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D/S Einvik To Einvik on the "Ships starting with E" page. Owner: Skibs-A/S Einvik Built by Polson Iron Works Co. Ltd., Toronto, Canada (146), delivered in Jan.-1919 as War Taurus to The Shipping Controller (managed by Tyzack & Branfoot), London. 250.9' x 43.4' x 20.9', Triple exp. (builders), 238 nhp. Renamed Cormount in 1920 for Cory Colliers Ltd., London. Sold in 1924 to D/S A/S Spin, Kristiania (Oslo), then sold that same year to Crisco Rederi A/S (Ragnar Moltzau), Kristiania, renamed Femund 1925. Sold in 1928 to Max Moltzau, Oslo, renamed Rendal in 1928, having been sold to A/S Rendal (Ragnar Moltzau), Oslo that same year. Sold in 1934 to Skibs-A/S Einvik (Bjarne Tetlie), Trondheim and renamed Einvik 1935. Captain: Finn Wetteland Related item on this website: Her voyages are listed on this original document from the Norwegian National Archives. Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database). Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each. Errors may exist, and several voyages are missing.
A. Hague has included Einvik in the U.K.-Norway Convoy ON 15 in Febr.-1940. In March, we find her in Convoy HN 17 from Norway, bound for West Hartlepool in ballast. At the beginning of the following month, she joined Convoy ON 25 in order to head back to Norway, and was one of the ships that returned to the U.K. due to the German invasion being underway - follow the links for more information, several Norwegian ships took part in all these convoys (the escort's report is also availble for ON 25). As will be seen when going to the document received from the National Archives of Norway, Einvik arrived Kirkwall on Apr. 9. Her subsequent voyages are listed on the same document - she later made a couple of voyages to France, one in May, the other in June. In Aug.-1940, Arnold Hague has listed her, together with Alaska, Brask, Bur, Mosli and Veni, in Convoy OB 202, originating in Liverpool on Aug. 22. Einvik, which sailed from Milford Haven on Aug. 21, was only bound for Glasgow on that occasion, arriving on Aug. 24, joining Convoy OB 206 from there about a week later (according to A. Hague). This convoy originated in Liverpool on Aug. 31 and dispersed Sept. 5. Erviken and Ferncastle are also listed, ref. external links provided within the table above. Einvik's destination is given as Iceland, station 82. Arrival Iceland is not mentioned on the archive document, in fact, I'm not sure if she went there at all at that time(?). It'll be noticed though, that she did go to Reykjavik in Oct.-1940, and the following month she made a voyage from Reykjavik to Sydney, C.B., where she arrived on Nov. 20, proceeding to Miramichi and Newcastle, N.B. a few days later. There's now a big gap in the record; the next voyage shown is from Newcastle, N.B. to Quebec at the beginning of May-1941. From Quebec, she headed to Sydney, C.B. on May 20, with arrival May 24 and with a cargo of lumber and pit props for Cardiff, she was scheduled for the slow Convoy SC 33 on June 1, but instead joined the next convoy on June 10, SC 34. However, she experienced engine problems and had to return to Sydney, C.B., arriving June 17. Going back to the archive document, we see that she later arrived St. John's, N.F. on July 14, but this does not quite match up with the fact that A. Hague has included her in Convoy SC 36*, which left Sydney C.B. on July 1 and arrived Liverpool on the 19th. I'm inclined to believe that she did not sail in this convoy, unless she started out in the convoy, experienced problems again and headed to St. John's? It now looks like she remained at St. John's (for repairs?) from July 14 until she embarked on her last voyage on Aug. 25. (As can be seen under "Final Fate" below, the voyage information there is given as "Quebec to Cardiff with pit props and lumber", which is the same as that given for SC 34 in June, when she had returned to port. But unless some voyages are missing from the record, she did not go back to Quebec again after July 14; the only voyage to Quebec mentioned on the archive document is the one made early in May-1941).
