D/S Lista
Updated Dec. 21-2011

To Lista on the "Ships starting with L" page.

Source: Bjørn Pedersen's collection.

When named Tyresö (see Post War details at the end of this page).
From Tony Cooper's collection.
More pictures are available on this external page (click in the thumbnails to make them larger).

Misc. Convoy Voyages – 1940-1945:

For information on voyages made in between those discussed here, please see the documents received from the National Archives of Norway and A. Hague's Voyage Record above. Follow the convoy links provided for more details; the Commodore's notes and/or narrative are also available for most of them and several Norwegian ships took part.

Lista can be found among the ships in Convoy HX 40 from Halifax on May 4-1940, bound for Le Havre with general cargo in station 92 (having been cancelled from the previous convoy, HX 39). According to Page 1 of the archive document, she arrived Le Havre on May 28, proceeding to Bordeaux that same day, with arrival June 3. The well known French resistance man Gilbert Renault (Colonel Remy) says in his memoirs: "In June-1940 when the fall of France seemed unavoidable I found a Norwegian ship, the Lista, which had arrived with weapons for the French army. Considering the development of the situation the captain decided that the weapons would come to better use in England and headed there. I was on board with several other refugees". Renault was the founder of the Confrérie Notre-Dame, the second most extensive intelligence network in occupied France, and helped many resistance members escape to England (I've added a link at the end of this page for some more information on him). Lista left Bordeaux on June 19 and arrived Falmouth on the 23rd.

In July that year, she made a voyage to New York, where she arrived on July 22, but I have no convoy information for this voyage (other than the suggestion in the Voyage Record). With a general cargo for Liverpool, she was scheduled to return with Convoy HX 64 from Halifax on Aug. 8, but did not sail. Going back to Page 1, we see that she had left New York on Aug. 7, but put back the following day. According to Arnold Hague, she had a fire on board and was beached, but refloated on Aug. 16, arriving New York in tow that same day. I have no further details on this incident. About a month later, she proceeded to Baltimore, where she spent over 2 months - perhaps some sort of repairs were undertaken there? She was later cancelled from Convoy HX 97 from Halifax on Dec. 18, but Arnold Hague has included her in Convoy HX 98*, departing Halifax on Dec. 22. According to his information, this convoy did not proceed to the U.K., but arrived Sydney, C.B. on the 29th (there's mention of "raider activity" - for info, Admiral Scheer had attacked a previous convoy, HX 84; see also HX 85). However, it looks like Lista did head to the U.K., arrival Liverpool is given as Jan. 7-1941 on the archive document referred to above.

In Febr.-1941, she joined Convoy OB 287, but returned to port (Loch Ewe), later joining OB 288, in which the Norwegian Svein Jarl and several others were sunk. Lista was bound for Halifax, where she arrived on March 4, the convoy having been dispersed on Febr. 22. Follow the link to this convoy for much more information; some reports are also available - see also the external link at the end of this page. On Apr. 6 we find her in station 53 of Convoy HX 119A from Halifax, bound for Liverpool, with arrival Apr. 22, later proceeding to Manchestr (Page 1) and in May she's listed, with destination Halifax, in Convoy OB 322, which left Liverpool on May 12 and dispersed on the 20th, Lista arriving Halifax on May 27 (Belinda, Bollsta, Idefjord and Solitaire are also listed - ref. link in Voyage Record). She was scheduled to return with Convoy HX 134 in June, but did not sail. Instead, A. Hague has her in a later convoy, HX 141, which left Halifax on July 27 and arrived Liverpool Aug. 11 - her voyages in this period are shown on Page 2.

She subsequently joined the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 10, leaving Liverpool on Aug. 27-1941, dispersed Sept. 11, Lista arriving Halifax on the 13th. She headed back to the U.K. again on Oct. 5 in Convoy HX 153, together with the Norwegian Katy, Temeraire, Sveve, Ferncastle, Bonneville (returned), Haakon Hauan, Santos, Toronto (returned) and Andrea Brøvig. The following month she joined the westbound Convoy ON 33 in order to sail to New York, but left the convoy because of shortage of fuel and arrived Loch Ewe on Nov. 6 (it'll be noticed, when following the link, that she's not listed on the convoy form, but is mentioned in the Commodore's notes). From Loch Ewe, she later joined ON 35, taking station 52, arriving New York (via St. John's, N.F., having become a straggler from the convoy) on Dec. 6 - the Commodore's narrative is also available for ON 35, and Lista is mentioned several times. She subsequently remained in New York for a long time - again, see Page 2.

