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Norwegian Merchant Fleet | Master Ship Index
Messages Page 14 - Starting Jan.-2014
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------------------------------------------------- From: Adrienne Meyer M/T Pericles and M/S Ida Bakke Thank you so much for this resource! It's wonderful to have all this information. My great-grandfather (Severin Simonsen) was the Master of the M/T Pericles around 1939-1940. His wife (Anny) and their 3-year-old daughter (Marit) joined him on the Pericles in 1940 for what was supposed to be a six-month vacation. Apparently officers were allowed to have family join them for limited times. I have pictures of my grandmother playing an riding a tricycle on the deck of the ship. They were aboard the Pericles when Norway was invaded and were thus unable to return home. They went ashore when the Pericles arrived in Singapore and Severin resigned his position as Master. They lived in a Singapore hotel for six months and then were passengers aboard the M/S Ida Bakke from Singapore to Los Angeles in 1941 to join family in a safe place while they waited out the war. Eventually they settled in the LA area and their 18-year-old son joined them after the war. I really appreciated being able to confirm my family story with the information on the Pericles and Ida Bakke you've put together. Thanks again! Here's my page about Pericles and here is Ida Bakke ------------------------------------------------- From: Patrick O'Reilly Eglantine My grandfather (Morfar) served on Eglantine most of World War 2. Here's Eglantine ------------------------------------------------- From: Alan Knight "Eulima"; convoy ON 166 You state that there was only one survivor from "Eulima". This is not correct. In fact, there were two survivors, 3/O John Campkin, and 2/O Frank Le Riche. Both men were taken prisoner by U409 (Massman) which was pursuing the convoy. Massman gave the men in the lifeboat food, water, a chart, and a course to steer to the nearest land, but they were never seen again. I sailed with John Campkin when he was Master of the Shell tanker "Vitrina" in 1972. He told me that after he and Le Riche were taken prisoner, U409 attacked the convoy and they were depth-charged by the convoy escort. He also said that the U-boat crew were friendly towards them, except for the First Lieutenant who was a hard-core Nazi. He also told me that after they were landed in France, he and Le Riche were interviewed in Berlin on German radio, in English. I have a transcript of the interview. The transmission was intercepted by British radio, and John Campkin's parents, who had been told that there were no survivors from "Eulima", received the news that their only child was alive in MILAG. Convoy ON 166 is on this page ------------------------------------------------- From: Colleen letter re Borgholm attack (from AWebb) any chance you did get a copy of this letter.? if you're interested, the letters from my grandfather can be located at http://www.google.ca/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=letters+from+beauly&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=SUqKVLG9AZTr-QPdroDYCw Here's my page about Borgholm where there's a transcript of the letter in question. ------------------------------------------------- From: Anders Johansson ARNE ERIKSSON of "Storsteen" ERIKSSON, Karl Arne - One of two Swedish sailors in "Operation Performance" Arne Eriksson participated in „Operation Performance" in March/April 1942, the expedition led by Sir George Binney to get ten Norwegian ships from Gothenburg in Sweden to Scotland with strategic Swedish material for the British war industry and Norwegian volunteers to the Allied Forces in Great Britain. The operation ended in a catastrophe as German naval forces waited for the ships outside the West Coast of Sweden. Arne Eriksson (the surname is sometimes spelled wrongly as Eriksen) was one of two Swedish citizens taking part in „Operation Performance". He was a motorman on Storsteen of Tønsberg and only 22 years old. The other Swede involved in the operation was Ernst Gudmundsson of Rigmor. This ship was sunk by German forces but the crew was saved by British Naval forces. Altogether over 470 people were on board the ten „kvarstadships". Storsteen managed to get quite far before it was attacked and destroyed by German war planes in the North Sea south west of Norway. The ship had about 50 people onboard. 