M/T Herborg
Updated Oct. 17-2011

To Herborg on the "Ships starting with H" page.


Very kindly sent to me by Historical Department, MAN B&W Diesel, Copenhagen - (see also their museum website).
I also received a picture of Herborg while building.
Another picture is available on this external page (click in it to make it larger).

Related items on this website:
Norwegian victims of Thor - Details on the capture of Herborg by this German raider.
Names of Herborg's crew members

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

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

Voyage Record From Dec.-1941 to June-1942:

As can be seen, the record is incomplete.

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1941	Dec. 6	Melbourne	Sydney, N.S.W.	Dec. 8	Independent	A. Hague says: Previously traded DEI/Australia/New Zealand Earlier voyages: Page 1 & Page 2
1942	Jan. 16	Sydney, N.S.W.	Fremantle	Jan. 26	Independent	–
	Jan. 30	Fremantle	Palembang	Febr. 10	MS 3	Convoy available at MS 3 (external link)
	Febr. 12	Palembang	Batavia	Febr. 14	Independent	–
	Febr. 17	Batavia	Trincomalee	Febr. 28	Independent	–
	March 5	Trincomalee	Fremantle	March 20	Independent	–
	March 20	Fremantle	Sydney, N.S.W.	March 29	Independent	–
	Apr. 16	Sydney, N.S.W.	Melbourne	Apr. 19	Independent	–
	Apr. 20	Melbourne	Abadan	May 27	Independent	–
	May 29	Abadan	–	–	Independent	Captured - See narrative below

Notes:

As can be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Herborg was on her way from Mombasa to Abadan when Norway was invaded by the Germans on Apr. 9-1940 - she stopped at Bahrein on Apr. 15. Some of her 1941 voyages are also shown on this document (it'll be noticed that she appears to have spent a long time at Batavia, where she had arrived on Oct. 18-1940 - departure is given as Jan. 11-1941), while the rest are listed on Page 2, which also shows her 1942 voyages. It also looks like she spent quite a long time in Sydney, where she had arrived from Melbourne on Dec. 8-1941; departure is given as Jan. 16-1942, when she proceeded to Fremantle, with arrival Jan. 26.

She was 1 of 7 tankers in convoy MS 3 which departed Fremantle in ballast on Jan. 30-1942, to pick up as much oil as possible in Palembang, where she arrived Febr. 10. I understand her captain at that time was John O. Westad. The Norwegian Erling Brøvig, Elsa and Seirstad were also in this convoy - ref. link provided within the table above. (This was around the time that the Japanese attacked Sumatra with Palembang as their main goal). Around Febr. 12, all the ships in Palembang got the order to sail, as an attack was imminent. That night the Banka Straits was full of ships of all types, trying to retreat ahead of the Japanese threat. On Friday the 13th the convoy(?) of tankers was out of the Straits and headed for Batavia, with the British destroyers Jupiter and Stronghold as escorts, when attacked by at least 8 aircraft. Erling Brøvig was hit by a bomb and set on fire, but the crew managed to extinguish the fire and take her to Batavia, where the ships arrived the following day. Most of Erling Brøvig's cargo of 4500 tons fuel oil was transferred to Herborg.

Seirstad had also been damaged in this Japanese air attack, while the Dutch tanker Manvantara got a direct hit and sank (4 died), and the Dutch Merula was set on fire; the survivors were rescued by the escort, 5 died ("The World's Merchant Fleets 1939" says 42 died, 8 survived). The captain of Herborg took Merula in tow in an attempt to save her, but had to abandon the effort when the fire started up again with renewed force.

Herborg's subsequent voyages are shown on Page 2.

Captured - 1942:

On June 19-1942, Herborg was on a voyage from Abadan to Fremantle with 11 000 tons crude oil when she was captured by the German auxiliary cruiser T/S Thor. She had left Abadan on May 29. Read more about Herborg's capture and her fate, as well as that of her crew at Norwegian victims of Thor. My page Merchant Marine Prisoners of War has a complete crew list.

Back to Herborg on the "Ships starting with H" page.

Other ships by this name: This company had previously had another Herborg, ex Conus, ex War Begum, 5578 gt, built Newcastle 1919. Sold to Tønnevold's Rederi A/S in 1928 and renamed Thelma. Sold and renamed Herborg in 1937, sold again in 1938 to Japan, renamed Hokki Maru. Sunk by the American submarine Lapon on Sept. 27-1944. Another Herborg had originally been delivered as Samnanger in 1963 - see details under "Other ships by this name" under my text for Samnanger.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, and misc. as named on the page about Norwegian ships captured by Thor - (ref. My sources).