Transcribed from several documents received from Roger Griffiths - His source: Public Records Office, Kew.

Crossed out ships did not sail, underlined ships returned to port.

As can be seen from the station numbers, the convoy had 6 rows and 12 columns.

For info, some of the ships in this convoy later returned to the U.S. with Convoy ON 202 / ONS 18 on Sept. 15.

Notes:
Commodore, Rear Admiral C. N. Reyne was in Ruahine, Vice Commodore was the captain of Port Darwin. (The Commodore says his ship was not suitable as Commodore's vessel "except in hot weather. Very exposed bridge and unheated accomodation").

The convoy had 55 ships.
Averag speed: 9.5 knots.

Daily positions of this convoy are available on request via contact address provided at the end of this page. Note that Mike Holdoway has plotted its course, his chart can be reached through this page of his website (external link).

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 Aug. 16, but broke off her voyage in order to go to St. John's with injured survivors from HX 252 - follow link for details. According to the Commodore's notes she joined HX 253 at 15:30 Aug. 25 in 46 18N 49 22W, Robert Fulton joining at the same time.

Hegira parted company with engine defects.
Nelson Dingley and Peter Donahue parted company for St. John's due to effects of collision. It seems odd that these 2 ships could have collided with each other, as Nelson Dingley was in station 105, the last ship in column 10, and Peter Donahue is listed in station 111, the first ship in column 11 - perhaps they each collided with another ship? George Poindexter, for instance, was in station 115, right next to Nelson Dingley.
George Poindexter parted company for St. John's owing to boiler defects.

William Pendleton, John Langdon, John Catron, Tweedsmuir Park, Gyda and Fort Rouille straggled in a gale on Aug. 31.

Escorts (handwriting difficult to decipher):
HMS Toray? (S.O.), Keppel, Orchis, Lobelia, Narcissus, and an F.F. ship, looks like Remnante or similar.
Ocean Escort met at 15:30 on Aug. 25 in 46 18N 49 22W.

Note that all the Norwegian ships sailing in this convoy are discussed on this website. More info on them can be found via the alphabet index at the end of this page, or go to the Master Ship Index.

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 (again, some had just been delivered).
Empire Ships listed in alphabetical order. The site also has a section listing the Liberty ships.

Back to Convoy Index