She was scheduled for the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 69 on Febr. 10-1942, but instead joined the next convoy on Febr. 16, SC 70, general cargo for Liverpool. At the beginning of Apr.-1942 she joined the westbound Convoy ON 82*, bound for New York, where she arrived on Apr. 20, returning to Liverpool in May with Convoy SC 83 from Halifax. As will be seen when following the link to my page about this convoy, Acanthus, Eglantine, Potentilla and Rose are named among the escorts. In June she's listed, with destination Boston, in the westbound Convoy ON 103* (Commodore in Kong Haakon VII). Boston, however, is not mentioned for this period on Page 2 of the archive documents; she arrived New York on June 27, then went back to Liverpool in July with Convoy HX 199 from Halifax. She subsequently joined the westbound Convoy ON 121*, again bound for New York, where she arrived Aug. 28, heading back across the Atlantic on Sept. 13 with Convoy HX 207 (it'll be noticed that Lista is mentioned in the Commodore's notes). The following month she joined Convoy ON 138* in order to go back to New York, where she arrived Nov. 3 (Commodore was in Evanger), and on Nov. 19 she joined Convoy HX 216 from New York, general cargo and ammunition for Manchester, station 53, arriving her destination on Dec. 6. Her last Trans-Atlantic voyage that year was made with the westbound Convoy ON 155, but she lost touch and went into St. John's, arriving there on Dec. 31. The Commodore's narrative is also available (Lista is mentioned under Dec. 25). Acanthus and Eglantine were again among the escorts for a while.

Note that she's mentioned under Jan. 18-1943 in the Commodore's narrative for Convoy ON 159 (which had started out in the U.K., with the Commodore in Laurits Swenson), and though she's not named, she's also referred to in the text under Jan. 14, saying On Jan. 13th I was informed at 18:33? GMT that H.M.C. ship Columbia and two ships from St. John's were due to rendezvous with me at 11:00 GMT on the 14th in position 47 22N 50 08W. We were ahead of this position and it was impossible to ease down in the gale as ships would not steer. Under Jan. 15, the Commodore says the two St. John's ships were 30 miles astern of convoy. I gave them orders to cut the corner and steer for the next day's noon rendezvous, which would save them 30 miles steaming and bring them ahead of us. This they did not do, then on Jan. 16 he says Two St. John's ships 24 miles astern. West/northwesterly gale, convoy only making 5 knots. So it looks like she was meant to join this convoy from St. John's in order to complete her voyage to New York (which had been cut short when in ON 155), but this time she was ordered to Halifax because she was too far behind to make the rendezvous, planned for the 14th (again, see text under Jan. 18 in the Commodores narrative, which says The two St. John's ships, British ship North Gaspe and Norwegian ship Lista who were over 30 miles astern of convoy were ordered to return to Halifax. From Page 3 we learn that she had sailed from St. John's on Jan. 13 and arrived Halifax on the 19th, later proceeding to New York from there on the 25th, with arrival Jan. 29 (see also the Voyage Record above).

On Febr. 28 we find her in station 82 of the New York-U.K. Convoy HX 228, in which Brant County was sunk - follow the links for more details. See also Cruising order/Commodore's notes, misc. reports, and analysis of attacks. Lista was bound for Liverpool with general cargo, and according to the original Advance Sailing Telegram she had been cancelled from the previous convoy, HX 227*. The next westbound convoy she shows up in is ON 176* at the end of March, arriving New York on Apr. 20. She returned in May with Convoy HX 238 from New York, bound for Liverpool with a general cargo and explosives in station 93, arriving Liverpool on May 22, subsequently heading in the other direction again at the beginning of June with Convoy ON 187*, arriving New York on June 15 (Page 3). She was scheduled to go back to the U.K. later that month with Convoy HX 245, but instead joined the next convoy on June 30, HX 246, which was escorted by Acanthus, Rose and Potentilla for a while.

