D/S Fingal
Updated June 14-2009

To Fingal on the "Ships starting with F" page.

Crew List

The Australian War Memorial has a picture of this ship (external links). Caption is: "C. 1942. Aerial starboard bow view of the Norwegian cargo steamer Fingal which was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine, probably I-180, off Nambucca Heads on a voyage from Sydney to Darwin on 1943-05-05. The Fingal was a defensively equipped merchant ship (DEMS) whose guns were manned by two royal Australian navy DEMS gunners, Geoff Miller and S.C. Payne. Payne was amongst the twenty seven lost with the ship. Note the 12 pounder gun mounted aft". The number of casualties given here is 27 as opposed to the correct 12.

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

Voyage Record From Jan.-1941 to May-1943:

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Errors may exist, and several voyages are missing.

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1941	Jan. 5	Calcutta	Aden	Jan. 20	Independent	A. Hague says: Previously traded in Pacific. Earlier voyages, Page 1
	Febr. 3	Aden	Colombo	Febr. 14	Independent	–
	Febr. 15	Colombo	Calcutta	Febr. 21	Independent	–
	Febr. 27	Calcutta	Colombo	March 5	Independent	–
*	March 9	Calcutta	Colombo	March 16	Independent	–
	*This voyage is in the wrong place; it belongs under 1942 and has been inserted there (see also Page 1).
	March 12	Colombo	Aden	March 22	Independent	–
	March 24	Aden	Suez	March 31	BN 21	Convoy available at BN 21 (external link)
	Apr. 18	Suez	Aden	Apr. 26	Independent	–
	Apr. 27	Aden	Colombo	May 7	Independent	–
	May 11	Colombo	Bombay	May 16	Independent	–
	May 20	Bombay	Calcutta	June 9	Independent	–
	June 20	Calcutta	Colombo	June 29	Independent	–
	July 2*	Colombo	Madras	July 9	Independent	*Page 1 gives departure July 5
	July 11	Madras	Singapore	July 18	Independent	–
	July 19	Singapore	Hong Kong	July 27	Independent	–
	Aug. 7	Hong Kong	Singapore	Aug. 15	Independent	–
	Aug. 17	Singapore	Colombo	Aug. 27	Independent	–
	Aug. 29	Colombo	Bombay	Sept. 3	Independent	–
	Sept. 12	Bombay	Karachi	Sept. 15	Independent	–
	Sept. 17	Karachi	Basra	Sept. 26	Independent	–
	Sept. 30	Basra	Karachi	Oct. 5	Independent	Left Karachi Oct. 8 (Page 2)
	Oct. 14	Verawal	Colombo	Oct. 18	Independent	–
	Oct. 21	Colombo	Calcutta	Oct. 27	Independent	–
	Nov. 1	Calcutta	Rangoon	Nov. 5	Independent	–
	Nov. 15*	Rangoon	Bombay	Nov. 25	Independent	*Page 2 gives departure Nov. 13
	Dec. 3	Bombay	Cochin	Dec. 10	Independent	–
	Dec. 11	Cochin	Rangoon	Dec. 21	Independent	–
	Dec. 28	Rangoon	Calcutta	Dec. 31	Independent	–
1942	March 9	Calcutta	Colombo	March 16	Independent	–
	The above voyage has been taken from 1941 entries above - see also Page 2
	March 25	Colombo	Tuticorin	March 26	Independent
	March 29	Tuticorin	Colombo	March 30	Independent	–
	March 31	Colombo	Tuticorin	Apr. 1	Independent	–
	Apr. 6	Tuticorin	Colombo	Apr. 7	Independent	–
	May 2	Colombo	Bombay	May 7	Independent	–
	May 31	Bombay	Colombo	June 5	BM 19	Convoy available at BM 19 (external link)
	July 23	Colombo	Fremantle	Aug. 10	Independent	–
	Aug. 15	Fremantle	Melbourne	Aug. 24	Independent	–
	Aug. 26	Melbourne	Sydney, N.S.W.	Aug. 29	OC 21	Convoy available at OC convoys (external link)
	Sept. 17	Sydney, N.S.W.	Melbourne	Sept. 20	CO 28	Convoy available at CO convoys (external link)
	Sept. 26	Melbourne	Sydney, N.S.W.	Sept. 29	OC 30	Convoy available at OC convoys (external link)
	Oct. 1	Sydney, N.S.W.	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Oct. 2	Independent	–
	Oct. 4	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Melbourne	Oct. 8	CO 33	Convoy available at CO convoys (external link)
	Oct. 9	Melbourne	Devonport, Tas.	Oct. 10	Independent	–
	Oct. 13	Devonport, Tas.	Melbourne	Oct. 14	Independent	–
	Oct. 14	Melbourne	Sydney, N.S.W.	Oct. 17	OC 35	Convoy available at OC convoys (external link)
	Oct. 25	Sydney, N.S.W.	Brisbane	Oct. 28	–	Notional sailing date.
	Nov. 2	Brisbane	Townsville	Nov. 6	Independent	–
	Nov. 9	Townsville	Cairns	Nov. 10	Independent	–
	Nov. 15	Cairns	Brisbane	Nov. 21	Independent	Notional sailing date
	Nov. 21	Brisbane	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Nov. 23	Independent	–
	Nov. 24	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Melbourne	Nov. 29	CO 48	Convoy available at CO convoys (external link)
	Dec. 7	Melbourne	Sydney, N.S.W.	Dec. 10	OC 51	Convoy available at OC convoys (external link)
	Dec. 12	Sydney, N.S.W.	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Dec. 12	Independent	–
	Dec. 15	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Melbourne	Dec. 19	CO 54	Convoy available at CO convoys (external link)
	Dec. 24	Melbourne	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Dec. 28	Independent	–
	Dec. 29	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Brisbane	Jan. 1-1943	–	–
1943	Jan. 11	Brisbane	Townsville	Jan. 15	BT 33/1	Convoy available at BT 33 (external link)
	Jan. 16	Townsville	Darwin	Febr. 9	Independent	See also Page 3
	Febr. 16	Darwin	Passed Thursday Isl.	Febr. 20	DT 12	Convoy available at DT 12 (external link)
	Febr. 20	Passed Thursday Isl.	Cairns	Febr. 22	Independent	–
	Febr. 23	Cairns	Townsville	Febr. 25	Independent	–
	March 1	Townsville	Brisbane	–	Independent	Via Bowen (see Page 3)
	March 6	Caloundra*	Newcastle, N.S.W.	March 8	PG 37	*Brisbane Convoy available at PG 37 (external link)
	March 10	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Melbourne	March 13	CO 78	Convoy available at CO convoys (external link)
	Apr. 2	Melbourne	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Apr. 6	OC 84	Convoy available at OC convoys (external link)
	Apr. 7	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Brisbane	Apr. 10	GP 43/1	Convoy available at GP 43 (external link)
	Apr. 16	Caloundra*	Sydney, N.S.W.	Apr. 18	PG 45	*Brisbane Convoy available at PG 45 (external link)
	Apr. 23	Sydney, N.S.W.	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Apr. 24	Independent	–
	Apr. 28	Newcastle, N.S.W.	Sydney, N.S.W.	Apr. 29	Independent	–
	May 3	Sydney, N.S.W.	–	–	Independent	Sunk - See "Final Fate" below

