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CONVOY HX 198

Convoy HX 198 Cruising Order
Departed Halifax on July 12-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 23rd (Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" gives 29 ships).
List received from Ted Agar (His source: A diary. Although the information is usually incomplete, as it appears to be in this case, I consider this diary valuable and important in and of itself and, therefore, I've chosen to transcribe it and keep it "as is" on this website, adding further details and/or corrections from other sources separately, rather than within the form itself [except for cargoes], as seen below).

Cargoes have been extracted from a document received from D. Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see his listing for HX 198 at Ships in all HX convoys.

(The stations given below are at time of departure, and may have changed as the voyage progressed).

See also Convoy ON 99.

Br=British, Bel=Belgian, Pa=Panamanian, Fr=French, Du=Dutch, Norw=Norwegian, Am=American, Gr=Greek, Ru=Russian.
MoWT=Ministry of War Transport.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
11
Cape Breton
steel - lumber
2 passengers
(Br)
21
Southern Princess
fuel oil
(Br)
31
Emile Francqui
general
5 passengers
(Bel)
41
Fort Louisbourg
general
(Br)
51
Tortuguero
meat - metal
(Br)
61
Solarium
paraffin
(Br)
71
Belinda
petrol
(Norw)
81
F. J. Luckenbach
general
(Am)
 91
Potter
general
(Pa)
12
Belomorcanal
general
(Ru)
22
Saint Bertrand*
(Br)
32
Pan Carolina
petrol
(Am)
42
Empire Marlowe
steel - cotton
(Br)
52
Ocean Voyager
general
(Br)
62
Pan New York
petrol
(Am)
72
Franche Comté
petrol
(Fr / MoWT 1940)
82
Waterland
general
1724 mails
2 passengers
(Du)
 92
Empire Cameron
steel - cotton
(Br)
13
Fort Amherst*
(Br)
23
Havmøy*
(Norw)
 33
Alcoa Mariner
general
(Am)		 43
Henry R. Mallory
general
(Am)		 53
Turrialba
refrig.
(Am)		 63

**

 73
Hercules
general
(Du)		 83
Zacapa
general
640 mails
(Am)		 93
Gerassimos Vergottis
general
(Gr)
14
Biscaya*
(Norw)		 24
Belle Isle*
(Br)		 34
Sevilla*
(Norw)		 44

**

 54

**

 64 74

**

 84

**

 94
Belinda, Waterland and Gerassimos Vergottis had returned to port from the previous convoy, HX 197.

*When comparing this information with A. Hague's listing for HX 198 at Ships in all HX convoys, we see that he has not included Fort Amherst, Havmøy, Biscaya, Belle Isle and Sevilla in this convoy. These ships did indeed leave port on July 12, but not to join Convoy HX 198; they are all listed in Convoy HJ 8 from Halifax to St. John's (external link - Belle Isle is listed as American here). So the author of the diary who saw them leave at the same time as the HX convoy ships probably assumed that they too were destined for this convoy. Also, A. Hague has listed Saint Bertrand in the previous convoy, HX 197, instead of HX 198.

**On the other hand, he has some ships that are not mentioned in the diary, as follows:
In station 63 - The British Cliona, gas oil.
In station 44 - The British City of Athens, general cargo
In station 54 - The American Gulfwing, cargo of oil
In station 74 - The Panamanian Norlys, cargo of oil fuel
In station 84 - The Panamanian Norvik, cargo of oil fuel
He has also added the Yugoslavian Marija Petrinovic, cargo of iron ore, but no station number is given.

Instead of Waterland in station 82, he has the American Pan-New York, while Waterland has been given station 62.

Belomorcanal became a straggler, arrived Iceland. Potter returned (does not show up again until HX 209, returned again, being unable to keep up with the convoy speed, then joined Convoy SC 103 - see Ships in all SC convoys).

The ships went out in the following order (according to the diary):
At 12:49 Potter went out "to join the convoy at sea", then at 14:48 Tortuguero left, followed at 14:50 by Henry R. Mallory (WHCF), and with a few minutes between each ship, Fort Louisbourg, Cape Breton, Southern Princess, F. J. Luckenbach, Belinda, Solarium, Emile Francqui, St. Bertrand, Sevilla, Turrialba, Gerassimos Vergottis, Alcoa Mariner, Franche Comté, Empire Marlowe, Hercules, Belle Isle, Pan Carolina, Havmøy, Pan New York, Empire Cameron, Belomorcanal, Waterland, Biscaya, Fort Amherst, Ocean Voyager, and the last to go at 16:10 was Zacapa (KDCI). Again, please note that some of the ships mentioned here did not leave port in order to join HX 198, but to join Convoy HJ 8 - see the notes in the table above.

A. Hague names the following escorts (extracted from this list of HX convoy escorts, also received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Butser - From 22/07/42 to 21/07/42
Campanula - From 15/07/42 to 21/07/42
Camrose - From 12/07/42 to 15/07/42
Clematis - From 15/07/42 to 21/07/42
Hesperus - From 15/07/42 to 22/07/42
Mignonette - From 15/07/42 to 23/07/42
Prescott - From 12/07/42 to 15/07/42
Ripley - From 18/07/42 to 22/07/42
Sabre - From 20/07/42 to 21/07/42
Saladin - From 20/07/42 to 21/07/42
Sweetbriar - From 15/07/42 to 23/07/42
Vanessa - From 15/07/42 to 22/07/42
Vanquisher - From 12/07/42 to 15/07/42
Wedgeport - From 14/07/42 to 15/07/42
Woodstock - From 12/07/42 to 15/07/42

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