Convoy HX 221 - warsailors.com

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CONVOY HX 221
Departed New York on Dec. 29-1942 and arrived Liverpool on Jan. 14-1943.
Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" gives 36 ships in this convoy.

Narrative of Voyage is available on Page 2

Transcribed from several documents received from Roger Griffiths (Advance Sailing Telegram, A 1 form etc.) - His source: Public Records Office, Kew. The ships are listed in the order in which they appear on the various documents. Crossed out ships did not sail, underlined ships returned to port. MOWT = Ministry of War Transport For info, some of the ships in this convoy are listed in the westbound convoy ON 162, leaving Liverpool on Jan. 23-1943, others are listed in ON 164 in Febr.-1943.
Ship	Nationality	Cargo	Station	Destination	Remarks
~~Aruba~~	Dutch	general	~~131~~	Liverpool	Sailed in HX 222
Banfora	French / MOWT 1942	99 passengers (troops)	62	Glasgow	–
Lancastrian Prince	"	steel - general	132	Cardiff	–
City of Calcutta	"	general - 4 passengers	101	Liverpool	Vice Commodore Straggled - joined up with SC 115 (see Page 2)
Corilla	Dutch	aviation fuel	103	Avonmouth	–
Fort La Montee	British	timber - wheat - metal	21	London	–
Fort Thompson	"	general - planes	31	Avonmouth	–
Fort Poplar	"	lead - lumber	22	London	–
Garonne	Norwegian	Admiralty tanke diesel oil	92	Scapa	–
~~Glenapp~~	British	palm oil - general - 24 passengers - mail	–	Liverpool	–
Gulfgem	American	Admiralty fuel	43	Liverpool	–
Maaskerk	Dutch	sugar - wood pulp - 64 passengers - mail	42	Liverpool	–
Abraham Lincoln	Norwegian	general	71	Glasgow	From HX 220 Commodore Vessel
Marsdale	British	general	84	Manchester	–
~~Thorsholm~~	Norwegian	Admiralty fuel	64	Clyde	–
B. P. Newton	"	gasoline	122	Avonmouth	From HX 220
Clan Alpine	British	general - 2 passengers - mail	91	Liverpool	Returned to port (St. John's) listed in HX 224
Empire Nugget	"	gasoline	112	Avonmouth	From HX 220
Empire Trader	"	general (ref.)	113	Avonmouth	From HX 220
~~Esso Bayonne~~	American	Tanker B	–	Manchester	From HX 220
~~illegible (Esso ?)~~	"	Tanker	–	–	–
?Eurybates?	British	general - 1 passenger - mail	41	Liverpool	–
~~F. J. Wolfe~~	"	Admiralty tanker	–	Clyde	Sailed in HX 222
Ingria	Norwegian	general	23	Hull	From HX 220
Israel Putnam	American	valuables	111	Loch Ewe f. o.	Straggled - joined up with SC 115 (see Page 2) For info, listed in JW 53 to Murmansk Febr. 15-1943 (see Arctic Convoys)
Haakon Hauan	Norwegian	aviation fuel	63	Stanlow	From HX 220
Mary Kingsley	British	general - 11 passengers	114	Liverpool	–
~~?Stigstad?~~	Norwegian	Tanker B	–	Mersey	–
William Bradford	American	general - explosives	121	Barry Dock	–
~~Leerdam~~	Dutch	general - explosives	44	Holyhead	To HX 222 - did not sail Sailed in HX 223
J. H. Senior	Panamanian	gas oil	81	Swansea	Bombs found on board (see Page 2)
Opalia	British	aviation fuel	52	Stanlow	–
Fort Souris	"	lumber - wheat - metal	123	Milford Haven / Southampton	Straggled - joined up with SC 115 (see Page 2)
~~Luculus~~	"	petroleum	73	Dingle	Sailed in HX 222
~~Amastra~~	"	petroleum	32	Mersey	–
Southern Princess	"	Admiralty tanker fuel oil	33	Clyde	–
British Ardour	"	Admiralty fuel	82	Clyde	escort tanker
~~Lynghaug~~	Norwegian	none given	94	Belfast f. o.	Sailed in HX 222
~~Lechistan~~	Polish	general - explosives	61	Mersey	Sailed in HX 222
Høyanger	Norwegian	general	51	Liverpool	–
~~Castalia~~	British	general - 50 passengers	–	Hull	From HX 220
Silverbeech	"	general	34	Liverpool	From HX 220 Straggled - joined up with SC 115 (see Page 2)
Gulf of Venezuela	American	Pool diesel oil	54	Clyde	From HX 220
El Mundo	Panamanian	general (explosives, Army stores) - passengers - mail	53	Liverpool	–
Sinclair Opaline	American	diesel oil	72	Belfast / Heysham	–
Gulfdisc	"	Admiralty fuel	74	Scapa	–
Gefion	Norwegian	gasoline	83	Stanlow	–
Mormacswan	American	army stores - mail	93	–	Ordered into Halifax for indpendent routing to U.K. (see also Page 2)
Washington Express	Norwegian	general - passengers	104	–	Ordered into Halifax for indpendent routing to U.K. Later attacked by U-boat - see Washington Express
One of the documents is extremely difficult to decipher - I've been able to determine some of the names with the help of the A 1 form. However, a few of them are not included on this form, hence my question marks. A few ships show up on the A 1 form, but not in the Advance Sailing Telegram, as follows: Empire Puma, general cargo, crossed out from station 124 (sailed in the next convoy, HX 222). Darien, reefer, crossed out from station 102. Iris (Norw?), Army stores, station 11 (detached to Halifax, see narrative, Page 2) The following ships were detached for St. John's Jan. 4-1943 (not listed in AST): Lady Rodney, Chateau Thieng and Ørnefjell (the latter with Army stores and general, station 12)
Joining from Halifax, at 16:15 Jan. 1-1943 - 44 41N 61 25W (had departed Dec. 31) - stations not known, not on A 1 form
~~Fort Longueuil~~	British	grain	–	London	Sailed in HX 223
~~Anna N. Goulandri~~	Greek	flour	–	London	–
Beaverhill	British	general - mail	–	Liverpool	–
Wallace E. Pratt	American	Tanker	–	Swansea	From HX 220
Joining from St. John's, Jan. 4 - 48 35N 49 15W
Tudor Prince	British	fish	–	Liverpool	–

