M/S Hai Hing - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

M/S Hai Hing
Updated July 7-2009

To Hai Hing on the "Ships starting with H" page.

Crew List and picture of surviving officers

Manager: Bruusgaard, Kiøsterud & Co., Drammen
Tonnage: 2561 gt, 3080 tdwt
Call Sign: LDMW

Built by Götaverken A/B, Gothenburg in 1929.

Captain: Erling Reeder Hannevig

Used as allied troopship in 1940.

Related item on this website:
Guestbook message from the daughter of the Irish radio operator, Jeremiah O'Callaghan (see crew list).

Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

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

Voyage Record
From Jan.-1942 to Oct.-1942:

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

Errors may exist, and as can be seen, the record is incomplete.

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1942	Jan. 12	Singapore	Batavia(?)	Jan. 15	Escorted	Earlier voyages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3 & Page 4 200 RAF personnel. Missing voyages, Page 4.
	It will be noticed, when going to Page 4, that none of the following voyages are included, except for the voyage to Beirut in Aug.-1942. Arrival is given as Aug. 29, then there's a handwritten note indicating she was doing "special work".
	June 22	Bombay	Aden	June 30	Independent	For Haifa and Beirut (not included, Page 4).
	June 30	Aden	Suez	–	Independent	(Not included, Page 4).
	July 21	Port Said	Beirut	July 22	Independent	(Not included, Page 4).
	July 29	Beirut	Iskenderun	July 30	Independent	(Not included, Page 4).
	Aug. 28	Iskenderun	Beirut	–	Independent	Page 4 gives arrival Aug. 29
	Aug. 29	Beirut	Port Said	Aug. 30	Independent	(Not included, Page 4).
	Sept. 4	Suez	Bombay	Sept. 24	Independent	(Not included, Page 4).
	Oct. 18	Bombay	Durban	–	Independent	(Not included, Page 4). Sunk - See "Final Fate" below.

Notes:

As will be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Hai Hing arrived Rangoon on Apr. 9-1940, the day of the German invasion of Norway. Her 1941 voyages start on Page 2, continuing on Page 3 and Page 4. Her 1942 voyages also start on the latter page.

Final Fate - 1942:

Hai Hing had departed Bombay for Durban with 1400 tons general cargo on Oct. 18-1942. On Nov. 1 she was ordered to Lourenço Marques, and consequently altered course. At 13:17 on Nov. 4, when about 6 n. miles east of Inhaca Light not far from Lourenço Marques she was struck near No. 3 hold on the starboard side by a torpedo from U-178 (Ibbeken). The 3rd engineer, who was on duty in the engine room fell over when the explosion occurred, but managed to get to his feet, then stopped the port engine. As he went further down into the engine room he noticed water gushing in, so he stopped the starboard engine and ran up the ladder to the deck on the starboard side. He saw the captain in the process of organizing the launching of the No. 1 boat on the port side of the boat deck. The engineer then ran over to his assigned boat, No. 2 port boat, which he and the 2nd mate attempted to get on the water, but this was impossible due to the ship's heavy list to starboard, and she sank so quickly he was pulled under with the suction. When he came to the surface again he clung to some debris, and later got onto a raft which was already occupied by 3 British gunners. The 2nd mate had jumped overboard and also got onto a raft with 2 of the Chinese crew and 1 of the Portuguese Indians. The 3rd mate, who had been asleep when the explosion occurred and managed to get out on deck was also pulled under with the suction, but was able to get himself back to the surface then found a raft nearby.

The ship had 2 radio operators who shared the 16 hours daily watch, but they were both in one of the cabins when the attack took place so no SOS was sent as there was no time to get to the radio station. Hai Hing sank in about 90 seconds in 25 55S 33 10E.

The captain and 4 officers had died, as well as a British gunner (out of 7) and 19 crew. The 42 survivors clung to rafts and debris until they were picked up at around 23:00(?) by the Portuguese tug Chaimite (Shanute?) which had been notified by Inhaca Light personnel who had seen what had happened. The survivors were landed at Lourenço Marques.

A visitor to my site tells me the position I have given (which is from J. Rohwer) is 90º - 7 n. miles from Inhaca Light. He adds that Hai Hing was torpedoed at 13:30, while a report presented at the subsequent maritime hearings gives the time as 13:17 (as does Page 4 of the archive documents). Rohwer gives 11:42 German time. About 3 hours after the attack on Hai Hing, U-178 sank the British Trekieve. (In the course of the previous month 5 German U-boats had sunk 28 allied ships in the area).

The maritime hearings were held in Durban on Dec. 7-1942 with all the surviving officers appearing.

Hai Hing was the 9th ship this company had lost, 2 more would be lost later.

U-178 (but with another commander) was also responsible for the loss of Breiviken the following year - follow the link for details.

Radio Operator Jeremiah (Dermot) O'Callaghan's account on the sinking of Hai Hing, as told to his wife (received from his daughter):
"Jeremiah O’Callaghan was a Radio Officer with the British Merchant Navy during WW2. He had gone ashore from his ship in Calcutta because he had a problem with his teeth and needed work done on them. His ship sailed without him. (Jeremiah had previously served on City of Corinth, also sunk in Nov.-1942 - see this external page).

Every day he would go down to the Marconi office to seek a posting on a ship. He was concerned that he would be assigned a land posting which would mean that he would have to spend two years in India (as India was part of the British Empire).

