M/S Mosdale
Updated Jan. 20-2009

To Mosdale on the "Ships starting with M" page.


Picture received from Sverre Johansen, Norway, whose father, Kristian Johansen served on Mosdale until June-1941.


Source: Historical Department, MAN B&W Diesel, Copenhagen.


This was received from (and also painted by) Jan Goedhart, Holland.

A Rescue - 1940:

Mosdale was in regular service between New York and Liverpool, usually sailing alone, often with passengers. On an eastbound voyage in a horrendous storm in Febr.-1940 S.O.S. signals were heard from the British Sea Rambler. Captain of Mosdale at that time was Captain Stave, 1st mate Gerner Sunde, 3rd Mate Andersen, 2nd Mate Bille, Radio Operator Helleland. The British vessel was found helplessly drifting that evening, and by the early morning hours it became clear that she wouldn't stay afloat much longer. 7 volunteers lowered a lifeboat from Mosdale in the raging snow storm, and through their exhaustive efforts 12 men were rescued off the doomed ship. The 7 volunteers were about to go back for the remaining 13, but a radio message was received saying that Kaia Knudsen had meanwhile come to their rescue. 2nd mate Bille later received Carnegie's medal for this heroic deed. It always amazes me that only the officer appears to have been given a medal in cases like this, when all the others had likewise risked their lives. They were: Boatswain Olsen, Able Seaman Karlsen, Able Seaman Kaldefoss, Ordinary Seaman Bendal, Ordinary Seaman Myklebust and Seaman Johnsen.

When Norway was invaded on Apr. 9-1940 Mosdale was en route to Santa Marta, Colombia to pick up a cargo of bananas for Oslo, but of course didn't get to see Norway again for many years. 10 months after the war was over in Europe she again steamed into the Oslofjord, and this time she did bring the bananas. I would imagine those were a welcome sight to the Norwegians after so many years of occupation and shortage of food stuffs (aside from the joy of being able to meet a son, brother or father again of course).

Mosdale was taken over by the Ministry of War Transport soon after her first voyage New York-Liverpool and back after Norway had been invaded. She became known as the "Bacon Ship", on a regular service Canada-England, with meat and bacon usually taken on board in Montreal and unloaded in Liverpool.

In Oct.-1940 Mosdale was in Halifax, waiting for a gun to be installed, when she caught on fire, but after 10 hours' intense work by officers and crew the fire was brought under control. She later proceeded to New York for extensive repairs, which took almost 2 months (some of the repairs may have been undertaken in Halifax, because according to Page 1 of the archive documents, she did not leave Halifax for New York until Dec. 14, arriving New York on the 17th, heading back to Halifax on Jan. 30-1941, then travelled to the U.K. from there on Febr. 12). In the meantime, Captain Stave had been requested to take a position in Nortraship's offices in New York, and Gerner Sunde took his place. 1st mate became Hans Olsen (from Nov.-1944, 1st mate was Hans Henrik Moe, who remained until Nov.-1945).

Another Rescue & a Spy as Passenger - 1941:

Mosdale rescued 11 men from a lifeboat from the torpedoed Black Osprey on Febr. 18-1941. The men were so exhausted and cold they couldn't move, so the 1st mate had to go down into their lifeboat and tie lines around them, before they were carefully hauled on board. Black Osprey had been torpedoed by U-96 (Lehmann-Willenbrock); her entire complement had gotten off in 3 lifeboats, but only 11 out of 36 survived. She was 1 of 3 British ships torpedoed as stragglers from Convoy HX 107, to which the Norwegian Benjamin Franklin had also belonged (torpedoed and sunk Febr. 19).

On this same voyage Mosdale had a passenger on board by the name of Armstrong, who said he had been in America for a couple of months and was now en route to England for a very important war related assignment. He seemed to know a lot about ships, having been an engineer at sea himself, and was very impressed with Mosdale. Everyone on board had thought him a pleasant chap, and were highly surprised when the captain, upon arrival Liverpool on May 3-1941, received a newspaper clipping from a lady who had also been a passenger on that voyage, announcing that George Johnson Armstrong had been sentenced to death for treason at the Old Baily (he was executed in July that same year - the external link below has more details).