Einvik was on a voyage from Quebec to Cardiff with a cargo of pit props and lumber when she was sunk by U-501 (Förster) on Sept. 5-1941, position 60 38N 31 18W. At the subsequent maritime hearings in Glasgow on Oct. 1-1941, Captain Wetteland handed in a report concerning 3 of Einvik's stokers whom he had reported to the British General Consulate in Reykjavik accusing them of sabotage, and seems to (indirectly) blame them for the loss of the ship. He says that Einvik was in St. John's on Aug. 25, ready for departure. Stokers T. Dwyer, A. Dwyer and J. Bobb were not on board when work started that morning, though they knew that the ship was due to leave. A. Dwyer returned at 16:15, the other 2 were found and brought on board by the police at 18:00. Just before departure the 3rd engineer had heard one of them tell the others to keep the steam low to make it as difficult as possible for the ship. In fact, all the stokers were in a somewhat rebellious mood. Einvik left St. John's in convoy at 19:00 that same day, and the steam was low from the start. This continued into the following day, Aug. 26, and they eventually lost sight of the convoy, but spotted it again on the 28th and were able to take their place that afternoon, then joined the main* convoy later that night. However, in spite of 2 stokers and a trimmer on every watch (as ordered by the captain from Aug. 27) the steam was kept low, and by the evening of the 29th they had again lost sight of the convoy. The stokers seemed to be under the impression that if they lost the convoy they would have to return to St. John's, but on the 30th the captain gave them a good scolding and announced that under no circumstances would he return the ship to St. John's, and if they did not shape up he would consider their behaviour as sabotage. At that time the ship had hardly any speed at all, and the wind was increasing to a gale with high seas.
By Sept. 1 the stokers appeared to have reconsidered; Einvik was doing 7 knots for the next 3 days, and an attempt was made to catch up with the convoy again. The weather had also improved. However, at 03:15 on Sept. 5 the mate on duty, 1st Mate Eugen Kvalheim saw a dark object on the port side about half a mile off. He ordered the wheel hard to starboard while at the same time telling the lookout, Ordinary Seaman A. Beams to call all men on deck, but a moment later a torpedo struck near the foreward mast, port side. Einvik's only armament was a machine gun and a Tommy gun so the order was given to abandon ship and within 10 minutes both boats were on the water and clear of the ship. The Canadian Radio Operator Elmer Rusenstrom remained on board in order to send out an SOS with their position, before rowing away in the workboat. At that time the U-boat opened fire and Einvik sank in about 45 minutes, after having been hit by about 25 shells (position given as approx. 61N 30W). After she had been sunk the radio operator was taken aboard the starboard lifeboat, while the workboat was let go. Iceland Radio had received the distress signals, but when an aircraft and a corvette arrived on the scene that evening no ship nor survivors were to be seen, only some debris and oil on the water. By then the 2 lifeboats had set a course for Iceland, sailing together until Sept. 9 when a gale force wind separated them. The starboard boat landed at the Vestmanna Islands in the morning of Sept. 13, while the port boat landed at Herdisvik a couple of hours later. Most of the men were in need of medical treatment upon landing. On Sept. 22, 17 of Einvik's crew travelled from Reykjavik to Gourock with D/S Bergensfjord, arriving on Sept. 25. The 3rd engineer, the steward and the donkeyman had signed on other ships and stayed behind in Reykjavik, as did Able Seamen Lerstang, Fossheim and Johansen who did not want to travel with the troop transport. The maritime hearings were held in Glasgow on Oct. 1-1941 with the captain, the 1st mate and the 2nd engineer appearing. For info, Einvik was the only ship sunk by U-501; the boat was sunk 5 days later - ref. external link provided at the end of this page for more information.
* See also this Guestbook message Related external links: Back to Einvik on the "Ships starting with E" 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), "The Allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague, and misc. - ref. My sources.
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