eked out an existence during the following three years, writing paid letters from Germany that were published in Bergens Tidende, and thus finishing his studies, returning to Norway in 1924.
11 Facts About Hilmar Reksten
1. 2.
Hilmar Reksten ran his firm from Minde, a residential part of Bergen, residing there until 1932.
3.
Hilmar Reksten left for Svalbard in June 1943 on behalf of the company and as a representative of the army, where he was an officer.
4.
In 1968 Hilmar Reksten placed an order for yet another seven supertankers from Aker, the largest ships the world had seen so far.
5.
In 1970 Hilmar Reksten signed the shipping contract of all times, when Libya cut down on oil production, while Nigeria was in chaos, and Syria closed the oil pipeline from the Middle East to the Mediterranean.
6.
Hilmar Reksten's declared goal was to become the world's greatest shipping magnate before turning 80, which would happen in 1977.
7.
Hilmar Reksten barely avoided bankruptcy in 1976, by fetching in 100 million kroner from abroad, and have the Norwegian state guarantee for a loan of almost one billion kroner in return for taking over a great portion of the company's stocks.
8.
The lord mayor in Bergen, Nils Handal, asked in 1951 Hilmar Reksten to help establish Festspillene i Bergen, which were held for the first time in 1953.
9.
In 1967, when the school ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl risked being sold out of the country, Hilmar Reksten bought the ship and made sure that it remained in Bergen.
10.
Hilmar Reksten married secondly 1952 Carol Mowinckel, nee Montgomery, widow of shipping magnate Jens Gran Mowinckel, and had one daughter.
11.
The article reveals that Hilmar Reksten had left his grandchildren a large sum of money in a trust in 1973, and that Astrid and Sigurd secretly broke into the trust and stole nearly all of the money it contained.