But the people on board Mosdale soon got other things to worry about. While at Liverpool (Wellington Dock) they experienced the violent bombings there that week, but escaped with damages, even when the British ammunition vessel Malakand exploded nearby, causing enormous damages to the surrounding areas. An able seaman was injured by shrapnel and was taken to a hospital. (Other Norwegian ships in Liverpool during this 5 day bombing raid were M/S Bra-Kar, D/S Sollund and D/S Stromboli. According to J. R. Hegland's "Nortraships flåte", M/S Tai Yin and M/S Temeraire were also there, but they were in another part of the world at that time).

She was further damaged by yet another fire in one of her holds while in Liverpool. After temporary repairs she continued to Montreal for more permanent repairs.

Related external link:
George Armstrong - Details on the spy mentioned above.

A New Radio Operator:

That summer a young female Canadian radio operator came on board, Fern Blodgett, who ended up marrying Gerner Sunde. She was 23 years old and, and anxious to contribute to the war effort, she went to Radio School and was taken on immediately after she had finished (though it had to be on a Norwegian ship; Canadian ships would not allow females). She married Gerner in 1942 and both served on board all through the war. Fern setttled in Farsund after the war; she died in 1991, Gerner died in 1962. He had also served on Torgerd, Novasli, Radic, Acasta, and Mosvold (all pre-war), in addition to Mostun as mentioned.

Other Canadian radio operators on Norwegian ships are named further down on this page.

Misc. Voyages – 1942-1945:

There's mention of a U-boat sighting in "Nortraships flåte". In Apr.-1942 she was on a voyage Halifax-Liverpool when 4 hours out from Halifax a periscope and part of a conning tower were spotted. The necessary precautions were taken, including sending a radio report, then a little over an hour later another periscope was seen. 3 rounds were fired by the gunners and another radio message sent (propably by Fern herself), but the periscope disappeared and Mosdale got away at full speed. This incident is also mentioned in the War Diary Eastern Sea Frontier on this external page (scroll down to Apr. 10-1942), which states that Mosdale reported that a periscope of a sub was sighted in 43 37N 62 08W at 1900 and that she was being chased. (According to Page 2 of the archive documents, she arrived Glasgow on Apr. 19).

Mosdale was attacked by a Focke Wulf 200 in the morning of Febr. 4-1943 when en route from the U.K. to Canada (46 11N 19 29W) - see also Page 3. Following some rounds from the ship's Oerlikon (gunner Ingvar Tautra) the aircraft departed without having caused any damage. She returned to the U.K. the following month in Convoy HX 231, which left Halifax on March 25-1943 and arrived Liverpool on Apr. 10; Mosdale joined this convoy from St. John's, N. F. HX 231 is not yet included among the HX convoys in my own Convoys section, but please see the external link provided further down on this page. Later that month she's listed as bound for Halifax with general cargo in station 112 of the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 179*, which left Liverpool on Apr. 18 and arrived New York on May 6 (Mosdale arrived Halifax May 3, continuing to St. John, N.B. the next day), subsequently returning to the U.K. in Convoy HX 239, which departed New York on May 13 and arrived Liverpool on the 28th - however, Mosdale, bound for Avonmouth with general cargo, joined this convoy from Halifax (again, see Page 3 of the archive docs). As will be seen when following the link to this convoy, several Norwegian ships took part. The same is true for the westbound Convoy ON 188*, which originated in Liverpool on June 10-1943 and arrived New York on the 26th, and in which Mosdale is listed. According to Page 4 she had started out in Milford Haven on June 9 and arrived Halifax on the 24th.

It appears she was involved in a collision at some point in 1944. I have no further details on this, except that the other ship, the British Kerry Coast, sank following the collision, though was later salvaged and repaired.

