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M/S Corneville To Corneville on the "Ships starting with C" page. Owner: Sibs-A/S Mandeville Built by Burmeister & Wain's Maskin & Skibsbyggeri A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark in 1930. Captain: Leif Kongstein
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database). Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each. Compare Arnold Hague's records with these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Corneville is listed, together with the Norwegian Stirlingville, in Convoy SL 121, which left Freetown on Sept. 3-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 21st. Her cargo is given as grain and mail, and she also had 6 passengers on board, voyage Fremantle-Belfast. Follow the link provided in the table above for more details on this convoy. The following month we find her in station 24 of the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 137*, which originated in Liverpool on Oct. 9-1942 and arrived New York on the 29th, and also included the Norwegian Iris, Norholm, Norsol, President de Vogue, Stiklestad, Tai Shan and Velma, as well as the Panamanian Norvinn, which had Norwegian managers and is, therefore, listed under the N's of this website. Corneville is also included in the westbound Convoy ON 140*, originating in Liverpool on Oct. 17-1942, but she only sailed with this convoy from Halifax to New York, arriving there on Nov. 7. Other Norwegian ships in this convoy were Brush (also joined from Halifax), Haakon Hauan (returned), Hallanger, Harpefjell (also from Halifax only), Norjerv, Solsten, and Stirlingville. Convoy NG 326, in which Corneville sailed in Dec.-1942, also had other Norwegian ships, namely Danio, Garonne, Minister Wedel, and Orwell.
About 5 hours later (May 9 by then) she was hit by two torpedoes from U-515 (Henke). The 1st one struck on the starboard side in No. 1 hold, sending flames high up in the air. Both engines were immediately stopped and the men successfully abandoned ship; but the starboard boats were still close to her when the 2nd torpedo hit about 10 minutes after the 1st. This time she was struck amidships in No. 3 hold, also on the starboard side, sending up a column of water that filled the boats, and Corneville sank shortly afterwards (04 50N 01 10W). According to the captain's report presented at the subsequent maritime hearings they were about 30 miles from Takoradi, and she sank at 04:56 GMT, 11 minutes after the first torpedo had struck. The U-boat came up to ask the usual questions (which ship, nationality, etc.), before taking off again, having received the traditional reply that the captain was missing. As day started to dawn at 05:30 all the boats were assembled and all 41 men were found to be accounted for. The starboard aft lifeboat and a large lifeboat that had been on the after deck were damaged, so the crew were distributed in the motorboat and 2 of the other boats, whereupn the motorboat took the latter 2 in tow, heading for land. They reached Anamabu 60 n. miles east of Takoradi at 16:00. Just off the coast they had met some fishermen in canoes who took the captain and the 1st mate on board and ashore. The lifeboats could not be landed because of the breakers, so the rest of the men were also taken ashore with the help of canoes while the lifeboats were anchored up. The captain got an army truck which happened to be at Anamabu to take him to Saltpand where there was a British army camp, about 6 miles from Anamabu. The remaining survivors were subsequently picked up by trucks and taken to the camp where they were fed and given dry clothes. Later that afternoon the captain was able to get in touch with the British Naval Control Office in Takoradi to report the sinking. In the morning of May 10 the lifeboats were fetched and pulled up on the beach at Saltpand on orders from local British authorities, and that afternoon 3 trucks arrived from Takoradi to take the crew to Sekondi where they were accommodated at a camp for shipwrecked seamen. The following day the captain was taken to the British Naval Control Office in Takoradi to give a statement about what had happened to his ship. The 1st and 2nd mates and the 2nd engineer also gave statements the next day. While the 4 British gunners were left in the care of the naval authorities at Takoradi, the rest of Corneville's crew were sent on board the British troop transport D/S Orduña on May 14. This ship stopped at Dakar, and while there on June 7 Able Seaman A. Cleveland, Able Seaman A. Grovasbakk, and Mechanic Y. Magnussen joined M/S Salta, which was in need of crew. After Orduña had left Dakar it turned out that Boatswain S. Kling, 2nd Cook K. Öberg, Mechanic G. Nilsen, and Oiler S. Strand had gone ashore without permission and had not returned before departure. During Orduña's stay in Casablanca on June 14 it was arranged through the Norwegian Consulate for the transfer of Corneville's crew to the troop transport D/S West Point which was bound for the U.S. She arrived Boston on June 24-1943 where the Norwegian Consulate took care of them and arranged accommodation overnight before they were sent on to New York the following day. The maritime hearings were held in New York on June 29-1943 with the captain, the 1st mate (on duty on the bridge), the 2nd Engineer (duty in engine room) and Able Seaman Jensen appearing.
Related external links: The story of the sinking of the Ceramic by U-515, with the loss of more than 650 lives (has a link to a personal account of the sinking of U-515). Back to Corneville on the "Ships starting with C" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum), and misc. others for cross checking info. - ref My sources.
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