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M/S Heina To Heina on the "Ships starting with H" page.
Manager: A/S J. Ludwig Mowinckels Rederi, Bergen Delivered from Københavns Flydedok & Skibsværft, Copenhagen, Denmark in Febr.-1925 as Heina to A/S J. Ludwig Mowinckels Rederi, Bergen. 377.8' x 52.2' x 24.5', 8 cyl. 4 TEV DM (B&W, Copenhagen), 1750 bhp. Captain: Alfred H. Aardahl. Related item on this website:
Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database). Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each. Some voyages are missing.
She made a voyage from Portland, Oregon to Taku Bar in Febr./March-1939, proceeding to Saigon towards the end of Apr., from there to Calicut with a cargo of rice, May-1939. At the end of May she went to Navallaki, later to Calcutta with a cargo of salt, then to Shanghai at the end of July, arr. Aug. 13, on to Port Townsend, and later to Tocopilla; by that time it was Oct.-1939. She now headed to Savannah (arr. Nov. 8), later on to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York (arr. Nov. 16), and subsequently made a voyage to Antwerp and Rotterdam, bringing us to Dec.-1939 (there's a brief mention of a collision in River Schelde on Dec. 17, but no further details on this). Some cargoes mentioned in this period are tin plate, naphtalene, acetone and wheat. In Jan.-1940, she returned to the U.S., then back to Antwerp and Rotterdam in Febr.-1940, from there to Le Havre, then back to New York (March-1940) and Baltimore (Apr.-1940). From Baltimore via New York to Le Havre, Rotterdam and Antwerp (? - comparing this with Page 1, we find that she was diverted to London). Some cargoes in this period are given as steel, tin plate and coffee. At the end of May, she was in London where some repairs were undertaken and degaussing installed, before she returned to the U.S. in June-1940. In fact, she's listed as bound for Boston in Convoy OA 167, which left Southend on June 13-1940 and dispersed on the 16th - see link provided within the table above. Other Norwegian ships listed in this convoy are Lysaker IV, Troja and Tungsha. (Svint was also scheduled, but did not sail). Heina arrived Boston June 26, New York July 4, continuing to Halifax for a convoy for Liverpool, joining Convoy HX 59 on July 19, general cargo - follow link for more convoy details, several Norwegian ships took part. On Aug. 24, she left Liverpool for Philadelphia and Norfolk (listed in Convoy OB 203, which left Liverpool on Aug. 24, dispersed on the 28th - again, ref. external link in Voyage Record), then on to New York and Halifax, leaving Halifax on Sept. 30 in order to head back to Liverpool, with arrival there Oct. 15, having made this voyage in Convoy HX 77. This convoy is not yet available among the HX convoys listed in my Convoys section, but will be added; for now, the ships sailing in it are named in the section listing ships in all HX convoys. She left Liverpool about a month later with Convoy OB 244 for another voyage across the Atlantic. Again, please compare the information given here with the details found on Page 1 of the archive documents. At the beginning of the new year, she was again in Halifax, leaving on Jan. 11-1941 with Convoy HX 102, bound for River Mersey with a general cargo, arrival Jan. 29. She returned to Halifax at the beginning of March. In a report to Naval Control, Halifax, dated Halifax, March 17-1941, the captain states the following: "M/S Heina left Liverpool March 5th in convoy*. Saturday March 8 a German bomber over the convoy dropped several bombs without hit. Position about 53 02N 14 35W. Sunday March 9th at Forenoon an enemy submarine sighted by escort vessels, position 51 45N 19 30W. The same afternoon at 20:30 all ships left. Monday March 10th a mystery ship sighted on our starboard side about 9-10 miles off. We passed the ship very quick, and I believe she was stopped. About one hour later she was under way and headed several directions, twice on to our direction, and then suddenly changed to steer about ESE with good speed. Half an hour later she was out of our vicinity. The ship had 3 masts and one funnel. One of the masts was just astern of the boatdeck. That was in position about 51 21N 26 50W".
Heina's arrival in Halifax on this voyage is given as March 17-1941 in the movement card, which agrees with the archive document. She proceeded to Philadelphia, arriving March 23, then on to New York, arriving March 26. Peder Langeland, whose story has been added to my Norwegian Warsailors Stories section, joined the ship there on March 31. About a month later, she continued to Halifax for convoy, departing on Apr. 25 with Convoy HX 123, bound for Liverpool with general cargo, arrival May 13. See also the cruising order/Commodore's notes.