In Febr.-1944 Mosdale is listed in Convoy UC 12*, which left Liverpool on Febr. 7 and arrived New York on the 18th. Mosdale, however, was bound for St. John, N.B. on that occasion, arriving there on Febr. 17. She then returned to the U.K. (possibly independently), arriving Liverpool on March 3, and is later listed as bound for Halifax in Convoy UC 15*, departing Liverpool on March 12, arriving New York on the 22nd (Mosdale arrived Halifax on the 21st - again see Page 4 of the archive docs). She headed back to the U.K. on Apr. 24 in Convoy CU 22 from New York, bound for London with general cargo. We now find her in Convoy UC 26*, which left Liverpool on June 15 and arrived New York on the 27th. Mosdale proceeded to Halifax, arriving there June 29 - see Page 5. She returned to the U.K. at the beginning of July, then shows up, with destination Halifax, in the westbound Convoy UC 31*, originating in Liverpool on July 25, arriving New York on Aug. 5; Mosdale arrived Halifax on the 4th, having started out from Clyde on July 26. She commenced her return voyage to the U.K. already on Aug. 8, later appearing in Convoy UC 35*, which originated in Liverpool on Aug. 26 and arrived New York on Sept. 5, but Mosdale was bound for St. John, N.B. again, with arrival there on the 5th.

On Sept. 12 she's listed as going in the other direction in Convoy CU 39 from New York, which arrived Liverpool on Sept. 23, and a week later we find her, again with destination St. John, N.B., in Convoy UC 39B*, departing Liverpool on Sept. 30. She arrived St. John on Oct. 10, returning to the U.K. 4 days later, arriving Liverpool Oct. 23. She now shows up, with destination St. John, in Convoy UC 43A*, which left Liverpool on Oct. 29, Mosdale arriving her destination on Nov. 9. She returned to the U.K. again shortly thereafter (again, see Page 5 of the archive documents), and at the beginning of the following month she's listed in the westbound Convoy UC 47B*, originating in Liverpool on Dec. 4. She was again bound for St. John, N.B., where she arrived Dec. 17. The last voyage of 1944 was made with the eastbound Convoy CU 52, which left New York on Dec. 26 and arrived Liverpool on Jan. 7-1945 - Mosdale joined from St. John and according to the archive document already mentioned she arrived Liverpool Jan. 9.

Mosdale subsequently returned to St. John, N.B. with Convoy UC 53A*, departing Liverpool on Jan. 19-1945. She arrived St. John on Febr. 2, and a week later she's listed in the Halifax portion of the New York-U.K. Convoy HX 337, bound for Liverpool with a general cargo, meats and mail - follow the link for further info. In March she's listed as bound for St. John, N.B. in Convoy UC 60B*, which left Liverpool on March 18. She arrived her destination on the 29th, and at the beginning of the following month she joined Convoy HX 348, which originated in New York on Apr. 3 and arrived Liverpool on the 20th (see external link below). Page 6 of the archive documents indicates she joined this convoy from St. John. On Apr. 27 we find her in the westbound Convoy UC 65B*, which arrived New York on May 7; Mosdale, however, was bound for Boston. She returned with the eastbound Convoy CU 71, originating in New York on May 20, arriving Liverpool on the 30th. Mosdale joined from Boston.

* The ON convoys mentioned here are available and will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course, along with further details on each. In the meantime, please go to these convoys in the section listing ships in all ON convoys. All the UC convoys will also be added; for now, the ships sailing in them are named in the section listing ships in all UC convoys. These fast convoys usually did not have more than 2-3 Norwegian ships. As will be seen, the ones that are mentioned most often are California Express, Washington Express, Hegra, Martin Bakke, Nordahl Grieg, Elisabeth Bakke, Kaptein Worsøe, Karsten Wang, and Trondanger.

Related external link:
Misc. convoys - Based on Arnold Hague's database. By clicking on "Ship Search", using "Mosdale" as keyword, a few convoys that are not mentioned in my own text will come up - Here are HX 231 and HX 348, both mentioned in the above narrative.

