Manager: O. B. Sørensen & Co., Arendal
Tonnage: 1182 gt

Delivered in Nov.-1919 from Moss Værft, Moss as Avilesino to Skibs-A/S Maderas, Christiania (Oslo), 1182 gt, 696 net, 1800 tdwt, 226.3' x 36.6' x 15.7', Triple exp. 127 nhp (by yard). From 1926 she sailed as Orania for O. B. Sørensen & Co., Arendal.

This company lost no ships during the war.

Captain: Sverre Abrahamsen.

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 also 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 from this record.

Orania is mentioned in connection with Convoy HN 11 from Norway to the U.K. in Febr.-1940, bound for London with paper, but there's some disagreement as to whether she sailed or not. If she was in this convoy, she must have gone back to Norway, because in March we find her in Convoy HN 20, again bound for London with paper - follow the links for more convoy info; several Norwegian ships took part in both. Judging from the information found on Page 1 of the archive documents, it looks like Orania was in Sunderland when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940. She had arrived there from London on Apr. 5 and departure is given as May 3, when she proceeded to Goole. Later that month, she made a couple of voyages to France.

In Aug.-1940 she made a voyage from Methil to St. John's, N.F. Her arrival there is not given on the archive document and I have no convoy information for this voyage; perhaps she had sailed independently? With a cargo of pulp wood she returned to the U.K. in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 5, which left on Sept. 18 and arrived Liverpool Oct. 3, again with several Norwegian ships in compnay. Orania's destination is given as Ridham Dock; she stopped at Clyde on Oct. 3.

Her 1941 voyages start on Page 2 and continue on Page 3, with convoy info for some of them in the Voyage Record above. In July that year she's listed as bound for Sydney, C.B. in Convoy OB 347, which originated in Liverpool on July 16 and dispersed July 31. Orania arrived her destination on Aug. 2, having started out from Loch Ewe on July 18. The Norwegian Akabahra, Astra, Balduin, Bjørkhaug, Fido, Gudrun, Hestmanden (for Iceland), Leka, Marga, Maridal, Siak, Spes and Sveve (from Iceland) are also listed in this convoy, which is available via the external link provided in the table above. According to A. Hague, she later joined the slow, eastbound North Atlantic Convoy SC 41, which left Sydney, C.B. on Aug. 24 and arrived Liverpool Sept. 11, however, Orania returned to port (arrived Sydney Aug. 27), then shows up again in Convoy SC 45, departing Sydney, C.B. on Sept. 18, arriving Liverpool Oct. 4; Orania stopped at Loch Ewe that day. Both these convoys will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section, but for now, please see Ships in all SC convoys. They both had several Norwegian ships, namely Akabahra, Astra, Balduin, Gudrun, Hestmanden, Leka, Marga, Siak, Spes, Audun, Blink, Carrier (returned), Einvik (sunk - follow link for details), Evviva, Fagersten, Fanefjeld, Grado, Heien, Hildur I, Ledaal, Lom, Nesttun and Reiaas in SC 41 (some of which joined from Iceland), while Bjerka, Libra, Nea, Rio Verde, Snar, Solhavn, Trolla and Varanger are listed in SC 45.

Orania was otherwise mostly in service around the U.K.

According to "Nortraships flåte" she was in a convoy that was attacked several times by aircraft in the English Channel in March-1942 (dates are given as March 8, 14 and 19, which would indicate more than one voyage/convoy?). She was unharmed, but other ships were not so lucky. Her voyages in this period are shown on Page 4.

According to Page 15, she got to go home to Norway already in July-1945, making more voyages home later on that year (see Page 16).

More information on all the other Norwegian ships mentioned on this page can be found with the help of the alphabet index below, or go to the Master Ship Index.

From 1949 she sailed as Rex of Kragerø. Purchased in Febr.-1954 by Øistein Torgersen, Haugesund, registered owner Skibs-A/S Jarl. In seasonal lumber trade (May-Nov.) until sold in Nov.-1964 to breakers in Gothenburg (this was Haugesund's last coal fuelled steamship). Converted to barge Granita II, later Ris I, broken up in Gothenburg.

Back to Orania on the "Ships starting with O" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, and misc. Pre war and post war details are from "Våre gamle skip", Leif M. Bjørkelund & E. H. Kongshavn.

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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