Manager: Rasmus F. Olsen, Bergen
Tonnage: 1005 gt

Built by Bergen mek. Verksted, Bergen, Norway in 1906.
According to this external page, she was delivered as Ophir in Dec.-1906 to Halfdan Grøn Grønsdal e.a., Bergen. From Febr.-1916 owners were Rasmus F. Olsen e.a., Bergen, no name change. In 1931, A/S D/S Ophir (Rasmus F. Olsen), Bergen took over, still as Ophir. From Oct.-1939 she was owned by Rasmus F. Olsens Rederi A/S (Rasmus F. Olsen), Bergen.

Captain: Arthur N. J. Bøgård (in 1942). He had previously served as 1st mate of Danio in 1940, and captain of Sjofna in 1941. Later joined Tres and Sigrid.

Chief engineer in 1941 was Harald K. Bjørnstad, who died when Norse King was sunk. He had previously survived the sinking of Helle.

Related item on this website:
Guestbook message from George Green, who served as a gunner on this ship.

Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14 | Page 15 | Page 16

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each (it'll be noticed that listings for some of the external convoys are incomplete).

Errors may exist; this could mean that she may not have sailed in all the convoys mentioned here, even though she's listed in them. Also, as can be seen, several voyages are missing (including all her 1943 voyages).

Ophir is included in A. Hague's listing for Convoy ON 12, which left Methil for Norway on Febr. 13-1940. Later that month we find her in Convoy HN 15 from Norway to the U.K., in ballast for Sunderland. In March A. Hague has her in Convoy ON 21 to Norway, and at the end of March she's listed in the original Advance Sailing Telegram for Convoy HN 23B, again in ballast for Sunderland. According to A. Hague, she returned to port, later joining Convoy HN 25 on Apr. 7. From Page 1 of the archive documents we learn that she arrived Sunderland on Apr. 14 (the Germans had invaded Norway on Apr. 9).

With the exception of a couple of voyages to France that spring, Ophir was later mostly in coal service around the U.K., though made a voyage to Lisbon in the fall of 1940. For this voyage, she's listed in Convoy OG 42, which originated in Liverpool on Sept. 4 and arrived Gibraltar on the 16th; Ophir arrived Lisbon that day, having started out from Milford Haven on Sept. 3. This convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it are named on my page listing ships in all OG convoys. Ask, Avance I, Fagerbro, Kongshaug, Libra and Roy are also included. All these ships returned to the U.K. with Convoy HG 45 from Gibraltar on Oct. 9. Ophir was bound for Methil and Sunderland, cargo of pit props; according to Page 1, she arrived Londonderry on Oct. 26, proceeding to Methil and Sunderland later on.

A Guestbook message from George Green, who served as a gunner on this ship, states that she was severely damaged by bombs dropped by a Focke Wolf Condor in Oct.-1940 in the Pentland Firth. He adds: "We made port at Oban, then to Liverpool, we then made port at Milford Haven, only to end up at Swansea, and we were docked at the Cambrian Dry Docks, I was with her over the X/Mas period" (this does not match up with the details found on Page 1 above - could it have happened at another time?).

As will be seen when going to Page 16, she finally got to go home to Norway again in Nov.-1945.

According to this external page, she was owned from 1950 by Ignacio Izaguirre, Havana, Cuba, same name. From 1951, Hermanos Aiyo, Puerto Cortes, Honduras, and from 1953, Hermanos Ayo, Puerto Cortes, Honduras. Owners from 1956 were Fleet Maritimos S.A., Puerto Limon, Costa Rica then from 1958, Fleet Maritime Panamanian S.A., Panama (still as Ophir). Sold in 1963 for breaking up in Mexico.

Aa–Al	An–Ar	As–Av	Ba	Be	Bi–Bl	Bo	Br–Bu	C	D
E	F	G	Ha	He	Hi–Hy	Hø	I	J	K
L	M	N	O	PQ	R	Sa–Sc	Se–Sj	Sk–Sn	So
Sp–St	Su–Sø	Ta–Te	Th–Ti	To	Tr–Tø	U	V	W	Ø

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