Notes:
Additionally, the Rescue Vessel Zamalek was with this convoy. This was her 17th voyage as such, having started this voyage from Clyde with the westbound Convoy ON 151 on Dec. 4-1942, to Halifax Dec. 21 - returning with HX 221 from Halifax on Dec. 31, to Clyde Jan. 13. ("Convoy Rescue Ships", Arnold Hague). Her next voyage (her 18th) was with Convoy ON 165 and Convoy SC 122.

Commodore B.B. Grant R.N.R. was in Abraham Lincoln, Vice Commodore was W. H. Matheson, the captain of City of Calcutta, Rear Commodore in Eurybates.

The convoy had 38 ships.
Average speed: 8.6 knots.
Distance between columns: 1000 yards.
Distance between ships in columns: 500 yards.

Commodore's notes:
Captain Holmsen of Abrahaman Lincoln, "an experienced shipmaster, very keen and most helpful to Commodore, his ship is very well run and equipped, strongly recommended as Commodore's ship".

"Suggest that deck cargo that is likely to break adrift or become damaged should not be carried during the winter in North Atlantic. Bad weather must be anticipated in N. Atlantic at this time of the year and ships carrying deck cargo of the nature mentioned above frequently have to heave to and thus lsoe convoy. It seems to me that the extra cargo carried is not worth the risk of losing the ship".

Escorts:
From position Z to HOMP - HMCS Trail, Moncton and Melville (07:40 Dec. 29-16:15 Jan. 1, 44 41N 61 25W)
From HOMP to WESTOMP - HMCS St. Clair, Hepatica, Wetaskiwin, Lachine (16:15 Jan 1-09:26 Jan. 4, 44 41N 61 26W to 48 42N 49 05W).

Ocean Escort: HMS Burnham, Buttercup, Columbine, Assiniboine, Eyebright, La Malbaie, Bittersweet (09:26 Jan. 4, 48 42N 49 05W to N. Channel). La Malbaie proceeded with William Bradford in the morning of the 8th.
HNMS Lincoln - WESTOMP to PLE, detached am Jan. 7.

To Narrative of Voyage Page 2

Back to Convoy Index

To the next HX convoy in my list HX 222

Aa–Al	An–Ar	As–Av	Ba	Be	Bi–Bl	Bo	Br–Bu	C	D
E	F	G	Ha	He	Hi–Hy	Hø	I	J	K
L	M	N	O	PQ	R	Sa–Sc	Se–Sj	Sk–Sn	So
Sp–St	Su–Sø	Ta–Te	Th–Ti	To	Tr–Tø	U	V	W	Ø

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