Notes:

As can be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Fingal was on her way from Hong Kong to Sandakan when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940. Her 1941 voyages also start on this document and continue on Page 2.

She experienced the Japanese bombing raids on the harbour of Rangoon on Christmas Eve 1941, as well as those on Colombo harbour on April 5-1942 (see D/S Soli), and survived both, though with some damage. (According to her Voyage Record and Page 2, she was at Tuticorin on Apr. 5-1942 and did not arrive Colombo until Apr. 7, remaining there until May 2).

Final Fate - 1943:

However, she was not quite as lucky on May 5-1943 when on a voyage from Sydney (May 3) to Port Darwin with general cargo and ammunition, escorted by USS Patterson. Several aircraft were also circling above. She was hit on the port side aft, near Hatch No. 4 by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-180 (Kusaka), position 30 35S 153 29E (off Coff's Harbour, N.S.W., according to Hocking, about 30 n. miles northeast of Smokey Cape according to "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig"). Page 3 of the archive docs gives the time as 13:36.

On the bridge was 2nd Mate Høegh, the Danish Able Seaman Bolding was at the wheel, and Able Seaman Holm was on lookout duty. The explosion blew up Hatch No. 4 and she immediately started to sink. The 2nd mate opened the case where the lifebelts were kept and threw them down to the boatdeck before running down from the bridge. He met the captain and the 1st mate who were on their way to the aft port lifeboat, carrying the ship's papers. Fingal was listing to port at this time, and while working to launch the lifeboat a 2nd torpedo hit in the engine room, port side. The entire boatdeck was destroyed, the funnel and after mast came crashing down. The carpenter and boatswain were probably killed at that time, having been aft when the explosion occurred. Several men were blown overboard, those who could jumped into the sea as Fingal went down in less than a minute.