Other Female, Canadian Radio Operators on Norwegian Ships:

This list was assembled partly from info found in misc. Norwegian sources (including "Krigsseileren"), partly from info received from Fred Addis, Canada, and partly from a list received from Olive J. (Carroll) Roeckner, who served on the post war Siranger, and about whom a book has been written ("Deep Sea Sparks", ISBN 1-895590-05-1, Cordillera Publishing Co. Box 46, 8415 Granville St. Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6P 4Z9 - see this external link for more about her). The post war Siranger is identical to M/S Narvik mentioned below. Olive received the information from Berit Pittman, Canada.

Judging from the surnames, many of these girls married Norwegians.

Maude Elisabeth Steane on Viggo Hansteen from May-1944 (shot and killed at Naples in Aug.-1944, follow the link for details)
Alice House - T/T Kaptein Worsøe
Ola McLean also served on Kaptein Worsøe
Esther Chrichton - M/S Narvik
Rosemary Byron - Dec. '44 - Nov. '45 M/T Jotunfjell
Josephine Ryan - M/S Ferncliff. Josephine Ryan married Alf Sverre Fredriksen, who's mentioned in the crewlist for Fernhill. My Norwegian Guestbook has a message from their son, and right underneath it, there's a message from their nephew. According to the latter message, it looks like she also sailed on another Norwegian ship, in addition to Ferncliff.
Margaret Dixon - T/T Hammerfest
Dorothy Sullivan Ramsland - M/S Maud
Mary McDermott Milne - M/T Trondheim 1943-1945
Annie Martlieu - Iris and D/S Gudvor 1944 - here's a message from her son, who also posted a note in May-2002, and here's a more recent message.
Barbara (Briggs) Ulrichsen - Feb. '44 - Dec. '44 M/S General Ruge and Jan. '45 - Oct. '46 D/S Vadsø (looks like she married the captain of this ship).
Yvonne Demers - May '45 - Jan. '46, Hammerfest (link above)
Elizabeth Prescott - Apr. '45 - Sept. '45 T/T Honningsvaag, June '46 - Jan. '47 Harald Torsvik, Feb. '47 - Sept. '47 Apollo (I'm not sure which ship this might have been; the Norwegian M/T Elise was renamed Apollo, but not until 1953).
Joan (Aiers) Henriksen - Jan. '45 - Apr. '46, T/T Kirkenes
Betty (Lake) Ottersen, Dec. '43 - Nov. '44 M/T Garonne, Jan. '45 - Feb. '46, Kirkenes (link above)
Margaret Benham - Feb. '44 - Feb. '45, M/S Hoegh Silverlight, May '45 - Nov. '45, M/S Roseville
Suzanne Gens - Nov. '44 - June '45, Harald Torsvik (link above)
Mabel Graham - Nov. '44 - June '45, also on Harald Torsvik
Cecile Richard - Jan. '45 - Sept. '45, Vadsø (link above)
Margaret Spence - Apr. '45 - May '46, Honningsvaag (link above).

Additionally, Olive J. (Carroll) Roeckner has told me the following in an E-mail:
"Just recently I learned of two American young women who also sailed as Sparks on a Norwegian vessel and I thought you might like to give them equal recognition on your great Website.

Their story begins on Febr. 24-44 when 19 year old Joan Quinn and 22 year old Jean Haydock (both of New York City) signed aboard the fruitship M/V Bajamar in New Orleans as stewardesses. Joan's mother was so appalled and frightened for her daughter's safety that she went to the port authorities in New York and told them her daughter was at sea on a ship. Apparently they said that was impossible, that American women could not serve on a ship, and both girls were removed from the vessel when it was in New York Apr. 14-44.