In July-1943, she's listed as bound for New York in Convoy ON 194*, arriving New York on Aug. 7 (Acanthus, Potentilla and Rose are again named among the escorts - see ON convoy escorts), and on the 20th of that month she joined Convoy HX 253, general cargo for Liverpool, station 114. The following month, she's mentioned in connection with the westbound Convoy ON 202, in which the Norwegian Oregon Express and Skjelbred were sunk. However, she returned to port after having cracked a circulator pump cylinder, thereby missing the U-boat attacks (much more info on this is available on my page about this convoy and on my pages about the 2 Norwegian ships - see also the Commodore's report and misc. other reports, as well as this page). Lista had arrived Belfast Lough on Sept. 16 (the day after the convoy's departure from Liverpool), later joining Convoy ON 203* from there on Sept. 23, and arrived New York on Oct. 9. According to A. Hague, she returned to the U.K. again in Convoy HX 264*, which left New York on Oct. 31 and arrived Liverpool Nov. 17 (Vice Commodore in Samuel Bakke). She left Liverpool again on Nov. 26, joining the westbound Convoy ON 213*, which arrived New York on Dec. 14. Lista, however, was bound for Halifax, where she arrived on Dec. 11. From there, she proceeded to New York a few days later, remaining there for over a month - again, see Page 3.

In Jan.-1944 we find her in Convoy HX 277 from New York, general cargo for Liverpool, where she arrived on Febr. 13, returning with Convoy ON 225* a little over a week later, arriving New York on March 8 (Commodore in Abraham Lincoln). On March 28 she's listed in Convoy HX 285, bound for Manchester with general cargo, and on Apr. 26 she can be found in Convoy ON 234*, which arrived New York on May 12. Lista arrived Baltimore that day, later proceeding to New York, where she joined Convoy HX 293 on the 27th, general cargo for Glasgow (Commodore was again in Samuel Bakke), heading back across the Atlantic on June 18 with Convoy ON 241*, arriving New York on July 2, having joined from Clyde. She now took her place in the large Convoy HX 300 from New York on July 17, again bound for Manchester with general cargo, arriving there on Aug. 5 (Page 3), subsequently joining the westbound Convoy ON 249*, which left Liverpool on Aug. 18 and arrived New York Sept. 2. The Vice Commodore for this convoy was in Norma. Having remained in New York for about a month, Lista joined Convoy HX 312 on Oct. 5, general cargo for London (see Page 4), and the following month she's listed in the westbound Convoy ON 264*, with arrival New York Nov. 22. That year was rounded off by sailing back to the U.K. from New York in Convoy HX 324 on Dec. 4, bound for Hull with a general cargo, arriving there on Dec. 25.

She returned to New York with Convoy ON 278 in Jan.-1945 (station 12), arriving her destination on Febr. 1. Other Norwegian ships were Fagerfjell (82), Vivi (station 42 - this ship had also been scheduled for HX 324 above, but instead joined HX 327, for which Ivaran served as Commodore Vessel) and Anna Knudsen (62). Arnold Hague says there were 47 ships in this convoy, while Arthur Moore's book, "A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking" gives the names of 49, listed on my page about this convoy. With a general cargo for Newcastle, Lista went back across the ocean with Convoy HX 339, returning in March with Convoy ON 292*, arriving New York on Apr. 8 (Commodore in Ivaran). About a month later, A. Hague has her in Convoy HX 356*, departing New York on May 13, arriving Liverpool on the 26th. This time, Lista's captain had served as Vice Commodore. From Liverpool, she proceeded to Eastham and Manchester, with arrival the latter on May 28.

When she returned to New York in June (Page 4), no convoy was necessary. Page 5 shows her voyages to Apr.-1946. As will be seen, she got to go home to Norway in Nov./Dec.-1945.

* All the ON convoys will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course, along with further details on each. In the meantime, the ships sailing in them, many of which were Norwegian, are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys. The entire HX series will also be updated and completed (including the already existing ones), but for now, see ships in all HX convoys.

More information on the other Norwegian ships mentioned here is available via the alphabet index at the end of this page, or go to the Master Ship Index.

POST WAR:

Sold in June-1947 to Rederi-A/B Svenska Lloyd, Gothenburg and renamed Victoria. Sold in Jan.-1949 to Rederi-A/B Rex, Stockholm, Sweden and renamed Tyresö. Sold to Pan Norse Steamship Co. S.A. (Wallem & Co., Hong Kong), Panama in Febr.-1955 and renamed Tyreso. Renamed Lucky Fortune in 1959 for Indonesian Fortune Lloyd, Jacarta (or taken over by Indonesian Fortune Lloyd in 1965?). Sold in 1979 (1969?) to P. T. Perusahaan Pelyaran Nusantara Indonesia Fadiar Line, Jacarta and renamed Lautan Fadjar.

Related external links:
Gilbert Renault - Wikipedia article.

The story of Convoy OB 288 - (Here's my own page about this convoy).

Back to Lista on the "Ships starting with L" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nordenfjeldske - 1857-1985" fleet list by Finn R. Hansen and misc. (ref. My sources).