17 men in a motorboat tried to reach Scotland but disappeared. Eriksson was among 32 people in a lifeboat which landed in Norway, at the eastern side of Jøssingfjord at dawn on April 4th 1942. German troops/police had been alerted by Norwegian fishermen and arrested soon 24 people from the ship, including the British captain James Reeve. But eight men managed to escape, among them Arne Eriksson. He was however unlucky and got arrested on a bus. A few men from Storsteen successfully reached Sweden a second time, among them Finn Bie, who even managed to get a seat on a plane from Stockholm/Bromma to Scotland. Arne Eriksson was among the „kvarstadsmen" who were brought to prison camps in Germany. In April 1943 ˆ one year after the tragedy in Skagerack outside Western Sweden - the prisoners were handed over by the German Navy to the Security forces of SS/Gestapo, which meant much harder conditions and treatments. Four of the crew of Storsteen died during imprisonment. During the proceedings of this transformation Arne Eriksson managed to prove that he was a Swedish citizen and was set free with the assistance of Sweden´s Legation (Embassy) in Berlin. He returned to Sweden and later on travelled to Great Britain. Eriksson was born February 1st, 1919, in Eskilstuna, Sweden, (Torshälla landsförsamling). I am curious about any information about Arne Eriksson as I wish to include him in my forthcoming book about „De Glömda Blockadbrytarna", „The Forgotten Blockade Busters" due to be published in September 2015. Why and under which circumstances did he join „Operation Performance"? Has he given any interviews about this venture and what happened to him as a German prisoner? What did he do after reaching Great Britain and after the War? Kindest regards, Anders Johansson Information about the fate of Storsten can be found on this page. Eriksson is named in the crew list. Anders Johansson's E-mail address can be provided via my E-mail address at the bottom of this page. ------------------------------------------------- From: Jens Inge Egeland Ernst Rosså Svendsen My dads uncle Ernest Svendsen born in 1920 was in the Norwegian Merchant Marine before he moved to America and joined the American Merchant Marine, he lived in Brooklyn. I dont know much about his service and would love to find out more, thanks for any help, best regads from Norway. (I've suggested Riksarkivet - National Archives of Norway). ------------------------------------------------- From: Richard Carter Bergensfjord Hi, I am researching those Allied ex POW's who were repatriated via Odessa of which this ship transported 7014. I am interested to know if the ship ever had a list of the names of these ex POW's in her records. (I've told Richard that The National Archives of Norway hold the Nortraship archives but I don't know if such a list exists. Here is Bergensfjord). ------------------------------------------------- From: Sarah Anne Sharpe Harry Sharpe Harry Sharpe is my father. He was just 15 years old when he signed on a a Merchant Navy Seaman. Harry entered eternal rest on 3 May 1992 at the age of 66 years and 7 months of age. He is entered at Holy Sephlechure RC Cemetery, St. John's, NL. In 1944 he married he long time sweetheart Ellen Mary Martin and together they prouduced 11 children, three of whom died and infancy, while the other eight went on to live their lives as productive citizens of Newfoundland, Canada. Harry Sharpe was on board Cadmus when sunk. ------------------------------------------------- Frmo: Linda Raggett HMS Manistee I am interested in anything you can tell me about the above vessel. My mum's fiance was killed when the Manistee was sunk. His name was Harold Gretton and he was 20 years old and came from Lewisham. It would be good to speak with anyone who may have known him. ------------------------------------------------- From: Pete Wall Nerissa - 3 brothers Dear Friends, the Nerissa was torpedoed by U boat 552 on April 30 1941 with two of the merchant navy crew are family members, namely: Benjamin Thomas Haalligan b. 1910 age 31 (Steward) and his kid brother William Halligan b. 1926 age 15 (Bellboy). thx Pete Wall. ------------------------------------------------- From: P Bartels My uncle is Peder Andersen Message: Hi, Just a note to say hello and thanks for putting this information together. It just so happens that my uncle, Peder Andersen, I believe is the Peder Andersen gunner aboard the Norness (and other ships). He used to tell about being torpedoed; its great to see this info. PB Here's Norness (see also Torvanger). ------------------------------------------------- From: