Br=British, Du=Dutch, Bel=Belgian, Fr=French, Norw=Norwegian, Da=Danish, Ca=Canadian, Am=American, Pa=Panamanian.
MOWT=Ministry of War Transport

Asbjørn was originally Danish - came under the control of the Canadian government in 1940.

Inventor, Noreg, Athos, Polartank, Polarsol, and Ocean Merchant had been cancelled from the previous convoy, HX 205. The ship in station 11 is listed as Ocean Victory in the diary, but as Ocean Viceroy on the A 1 form - the latter had also cancelled from the previous convoy.

The ships went out in the following order:
The first to leave at 14:40 was the Commodore Vessel Pacific Enterprise, followed at 14:42 by Inventor, then with a few minutes between each ship, Ville Tamatave, Empire Norseman (torpedo nets), Fort McLeod (lumber), Asbjørn, D. L. Harper, Ocean Victory (Viceroy?), Noreg, Edam, Empire Coral, Polartank, Polarsol, Nueva Granada, Tai Shan, Skandinavia, Cardium, Athos, Villanger, Empire Hawk, John P. Poe, Edward F. Johnson, Tjimanoek, Hegira, Thomas Hooker, Pennmar, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Delnorte (bombers and tanks on deck), Trentbank, Steel Navigator, Hercules, Garonne, Manchester Citizen, Jean, Fort Townshend, Moveria, Ocean Virtue, Bernard Carter, Empire Chapman, Peter D. Hoegh, Ocean Athlete, Clan Colqhoun, Ocean Merchant, Ocean Valentine, Emile Francqui, Fort Babine, and the last to go out at 17:30 was Akaroa. (*Kaia Knudsen, Schuylkill, Esturia and Mount Evans are not mentioned in the diary. However, Schuylkill is listed as sailing in the next convoy, HX 207, while Mount Evans and Esturia show up in the slow convoy SC 100 which departed 6 days later - this could indicate they did not sail in HX 206 afterall - there's no mention in the Commodore's notes about them leaving after departure, so may have been cancelled alltogether?. Also, Kaia Knudsen shows up again in Convoy HX 208, which again would indicate she did not sail in HX 206).

Commodore's notes:
The convoy had 47 on departure Halifax, 44 were present at rendezvous with local escort.
Pennmar was unable to maintain convoy speed and returned to Halifax in the afternoon of Sept. 7 - she's listed in the slow convoy SC 100, departing Halifax on Sept. 12 (sunk - follow link to this convoy above).
Fort Townshend detached for St. John's at 06:00 on Sept. 9, in 45 50N 51 12W.
Clan Colqhoun fell astern with leaky boilers during the night of Sept. 16/17.

Average speed. 9.5 knots.

Steel Navigator, John P. Poe and Thomas Hooker were "slow at repeating flag signals. Very slow indeed at answering flashing signals".

The Commodore is not at all impressed with the ability of the American ships to keep their station in the convoy, but he seems plum disgusted with the convoy's signallers, saying:
"I consider that the whole question of Convoy signalmen requires careful watching, and that periodically they should be relieved and sent through a refresher course combined with a naval disciplinary course. In many ships they live in the saloon, they get into slack and bad habits and lose all sense of naval discipline unless constantly pulled up. They gradually assimilate the outlook, customs and manners of the Merchant Service; such matters as talking to the Commodore with hands in their pockets, not shaving, wearing plain clothes, smoking on watch etc., have been prevalent with my staff. Certain blame is due to the officers of the ships who treat them as equals". (!!!)

Escort Vessels (hard to decipher handwriting): Caldwell, Baddock, Port Arthur, Mansfield(?), Rimouski, Hurricane, Wildflower?, Snowflake, Watchman, Anchusa.

Related external links:
Liberty Ships - Some of the ships listed as American above were Liberty ships (station 13, 44, 34, 74) - this site lists them all alphabetically.
Empire Ships
Fort, Ocean (& Park) Ships

All the Norwegian ships in this convoy are discussed on this website - use alphabet index below to find them.

Back to Convoy Index