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M/S Høegh Silverdawn To Høegh Silverdawn on the "Ships starting with H" page.
Scanned from Leif Høegh & Co,'s fleet list and added to this website with the company's permission. Owner: "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig" gives owner as Skibs-A/S Arizona, while R. W. Jordan's "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939" gives owner as A/S Abaco, Aruba, Astrea & Noruega. General cargo vessel completed by Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen in March-1940. Captain was Dag Arnesen until early 1942, then Edgar Waaler took over while the ship was in New York (previously of Høegh Silverstar). Related items 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. Errors may exist, and several voyages are missing.
As will be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Høegh Silverdawn was on a voyage from Oslo, Norway to Vancouver when Norway was invaded by the Germans on Apr. 9-1940; she had left Bergen on March 29. Her 1941 voyages start on Page 2. Judging from Page 3, it looks like she spent quite a long time in New York in 1942. She had arrived there from Cape Town on Febr. 22 and did not leave again until Apr. 20. She also appears to have spent 2 months in Bombay that summer (unless some voyages are missing from the record).
Together with the Norwegian Alar and Vilja, she's listed in Convoy TAG 5, which departed Trinidad on Sept. 12-1942 and arrived Guantanamo on the 16th. She subsequently joined Convoy GN 5, which left Guantanamo on Sept. 19 and arrived New York on the 26th - Alar was again in company. The following month we find her, with destination Cristobal, in Convoy NG 316, departing New York on Oct. 24-1942, arriving Guantanamo on the 30th (the Norwegian Thorsholm is also included). She left Guantanamo again the next day in Convoy GZ 10, which arrived Cristobal on Nov. 4. Again, see Page 3. The company's Høegh Scout also took part in this convoy, as did Dea, Fernhill, and Toledo. Skipping now to March-1943, when she's listed in Convoy ZG 25, departing Cristobal on March 15, arriving Guantanamo on the 19th, then left Guantanamo again the next day, together with Britamer and Ragnhild, in Convoy GN 48, which arrived New York on March 28. About a month later she's listed, with the Norwegian Maud, in Convoy NG 357, departing New York on Apr. 22, arriving Guantanamo on the 28th, and 2 days later she joined Convoy GZ 30 from Guantanamo, which arrived Cristobal on May 4 - see Page 4. Links to all these convoys have been provided within the Voyage Record above. More details on all the other Norwegian ships mentioned here can be found with the help of the alphabet index at the end of this page, or go to the Master Ship Index.
She was on a voyage from Fremantle to Basra, having departed Fremantle on June 10-1943 (archive doc gives departure June 9), with 9000 tons general cargo, frozen meat and war materials, such as shells, tractors, guns and aviation fuel, when she was attacked without warning by the German auxiliary cruiser Michel on June 15, and sunk 25 40S 92E, southeast of the Coco Islands (the archive document gives the time as 04:15). There had been 58 people on board, 11 of whom were passengers. 27 were killed, (6 passengers) and several injured. 6 of her complement appears to have been taken aboard the raider by von Schack with the motor torpedoboat Esau (they are said to have died when Michel was sunk on Oct. 17), while 3 others got away on a raft and were picked up on June 26 by the American M/S Franklyn P. Mull in position 25 38S 90 40E and taken to Colombo on July 12. They were John Bakkemyr, Sverre Karlsen and Arthur Hansen. John Bakkemyr was one of 9 men who had spent 49 days on a raft the year before, following the sinking of M/S Moldanger. 17 crew (including the captain) and the 5 surviving passengers got away in a damaged lifeboat, which in the course of 31 days covered 2865 miles, and landed on the coast of India, about 130 n. miles southwest of Calcutta Light Vessel. Please see my page "Norwegian victims of Michel" below which, in addition to a detailed account on the attack itself, includes a summary of the weeks the 22 from Høegh Silverdawn spent in the lifeboat, and what happened to them once they reached land, as well as a picture of the survivors, and a crew/passanger list. 3 had died on the way; the 1st died on June 15, the 2nd on June 23, and the last on June 28, making the total loss of life 36 (this number includes the 6 who died later when Michel was sunk. The numbers vary according to source; one says the captain, 13 crew and 5 passengers reached land - Leif Høegh's fleet list says 14 reached India). For much more on the above, please continue to Norwegian victims of Michel Back to Høegh Silverdawn on the "Ships starting with H" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Leif Høegh & Co's fleet list and misc., including the external website that I've linked to above. Sources for the details on her capture by Michel are named on my page about that incident.
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