Erik Småland M/B Arnafjord / M/B Arnefjord The ship referred to as Arnafjord is written Arnefjord (with an e - not a). The Arnefjord (with an e) was built in 1917. The Arnafjord (with an a), built in 1937, is another ship belonging to the same owner. Both ships are still existing. The ship in question can be found here ------------------------------------------------- From: Jeff M/T Nueva Andalucia I inherited the clock from the bridge of this ship. It was removed by the 10th searchlight battery cPleseoast defence at York redoubt. Would you like a photo? (Here's Nueva Andalucia) ------------------------------------------------- From: Irene Bruce SS Chulmleigh My Grandfather Albert Reid (49 yrs old), was the Greaser on this fateful cargo- ship. I have just found out today from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission he is buried in Tromso cemetery in Norway. Regards (Irene's address can be provided, via my contact address at the end of this page). ------------------------------------------------- From: Michael O'Brien MT BIANCA Dear Sir, It is with great interest that I read about the MT Bianca on your web-site. I was looking for information about the MT Bianca on which I sailed in 1955 but obviously this was a later ship, probably renamed after the loss of the original Bianca. The Bianca I served on was an oil tanker and also owned by Arth. H Mathieson. I spent just over a year on her sailing to Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina. Thank you for all the information provided on your site and keep up the good work. ------------------------------------------------- Sinking of the Sorholt Knut Fosnaes, the radiotelegrapher, was my father (he died in 2004 at 82 in Nottingham, England). On the death of my step-mother recently I came into possession of his radio telegrapher's certificate, Norwegian passport and other identification papers from the period 1939 to 1957. Here's my page about Sørholt ------------------------------------------------- From: William Green Website link request A Wonderful website! I take Canadian Veterans into High School History Classrooms in Canada and always ask students & teachers to look at the great information on your site. It is very helpful! ------------------------------------------------- From: Don MS Torrens Hello. I have been slowly tracking my deceased (1999) Father's WWII history. He served in the Signal Corps and participated in three Italian campaigns. According to his hand written notes he returned home to America via "M.S. Torrens" transitting from Naples, Italy (August 7, 1945) to New York (arrival August 19th, 1945). The dates and routing seem to match those in with the "Page 4" log excerpt you published on your web page. Do you know if the ship truly traveled via the Pacific (i.e, "For Christobal & Pac.")? Thanks. Don The log mentioned in this message can be found on my page about Torrens ------------------------------------------------- From: C.P.Boylan Operation Rubble My late father was at Narvik when the S.S. Blythmoor when the Germans invaded and Blythmoor was sunk.He was either 1st or 2nd mate. He took part in Operation Rubble with MV John Bakke and as a result of this was awarded the British M.B.E. Later he was awarded also with St. Olafs Medal with Oak Leaves. Yours Sincerely See my page about John Bakke ------------------------------------------------- From: Bridget Foley English navel signalman I just wanted to let you know the young RN signalman who died in the raft was my uncle Francis (frank) Reginald Wheatland, my Dad's older brother . He was 22 years old and left a young wife Rose and baby, the baby later died, Frank never saw him. Before my father died we were able to track down some information about his brother as he had very little information; my father was 21 years younger than his brother who died on the Bonneville. Thank you See Bonneville ------------------------------------------------- From: Raymond Northgreaves No medals for allied soldiers Why have the soldiers never ever been given a medal for war service in Norway, during the second world war? (See my War Medals page) ------------------------------------------------- From: Brian Glen Congratulations! Hello Siri... Congratulation on being awarded the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit!! That is fabulous! You've done a great job creating your website...warsailors.com. I've visited the site and have read many of the stories. Keep up the great work! Best Regards, Brian (What Brian is referring to is a medal I received 2 years ago - some pics are available on this page). ------------------------------------------------- From: Bob Pearson Total war losses. Dear Siri, I have been searching your site concerning a query. Essentially, am looking for two total figures: 1. Number of Norwegian mecantile ships lost during WW2 to enemy action. 