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D/S Leka To Leka on the "Ships starting with L" page.
Owner: D/S A/S Laly Built by J. Samuel White & Co., Ltd., East Cowes in 1922. Previous name: Hitherwood until 1926. According to this external page, she was managed by C. A. Stewart & Co., London when she had that name (year delivered must be a typo, belongs to another Leka, mentioned at the end of this page). Captain: Frithjof Utne. Some info on Captain Utne, who seems to have had quite a life! When WW II broke out in 1939 he was on D/S Leka, in regular service between West Hartlepool and Oslo; by then the family had moved back to Norway. His later carreer included among other titles: Vice Consul in Greenock and Gourock in 1941, Vice Consul in Port Arthur, Texas till 1948, Vice Consul in Galveston till 1951. He had several medals: Krigskorset (The War Cross), Ridder av 1. kl. av St. Olavs Orden (Knight of 1st. class of St. Olav's Order), The King's Order of Merit (in gold), Officer in the most distinguished order of the British Empire (O.B.E.), 1943-1945 Star, Kong Christian 10's Liberty Medal. (He died in 1982).
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 (some of the listings are incomplete). Errors may exist; this could also mean that she may not have sailed in all the convoys listed here. Also, several voyages are missing.
Leka rescued survivors from the Norwegian Manx in Jan.-1940 - follow link for details. According to a posting to my Ship Forum she also rescued 1 of the 2 surviving crew members of the Swedish steamer Foxen (ex Danish Askø, according to J. Rohwer) on Jan. 24-1940. The other survivor was also rescued by a Norwegian ship (name not mentioned) and taken to Bergen. See also this external page. In Febr.-1940, A. Hague has included her in the U.K.-Norway Convoy ON 11, and in the middle of March he has her in Convoy ON 20 to Norway. She later travelled from Oslo to Hartlepool, where she arrived on Apr. 6, thereby ending up in allied service during the war (the Germans invaded Norway on Apr. 9). The following month, she headed to Boulogne and Calais - see Page 1 of the archive documents. She was in Calais on May 22-1940 during the chaotic days of evacuations from France. On the same day a British battalion was landed with orders to hold the city. The captain managed to prevent the French garrison of 800 men from boarding Leka, and instead took on board 1125 refugees, mostly women and children, and got them out at the last minute, landing them safely at Southampton (the archive document gives arrival Southampton as May 24). My Ship Forum has postings from one of those refugees, and my Guestbook has a message from the grandson and son of others. I've passed on several articles about this dramatic evacuation, and if time allows I'll add a translated summary of them here. In the meantime, I'll be glad to provide these articles if required (my contact address has been added at the end of this page). Among them is a long article found in the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren", Issue No. 2 for 1975 written by Captain Utne himself, describing Leka's difficult situation in the spring of 1940, and the frustrating, bureaucratic obstacles he ran into. In Issue No. 2 for 1979 there's another article in connection with his 90'th birthday - the text in both is in Norwegian. As can be seen when going back to Page 1, she made another voyage to France later that month and in July she made a voyage from the U.K. to Sydney, C.B., where she arrived July 29. I have no convoy information for this voyage; perhaps she had sailed independently? From Sydney, C.B., she proceeded to Halifax and St. John, N.B., later returning to Sydney, C.B. in order to join the slow Convoy SC 5 on Sept. 18, cargo of lumber for Preston, with arrival there Oct. 4. Later that month she's listed, together with Carmelfjell, Morgenen and Sophocles, in Convoy OB 233, which left Liverpool on Oct. 23 and dispersed on the 27th; see the external link within the Voyage Record for more convoy information. No destination is given for Leka, but going back to the archive document, we learn that she arrived Sydney, C.B. on Nov. 4, continuing to Newcastle, N.B. the next day. Having returned to Sydney, C.B., she was scheduled to go back across the Atlantic with Convoy SC 13 on Nov. 22, but instead joined the next convoy on Nov. 30, SC 14, pit props for Immingham, where she arrived (via Clyde and Methil) on Dec. 27. At the beginning of Febr.-1941 we find her, together with Braganza and Lincoln Ellsworth, in Convoy OB 281, originating in Liverpool on Febr. 1, dispersed on the 5th (link in Voyage Record). Again, no destination is given for Leka, but according to Page 1, she arrived Halifax on Febr. 23, having started out from Loch Ewe on the 3rd. With a cargo of timber for Great Yarmouth, she headed back in the other direction on March 10 with the slow Convoy SC 25 from Halifax, arriving her destination on Apr. 9. In May that year, she made a voyage to Huelva, having joined Convoy OG 61, which originated in Liverpool on May 5 and arrived Gibraltar on the 19th; Leka arrived Huelva that day, having started out from Oban on May 6 - her voyages in this period are shown on Page 2. The convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section in due course; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it are named on the page listing ships in all OG convoys. Berto, Bonde, Gard and Vestland are also included. Leka, carrying a cargo of pyrites for Hull, returned with Convoy HG 64 from Gibraltar at the beginning of June; escort's report is also available for this convoy. In July she appears in Convoy OB 347, which originated in Liverpool on July 16 and dispersed on the 31st, Leka arriving Sydney, C.B. on Aug. 2 (having started out from Loch July 18). Other Norwegian ships were Akabahra, Astra, Balduin, Bjørkhaug, Fido, Gudrun, Hestmanden (to Iceland), Marga, Maridal, Orania, Siak, Spes and Sveve (link in Voyage Record). Having made voyages to Cap Chat and St. Anne des Montes, Leka returned to Sydney, C.B. (Page 2) and according to Arnold Hague, she subsequently joined Convoy SC 41, departing Sydney, C.B. on Aug. 24 - cargo of lumber. This convoy is not yet available among the SC convoys included on my website, but will be added - for now, please see ships in all SC convoys. She was again in the company of several other Norwegian ships, as will be seen when going to my page about Einvik, which was sunk. Leka now traded around the U.K. - the rest of her 1941 movements are listed on Page 2 and Page 3. Convoy info for some of these can be found in the Voyage Record. Skipping now to Febr.-1942, when I have her, together with Solhavn and Kongshavn, in Convoy RU 12 from Reykjavik to the U.K., in ballast for Clyde (according to A. Hague, she had previously arrived Reykjavik in Convoy UR 5 on Jan. 7 - link in Voyage Record; again, see also Page 3). She took part as supply ship for the Invasion of Normandie in June-1944, arriving June 11, leaving July 7, according to "Nortraships flåte" (she had a different captain by then). Her voyages in this period start on Page 10, but her voyages to Normandie are not detailed. In the fall of 1945, she got to go home to Norway, making a few more trips home before that year was over, and again in Jan.-1946 (see Page 14 and Page 15). More info on 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.
Sailed as Wilpo for N.V. Reederij Wilpo, Zaandam, the Netherlands from 1949. From 1952, William Pont (Scheepvaartkantoor J. Tavenier), Zaandam, same name. From 1954, as Emilia Zoboli for Ardente S.p.A., Genoa, Italy. Sold to Yugoslavia for breaking up in March-1959, arriving Brodospas, Split that same month. Back to Leka on the "Ships starting with L" page. C. T. Gogstad & Co. had lost a ship named Leka in WW I, built 1892, 1845 gt - torpedoed and sunk by UC-71 in the North Sea on Sept. 24-1917. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, and misc. as named within text - (ref. My sources).
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