One day he met a Norwegian Captain, Erling Hannevig, in the waiting room of the Marconi office. Captain Hannevig took him on board the Hai Hing immediately. The ship had no doctor so Jeremiah got the doctor’s cabin as there was no room for him in the Radio Officer’s cabin.

Four days out to sea, they were hit by a torpedo from U178. The ship sunk so rapidly that Jeremiah did not have time to retrieve the code-books to put them in the lead box and throw them overboard, as was the procedure in order to prevent them getting into enemy hands. He was lucky to have been given the Doctor’s cabin as it was on the other side of the ship from the Radio Officer’s cabin which was on the side that was hit by the torpedo.

He got onto a raft with three Indian crew members and floated until they were eventually picked up by a Portuguese vessel. However, as they floated, other ships ignored them and did not come to their aid as they knew that u-boats lurked in the vicinity of rafts awaiting the chance to torpedo any ship that might come to their rescue. As Portugal was neutral in the war, her vessels were safe from attack.

The Portuguese vessel put Jeremiah and the other surviving officers in the photograph (below) ashore in Lourenco Marques. The British Consul gave them money for clothes (the bottom was worn out of Jeremiah’s shorts from friction due to the motion of the raft on the water!). The first and most important items he bought were his cap and badge because then he was back in uniform.

Then they were sent to South Africa where they had accommodation but nothing to do all day but sit on the beach. They only had enough money for cigarettes. They were there for 3 months and nearly went crazy with boredom. Eventually, Jeremiah got a ship bound for England and was put ashore in Liverpool where his family lived during the war years.

Jeremiah continued to serve on Merchant Navy vessels during the war and I believe he was torpedoed a second time and survived that also.

Jeremiah died of natural causes on 20^th January 1992, aged 72".

Crew List:
Norwegian, unless otherwise noted

This picture of the surviving officers, taken in Lourenço Marques on Nov. 14-1942, was received from the daughter of Radio Operator Jeremiah (Dermot) O'Callaghan - here's her Guestbook message.
According to the handwritten notes on the back, the picture shows the following:
Back row from left - 2nd Mate Johansen and 3rd Mate Gauperaa (apparently nicknamed "Don"). The 2nd mate later joined Troja - his other ships are listed on this external page.
Front row from left - Radio Operator O'Callaghan, 3rd Engineer Jakobsen, and Radio Operator Borland.

Survivors
2nd Mate Johan Lauritz Johansen	3rd Mate Anders B. Gauperaa	Radio Operator Jeremiah O'Callaghan (Irish)	Radio Operator William Borland (Scottish)	Boatswain Loi Choi (Chinese)	Able Seaman ? Ngman (Chinese)
Able Seaman Lee Chee (Chinese)	Able Seaman ? Gum (Chinese)	Able Seaman Koh Lia Keim (Chinese)	Able Seaman Yeong Ah Tien (Chinese)	3rd Engineer Torgils Jakobsen	Electrician Lee Kam Hee (Chinese)
Oiler Wee Ag Wee (Chinese)	Oiler Foo Ah Fri (Chinese)	Oiler Tiong Lem Sing (Chinese)	? Choo Cui Loi (Chinese)	? Loy Lee Yung (Chinese)	? Choo Cho Hong (Chinese)
? Name unknown (Chinese)	Steward Kwak Man Tak (Chinese)	Cook Lee Ah Wee (Chinese)	Cook Chang Teng Hin (Chinese)	Cook Sun Kit Chin (Chinese)	Cook Cheang Kini Chei(?) (Chinese)
Cook J. I. Fernandes (Portugese India)	Cook Mariano Joao Dias (Portugese India)	Gunner D. Wallis (British)	Gunner P. Fitzgerald (British)	Gunner Joseph Roberts (British)	Gunner J. Youlden (British)
Gunner W. Saddler (British)	Gunner R. Wallace (British)	Boy Wong Pan Hee (Chinese)	Boy Chang Yui Mak (Chinese)	Boy Lim Hon Nack (Chinese)	Boy Kow Pang Tieng (Chinese)
Boy Yan Sing Pang (Chinese)	Boy June Tak Wo (Chinese)	Boy Jime Heing Hua (Chinese)	Boy Chang Sho Shuen (Chinese)	Boy Chang Keong Lim (Chinese)	Boy S. Martins (Portuguese India)
Those who died were:
† Captain Erling Reeder Hannevig	† 1st Mate Bjarne Aass	† Carpenter Poon Lean (Chinese)	† Able Seaman Tong Lean (Chinese)	† Helmsman Choo Sang (Chinese)	† Helmsman Ho Kee (Chinese)
† Helmsman Chung Kieng (Chinese)	† 1st Engineer Asbjørn Thein	† 2nd Engineer Gunnar Løge	† 3rd Engineer Torstein Langedal	† Repairman Yeyn Chong (Chinese)	† Oiler Chow Lean (Chinese)
† Oiler Lee Ah Chal (Chinese)	† Oiler Cwo Choom Kwang (Chinese)	† Name unknown (Portuguese India)	† 2nd Steward Goh Shek Heng (Chinese)	† Cook Caridade de Coutinho (Portuguese India)	† 2nd Cook Piedade de Braganza (Portuguese India)
† Baker Domingo Fernandes (Portuguese India)	† Servant Salvador Gama (Portuguese India)	† Gunner Albert Whitehall* (British)	† Boy Hing Kwai Seng (Chinese)	† Boy Wong Ah Wee (Chinese)	† Boy Isidorio Afonso (Portuguese India)
† Boy P. Coutinho (Portuguese India)