2. Number of Norwegian mercantile sailors lost to enemy action. I realise that the figures can probably never be 100% accurate, but know that your superb site comes very close to that. Any guidance you can offer would be hugely appreciated and formally acknowledged. Thank you for considering this request. Kind regards, Bob (Some numbers are available on my stats page) ------------------------------------------------- From: David F. Herbert M/S Ferngulf I was working in the Ferngulf's mess room on September 30, 1951 at about 1430 when the Sparks walked in with a telegram from my parents wishing me a Happy 21st birthday! Having signed on as a mess boy a week or so earlier, we were heading for Boma, Belgium Congo with a number of Christian missionaries and their support supplies, sewing machines, autos, clothing, etc. That same afternoon a 17 year old shipmate from Hong Kong fell from a fore mast and died instantly upon hitting the steel deck. After a 24 hour death watch, he was buried with a full dress ceremony presided over by the Captain who had taken the ship to the spot where the equator crosses the prime meridian. Engines were stilled for 4 hours in the mate's honor. Then on to Liberia for rubber from the Firestone plantations and the Congo for palm oil. Then further down south for sundry articles and ultimately heading back to the Brooklyn boat yards!! A great trip on a fine ship, with a fist class Captain and a complement of outstanding Norwegian officers. And a motley deck crew including me and 12 other youngsters from around the world!! All on the voyage of their young lives. PS I have a framed photo of the Ferngulf signed by the Captain if you would be interested in having a copy. Also of the deck crew. DFH Age 83 Here's Ferngulf ------------------------------------------------- From: Andrea Rossi Bra-Kar gold transport Hi, Very compliments for you website, I'll need several years just for going trough all the pages! :) I arrived here looking for Bra-Kar ship that I know was involved in "gold transport"... actually I'm the owner of Gometra, a little sailing yacht that was on Bra-Kar during her gold shipment and was supposed to sail away towing the gold crates to safe harbour in case the cargo had been sunk by u-boats. I've got some quotes about this story, please contact me back and I'll share them. Sorry for using guestbook, I couldn't find "contacts" page. cheers Here's my page about Bra-Kar ------------------------------------------------- From: Clarence Vautier Askild Good Morning My name is Clarence Vautier and I am researcher and writer from Newfoundland. The Askild went aground and was wrecked just down the coast from me and I am thinking about doing a write up about the ship and her crew, a friend of mine Peter Rognerud who lives in Nova Scotia and is a son of one of the crew that was on her when she was wrecked. I was wondering if I could use the info from your site and photo for my story. I have from info as the lightkeeper's son who is still alive remembers it well along with notes from Peter Rognerud. I look forward in hearing from you and thank you for your time. Thank You My page about Askild can be found here ------------------------------------------------- From: Peter Hansen Sinking of M.V. Suecia 16th August 1942 The vessel carried only 47 crew and 3 passengers. All entered the lifeboats. One small lifeboat which held 12 had only 8 and the other 2 had 21 in each. All of those in the small lifeboat perished in the storm and one man was washed overboard from one of the large lifeboat. Each lifeboat was picked up by different vessels. One boat was picked up by the RCNS vessel the St. Croix, and the other by a second escort vessel though I do not know which one? The Seucia was flying the neutral flag of Sweden and the U-Boat commander demanded to see the ships papers before deciding the vessel was carrying cargo bound for the UK. He gave the crew 30 minutes to clear the ship and torpedoed her at 1.08 pm. The ship remained afloat for 30 minutes before she sank, and this was the first kill of U-596. It was ten days before the lifeboat my father was in was spotted. The crew included two Swedish twins, the bosun, and the carpenter. They