Commodore was Commander J.F.C. Bartley (RNR) in Laurick (Captain W. Dunnet), Vice Commodore was Captain C. Allison of San Roberto.

The convoy had a total of 18 ships, 9 sailed from Methil as follows:

Joining from Tyne - T.10 L - Moss Rose - 8 - Shoreham

From Blyth:
B.10 L - Seafisher - 9 1/2 - London
B.12 L - Hoogland - 8 - London
B.11 L - John Charrington - 9 - London
B.13 L - Gwenthills - 9 - London

From Sunderland - S.10 L - Pacific - 9 - London

From Seaham - Z.11 - Betty Hindley - 10 - London (did not sail)

From Tees - M.10 L - Empire Clansman - 9 - London.

Average speed - 6.73 knots.

Escort Vesselss:
HMS Verdun joined at 18:30 Febr. 7 off No. 21 D Buoy
HMS Wolsey - Methil to Southend
HMS Sheldrake and HMS Sapphire from 13:23 Febr. 8, Buoy No. 62F to 17:22 Febr. 9 No. 51 Buoy.
HMS Quorn, and Southdown from 16:00 Febr. 8 Buoy H4 to 07:30 Febr. 9 off No. 55A Buoy.

Air Escort - Febr. 7, 8, 9, not sighted. Febr. 10, 08:15 Buoy B7 until arrival Southend.

On Febr. 8 at 03:25 - Buoy No. 20C - passed Convoy FN 37. At 12:25 - Buoy No. 62G - passed Convoy FN 38.
On Febr. 9 at 16:08 - Buoy No.54A - passed Convoy FN 40.
On Febr. 10 at 10:32 - Buoy No. B3 - passed Convoy FN 41. At 11:40 - Warp Buoy - passed Convoy CW 155.

The Commodore says:
Station keeping was "very good considering the weather conditions prevailing (southerly gale).
Signalling - very good.

S/S Urd (Swedish) and S/S Moss Rose both slowly dropped astern being unable to maintain convoy speed (in deteriorating weather Febr. 8). Both ships were diverted into Humber.
S/S Yokefleet and S/S Hoogland (Du) straggled, but caught up later. During the night of Febr. 8/9 S/S Seafisher, S/S John Charrington and S/S Gwenthills all proceeded through the Would route from Sheringham. S.O. Escort sent HMT Sapphire back with them to act as escort.
During morning watch of the 9th M/V Empire Atoll went ahead at full speed. Escort signalled him and told him to wait with the convoy but apparently this was ignored as he again went ahead in a heavy squall and was not seen again. He was reported as having passed B8 at 14:00/9.
During night of 8/9th S/S Pacific and Tug Brightlingsea disappeared. They were not within twelve miles of the rear of convoy when a search was made by HMS Wolsey at daylight.
On morning of 9th S/S Hoogkerk (Dutch) reported that during the bad weather during the night a man was washed overboard. HMS Sheldrake made a search but was unsuccessful.

Febr. 8 - From daylight weather gradually deteriorated and wind increased to gale force from SSW. Speed of convoy was reduced to about 5 1/2 knots. Weather conditions necessitated forming single column whilst passing from No. 12 Buoy to No. 59 Buoy.
Febr. 9 - Weather further deteriorated after passing No. 57 Buoy at 01:00 until speed of convoy was only 1 1/2 knots. Convoy became scattered during the night and reformed at daylight. There were 3 ships missing. Weather moderated during the afternoon. At 18:35, anchored convoy in accordance with signal from C in C Nore between B7 and B8.
At 08:05 Febr. 10 - Convoy weighed and proceeded to Southend.

To sum it up, the following ships are mentioned in the various documents:
Urd, Moss Rose (both went to Humber), Hoogland*, Seafisher*, John Charrington*, Gwenthills*, Empire Atoll*, Hoogkerk*, Empire Clansman*, Laurick*, San Roberto (arrived Purfleet), Pass of Ballater, Yokefleet, Stuart Queen, Tioga, tug Brightlingsea, Pacific (went missing), and an illegible ship (looks like Rubelstone or similar).

* = Arrived London.

