D/S Bencas
Updated March 26-2011

To Bencas on the "Ships starting with B" page.


From Bjørn Milde's postcard collection.

Another picture is available on this external page (click in it to enlarge).

Some War Voyages:

For information on voyages made in between those mentioned here, please see the documents received from the National Archives of Norway and A. Hague's Voyage Record above.

As can be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Bencas was on her way from New York to Falmouth when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940. From May 7 to May 11 she was in Antwerp, in other words, she was there when the Germans invaded Belgium and endured horrendous air attacks before she was finally able to leave (if you read Norwegian, a description of this is available on this external page). She's later listed as bound for Boston with general cargo in Convoy OA 149, which started out at Southend on May 16 - see the external link provided within the Voyage Record for more on this convoy, in which the Norwegian Hardanger and Madrono also took part. Bencas arrived Boston independently on June 5, having detached from the convoy on May 18, according to A. Hague (the Norwegian site mentioned above says she had lost the convoy due to her slow speed). From Boston, she later proceeded to Hampton Roads and on to Belize, then returned to Boston, where she spent over a month.

Her 1941 voyages also start on Page 1 and continue on Page 2, which also shows some 1942 voyages, while the rest are listed on Page 3. Convoy information for some of them can be found in the Voyage Record above. It'll be noticed that she occasionally had long stays in port.

According to an article in "Krigsseileren", Issue No. 3 for 1986, based on Gunner Herman Venheim's story, Bencas was in a convoy of 10 ships in the St. Lawrence river in 1942 (exact date is not given). He says 9 of the ships were sunk by U-boats, Bencas being the only one that escaped, and that she had a cargo of 40 tons explosives (among other things) for Greenland, adding that the gun they had on board was from 1891. Though some of the facts don't fit, he might be referring to her voyage with Convoy QS 33 in Sept.-1942? (external link - see also the link provided below). This convoy lost several ships to U-boats, and as can be seen in her Voyage Record (and Page 3), she did head to Greenland shortly thereafter (she had also made some voyages to Greenland earlier that year). Herman Venheim had previously served on Borgestad, Tyr (on board when she was bombed in Febr.-1942) and Harpefjell, before joining the Norwegian school for gunners at Camp Norway, then joined Bencas as gunner. He later served on Ada and Drafn, and after the war he settled in the U.S.

Related external link:
Ships hit from convoy QS 33

In Nov.-1942, she shows up in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 144, which had started out in Liverpool on Nov. 7 and arrived New York on the 27th (Page 3 gives her arrival New York as Nov. 29 and she remained there for about a month). Bencas was not present from the U.K., but joined from Halifax, having previously arrived there from Sydney, C.B. on Nov. 23 with Convoy SH 63 (link in the table above). ON 144 will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section in due course; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it are named at ships in all ON convoys. Several Norwegian ships are included, namely Bestik, Borgfred, Cetus, Ingertre, Minister Wedel, Norlom, Orwell, Suderøy and Titanian, while Eglantine, Montbretia, Potentilla and Rose are named among the escorts (see ON convoy escorts). Please note that my page about Monbretia has more details on the passage of this convoy (this corvette and several other ships were sunk).

At the end of the following month, A. Hague has included Bencas in the slow eastbound North Atlantic Convoy SC 115, which left New York on Dec. 27-1942 and had Liverpool as its final destination, arriving there on Jan. 15-1943. Bencas, however, was not bound for the U.K. - Page 3 gives her destination as Greenland. She's said to have arrived Halifax with defects on Jan. 1, and later joined Convoy SC 116 from there. This convoy had originated in New York on Jan. 4 and arrived Liverpool on the 29th, but Bencas stopped at St. John's, N.F. on Jan. 12, having sailed from Halifax on the 7th. These convoys will also be added to my Convoys section, but for now, please see ships in all SC convoys. The Norwegian Elg, Herbrand and Vinga are also listed in SC 115, while Carmelfjell (also bound for St. John's), Chr. Th. Boe, Fernbank, Gezina, Herma (for St. John's only), Orwell and Stigstad are included in SC 116. Eglantine is again named among the escorts, as is Acanthus (see SC convoy escorts). According to A. Hague, Bencas and Carmelfjell subsequently proceeded to Greenland with Convoy SG 18, departing St. John's on Jan. 18, arriving Greenland on the 24th. They are both listed, together with Aragon, Havmøy and Ørnefjell, in Convoy GS 20 from Greenland to St. John's the following month (departure Febr. 22, arrival Febr. 28). Again, see the external links provided in the table above for more convoy information.

The rest of her voyages can be found on Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6 and Page 7 (to Apr.-1946 - again, occasional long stays in port are shown), with convoy information for some of them in A. Hague's Voyage Record above.

For more details on all the other Norwegian ships mentioned here, please see the alphabet index at the end of this page, or go to the Master Ship Index.

POST WAR:

Sold in Oct.-1949 to Skibs-A/S Selvik (Einar Wahlstrøm), Oslo and renamed Selbo. Sold in March-1961 to Phoenix Navigation SAR, Beirut and renamed Astarti. Sold again in 1963 and renamed Tefcros for Phoenix Navigation Co., Beirut. Broken up in 1973.

Back to Bencas on the "Ships starting with B" page.