Further details have been added with the help of:
"Lloyd's War Losses", Vol I
"Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two", Jürgen Rohwer
"The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan.

Crossed out ships did not join, underlined returned.

Ships sailing from:
L=Liverpool, M=Milford, Bel=Belfast, G=Gourock, A=Aultbea.

CAM=Catapult ship, MOWT=Ministry of War Transport.

Br=British, Norw=Norwegian, Gr=Greek, Du=Dutch, Po=Polish, Sw=Swedish, Est=Estonian, Da=Danish, Fr=French, Pa=Panamanian

Empire Hartebeeste
ballast
New York
(Br)

Bente Mærsk had started out in Convoy ON 17, but returned to port.
For Empire Kittiwake and Keila - see Convoy ON 10.

* Lost touch in gale during the night of Sept. 28/29.
* Empire Cabot and Agia Marina lost touch around 01:00 on Sept. 24, Jessie Mærsk during the night of Sept. 26/27.
x River Afton, Gemstone and Harmonic are listed in Convoy PQ 1 to Archangel, sailed from Hvalfjord Sept. 29 - see this external site.

Comparing this A 1 form with a list of ships received from Don Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's own research, I find some differences in station numbers, as follows (this could simply mean that the ships were moved around):
He has the Greek Agia Marina in station 75 instead of 86.
He has the Norwegian Akabahra as returned (rather than cancelled). She does not show up again in an ON convoy until ON 29 at the end of Oct.-1941, but returned to port. The next ON convoy she's listed in is ON 31 at the beginning of Nov.-1941, joining from Iceland.
He has the British Algerian in station 63 instead of 65.
He has the British El Aleto in station 65 instead of 74
He has the British Empire Gilbert in station 45 (instead of 46), with a note saying she later took station 44.
He has the British Gemstone in station 43 instead of 45
He has the British Hengist in station 46 instead of 66
He has Danish/British Jessie Mærsk in station 74 instead of 95
He has the Greek Kalliopi in station 17 - not included on A 1 form, but see note above.
He has the Norwegian Norse King in station 36 instead of 76
He has the Norwegian Selvik in station 95 instead of 26
He has the Norwegian Torvanger in station 64 instead of 75
He has the British Trevilley in station 56 instead of 36
Note that he does not mention the Dutch Lekhaven at all in this convoy; instead he has included her in the next convoy, ON 20. However, she's not listed on the A 1 form for that convoy.

A. Hague's list otherwise agrees with the A 1 form, except cancelled ships are not named in any of his convoy lists.

ON 19 had 48 ships, 33 of which remained at dispersal on Oct. 7.
Average convoy speed: 6 knots.

The Commodore says in his notes that Rose Schiaffino lost touch on the night of Oct. 5, "but probably went straight to St. John's". For info, this ship was torpedoed and sunk when returning to the U.K. later that month, with the loss of all on board. According to R. W. Jordan's "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939" this happened on Oct. 28-1941, when she was torpedoed by U-105, off White Bay, N.F. However, Jürgen Rohwer's "Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two" gives U-374 as the culprit, and date is given as Oct. 31-1941. See also the external link at the end of this page.

ON 19 sailed from Clyde at 00:30 on Sept. 22, the Liverpool section joining at 13:30 that day, while the Loch Ewe portion joined at 18:30 on Sept. 23. At 19:30 on the 23rd, the route was entirely altered by signal. 2 ships lost touch in the process (Empire Cabot and Agia Marina - off Butt of Lewis).

The ships bound for Iceland parted company on Sept. 25 in 58 35N 13 15W, escorted by mine sweepers.

4 corvettes joined at 16:00 on Sept. 27 and previous escort left - 58 30N 22 20W. The following day, p.m. Sept. 28, a heavy westerly gale was encountered, increasing in strength during the night. At daylight on the 29th, 17 ships and 1 corvette were in sight, the rest of the ships were missing.

At 16:00 on Sept. 30, 2 corvettes joined.

Ships sunk (number of casualties vary according to source):
An SSS message was received from San Florentino at 20:30 Oct. 1, "torpedoed in 52 50N 34 40W", and convoy course was altered away 20° by red lights.
San Florentino, on a voyage from Glasgow for Curacao in ballast, had lost the convoy in the gale and was torpedoed and sunk on Oct. 1/Oct 2-1941 by U-94. She had a crew of 51 and 5 gunners - 21 crew and 1 gunner were killed.

Hatasu, on a voyage from Manchester for New York in ballast, lost touch in the gale and was sunk on Oct. 2 by U-431. She had a crew of 41 and 6 gunners - 34 crew and the 6 gunners were killed.

Empire Wave, on a voyage from Sunderland and Belfast Lough for Halifax in ballast (600 tons stone) also lost touch in the gale and was sunk Oct. 2 by U-562. She had a crew of 60, including 6 gunners, 4 aircraft mechanics, 1 pilot, 2 catapult ratings, 3 R.D.F. and 1 R.N.V.R. lieutenant. "30 missing in boat, 1 other died".

The external links provided below have more about these incidents.

ON 19 was dispersed at dawn on Oct. 7 in 44N 54W.

Escorts:
The only legible escort vessels in the Commodore's notes are Beagle (till off Iceland) and Alberni. However, Don Kindell has provided me with the following:
Sept. 22-Sept. 25: Britomart, Gossamer, Hussar, Leda.
Sept. 22-Sept. 27: Beagle, Heather, Lobelia, Narcissus, Montgomery, Norwich City, Roxborough, Salisbury.
Sept. 23-Oct 7: Alberni, Kenogami.
Sept. 27-Oct. 6: Mayflower.
Sept. 27-Oct. 7: Alysse.

Note that all the ships listed as Norwegian in this convoy are included on this website. Use the alphabet index below to find them, or go to the Master Ship Index.

As always, when checking the spelling of ships etc. against the listing in R. Jordan's book and other sources, I'm struck by the fact that the majority of the ships in this convoy did not survive the war.

Related external links:
Empire Ships - listed in alphabetical order.

The loss of San Florentino | The loss of Hatasu | The loss of Empire Wave. Uboat.net also has info on The loss of Rose Schiaffino

Back to Convoy Index