Owner: A/S Ganger Rolf
Manager: Fred. Olsen & Co., Oslo
Tonnage: 3778 gt, 6900 tdwt.
Call Sign: LDGT.

Delivered in Dec.- 1928 from Akers mek. Verksted, Oslo (432), 365.5' x 51.8' x 21.9', two 6 cyl. 2T single DM (Aker) 2300 bhp.

Both pictures are from a book about Akers mek. Verksted, 1931. The 1st picture looks like it was taken at her launching.

Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2

Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.

Voyage Record From Apr.-1940 to -Apr.-1941:

(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database).

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each (some listings are incomplete).

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1940	Apr. 19	Montevideo	Freetown	May 5	Independent	–
	May 9	Freetown	Weymouth Bay*	May 24	SL 31	*Arrived Falmouth May 24, Weymouth Bay May 30 (Page 1). Convoy available at SL 31 (external link)
	June 1	Weymouth Bay*	Southend	June 2	Independent	*From Portland (Page 1).
	June 2	Southend	Hull	June 3	FN 186	Convoy available at FN convoys (external link) Left Hull June 16 (Page 1).
	June 18	Humber	–	–	FN 198	Convoy available at link above (Bra-Kar not included). Detached June 19.
	June 19	Detached from FN 198	Clyde	June 22	Independent	Again, see also Page 1
	June 27	Clyde	–	–	OB 175	For Montreal. Dispersed June 30. Convoy available at OB 175 (external link) See also narrative below
	June 30	Dispersed from OB 175	Halifax	July 10	Independent	–
	July 10	Halifax	Botwood	July 13	Independent	–
	July 17	Botwood	Hampton Roads	July 23	Independent	–
	July 23	Hampton Roads	Cristobal	July 31	Independent	–
	Aug. 1	Balboa	Los Angeles	Aug. 12	Independent	–
	Aug. 13	Los Angeles	Tacoma	Aug. 18	Independent	–
	Aug. 22	Tacoma	Vancouver	Aug. 23	Independent	–
	Sept. 5	Vancouver	New Westminster	Sept. 6	Independent	–
	Sept. 6	New Westminster	Bellingham	Sept. 6	Independent	–
	Sept. 7	Bellingham	Seattle	Sept. 8	Independent	Notional sailing date
	Sept. 12	Seattle	Los Angeles	Sept. 18	Independent	–
	Sept. 20	Los Angeles	Balboa	Oct. 2	Independent	–
	Oct. 3	Cristobal	Halifax	–	Independent	–
	Oct. 16	Halifax	Liverpool	Nov. 2	HX 81	See also narrative below
	Nov. 18	Liverpool	–	–	OB 245	Dispersed in 56 35N 17 38W, Nov. 22. Convoy available at OB 245 (external link)
	Nov. 22	Dispersed from OB 245	Hampton Roads	Dec. 6	Independent	–
	Dec. 10	Hampton Roads	Cristobal	Dec. 17	Independent	–
	Dec. 18	Balboa	Vancouver	Jan. 1-1941	Independent	–
1941	Jan. 24	Vancouver	New Westminster	Jan. 25	Independent	–
	Jan. 29	New Westminster	Seattle	Jan. 30	Independent	Left Seattle Jan 30 (Page 1).
	Febr. 3	Tacoma	Los Angeles	Febr. 9	Independent	–
	Febr. 11	Los Angeles	Balboa	Febr. 22	Independent	–
	Febr. 23	Cristobal	Bermuda	–	Independent	Page 2 gives arrival March 3 (see also narrative below)
	March 30	Bermuda	Halifax	Apr. 3	Independent	–
	Apr. 6	Halifax	Belfast	Apr. 22	HX 119A	–
	Apr. 23	Belfast	Liverpool	–	Independent	Arrived same day (Page 2). Bombed in Liverpool, sank. See "Final Fate" below

Some Convoy 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. Follow the convoy links provided for further info; the Commodore's notes and/or escort's reports are also available for some of them and several Norwegian ships took part.

Arnold Hague has included Bra-Kar, together with the Norwegian Bonneville, in Convoy SL 31, departing Freetown on May 9-1940. According to Page 1 of the archive documents, she arrived Falmouth on May 24. The following month we find her, together with the Norwegian Belita, Egda, Norma, Solstad, Sveve and Vestland, in Convoy OB 175, which originated in Liverpool on June 27 and dispersed on the 30th, Bra-Kar arriving Halifax independently on July 10, continuing to Botwood that same day, arriving there July 13. Bra-Kar, in station 82, had a general cargo, and her destination is given as Montreal. Note that she's said to have been one of the ships that transported Norway's gold to North America that summer - perhaps this was the voyage on which she carried the gold? My page about Bomma has more details on the gold transports and the ships involved, Norma being one of them.

That fall, Bra-Kar made some voyages on the west coast of the U.S. and Canada, and also made a couple of voyages to Cristobal. With a cargo of lead, lumber and canned goods, she was scheduled to return to the U.K. in Convoy HX 80 from Halifax on Oct. 12-1940, but instead joined the next convoy on Oct. 16, HX 81, which arrived Liverpool on Nov. 2. She headed back to the U.S. again later that month, having joined Convoy OB 245, which left Liverpool on Nov. 18 and dispersed on the 22nd, Bra-Kar arriving Hampton Roads independently on Dec. 6. Snar and Teneriffa are also listed in this convoy - ref. links provided within the Voyage Record above for more on the OB convoys mentioned here. Bra-Kar's subsequent voyages are shown on Page 1 (as can be seen, she had quite a long stay in Vancouver at the beginning of 1941).

With a general cargo and airplanes for Liverpool, she was scheduled for the Bermuda portion of Convoy HX 113 at the beginning of March-1941, but did not sail. According to Page 2 of the archive documents, she had arrived Bermuda on March 3. She was also cancelled from the Bermuda portion of the next convoy on March 9, HX 114 (Hidlefjord was sunk and Kaia Knudsen damaged - follow the links for details). Going back to the archive document, we see that she remained in Bermuda until March 30, when she proceeded to Halifax, with arrival Apr. 3, subsequently joining Convoy HX 119A from there on Apr. 6 (station 84). Her destination is now given as Belfast, where she arrived on Apr. 22. This turned out to be her last Trans-Atlantic convoy voyage, as will be seen below.

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

Final Fate - 1941:

From Belfast, Bra-Kar proceeded to Liverpool, with arrival Apr. 23-1941 (Page 2). On May 3, she experienced the air attacks on Canada Dock (cargo is given as metal and canned goods). A bomb detonated on the quay 40 meters away, blowing her hatches away. Incendiary bombs caused several fires on her decks, but were extinguished before they could do serious damage. On land, flames from a burning warehouse were spreading quickly and the wind blew them towards Bra-Kar. Soon, her gangway was on fire, as were both the starboard lifeboats and the raft. 20 minutes after the first incendiary bombs had been dropped, several others were dropped, some falling in Bra-Kar's No. 4 and No. 5 hatches, resulting in a hole of half a meter in diameter in her No. 4 hatch.

The crew were ordered to the air raid shelters. About half of them got off safely, while the remaining men chose to lower the port boat, but when more bombs fell around them, 1 detonated in the after hold, blowing the men off their feet. Under constant bombardment, they finally managed to get the boat on the water and away from the ship in the early morning hours of May 4. By May 7, she was still burning and eventually settled on the bottom - later declared a total loss. (It'll be noticed, when going back to Page 2, that the date of her loss is given as May 6).