Heina left Liverpool again on June 1-1941 in order to return to Halifax (joining Convoy OB 330 - external link). On this voyage (on June 11?), she rescued survivors from the British M/T Wellfield from the dispersed Convoy OB 328 which had been torpedoed by U-48 in the early morning hours of June 5-1941 (48 34N 31 34W). A thank you note was later received, dated Halifax July 13-1941 (should this be June 13?) with the following words (translated from "Tusen norske Skip", Lise Lindbæk, 1943): "We the undersigned wish to thank you, your officers and crew for the kindness and care which we received by your hand during our stay on board your ship. It was truly a happy fate that lead you to cross our path to save us from terrible suffering, grief and perhaps death itself. Only those who have experienced the strain of 4 days and nights in an open boat can fully understand the deep gratitude one is filled with, which words seem unfit to express. Therefore, we wish you Sir, and your crew good luck on your continued travels, and we pray God that the battle we as allies are now taking part in will end in victory and the freedom of your country. As we again thank you from the bottom of our hearts we sign with the greatest respect, members of the crew from M/T Wellefield: B. C. Bennett, J. L. Browne, F. C. Smith, G. W. Cruikshank, J. A. Taylor, E. R. Tomlinson, J. Sharples, F. Card, Leonard Heywood, Jeffrey Chequer, Ole Rovik, F. Nicholson, J. Kenny, C. H. Jones, John Reid". This rescue is also mentioned by Peder Langeland, who says there were 19 survivors, but one died while being taken on board from the lifeboat. "Nortraships flåte" states that from Heina they had in fact seen a U-boat on the surface in the evening of June 9, in position 48 30N 31 40W. The boat had been seen about 4 n. miles away for 6 minutes, heading in an easterly direction at full speed. Captain Aardal did not immediately report the sighting, not wanting to break the radio silence, but did pass it on to a corvette 2 days later. Heina arrived Halifax on June 13 and continued to New York a few days later (arrived June 18), leaving again on July 1 in order to go back to Halifax for convoy to the U.K. She joined Convoy HX 137 on July 6, but returned to port (Sydney, C.B.). Her movement card says she required minor repairs July 6, completed July 8*, adding that she arrived Sydney N.S. on July 15 (again agreeing with Page 1). She's listed in the Sydney, C.B. portion of Convoy HX 139 on July 17 (see also Page 2; the Commodore's report is also available for this convoy). Heina's voyage information is given as New York-Liverpool with 7042 tons of general cargo, arrival Liverpool July 31. Having undergone some repairs from Aug. 11 to Aug. 13, she left Liverpool for Halifax again on Aug. 15 (she's listed in the westbound Convoy ON 8), arriving her destination on Aug. 30, leaving Halifax for New York the next day, arriving Sept. 3, leaving New York for Halifax on Sept. 12, arrival Sept. 14, then headed back to the U.K. on Sept. 16 with Convoy HX 150 (station 64) along with the Norwegian Fenris (83), Solfonn (44), Havkong (84), Garonne (62), Thorshavet (33), Topdalsfjord (34), Varanger (returned) and Braganza (66). This convoy arrived Liverpool on Sept. 30-1941. (It'll be noticed that most of the details in this paragraph agree with the archive documents).
Peder Langeland also mentions another incident, which took place "some voyages later" (meaning, some voyages after the resue of Wellfield's survivors). She was again en route from Liverpool to Halifax in a convoy* which was split up, the ships having various destinations. That same day, a U-boat came up behind them and started to fire. Heina's engines were pushed to their utmost, while their 2 English gunners returned the fire, but no hits were observed. This continued all day, until the weather worsened and they were finally able to get away in the dark. He says full speed was normally about 12 knots, but he remembers they were up to 17 knots when they got away (he worked in the engine room). This resulted in some damages to her engines so that she had to go straight to a yard where she stayed for 2 months. Peder Langeland paid off on Nov. 21, owing to the fact that she was going to the yard. Her movement card for that period states that (after having previously arrived with HX 150 as mentioned above) she had departed Liverpool for New York on Oct. 15-1941, with arrival New York on Nov. 7 (via Halifax Nov. 4), adding that she was in for engine repairs and was expected to be completed on Dec. 20-1941; this date was later changed to Dec. 31.
