M/S Scebeli
Updated March 11-2009

To M/S Scebeli on the "Ships starting with S" page.

Crew List


Source: Historical Department, MAN B&W Diesel, Copenhagen.

Here's another picture and the story of someone who served on her; the text is in Norwegian.
See also this page, listing other Thor Dahl ships. (Both these are external links).

Compare the above with the following record:

Transcribed from a document received from Tony Cooper, England - His source: Public Records Office, Kew
(dates are European style, showing day/month).

	Arrived	Port	Departed	Convoy
1939	28.11	Santos	02.12	–
	–	Buenos Aires	–	–
	–	Victoria, Brazil	11.12	–
	19.12	St. Vincent, CV	19.12	–
	25.12	Algiers	–	–
	31.12	Port Said	31.12	–
1940	03.01	Haifa	03.01	–
	–	Piræus	13.01	–
	18.01	Gibraltar	18.01	–
	22.01	St. Vincent	22.01	–
	?.02	Santos	07.02	–
	–	Rio de Janeiro	09.02	–
	07.03	Port Said	08.03	–
	09.03	Haifa	09.03	–
	–	Beirut	13.03	–
	15.03	Suez	15.03	–
	30.03	Table Bay	15.04	–
	25.04	Freetown	25.04	–
	06.05	New York	14.07	–
	27.07	Santos	07.08	–
	10.08	Buenos Aires	14.08	–
	16.08	Bahia Blanca	–	–
	24.08	Santos	07.08	–
	10.08	Buenos Aires	14.08	–
	16.08	Bahia Blanca	–	–
	24.08	Santos	07.09	–
	08.09	Rio de Janeiro	13.09	–
	14.09	Santos	15.09	–
	18.09	Buenos Aires	20.09	–
	24.09	Rio de Janeiro	28.09	–
	01.10	Buenos Aires	03.10	–
	06.10	Rio de Janeiro	11.10	–
	17.10	Buenos Aires	–	–
	21.10	Rio de Janeiro	25.10	–
	29.10	Buenos Aires	01.11	–
	02.11	Montevideo	02.11	–
	05.11	Rio de Janeiro	08.11	–
	11.11	Buenos Aires	14.11	–
	18.11	Rio de Janeiro	21.11	–
	25.11	Buenos Aires	28.11	–
	02.12	Rio de Janeiro	05.12	–
	08.12	Buenos Aires	14.12	–
	17.12	Rio de Janeiro	20.12	–
	24.12	Buenos Aires	28.12	–
1941	01.01	Rio de Janeiro	05.01	–
	09.01	Buenos Aires	12.01	–
	15.01	Rio de Janeiro	18.01	–
	22.01	Buenos Aires	06.02	–
	08.02	Bahia	16.02	–
	07.03	New York	27.03	–
	02.04	Cristobal	02.04	–
	03.04	Balboa	03.04	–
	10.04	Valparaiso	22.04	–
	22.04	Magallanes	22.04	–
	29.04	Rio de Janeiro	06.05	–
	07.05	Santos	14.05	–
	28.05	Bermuda	29.05	–
	31.05	St John's N.B.	02.06	–
	05.06	Montreal	11.06	–
	16.06	New York	18.06	–
	05.07	Santos	06.07	–
	10.07	Buenos Aires	17.07	–
	20.07	Santos	24.07	–
	10.08	Sydney, C.B.	11.08	–
	13.08	Montreal	17.08	–
	17.08	Three Rivers	21.08	–
	29.08	St. Thomas	29.08	–
	13.09	Buenos Aires	18.09	–
	23.09	Rio de Janeiro	27.09	–
	01.10	Buenos Aires	03.10	–
	07.10	Rio de Janeiro	11.10	–
	15.10	Buenos Aires	18.10	–
	21.10	Rio de Janeiro	24.10	–
	28.10	Buenos Aires	31.10	–
	04.11	Rio de Janeiro	09.11	–
	12.11	Buenos Aires	14.11	–
	18.11	Rio de Janeiro	20.11	–
	24.11	Buenos Aires	26.11	–
	30.11	Rio de Janeiro	03.12	–
	07.12	Buenos Aires	11.12	–
	15.12	Rio de Janeiro	18.12	–
	22.12	Buenos Aires	26.12	–
	30.12	Rio de Janeiro	04.01.1942	–
1942	08.01	Buenos Aires	12.01	–
	16.01	Rio de Janeiro	19.01	–
	23.01	Buenos Aires	28.01	–
	01.02	Rio de Janeiro	03.02	–
	04.02	Santos	06.02	–
	10.02	Bahia Blanca	13.02	–
	17.02	Santos	21.02	–
	24.02	Buenos Aires	23.03	–
	10.04	New York	02.05	–
	03.05	Halifax	10.05	See Convoy HX 189
	21.05	Belfast Lough	22.05	–
	23.05	Belfast	08.06	–
	09.06	Barry Island	09.06	–
	09.06	Milford Haven	11.06	–
	12.06	Belfast Lough	12.06	ON 103 Convoy will be added. See ships in ON convoys
	27.06	New York	10.07	See Convoy BX 28C (external link)
	13.07	Halifax	19.07	See Convoy HX 199
	30.07	River Mersey	30.07	–
	30.07	Liverpool	04.08	–
	05.08	River Mersey	05.08	ON 119 Convoy will be added. See ships in ON convoys
	21.08	New York	29.08	–
	09.09	Belfast Lough	09.09	–
	10.09	Bristol	16.09	–
	16.09	Barry Roads	16.09	–
	28.09	New York	01.10	–
	13.10	River Mersey	13.10	–
	13.10	Liverpool	20.10	–
	20.10	River Mersey	20.10	–
	31.10	St. John's	04.11	–
	04.11	Halifax	05.11	–
	13.11	Belfast Lough	13.11	–
	13.11	Belfast	13.11	–
	14.11	Cardiff	29.11	–
	29.11	Barry Island	29.11	–
	12.12	New York	17.12	See * below
	26.12	Fayal	05.01.1943	–
1943	11.01	Liverpool	20.01	–
	21.01	Loch Ewe	21.01	See Convoy WN 386 (external link)
	23.01	Methil Roads	24.01	See Convoy FS 1021 (external link - incomplete info)
	25.01	Tyne	07.03	–
	09.03	Loch Ewe	09.03	–
	19.03	Halifax	27.03	See Convoy HX 231 (external link) Detached independent, Apr. 1
	05.04	Liverpool	11.04	–
	12.04	River Mersey	12.04	ON 178 - Sunk See "Final Fate" below. Convoy will be added. See ships in ON convoys

