Manager: Lars L. Eide, Bergen
Tonnage: 610 gt

Delivered from Kaldnes mek. Verksted, Tønsberg as Bras in May-1919 to Harald Hansens Rederi, Skien. Tonnage is given as 639 gt, 349 net, 930 tdwt, 166.5' x 28.7' x 12.6', Triple exp. 75 nhp (by yard). Sailed as Raftsund for Vesteraalen Dampskibsselskab A/S, Stokmarknes in the period 1922-1938, in generally scheduled service between eastern Norway and Finnmark. Went to Lars Eide e.a., Øystese in 1938 and registered as Raftsund of Bergen.

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 | Page 17

Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.

Partial Voyage Record From Febr.-1940 to Apr.-1945:

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Errors may exist (this could also mean that she may not have sailed in all the convoys mentioned here). Also, as can be seen, this record is incomplete.

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1940	Febr. 8	Norwegian Waters	Methil	Febr. 11	HN 10	–
	Febr. 13	Tyne	Southend	Febr. 15	FS 95	Convoy available at FS convoys (external link)
	March 12	Kirkwall	Norwegian Waters	March 14	ON 19	–
	Apr. 4	Norwegian Waters	Dundee	Apr. 9	HN 24	See also Page 1 (also, missing voyages).
	May 14	Blyth	Southend	May 16	FS 170	Convoy available at link above Page 1 gives arrival Rouen, May 17 (also, missing voyages).
	July 6	Southend	Yarmouth Roads	July 7	CW 1	Convoy available at CW convoys (external link) Compare w/Page 1.
	July 7	Yarmouth Roads	Dartmouth	July 8	Independent	Missing movements: Page 1 & Page 2
	Oct. 23	Clyde	Methil	Oct. 27	WN 25	Convoy available at WN convoys (external link)
	Oct. 30	Methil	Tyne	Nov. 2*	FS 323	Convoy available at FS convoys (external link) *Page 2 gives arrival Oct. 31.
	Nov. 1	Tyne	Southend	Nov. 3	FS 325	Convoy available at link above
	Nov. 11	Southend	Methil	Nov. 14	FN 332	Convoy available at FN convoys (external link)
	Nov. 17	Methil	Oban	Nov. 21	EN 27/1	Convoy available at EN convoys (external link) Again, compare w/Page 2 (also, missing movements, w/more on Page 3.
1941	Febr. 6	Clyde	Aberdeen	Febr. 10	WN 81	Earlier 1941 voyages: Page 3 above. Convoy available at WN convoys (external link) Subsequent voyages: Page 3 & Page 4.
	July 12	Methil	Belfast	July 16	EC 44	Convoy available at EC convoys (external link) Missing movements, Page 4.
	Aug. 2	Oban	Dundee	Aug. 5	WN 161	Convoy available at WN convoys (external link) Missing movements, Page 4.
	Sept. 18	Falmouth	Barry	Sept. 19	PW 36	Convoy available via this page (external link) Missing movements, Page 4.
	Oct. 4	Oban	Methil	Oct. 6	WN 189	Convoy available at WN convoys (external link) Missing movements, Page 5.
?*	Nov. 26	Methil	Oban	Nov. 29	EN 12	Convoy available at EN convoys (external link) *Compare w/Page 5.
	Dec. 2	Methil	Oban	Dec. 5	EN 14	Convoy available at link above Arrived Stornoway, Dec. 4 (Page 5).
1942	Jan. 11	Oban	Methil	Jan. 15	WN 230	Convoy available at WN convoys (external link) Missing voyages: Page 5 & Page 6
	Apr. 27	Methil	Belfast Lough	May 1	EN 77	Convoy available at EN convoys (external link) Missing voyages, Page 6.
	July 15	Methil	Belfast Lough	July 17	EN 111	Convoy available at link above Missing voyages: Page 6 & Page 7.
	Sept. 9	Methil	Stornoway	Sept. 11	EN 135	Convoy available at link above Further 1942 voyages: Page 7 and Page 8.
	Her 1943 voyages start on Page 8 above, with more on Page 9, Page 10 and Page 11.
1944	June 6	Barry	St Helens Roads	–	EBC 3	Earlier 1944 voyages: Page 11 above & Page 12. Convoy available at EBC convoys (external link)
	Many of these 1944 voyages in Hague's record are not included on the archive documents and, therefore, comparison cannot be made and accuracy confirmed.
	June 10	Solent	Seine Bay	June 11	EBC 5	Convoy available at link above
	June 23	Barry	Seine Bay	June 26	EBC 21	Convoy available at link above
	June 28	Seine Bay	Swansea	July 1	FBC 12	Convoy available at FBC convoys (external link)
	July 5	Swansea	Seine Bay	July 7	EBC 32	Convoy available at EBC convoys (external link)
	July 9	Seine Bay	Portland	July 10	FBC 23	Convoy available at FBC convoys (external link) Missing movements, Page 12
	July 20	Swansea	Seine Bay	July 23	EBC 48	Convoy available at EBC convoys (external link)
	July 27	Seine Bay	Barry	July 29	FBC 38	Convoy available at FBC convoys (external link) On to Bristol (Page 12).
	Aug. 3	Barry(?)	Solent	Aug. 4	EBC 61	Convoy available at EBC convoys (external link)
	Aug. 10	Seine Bay	Newhaven	Aug. 11	FBC 50	Convoy available at FBC convoys (external link)
	Aug. 15	Newhaven	Seine Bay	Aug. 16	ETC 69	Convoy available at ETC convoys (external link)
	Aug. 20	Seine Bay	Newhaven	Aug. 21	FTC 73	Convoy available at FTC convoys (external link)
	Aug. 25	Newhaven	Seine Bay	Aug. 26	ETC 79	Convoy available at ETC convoys (external link)
	Aug. 29	Seine Bay	Newhaven	Aug. 30	FTC 82	Convoy available at FTC convoys (external link)
	Sept. 3	Newhaven	Spithead	Sept. 4	–	–
	Sept. 6	St Helens Roads	Dieppe	Sept. 7	WDC 1	Convoy available via this page (external link)
	Sept. 14	Newport	Seine Bay	Sept. 17	EBC 104	Convoy available at EBC convoys (external link) Further 1944 voyages: Page 13 & Page 14.
1945	Apr. 15	St. Helens Roads	Barry	Apr. 17	TBC 128	Earlier 1945 voyages: Page 14 above & Page 15. Convoy available at TBC convoys (external link) Subsequent voyages: Page 15, Page 16 & Page 17.

