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D/S Favorit To Favorit on the "Ships starting with F" page. Manager: Peder Smedvig, Stavanger Built by Pusey & Jones Co., Wilmington, Delaware in 1920. Previous names: Fishers Island until 1920, Ionier until 1929. Favorit was one of several Norwegian ships affected by the Spanish civil war when she was forced to go to Ceuta in June-1938. Captain: Einar Pedersen Her voyages are listed on these original images 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.
Favorit is listed as sailing in Convoy HN 9A from Norway to the U.K. at the end of Jan.-1940. In March that year, we find her in station 53 of Convoy OB 116, originating in Liverpool on the 24th, dispersed March 27. The Norwegian Vav is also listed. Favorit's destination is not given, but from Page 1 of the archive documents, we learn that she arrived Halifax on Apr. 13, having left Milford Haven on March 25 - in other words, she was at sea when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9. According to Arnold Hague, she headed back to the U.K. on Apr. 22 with Convoy HX 37. It'll be noticed, when going to my page about this convoy, that she's crossed out on the original form, which usually means the ship did not sail, but in this case she might be crossed out for other reasons, because the dates do fit with the details found on the archive document mentioned above. She had a cargo of wheat from Grimsby, where she arrived May 9. She's also listed in station 43 of Convoy OA 165, which left Southend on June 10 and dispersed 2 days later. Her destination is given as Miramichi on that occasion. OB 116 and OA 165 are available via the external links provided within the Voyage Record. On July 15-1940, we find her in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 58 (cargo of lumber, bound for Belfast and Boness - again, see Page 1), having previously been cancelled from HX 56 and HX 57. Together with Spes, she later joined Convoy OA 209, departing Methil on Sept. 4, dispersed Sept. 9, Favorit arriving Halifax independently on the 19th. From there, she joined Convoy HX 78 at the beginning of the following month, but was unable to keep up with the convoy speed and was sent to Sydney, C.B. on Oct. 5 (the day after the convoy's departure), later joining the slow Convoy SC 8 from there on Oct. 15, carrying 968 standards of lumber for London. On Nov.-16-1940, she was attacked and damaged by an aircraft off Lowestoft, after she had lost touch with the convoy in which she sailed; Convoy FS 335 (external link - the Norwegian Tautra is also listed). She was unarmed at the time, but no one was killed or injured. Favorit anchored at Yarmouth Roads the next day.
Favorit had made a voyage from Oban to St. John's, N.F. at the beginning of 1941, having started out in a convoy which has been given the designation OBA, departing Oban on Jan. 30 (see link within Voyage Record). The convoy was dispersed on Febr. 3, Favorit arriving St. John's independently on the 19th. About a week later, she proceeded to Boston, where she arrived on March 2, leaving Boston again on March 21 for Halifax, with arrival March 24 (her voyages in this period are shown on Page 2 of the archive documents). From there, she joined Convoy SC 27 on March 30. She had a cargo of 1330 tons steel and 2010 tons scrap iron for Hull. (Favorit had originally been scheduled for the previous convoy, SC 26, from which Helle was sunk). At 12:00 on April 7, when in position 48 27N 41 04W, she had to stop due to a problem with the steering gear (this time and position is according to the escorting HMS Salopian's report - the Commodore's notes give the time as 14:20 on Apr. 7, position 48 29N 40 58W). By the time this had been repaired she had lost sight of the convoy and was, therefore, on her own northwest of the Hebrides when she was attacked by an aircraft at 10:40 GMT on the 16th, position 60 06N 08 32W. 2 bombs hit near No. 3 hatch, causing heavy damages and destroying the motor boat. The crew did not take to the boats right away because the aircraft also used its machine guns. It returned shortly thereafter, dropping more bombs, 1 of which detonated in the sea on the starboard side, another on the foredeck. By then the starboard lifeboat had been manned and launched, but it was already full of water and capsized. The port boat had better luck and those who were in the water were subsequently picked up by this boat. The aircraft now returned a 3rd time, dropping 2 bombs on the after deck, and she started to sink by the stern. An attempt was made to turn the starboard boat over, but being made of teak it was quite heavy and, finding that it was too damaged to be of any use the attempt was abandoned. The port boat also had minor leaks, but the captain and 10 men set sail in a southerly direction in the hope of reaching an area with more traffic. The remaining survivors had been distributed on 2 rafts which were tied together, with 7 men on one, 11 on the other. The captain's boat was spotted by a British flying boat which threw down food and medicines to them that same afternoon. At about 23:30 that night they were rescued by the Hull trawler Commander Horton, en route from Iceland with fish. The people on the trawler told them that they had been hailed by a destroyer an hour earlier and told to keep a lookout for a lifeboat. Upon being notified about the rafts the trawler's captain did not think it advisable to go back and look for them as he knew that the destroyer would be out looking for them. In fact, the 18 on the rafts had already been picked up by the destroyer Lincoln that afternoon. They were landed in Londonderry on Apr. 19 and were all sent to Glasgow, with the exception of the Swedish Stoker Andersen who was admitted to a hospital. 3rd Mate Ånonsen, who had been on duty on the bridge when the attack took place, had received minor injuries, as had the British Trimmer Cooper (Ånonsen had been shot in the thigh while running to one of the ship's 2 machine guns). Meanwhile, the 11 from the captain's boat arrived Scrabster in the evening of Apr. 17 and were placed in a hotel, then travelled to Glasgow the following day with arrival on the 19th. They had been told upon arrival on the 17th that the men on the rafts had also been rescued. The maritime hearings were held in Glasgow on Apr. 25-1941 with Captain Pedersen (who had been on board for 6 years), and the 1st and 3rd mates appearing. The 1st mate had been sitting in the radio station at the time of attack, and after having gone to the bridge to get the ship's position from the captain he ran back to the radio station to send an SOS, but the wireless was found to be out of order so no such signal was sent. George Monk, a visitor to my website, has told me that the following men received ungazetted awards for unknown services (his source: Seedies List of awards to the British Merchant Navy which includes awards to Allied merchant seamen): Crew List - No casualties:
Related external links: Back to Favorit on the "Ships starting with F" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig, Vol 1, Norwegian Maritime Museum, and misc. - ref. My sources.
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