Built Port Glasgow 1903.

WW II:

This ship is listed in the British section of Roger W. Jordan's "The World's Merchant Fleets", but I'm including it here because of some information found in Thor Dahl documents, sent to me by an ex employee of the company, Narve Sørensen. R. Jordan adds she was seized by the Germans at Sandefjord on Apr. 12-1940 (prize), and used as storage vessel. Retaken at Tønsberg in May 1945 (by the British I assume, as this info is found under "Losses, Gt. Britain), then used for food storage in Oslo in 1946, under Norwegian ownership.

Lauritz Pettersen ("Hjemmeflåten - Mellom fiende") also briefly mentions this ship. He gives her the tonnage 5186 gt, and says she was owned by A/S Thor Dahl, but registered in London in the name of A/S Thor Dahl's "daughter company" Thorland Ltd. Thor Dahl had her transferred to the Norwegian flag as quickly as they could, but she was seized by the Germans. Pettersen gives no further info on this ship.

The information found in the Thor Dahl documents indicates she was purchased by Thor Dahl in 1931, but continued under the English flag because of a tax of 10% being introduced by England on Norwegian fish. Another, rather confusing piece of info is that she was sold to the Norwegian State in July-1940, yet she's among the ships included in the list of the ships Thor Dahl had left after the war was over (with Thorland Ltd. listed as owner).

The following is a summary of what was found in Thor Dahls documents:
In the fall of 1931 D/S Thorland, belonging to John Kaye & Sons, London was for sale. This ship was originally built as a refrigerator ship, but was later converted to mothership for the Halibut fishing near Greenland. Thor Dahl bought her at a reasonable price, with the intention of putting her into service under the Norwegian flag (for Halibut fishing). However, while the establishing of a Norwegian company was underway, England introduced a 10% tax on Norwegian fish, and as the planned fishing expedition near Greenland was dependent on the English market, the decision was made to keep her under the British flag. Thorland was engaged in the Halibut fishing from 1932 until 1935 and then again in 1937, with up to 309 men involved. Unfortunately, due to the lack of fish, the operation was no longer profitable, and the expeditions were discontinued. There's no other information available, other than the fact that she was sold to the Norwegian state on July 22-1940, yet is listed among the ships left in Thor Dahl's fleet at the end of the war.

Thorland is mentioned in Jürgen Rohwer's book "Allied Submarine Attacks" as being in a convoy which was attacked east of Vardø, Norway on Aug. 8-1942 by The Russian submarine SC-403 (Shuiskii), but torpedoes missed. She's listed under German control in this book.

On my Ship Forum there's a thread on Thorland which gives some more details. It starts with a query (in German) and has several responses, one of which says (among other things) the following:

Collision 7.1.43 with M Matthias Stinnes in Alta. Collision 12.2.43 with D Santos in Lødingen. Collision 15.2.43 with T Amrum in Ålesund. Collision 23.2.43 with D Rabe in Kristiansand. Collision 2.4.43 with M Belpamela in Salangen. Collision 18.4.43 with D Vøringen in Salangen. Collision 4.5.43 with M Moshill in Tromsø. Stranded 16.8.43 near Steinsvikfluen light. Bombed 11.5.44 near Kirkenes.

See also this thread on my forum.

Related external link:
Another picture of Thorland - This site also says she was sold to the Norwegian State on July 22-1940, then after the war she was sold to Råfisklaget A/S, Tromsø, Norway. Sold in 1951 to England for breaking up.

Back to Thorland on the "Homefleet Ships starting with T" page.