D/S Hop - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

A Rescue at Sea - 1939:

Jan-Olof, Sweden has told me that on December 21, 1939 the Swedish steamers Mars and Carl Henckel of Helsingborg were sunk by U 21 (Frauenheim). 8 survivors, 1 of whom was from Mars, were rescued by D/S Hop on Dec. 22 and taken to Kristansand the next day, where the Swedish consul, B. Due took care of them. Out of a combined crew of 36, 28 perished - 18 from Mars and 10 from Carl Henckel. The survivors from Mars had a terrible time of it, because they were the victims of mines(?) twice in a matter of a few hours. Jan-Olof has since sent me a copy of an old newspaper clipping from "Christiansands Tidende", dated Dec. 27-1939 describing their ordeal, and although these were Swedish ships, I'll include a summary here. Both ships had come from the U.K., and were sailing together.

Mars was struck amidships, sinking in the course of 1 minute so there was no time to take to the lifeboats, but 2nd Mate Herman Nilsson and 6 others had been able to cling to one of the rafts. However, it overturned so that 4 men were washed overboard, and only 3 remained when Carl Henckel came along, one of them being the 2nd mate, who said they had listened to the screams of the others for over half an hour without having been able to assist them in the rough weather. Just as he was about to get out of his wet clothes, Carl Henckel also struck a mine(?) with tremendous force. She broke in two and sank very quickly, and the 2nd mate ended up in the water again, while his 2 shipmates from Mars, Able Seaman Larsen (Danish) and Ordinary Seaman Holmquist perished. The former was believed to have died in the explosion, while the latter, a very young boy who was on one of his first voyages, had initially ended up near the same raft as the 2nd mate was clinging to, but was unable to hold on, saying, "I can't! I can't!". The 2nd mate told him, "hold on, just hold on!", but he disappeared in the deep, crying "I'll never see my home again!". One after the other was washed overboard until only 3 were left on one raft, 5 on another. They drifted around for 25 hours while the cold seas continuously washed over them until Hop picked them up, having seen their red flashes.

Shortly after the survivors were landed in Kristiansand, 2nd Mate Nilsson from Mars and Stoker Godtfred Edlund from Carl Henckel were taken to a hospital. In addition to these 2, the following were rescued: Carl Henckel's 1st Mate Emil Schaling, 2nd Mate Werner Elvstrand, Able Seaman Lennart Søderblom (Finnish), Oiler Karl Samuelsson, Stoker Nils Lindblom, and Trimmer Rune Strømwall. Both captains had died. According to 2nd Mate Elvstrand of Carl Henckel, this ship had, in fact, struck 2 mines. He said they had left England a little earlier than Mars, then waited for her to join them. Early the next morning (06:30) they were all called on deck because someone had seen the lanterns on Mars suddenly go out, and they understood that something had happened. The port lifeboat was launched, but even before it was on the water they heard a "bang" from the after part of the ship. They had struck a mine, but as it turned out it had only caused a small leak. Some of the crew stayed on board while others remained in the lifeboat next to the ship. When they realized the ship would not sink, her engine and pumps were restarted, whereupon they proceeded towards Mars' position. They soon encountered 2 rafts, one with the 3 survivors, the other empty. After having picked up the survivors, it was decided to take Carl Henckel back to England, but just as they were about to turn around, they struck the 2nd mine.

Related external links:
The attack on Mars
The attack on Carl Henckel - It'll be noticed that the mines are not mentioned

Final Fate - 1940 (Norway still neutral):

Hop was 1 of the 55 Norwegian ships lost during the neutrality period Sept. 3-1939 – April 8-1940. She had left Bergen in ballast for Tyne on Febr. 3-1940 and disappeared with her 17 men, all Norwegian. According to Jürgen Rohwer's "Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two", Hop was torpedoed and sunk by U-37 (Hartmann) in position 58 55N 00 14W on Febr. 4-1940 at 04:17, German time. In a footnote he says the ship's destination was Middlesbrough and adds she had departed Bergen on Febr. 2.

