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D/S Kari To Kari on the "Ships starting with K" page. Owner: Dampsk-A/S Truls Built in Bristol in 1920. Previous names: Bygdø until 1925, Leif until 1937. Captain: Bjarne Roness Related items on this website: Her voyages are listed on this original document received from the National Archives of Norway.
Kari was 1 of the 26 Norwegian ships interned in North Africa 1940-1942. My page Interned Ships has a list of these ships. According to Roger W. Jordan's "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", Kari was interned in Casablanca on June 22-1940, but as will be seen below she was later moved to Port Lyautey. "Nortraships flåte" agrees with this internment date. According to a letter from Captain Roness dated Port Lyautey, Dec. 28-1940 to Shipowners Agency, New York, Kari had departed Eastham in the morning of Apr. 9-1940 and arrived Belfast the next morning (archive document gives arrival Apr. 11). They were at anchor there until Apr. 30 at which time they commenced discharging. Left Belfast on May 25 after having been timechartered to Societé Maritime Nationale, Paris. They loaded coal and coke in Partington for Casablanca where they arrived on June 12, and started discharging on the 28th (note that Kari listed in Convoy 48B, together with Eikhaug and Skotfoss - external link. This convoy left Brest on June 6 and arrived Casablanca June 13; again, see also the archive document). This was completed on July 2 but they were detained by the authorities, so perhaps this means the official internment date was July 2-1940? On Sept. 10 that year, Kari was moved to Port Lyautey, where they remained under guard of the naval authorities. Captain Roness adds "Till a month ago we never had any difficulties in obtaining the necessary funds for provisions, deck and engine stores and cash to the crew. Now we are only allowed a certain amount for provision."
The following men had paid off in the U.K.: The following signed on:
A French visitor to my website has told me that according to his records (presumably from French archives), Kari was seized in Port-Lyautey in July-1940. Under French flag at Port-Lyautey June 26-1941 as Sainte-Colette. "Nortraships flåte" agrees with this date. A posting to my Ship Forum says she was in Convoy K 95 from Casablanca to Oran on July 14-1941, arriving on July 17. The ships in the convoy were Saumur, Acturus, St. Marthe (ex. Ringulv) and Ste. Colette (ex. Kari), escorted by Mameluck. What follows is a translated excerpt from a letter from 3rd Engineer Amund Torp (ex D/S Kari) to Nortraship, London (he was on board D/S Hellen when the letter was written in Oct.-1941, and is listed among the crew of this ship when sunk in Dec.-1941): "Above mentioned seaman signed on D/S Kari on Dec. 27-1939. In June-1940 the ship was interned in Casablanca, later Port Lyautey. On Apr. 3-1941 Engineer Torp escaped together with some crew from D/S Oria in a small boat, arrived Gibraltar 4 days later where the boat was turned over to the Norwegian Consulate. Immediately after arrival Gibraltar, Torp signed on Andrea Brøvig". As mentioned, Kari was requisitioned on June 26-1941 and renamed Ste Colette. Crew List:
I checked the above names against what can be found in "Nordmenn i fangenskap" (Norwegians in imprisonment) by Kristian Ottosen and found the following: Captain Bjarne Roness - "arrested" July 2-1940 (the date the captain said they had finished discharging cargo in his letter above), transferred to Sidi-El-Ayachi on June 26-1941, later transferred to Marrakech, then Mazagan, then back to Marrakech. Freed Nov. 19-1942. My Norwegian Guestbook has a message from the daughter of the captain and his wife. She says her mother and the officers were separated (moved to Marrakech) from the rest of the crew in order to prevent further escapes, the officers having maritime knowledge that was of value to anyone who wanted to escape (for instance, across to Gibraltar). After Operation Torch they were sent to the U.K. with a troop transport, Mrs. Roness being the only female among thousands of men. She lived in London for the rest of the war, and experienced the bombing there, while Captain Roness joined another ship. Lars Rossevold is not listed in this book. 1st Mate Terje Jacob Eide - arrested July 2-1940, transferred to Sidi-El-Ayachi on June 26-1941, later to Qued Zem, then to Mecheria. Freed Nov. 16-1942. * Able Seaman Johan Kopsland is listed as having escaped from Port Lyautey on June 18-1941, in other words, just a few days before Kari was requisitioned. This external page names his other ships (it'll be noticed that Cap Cantin is mentioned, so he must have been among those who took this ship to the U.K. - ref. text below). Date of "arrest" is given as July 2-1940, and date of "transfer" as June 26-1941 for all of the above. My page Labor Camps names all the camps mentioned
Torpedoed and sunk on Oct. 16-1943 while under the German flag with the name Kari (from 1943) by the British submarine HMS Torbay (Clutterbuck), 36 59N 26 10E. 180 troops died, about 320 survived. (I've received a document from Theodor Dorgeist, Germany which indicates Kari / Ste Colette had the name Norda 9 at some point while under German control. The same document gives Norda 8 for Ringulv / Ste Marthe and Norda 7 for Skotfoss / Ste Lucile).
Related external link: Back to Kari on the "Ships starting with K" page. A small boat, M/B Kari escaped from Rogøysund at the end of May-1943 with 5 people on board, arriving Wick on May 30. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume I, and misc. others as named within above text - (ref. My sources).
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