The survivors didn't have much to hold on to at first, but after a while a lot of debris as well as the rafts (partly destroyed) came floating up. The destroyer was about 3/4 of a mile off and immediately started to drop depth charges. The 19 survivors were picked up 2 hours later by USS Patterson, which searched for the missing men for 10 hours to no avail, before heading for Newcastle where the 7 wounded were sent to a hospital on May 6, while the others were sent to Sydney. 12 had died, including the captain. They are commemorated at the Australian War Memorial, link below.

An Australian visitor to my website, Charles R. Taylor tells me that Fingal was under charter to the Australian Government at the time of loss. He has also sent me the names of those who survived and those who lost their lives (such input is very much appreciated! Thank you!!), they've been added below. He in turn obtained the list from one of the survivors, Bernie O'Brien who now lives at Long Jetty, New South Wales. Mr. O'Brien has since been in contact with 4 of the survivors in recent years, namely Bird, Miller, Johansen and Frederick. I have his phone number if anyone would like to get in touch with him, just contact me via the address at the bottom of this page and I'll send it on. According to him, USS Patterson had been ordered away from the location of sinking by Naval Officer In Charge, Brisbane but fortunately the navigator of an RAAF plane sighted the survivors in the water and Patterson was recalled to the rescue.

Crew List:
Original sources are:
Log of USS Patterson (which rescued the survivors) - copy sent to Bernie O'Brien. Log signed by E.L Cox. Lt. USNR. A copy also received from National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, Maryland USA 20740-6001. Letter signed by Gibson Bell Smith, Modern Military Records, Textual Archives Services Division NWCTM-98-04298.

The list has since been compared with what can be found in "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum) and adjusted accordingly.

Survivors
2nd Mate Per Høeg (25)	3rd Mate Alfred Nergård (36)	Able Seaman Olaf Holm (21)	Able Seaman Frank Aksdal (22)	Able Seaman Sven Bolding (30 - Danish)	Ordinary Seaman Olaf K. Olsen (23)
Ordinary Seaman Olaf (John?) Edwardsen (21)	Deckboy John Raymond Bird (Australian, age 15)	Stoker Reidar (Vidar?) Røstad (45)	Stoker Thorvald Bjelland (22)	Stoker Finn Erstad (29)	Stoker Jeffrey Frederick (Welsh,19)
Trimmer Odd Fonn (23)	Stoker (Trimmer?) Bjørn Gabrielsen (36)	Steward Johan Johansen (29)	Cook Andreas Johansen (52)	Galleyboy Bernard O'Brien (Australian, 17)	Messboy Norman Glasscock (Australian, 16)
DEMS gunner RAN Geoffrey Frederick Miller (27)
Casualties
† Captain Jan K. Richardsen	† 1st Mate/Radio Operator Sigurd Strind	† Carpenter Jens Knutsen	† Boatswain Anker Ørebekk	† Ordinary Seaman Sven Johanson (Swedish)	† 1st Engineer Johan Larsen
† 2nd Engineer Knut Svendsen	† 3rd Engineer Harry Olsen	† Donkeyman Trygve Strand Kristiansen	† Stoker Sigvald Klevedal (Keivedal?)	† Trimmer Ralph Alexander Henderson* (Australian)	† Gunner Sidney Charles Payne* (Brisbane)

Fingal's casualties are commemorated on the Australian War Memorial, and can be found in the Commemorative Roll Database that I've linked to below.

Related external links:
Stavern Memorial commemorations - 9 Norwegians are commemorated here. T. S. Kristiansen is listed as 4th Engineer on this website.

Commemorative Roll Database - (Australian War Memorial). By using the last name as keyword and Second World War as Conflict, each casualty from Fingal will appear. Or, typing "Fingal" in the slot for "Unit name" (again using Second World War as conflict) will bring them all up; Gunner Sidney Payne, however, is not mentioned here for some reason. *He can be found at the Commonwealth War Graves Comm. website, as can trimmer Ralph Hendersen. The former is commemorated at Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 84, the latter at Tower Hill Memorial, Panel 49.

Japanese submarines
Ships attacked off the Australian coastline (by Japanese submarines), a section of the website Australia@war.

Back to Fingal on the "Ships starting with F" page.

I've found a much earlier ship by the name Fingal in the book "Damp - Dampskipets æra i Vestfold", built in Leith 1863, 958 gt, lengthened 1873, W. Tully & Co., Hull until 1888 when F. Hagerup & Co., Grimsby took over, then Fingal A/S, Hilmar Lehmann 1889-1891, A/S Fingal, Kristiania 1891-1892, A/S Fingal, Hans Fredriksen, Sandefjord 1892-1894. In 1895 she belonged to Sølversborg Skeppsvarv. Aground on June 2-1894 near Snipan, Norra Quarken, taken in to Holmsund June 19. Sold at auction in Stockholm July 28-1894, repaired the following year.

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. other as mentioned in the above text - ref My sources.