Early in 1942, the escort services in the North Atlantic were reorganized. The Americans had plenty enough to take care of closer to home (Operation Paukenschlag) and a great deal of the protection for Trans-Atlantic convoys was left to Canadian and European navy vessels. Instead of switching escorts half way, it was now decided to have the original group escort the convoy through the entire voyage. Londonderry and St. John's became the new terminal points (instead of Reykjavik as before). The first eastbound convoy under this system was SC 67, which departed Halifax on Jan. 30-1942, arriving Liverpool on Febr. 15. After her repairs, Heina had proceeded from New York to Halifax (see Page 2), then joined Convoy HX 172 from there on Jan. 26-1942, but she returned to port, and subsequently joined the slower SC convoy on Jan. 30. This is confirmed by her movement card, which says she had sailed from New York Jan. 21, arriving Halifax Jan. 24, sailed Jan. 26 in HX 172, arrived Halifax Jan. 28 with the words "put back" in parenthesis, and "engine trouble repaired Jan. 29", then sailed from Halifax on Jan. 30 in Convoy SC 67. She was bound for Liverpool with 7700 tons general cargo in station 74 (72?) of this convoy, escorted by Canadian corvettes, among others (see SC convoy escorts). In the evening of Febr. 10-1942, she was hit by a torpedo on the port side near No. 2 hatch, causing her to list heavily to port, position 56 09N 31 09W* (this position according to a report presented at the maritime hearings). The captain, who was on the bridge with the 3rd mate was knocked unconscious by the cement slabs falling down on the port side. 3 men jumped overboard with a raft, while the remaining crew launched both lifeboats. They were picked up by the corvette HMCS Dauphin about an hour after the attack, and the captain was immediately given medical treatment. The corvette also found the 3 on the raft. "Nortraships flåte" says Heina sank in 3 hours, while the above mentioned report indicates she was seen sinking by the bow at around 23:00, about an hour after the intitial attack. The captain was taken to a hospital in Londonderry upon landing there on Febr. 13; the survivors left Londonderry for Glasgow on Febr. 14, where the maritime hearings were held on Febr. 21-1942 with the captain, the 3rd mate and the 1st engineer appearing.
Crew List - No Casualties:
Related external links: Operations information for U-136 HMCS Dauphin - HMCS Spikenard can also be found on the site. Back to Heina on the "Ships starting with H" page. Other ships by this name: J. Ludwig Mowinckels Rederi had previously had a steam ship by the name Heina, originally delivered as Kingsland to Kingsland Steamship Co. Ltd., Cardiff, built 1905, 2876 gt. Renamed King Arthur in 1912 for Scottish Steamship Co. Ltd., Cardiff. Owned by A/S J. Ludwig Mowinckels Rederi under the name Heina from 1913 (picture is available if needed - my contact address is at the bottom of this page), but sold in 1921 to Reiersen & Matland, Haugesund and renamed Strudsholm. Sold again that same year to Sato Shokai Gosi Kaisha, Otaru and renamed Atsuta Maru N. 1, lost near Tsuchisaki, Japan on Aug. 27-1926. In June-1950 another Heina was delivered, built in Oslo, 5695 gt. Sold to Monrovia in 1967 and renamed Achaios. Sold to Piræus in 1973, renamed Sophia. Sold to Pakistan for breaking up in 1977, following a fire on board in Oct. that year. Another Heina was delivered to the company in June-1970, built in Middlesbrough, 16 972 gt. Sold to Piræus in 1980 and renamed Antar. Sold again in 1985 and renamed Flag Maria (Panamanian flag). From 1990 she sailed as Levant Pride (Panamanian flag), and from 1993 as Filipos for owners in Malta. Broken up 1998? Yet another Heina was delivered in June-1984, built in Japan, 27 962 gt. Sold in 1991 and renamed Auk Arrow for Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Skipsrederi A/S, Bergen, has since had various owners at Nassau, Bahamas (largely w/same managers). The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Tusen norske Skip", Lise Lindbæk, 1943, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum) and misc. others as named within the text above for cross checking info - ref. My sources.
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