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Owner: A/S Venborg Delivered in May-1912 from Wood, Skinner & Co., Newcastle (176) as Salonica to D/S A/S Otto Thoresens Linje (Otto Thoresen), Christiania. Tonnages as above, 324' x 46.5 x 19.8, Triple exp. 278 nhp (N. East Mar. Eng.). Laid up 1921 in Christiania (Oslo). Purchased in July-1921 by A/S Venborg (Brummenæs & Torgersen), Haugesund. Captain: Ole G. Økland - D/S Thore Hafte had a captain named Ole Økland in 1942 - same person?
Salonica is listed in the Norway-U.K. Convoy HN 10 in Febr.-1940, bound for Birkenhead with ore. Follow the link for more details; several Norwegian ships took part. In the middle of the following month she joined Convoy OB 110, which left Liverpool on March 16, joined up with OA 110 on March 18, the combined convoy forming the Gibraltar bound Convoy OG 22 (see also my page naming ships in all OG convoys). Salonica's destination is given as Savona. She was in Longyearbyen, Svalbard in June-1940 when the decision was made in Norway to send as many Norwegian ships as possible to the U.K. (text under Finmarken has some background history). When it became known on Svalbard that Norway had capitulated a lot of the coalminers were anxious to get home, while others wanted to go to the U.S. and tried to convince Salonica's captain to take them there. But on orders from London (the Norwegian government was in exile there during the war) he departed for a British port via Iceland on the night leading up to June 11. At the end of July that year she joined Convoy HX 62 (Sydney, C.B. portion). Salonica, cargo of iron ore for Port Talbot, eventually lost touch with the convoy due to dense fog - follow the link for more details. In Oct.-1940 she appears among the ships in Convoy OB 224, which left Liverpool on Oct. 5-1940 and dispersed on the 12th. Her destination on that occasion was Wabana, station 13. More info on this convoy is available at the first external link provided below. On her return voyage to the U.K. the following month she was sunk, as will be seen in the next paragraph. Related external links: See also this chronological list of
Salonica had departed Pugwash, N.S. on Nov. 4-1940 with a cargo of 1030 fathoms pitprops for Newcastle. Arrived Sydney, C.B. the next day then left in Convoy SC 11 on Nov. 9. A storm with heavy seas was encountered on the 23rd. When a ship on Salonica's port side was torpedoed all men, except 3 on duty in the engine room were called out and ordered to put their lifejackets on while full speed was ordered to the engine room. Just a few minutes later, Salonica was struck by a torpedo from U-100 (Schepke), probably in the boiler room amidships, port side, position 55 16N 12 14W. There was a great escape of steam from the boiler room; the 3rd engineer and the Swiss Stoker Jakob Tobler were killed. The port lifeboats were destroyed, the starboard boat filled with water and tipped over as it reached the water and the 16 men who were in it fell out, 14 of whom disappeared in the rough seas while 2 managed to get back on the ship with the help of the boat falls. The Canadian escort vessel Skeena had approached, and the 9 men still on board the ship were able to get in the workboat and quickly row to safety. 7 out of the 14 who had disappeared from the overturned lifeboat were also found and rescued by the British escort Enchantress which landed them in Liverpool. Those who had been picked up by Skeena were landed in Gourock on Nov. 25. D/S Bruse was also sunk in this convoy, which had several Norwegian ships. Follow the link to my page about SC 11 for their names and info on other ships sunk. "Nortraships flåte" says Salonica was hit at 02.46 on the 23rd (agreeing with the captain's report), and Bruse at 03:20, while Rohwer lists Bruse first, using German time 01:17 and 04:36 for Salonica. Uboat.net gives the time as 04:14 for Bruse and 04:36 for Salonica (external links). 04:14 is the time given for the Dutch Ootmarsum in Rohwer's book, so it's quite possible that new findings now indicate it was Bruse that was hit at that time, and not the Dutch vessel. The maritime inquiries were held in Glasgow on Dec. 5-1940 with the captain, the 1st mate, the 2nd engineer, and Able Seaman Kristiansen (helmsman) appearing. The latter was one of the 2 who had managed to climb back on board after the lifeboat had capsized.
Related external links: Operations information for U-100 Schepke & U-100 - A section of Tom Purnell's website (he writes extensively about Convoy HX 72). The Naval Museum of Manitoba - Under "RCN Ships" more info on the Skeena can be found. Also has info on Canadian Merchant ship losses. Back to Salonica on the "Ships starting with S" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Våre gamle skip", Leif M. Bjørkelund & E. H. Kongshavn, "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "The allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague, "Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two", Jürgen Rohwer, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume II, and misc. (ref. My sources).
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