Joan and Jean both wanted to go back to sea so they trained at the Radio Maritime Trades Center in NYC. and obtained their FCC Radio Telegraph licenses, signing aboard the Carl Oftedal in NYC Apr. 4-45 as 2nd and 3rd Radio Operators. (Joan was 20 by this time and must have had her mother's permission - or would she have required permission at age 20 in the U.S.?). About their wartime service I know little, other than the ship carried bombs to the South Pacific and ran into a typhoon there (which you mention on your Webpage concerning this vessel). Both girls signed off in Batangas Nov. 7-45 at war's end. (Why they signed off in the Phillipines I don't know, unless the vessel was sailing to Europe or other eastern ports and the girls wanted to return to the U.S.).

The above information concerning names, vessels and dates of signing on and off has been verified by government archives in Oslo. Whether the girls ever used their qualifications post-war I don't know. Joan Quinn passed away 4 years ago and nothing further is known concerning Jean*. All of this information has been passed on to me by Joan Montana, a long time acquaintance of Joan Quinn, who is very proud of her late friend's wartime service, brief as it was".

* I have since received an E-mail from Jean (Nov.-2008), saying the following:
"Having an idle moment I entered my maiden name, Jean Haydock, in Google and came across my name in your web site. I was a radio operator on the Norwegian ship, MS Carl Oftedal along with Joan Quinn. I was sorry to read that Joan died 4 years ago. I am still alive and kicking. I married and had 3 kids and now 2 grandkids. I am 86, attend classes at University of Miami, play tennis and Scrabble. I remember well that typhoon off  Okinawa with the 500-pound bombs rolling around in the hold. They told that the sailors we rescued - their first question was, "Is this the ship with the girls on it?" We signed off in Batangas after the war because the director of the USO offered us jobs as assistant directors. We stayed in the Philippines another year.
Jean Haydock Pugh"

Helene Karoline J. Fischer Dale was the first Norwegian female radio officer in our fleet. She had previously served as stewardess on Bayard from March-1940 till Dec. that year, and on the same ship from Febr.-1941 till March-1942, before joining Laurits Swenson in the same capacity in May-1942, till July-1942. The following month she started school at Little Norway, Toronto to become a radio operator, and fresh out of school she joined Fred. Olsen's Baalbek as 2nd radio operator in June-1943 (till Sept.-1943), before signing on Alf Lindeberg in Oct.-1943 where she stayed till Dec.-1945. Just 2 days after signing off Alf Lindeberg she joined M/S Fernplant, this time as 1st radio operator, remaining with this ship until March-1946. She was later awarded Krigsmedaljen and Haakon VII Frihetsmedalje - see my Norwegian War Medals page. Many women sailed with the Norwegian fleet during the war; mostly as stewardesses or saloon girls. (My mother was also a radio operator, though not during the war. Her ships can be found under Åse's Ships).

POST WAR:

Mosdale was sold in 1954 to Blue Star Line. According to Lillesand Sjømannsforening she was renamed Albion Star, but sold again that same year to Lampart & Holt Line Ltd. Liverpool and renamed Balzac. Renamed Caroll in 1959. Sold again in 1960 to Blue Star Line Ltd. London and renamed Norman Star, renamed Basil that same year. Sold in May-1964 to Eleni D.Kyriakos & Demitri Kyriakos, Piræus, renamed Eleni K. Sold in 1966 to Helen Shipping Corp. Panama Ltd. Piræus, renamed Eleni Kyriakos. Renamed Olga in 1969. Sold in 1970 to Kreta Shipping Co. S.A. Piræus and renamed Georgios Markakis. Sold in 1973 to Amarinthos Shipping & Co.Ltd. Famagusta, renamed Nikos S. Arrived Hierros Ardes, Bilbao on May 5-1973 for breaking up.

Related external link:
YL Radio - A page about the Canadian female RO's. Among others, Fern Blodgett is pictured. As will be seen from this page, she was not the only one who ended up marrying a Norwegian ship mate.

Back to Mosdale on the "Ships starting with M" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Lykkelige Mosdale - Sagaen om et skip", Eiliv Odde Hauge., and misc. others for cross checking details.