discovered on arrival at Lough Foyle in southern Ireland that they had each survived. They went back to Sweden and did not sail for the rest of the war. ------------------------------------------------- From: John Lane Ship that looks like Picture of Trianon - From Bjørn Pedersen's collection I have recently bought a picture of a ship that looks like the Picture of Trianon - From Bjørn Pedersen's collection on your web page. I have been told from the funnel that it is a Netherlands Lloyds vessel from between the wars. Is there any way I can send a photo of the picture for you to have a look at and maybe see if there is any extra information you might be able to give me. Many thanks Here is Trianon ------------------------------------------------- From: Peter Rognerud Researching Fathers war Service & ships served on My Father Einar Rognerud , ex Royal Gaurd and highly decorated Norske Marine Gunner served on many ships . Regards Peter Rognerud Here is Norjerv. See also Askild ------------------------------------------------- From: David MacDonald M/B Statt - Sverre Silden Been reading a book by Sverre about his coming across to Scotland and his wartime experiences - an interesting and insightful read. Title - "Fra Maloyraidet til landgang I Normandie". ISBN 82-994532-0-8 MB Statt is mentioned on this page ------------------------------------------------- From: Lynne Baxter Russian convoys How can I find out what ship my late uncle was on? I know he was a master in the Merchant Navy and did several Murmansk runs from Scotland. His name was Albert Norman Brain. (I suggested the Public Records Office in Kew, assuming he's British). ------------------------------------------------- From: Nikki Price Did you know my Father? I am the daughter of Harold Leger he was on the MT Norbris from Feb. 17 to April 2, 1943. He was a wireless operator. We found a letter written to him from two men, one of them I could not make out the first name. His last name looks to be Haga and the other mans name is Ovatein Kotte. My father passed away when he was only 47 yrs old. He told us many stories of war one where his ship went down in the night and many men including his best friend were lost. I would love to know if you knew him. Here's Norbris (I've told her Ovatein should probably be Øystein). ------------------------------------------------- From: Jenny Hermenze Nortraship out of Baltimore Hello, thank you for all your work. I have come across a mysterious ID belonging to a little known family member, Edgar T. Johansson. It's an ID issued, apparently by "Captain of Port", Baltimore Maryland, giving Edgar's occupation as "Seaman" and sponsor as "Nortraship". It was issued in November of 1944, and has US Coast Guard seals on it. Do you know of any information on US citizens joining the Norwegian Merchant Marine at that time, or how I could find out what ship he served on, if he served at all? The card she mentions had to be issued to every person who entered the U.S., before they could go ashore. To find out which ship he served on, I suggested the National Archives of Norway. ------------------------------------------------- From: Pauline Rudzin Loftis Happy to see your site! Hi Siri: It has been many years since I last wrote you and am so glad to see your site still here! I remembered you saying that you would like photos of my dad and could not recall if I had ever sent them to you. Please let me know because I can just scan several and email them to you. I am semi-retired--substitute teaching now and also a grandmother to a sweet baby girl! Hope you and your family have been doing well all these years. Pauline is the daughter of John R. Rudzin, one of my father's ship mates and the author of this text. She landed on her father's diary on my website several years ago, just by chance, when she was looking for relatives in Riga. ------------------------------------------------- From: Nick Wild Kosmos II My Grandfather was Captain Thomas Dixon, master of SS Barrwhinn in convoy HX-212. In researching the loss of his ship I have found that when torpedoed he was carrying 60 survivors from the Norwegian Whale factory ship Kosmos II (lost the previous day). My mother has spoken of Ragnar Sognes and Finn Wathne remaining in contact with my family. I believe they were 1st Mates en route to Dumbarton for gunnery training. A party at their flat in London has been mentioned! It would be great to hear from anyone with memories of these events; one day, after retirement, I hope to write an account of my Grandfather's