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M/S Herma To Herma on the "Ships starting with H" page. Manager: Leif Erichsen, Bergen Delivered in June-1924 from Armstrong, Whithworth & Co. Ltd., Newcastle (998) as Beldis to Skibs-A/S Christen Smiths Rederi, Oslo. 2406 gt, 1284 net, 3440 tdwt, 294.1' x 45.3' x 19.1', 4 cyl. 2T single acting Armstrong, Whithworth-Sulzer, 1350 bhp. Under British flag from 1936 as Beldisa (Lambert Brothers Ltd., London). Sold to Leif Erichsens Rederi A/S (Leif Erichsen), Bergen in 1937 and renamed Herma. Specially built for heavy lifting, like locomotives, railroad cars etc. 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. Errors may exist, and several voyages are missing.
As will be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Herma was at Corner Brook when Norway was invaded by the Germans on Apr. 9-1940; she had arrived there from Halifax on Apr. 7. Later that year, she had quite a long stay in New York, where she had arrived from Boston on July 28. Departure is given as Nov. 23, when she left for Trinidad. This ship appears to have been plagued with engine problems. Her motors were reputed to have originally come from old submarines, one from an English sub, the other from a German, so that when the engines failed they would always wonder whether it was the "German" or the "Englishman" who were giving them trouble. Sometimes they both failed at once. Herma rescued 91 survivors from the British S/S City of Winchester on May 19-1941, and landed them at Takoradi a week later (she arrived there on May 26, according to the archive document mentioned above). This ship had been torpedoed by U-103 on May 9 - ref. external link provided at the end of this page for more info. In the southern convoy routes outside Freetown it was common for merchant ships to be travelling alone at that time because of the lack of escort vessels. A group of German and Italian subs operated almost undisturbed in this area and sank no less than 30 ships in May alone. Fernlane and Alfred Olsen were just 2 of them. Page 1 indicates that Herma had another long stay in New York that year; she had arrived from Trinidad on July 14-1941, and did not leave again until Oct. 9, arriving Cristobal Oct. 18. (Her 1942 voyages also start on this document). She's listed in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 128, which had started out in Liverpool on Sept. 5-1942, but Herma joined this convoy from Halifax and arrived New York on Sept. 24 - follow the link for more convoy information; the Commodore's narrative is also available and several Norwegian ships took part. According to A. Hague, she subsequently joined the slow New York-U.K. Convoy SC 105*, departing New York on Oct. 11, arriving Liverpool on the 31st; Herma, however, detached to Iceland on the 26th and arrived Reykjavik on the 29th - see Page 2. Bonde, Don, Far, Kirsten B, Norelg, Polarland and Ramø are also listed in this convoy. From Iceland, Herma later joined the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 148* on Nov. 28. This convoy had originated in Liverpool on Nov. 23 and arrived New York Dec. 13. Don and Far are again listed, as are Ada, Inger Lise and Solsten (Ramø had joined, but returned to port). A. Hague now has her in Convoy SC 116*, departing New York on Jan. 4-1943, arriving Liverpool on the 29th, but Herma only travelled as far as St. John's, N.F., where she arrived on Jan. 10. Bencas, Carmelfjell, Chr. Th. Boe, Fernbank, Gezina, Orwell and Stigstad are also included, while Acanthus and Eglantine are named among the escorts - see SC convoy escorts. We now find Herma in station 64 of the westbound Convoy ON 160. This convoy had started out in Liverpool (for New York) on Jan. 11, but Herma joined from Halifax on Febr. 1 and arrived New York on Febr. 5. That same month, she took on board equipment for the American installations on Fernando de Noronha (an island off South America - again, see also Page 2). An airport was being built there at the time, and Herma was laden with bulldozers and landing craft, petrol, oil and explosives. It appears they spotted a periscope on this voyage (northeast of Trinidad), and their guns were put to use, as were the "German and the Englishman" which on this occasion served a dual purpose by enabling them to speed up while at the same time thoroughly hiding them in pitch black smoke! The sighting was reported over the radio and aircraft assistance was promised from Trinidad, but it never showed up. Fortunately, nor did the U-boat/sub? again. Gunners at the time were Johan Lagerstrøm and Ingvald Wahl. A few days later Herma stopped at a small port in Brazil where some American military personell embarked before they continued to their destination. The cargo was unloaded at Baia de Santo Antonio Bay on the northwest side of the island, which also had a fortress and a penal colony, so Herma's crew had been instructed to not launch their boats to go ashore under any circumstances; if they did they might be mistaken for escaping murderers from the penal colony and promptly fired upon from the fortress. However, the prisoners were later moved to the southwestern point of the island, though some of them were used to help unload the equipment. This took all of 7 weeks, whereupon Herma continued to New York via Pernambuco and Key West. From Page 3 of the archive documents, we learn that she later had a long stay in Baltimore, where she had arrived from New York on Nov. 26-1943 - departure is given as Febr. 22-1944. Her 1945 voyages start on Page 4 and continue on Page 5 (also shows some early 1946 voyages).
Purchased by A/S Rask (Sigv. Risanger), Haugesund in Apr.-1950 and renamed Rask. Sold in Apr.-1952 to Suomen Moottorilaiva O/Y (K. O. Weckström), and registered as Silja of Helsingfors. Managed by E. Tilhe from 1955, then renamed Satu in 1956 for Vartusari Paavo Nurmi Shipowners, Espoo, Finland. Had the name Make from 1958 for O/Y Thombrokers A/B, Helsingfors, then Ritva for Laiva O/Y Ritva (E. Poikonen), Rauma from 1963. From 1967 she sailed as Marietta for Matheos Rigas & Dinos Matropoulos, Piræus and was broken up in Greece in 1971. (See also this external page). Related external link: Back to Herma on the "Ships starting with H" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Våre motorskip", Leif M. Bjørkelund & E. H. Kongshavn, "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, an article in "Tilbakeblikk", Ingvald Wahl, and misc. (ref. My sources).
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