Cover Letter - dated Febr. 14-1943 and signed by Captain J. S. Crawford, Rosyth.
II 0188
Commander in Chief, Rosyth
(Copies to: Commander in Chief, The Nore
N.C.S.O.'s Thames, Tyne, Methil
Commanding Officer, HMS Verdun

Submitted

2. N.C.S.O.'s are requested to note remark (d).

3. S/S Pacific disappeared from this convoy and up to the time of this report no trace of her has been found. It seems that she was last seen before dusk on 8th, and found missing dawn 9th February. It has been suggested (Commander in Chief, the Nore's 1714/11/2) that she may have foundered in the bad weather.

Sunday 7th February
13:30 - Sailed from Methil, Wolsey escorting.
18:00 - Verdun overtook convoy. Wolsey proceeded to escort Tyne contingent.

Monday 8th February
03:11 - No. 20C buoys.
09:15 - Overtook Tyne contingent. (My 0918/8).
12:15 - Met F.N. convoy. Sheldrake and Sapphire joined. Weather, wind SSW force 4, sea 34.
15:20 - No. H4 buoy.
18:23 - No. 14 buoy. In view of weather and oncoming night, Commodore suggested forming single line to pass down diversion. This was done without trouble.
17:50 - Wolsey reported Urd and Moss Rose unable to keep up against head wind and seas, and had returned to Humber. (Wolsey's 1757/8).
20:28 - No. 59 buoy. Convoy remained in single column.
21:47 - Sheringham.
22:50 - Sapphire reported - "several ships proceeding by Would route, am doing my best to overtake" - This was confirmed by Wolsey's 2305/8, and C in C Nore's 2315/8. As it was impractible for them to rejoin convoy, I ordered Sapphire to remain with them, and report situation. (My 2340/8).

Tuesday 9th February
01:02 - No. 57 buoy. Wind SxW force 6, sea 34.
04:15 - With wind sea and tide against them, convoy became very scattered, and made practically no headway for 5 hours. I reported this in my 0415/9.
07:55 - S/S Hoogkerk reported she had lost man overboard about 04:00 near Hearty Knoll. I ordered Sheldrake to carry out search, and repeated the signal to SEECD and C in C Nore. (My 0815/9).
08:30 - Sapphire rejoined with three ships, who had come down the Would. Wolsey searched 12 miles astern for stragglers. During the forenoon convoy gradually reformed.
10:15 - No. 4 buoy. Wind South force 7, sea 53. After muster at 12:30 I was able to report situation in my 1301/9 to C in C Nore. I was certain Empire Atoll had gone ahead during the middle watch (in spite of being told by light not to do so) and this was confirmed by Woolston's 1403/9 to C in C Nore. No trace could be found of Pacific or H.M. Tug Brightlingsea.
14:30 - No. 3 buoy. As wind and sea had decreased considerably, Commodore asked me to request C in C Nore's permission to carry on to B3. As I had (not?) received any reply to my 1301/9 (in which I proposed to anchor convoy at B8) I therefore made my 1531/9 requesting permission for convoy to proceed to B3 before anchoring.
16:23 - I received C in C Nore's 1605/9. I had previously been unable to get hold of the names of the "Would sinners" from Sapphire, who stated that Seafisher admitted to going down the Would, but that the other ships would not reply. She however estimated that the other 2 to be the middle ships in the starboard column, John Charrington and Gwenthills.
16:38 - No. 52 buoy. Received C in C Nore's 1528/9. After turning the convoy over to Wolsey, I proceeded into Harwich in accordance with the above signal.
Wolsey reported convoy had anchored between B7 and B8 (His 1839/9).

Wednesday 10th February
07:15 - Proceeded from Harwich and rejoined convoy. Wolsey returned to Harwich for fuel.
10:00 - B4 buoy. Meynell took over FS 33, Verdun transferring to FN 41.

Remarks:
a) - Enemy action NIL.

b) - Reference para 5, it is not understood why these ships proceeded by the Would, but it may have been on account of the weather.

c) - Reference para 11 and second half of Nore's 1605/9, it is submitted that my 1301/9 was decyphered as "clear and intelligible" by Woolston, Sheldrake and Wolsey. It is pointed out that the group for H.M. Tug Brightlingsea (which C in C Nore queried) was taken from S.P. 02329.

d) - Reference para 5, it is suggested that the obvious dangers of "going down the wrong channel" may be impressed on Masters, as this has been quite a frequent occurrence lately.

e) - Delay due to weather was unavoidable. It was one of the worst gales this winter.

Signed
W. S. Donald
Lieutenant Commander in Command

See also this thread on my Ship Forum.

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