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D/S Samlanes To Samlanes on the "Ships starting with S" page. Owner: A/S D/S Jonstein Built in Stettin in 1908. Previous names: Hansa, Praeces, according to a visitor to my website (his source: "Shipwreck Index of the British Isles"). Captain: Størker Størkersen
Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
A. Hague has included Samlanes in Convoy HN 25, which left Bergen for the U.K. on Apr. 7-1940, shortly before the German invasion (Apr. 9). Follow the link for more info, several Norwegian ships took part. In Sept.-1940, we find her, together with the Norwegian Tejo, Trajan and Varegg, in Convoy OG 43, originating in Liverpool on Sept. 20, arriving Gibraltar Oct. 3 - see ships in all OG convoys (will later be added to its own individual page). Samlanes, however, was bound for Lisbon; according to Page 1, she had started out from Milford Haven on Sept. 19, but her arrival Lisbon is not given. All 4 ships are also listed in Convoy HG 46 from Gibraltar to the U.K. on Oct. 31 (though Tejo also appears in the next convoy, so I'm not sure if she sailed). Samlanes, cargo of pit wood, was bound Swansea, where she arrived, via Milford Haven, on Nov. 21. (When going to my page about Convoy HG 46, it'll be noticed that there's some confusion as to whether some of the ships sailed or not, in that several of them have the word "Not" next to them on the original convoy document). As will be seen from the archive documents, she was subsequently in service around the U.K. Unfortunately, departure dates are missing in the left margin on Page 2.
Samlanes departed Swansea for Shoreham on March 12-1941 with a cargo of 907 tons coal. She struck a mine the next day about 2 n. miles off Lizard. The coast guard had observed what happened and a rescue vessel was sent out, but no survivors were found among the debris. 13 Norwegian, 1 Irish and 1 Swedish had been on board. An empty raft from Samlanes was found by a Belgian trawler 2 days later (49 95N 05 31W). According to "Nortraships flåte", D/S Botne had sailed about 10 n. miles ahead of Samlanes at the time. No explosion had been heard, but a cloud of smoke had been seen in her direction. (German aircraft had dropped large amounts of magnetic and acoustic mines in the Mersey, Thames, Humber and Clyde inlets at this time, and had laid several mine fields on the east coast with the help of fast torpedo boats. Many Norwegian ships fell victim to these operations, Mexico and Elna E to mention just a couple). Crew List - No survivors:
Related external link: Back to Samlanes on the "Ships starting with S" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume II, and misc. (ref. My sources).
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