Some Convoy Voyages:

Only a few of her voyages are mentioned here. For further movements, 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; several Norwegian ships took part.

Raftsund is listed in the original Advance Sailing Telegram for the Norway-U.K. Convoy HN 10 in Febr.-1940, bound for Rouen with pulp. In the middle of March, A. Hague has included her in the U.K.-Norway Convoy ON 19, and the following month we find her in Convoy HN 24, which left Bergen on Apr. 3; in other words, she got out just before the German invasion, which took place on Apr. 9. According to Page 1 of the archive documents, she arrived Dundee that day (via Tayport, Apr. 8), proceeding to Granton that same day, having started out in Drammen, Norway.

With the exception of a couple of voyages to France in May-1940, she was mostly in service around the U.K., until June-1944, when she took part in Operation Neptune (the maritime side of the invasion of Normandy), arriving June 11-1944, leaving June 23, making 16 trips to Normandy altogether (according to "Nortraships flåte").

As will be seen when going to Page 17, she was finally able to go home to Norway in Dec.-1945 (it looks like Christmas may have been celebrated there that year), and again at the beginning of 1946.

POST WAR:

Renamed Bras in 1946. Sold in 1953 to Bartz-Johannesen, Bergen and converted to herring meal factory, before being purchased by D/S A/S Magnhild (M. Clausen), Haugesund in 1956, converted to cargo vessel and renamed Magnhild. Sold in 1959 to Wallem & Co., Hong Kong and sailed as Slusken (Panamanian flag) - deleted from Lloyd's register in 1986.

Related external links:
Normandy landings

Operation Neptune

Operation Neptune

Back to Raftsund on the "Ships starting with R" page.

Ofoten & Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab had a very small vessel by this name in the late 1980's, only 23 gt, originally built as Doktor Rølstad for Andre Paulsen, Kjøllefjord and used as ambulance and doctor transport. Renamed Raftsund for OVDS in the fall of 1988. Sold in 1991 and renamed Inger Helene.