very eventful life. Please see my page about Kosmos II ------------------------------------------------- From: Phil Eskeland M/S Marie Bakke My father, Per Eskeland, served on this ship during its voyage to England as part of Convoy SC-63 in January 1942, which encountered heavy seas. The page about the M/S Marie Bakke said there was one passenger on board. That is true but to provide further details, my father said this passenger was a "very pregnant and brave" Canadian who was one her way to England to visit her husband who was in the Canadian Air Force. Hope this helps. Read about Marie Bakke ------------------------------------------------- From: Arvid Massen Lidvard/Mikael Eriksen - Lidvard My wife is the grand-grand child after Mikal (Michael) Eriksen being the electrician on board "Lidvard" at the arrival in Dakar, and continued staying on board until he died the 8th of July 1945 at the stay in Sidney, Australia. I wonder if you or anyone else can give further information regarding his illness and death, and his burial place/cemetery. Any information concerning my wife´s grand-grand father shall be highly appreciated. For Nina S. Eriksen Massen I'm unable to assist with information on individual seamen - maybe the National Archives of Norway can help. Here's my page about Lidvard. ------------------------------------------------- From: Edward holmes M/T Thorshavet Unfortunately the formatting doesnt seem to fit into this message. Can you fix it? (I'm afraid I can't fix it unless I retype everything and put it into a table - but it should be fairly easy to figure out which text goes under which heading. Compare with the ship's crew list at the time of her loss on my page about Thorshavet). LIST OR MANIFEST OF ALIENS EMPLOYED ON THE VESSEL AS MEMBERS OF CREW Vessel M/T THORSHAVET arriving at New York Oct 11 1942 from the port of Clyde, England Sept 25 1942 MEMBER OF CREW YRS AT SEA SHIPPED OR ENGAGED AGE SEX NATIONALITY HT/WT REMARKS 1 yes Arne Harbo Hansen* 18 Master 14/9/39 Sandefjord 37 male Scand Norw 6.0 180 9198007 A few days later, we find her IN Convoy NG 314, departing New York on Oct. 15, arriving Guantanamo on Oct. 22 * denotes those who were still on board when sunk - see Thorshavet ------------------------------------------------- From: Edward Holmes ss Ravnefjell SS Ravnefjell arriving at Mil. Wis 7-15-1941 from London Eng (this doc is available on Ancestry,com) Trygve Kristiansen signed off at Montreal 7/7/1941. No's 1 through 8 had also been on board for the previous voyage, the rest had not. ------------------------------------------------- From: Edward Holmes M.T. Norsol I have a document (from Ancestry.com) detailing Norsols arrival in America from Curacao in Nov 1942. It lists 4 non-Americans in the crew. They are; All 4 sailors served on the Thorshavet when it was sunk Nov 2/3 1942. See my page about Thorshavet (all 4 are included in the crew list). Here's Norsol. ------------------------------------------------- From: David Mehegan A mystery convoy Dear Friends, My late father was a U.S. Navy intelligence officer based in Boston during WWII. One of his duties was to interview captains of incoming convoys. He kept notes of an interview with a captain on a ship, Governor John Lind, in a 30-ship convoy that had left Iceland Nov. 8, 1942 for Halifax, then some ships on to Boston. The captain, James Dunbar, reports a U-boat attack on Nov. 15 and 17. The notes record his comments: "Nov. 17 54˚ N 36˚ W, 8:30 torpedo heard. 8:35 2 torpedoes heard. 3:30 a.m. 3 heard and observed. Circling Comm. ship (which had been torpedoed). our steering gear jammed and nearly rammed sinking Comm. ship. Area called „torpedo junction.‰ 4:30 another ship torpedoed. Eastbound 8 or more escorts for 55 ships. All action from starboard side. Don't think 5 enuf escort." Looking at Convoy lists on your site and others, I cannot find a record of a Convoy in this area at this time. Where else might I look? Thanks for your fine work. The convoy was the westbound ON 144, in which Governor John Lind took part - Commodore ship was President Sergant (sunk). ------------------------------------------------- From: Mogens Pilemand Ottesen s.s. Tennessee. Sunk 22.0.42 I can inform you about Hovmester Knud Kristoffer Johannes Knudsen drowned 22. sept. 1942, when on board s.s. "Tennesse. Maybe you can use the information ? Kind Regards from, Mogens P. Ottesen. (This was not the Norwegian Tennessee). -------------------------------------------------
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