Transcribed from several documents received from Roger Griffiths - 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.

As can be seen from the stations numbers, the convoy had 5 rows of ships sailing in 12 columns.

For info, some of the ships in this convoy later returned to the U.S. with Convoy ON 202 / ONS 18.

Notes:
The Rescue Vessel Bury was on her 10th voyage as such, having started this voyage from Clyde on July 16-1943 with the westbound Convoy ON 193 to Halifax (July 28), then sailed with HX 252 from Halifax to St. John's Aug. 16-Aug. 20. She had observed a fire in the fog and closed to investigate, finding that 2 ships were involved, namely J. H. Senior and J. Pinckney Henderson. A lifeboat was found, which was also on fire, and 3 men taken on board, suffering from severe burns. Hearing whistles, she then found 2 more survivors on a raft. Because of their burns, she detached from HX 252 to land the survivors at St. John's for urgent medical care. Both ships were towed to port, but could not be repaired. J. Pinckney Henderson burned from Aug. 19 til Sept. 25 - only 9 men survived from both ships. Bury subsequently returned to Clyde with the next convoy, HX 253. ("Convoy Rescue Ships 1940-1945", Arnold Hauge - this source does not mention the Norwegian Santos' involvement). Page 4 has more on these collisions.

Commodore Rear Admiral R. M. King was in Glenbeg, Vice Commodore Rear Admiral C. H. G. Benson was in Pacific Shipper, Rear Commodore was the captain of British Harmony.

47 ships sailed from New York, another 9 joined from Halifax + Rescue Ship Bury, 1 from St. John's.

Average speed: 9.17 knots.

Daily positions of convoy at 08:00 BST are available on request via address provided at the bottom of this page.

Ships leaving the convoy (from Commodore's notes):
Nathaniel Bacon returned to New York with steering defects at 03:35Z on Aug. 15, position 39 58N 70 43W.

Lady Rodney detached to St. John's at 14:35Z on Aug. 20.

Rescue ship Bury to stand by Santos after being torpedoed at 02:00Z Aug. 19, position 42 03N 52 47W, then to St. John's N.F. with survivors. (Please note that this is incorrect; Santos was not torpedoed, as will be seen by following the link to the page about this ship above).

Robert Fulton arrived St. John's N.F., having lost convoy in fog, position unknown.

Jamaica Producer, Erin, Skjelbred, Wallace E. Pratt, El Mundo and Socony Vacuum detached in fast convoy to U.K. at 14:00Z on Aug. 25, position 54 28N 21 35W.

Alcoa Cutter detached for Iceland at 11:30Z on Aug. 26 in position 54 44N 15 44W.

Cairnvalona, Norholm, Cairnesk, Robert Rogers, Mary Lyon, Grace Abbott and George Abernethy to Loch Ewe at 09:00Z on Aug. 27, position 55 15N 10 00W.

Ships for Clyde and Belfast left at breaking off points in Irish Sea coastal route on Aug. 28.

Glenbeg detached for Glasgow at 05:30Z in 54 34N 05 21W, Aug. 28.

Escorts:
HMCS Montgomery (S.O.), HMCS Cobalt and HMCS Lachine joined at end of swept channel New York, at 16:00Z Aug. 14 (the convoy had departed New York at 06:00 EWT that morning).
HMCS Cowichan joined at 10:00Z on Aug. 15 - left at 16:00Z Aug. 17 in 43 06N 59 55W.
HMCS Battleford joined at 16:00Z on Aug. 17 in 43 06N 59 55W - left at 16:00Z Aug. 18.
HMCS Chelsea joined at 16:00Z Aug. 18.
Lachine and Cobalt parted company to hunt U-boat at 01:00Z Aug. 19, position 42 03N 52 47W.
Ocean escort: Destroyers HMCS Assiniboine and HMS Forester joined at 22:50Z Aug. 19.
The other Ocean Escorts, HMS Itchen, HMCS Agassiz, Sackville, Galt, HMS Evenlode and Celandine joined at 14:50Z on Aug. 20, position 48 09N 46 19W.

Montgomery and Chelsea left at 14:50Z on Aug. 20.

2 Ocean Escort vessels left with the fast convoy at 14:00Z on Aug. 25 in 54 28N 21 05W.
1 Ocean Escort vessel left with Alcoa Cutter at 11:30Z on Aug. 26 in 54 44N 15 46W.
1 Ocean Escort vessel left with Loch Ewe portion at 09:00Z on Aug. 27 in 55 18N 10 00W.
4 Ocean Escort vessels left in position 55 35N 07 00W.

Air Cover: 3 sorties from Newfoundland covered convoy between 07:28Z and 22:41Z, Aug. 17.

Related external links:
Liberty Ships - Most of the ships listed as American in the table above were Liberty Ships. This website lists them alphabetically. As will be seen, quite a few of the Liberty Ships in this convoy had just recently been delivered.
This site has more on the the "Fort" and "Park" ships.

Back to Convoy Index