From a lady in the Shetlands I've received an excerpt from the book:- "The Giving Years - Shetland and Shetlanders 1939-1945" by James W. Irvine. The chapter in question starts off by saying:
"In February, 1940, Unst was again in the news, as was Fetlar, because four bodies came ashore on Unst, with a further three on Fetlar and one at Lunna. Andy Hughson of Unst, as well as being a member of the Life-Saving Unit on the island, was also an Admiralty pilot during the war. He acted as pilot on many vessels round Shetland’s shores, nearly always in darkness because the lighthouses were all switched off except on special occasions". This man had a small boat, the 9-ft Daisy, and he found 4 bodies washed ashore in Febr. and March. One of them, a small man wearing a life-jacket, had a wrist watch which had stopped at midnight, and "the intervening six hours, bearing in mind the state of wind and tide, meant that he could have drifted perhaps two miles. He appeared to have been a stoker". Andy later found another 3 bodies, "one of them still tightly clutching the gunwale of a small boat, a piece of wood perhaps 4'-5' in length. One was a tall man, probably over 6', and aged about 50, another seemed nearer 60, and the third had the Norwegian flag tattooed on his right forearm. One of them had the name Hop on his vest. Finally a piece of wood with the name Hop on it drifted ashore, and there could be little doubt that these were the bodies of members of the crew of the small freighter Hop which had sailed from Bergen for the Tyne on 3rd February, 1940....". The chapter continues: "The Unst bodies were interred in temporary graves before being transferred to Baliasta churchyard, while the three Fetlar bodies lie in the churchyard there. The Lunna body is in one of the three graves in the Lunna churchyard. One of these graves is now empty as Nils Nesse’s* body was exhumed and taken home to Norway in 1948." (I'm not sure which ship the other bodies mentioned in this book came from). See also this external site, mentioning unknown seamen buried at Lunna, Unst and Fetlar, with pictures. (Here's the main page).

* Note that Nils Nesse was not from Hop. There's an Able Seaman Nils Johansen Nesse commemorated at the memorial in Stavern, said to have died in a war related accident; ship is given as Sigloos (see link at the end of this page). With the help of Hermund Kleppa, Norway, I've now found out that this is a mis-spelling of Siglaos, which was in use for the Shetland Bus. Nils Nesse had previously escaped from Norway with M/B Svanen in Aug.-1941. H. Kleppa has told me that Siglaos had been on an operation to Bømlo, Norway and was on her way back to Shetland when she was attacked by German aircraft on Oct. 28-1941. Nils Jensen Nesse, who was at the wheel, was struck in his head and foot and died an hour later. He was buried at Lunna church, as mentioned, but was moved to Norway in May-1948. (His burial is discussed by David Howarth in his book "The Shetland Bus").

The relatives in Norway did not know what had happened to Hop until 4 years after the war. This Guestbook message has provided me with a link to more information on the Norwegian website Sogn og Fjordane Fylkeskommune (external link). If you understand Norwegian, the article in question can be found on this page. What follows has been "borrowed" from the page (there's also a picture of Hop, as well as a photo of the captain. Additionally, there's an article about Nils Jensen Nesse, with several pictures).

The site states that Captain Lutenthun's body was found on the beach at Haroldswick, Unst on Febr. 9-1940, and was buried at Baliasta, Unst along with 7 others. A memorial plaque is now in place, and the captain's daughter and son were present at the unveiling in Aug.-1994. 1 of Hop's casualties is buried at Lunna, as mentioned, while 3 are buried at Easting, Unst, and 3 at Fetlar, Unst - in other words, 15 were found.

For info, U-37 was also responsible for the attacks on Silja, Tosca and Keret - follow the links for dates and further info.

Crew List:
These names were found in the article about the captain mentioned above.