Final fate - 1943:

Scebeli had departed Mersey in ballast for New York in station 41 of Convoy ON 178 on Apr. 12-1943. On Apr. 21 she was torpedoed in the port foreship by U-191 (or U-415? see * below), position 56 07N 44 26W. At the time she was on a course 266° true, sailing at a speed of about 8 knots, in fair weather between snow squalls, temperature almost freezing, rough sea, wind NW force 5-6, good visibility.

A sinking report states the following:
"At 18:50 GMT, 5 hours after an AWF warning was received that a sub was trailing the convoy, a torpedo struck the ship at about the No. 2 port hold. At the time, she was pitching and well down by the head in the trough of the sea, foredeck completely submerged. A large cloud of smoke and a dark brown substance were seen to billow upward. It was thought that the brown substance may have been the cork insulation of the refrigeration compartment. There was a complete lack of flash or shock from the explosion, and no column of water was seen. The torpedo apparently struck deep, with the water and cork muffling the explosion. The entire forepart quickly sank. It was thought the entire ship was going to sink very quickly, because stern appeared to rise out of the water, and part of the propeller was seen. The part aft of the bridge regained even keel, remained afloat, and had not sunk when last seen. No distress signals were sent, nor was any counter-offensive offered".

1 was killed in the explosion, 1 drowned (the cook). The captain and 38 others stayed nearby in 3 lifeboats, the port boat having been lost. By the time they had gotten in the boats the entire foreship was under water, and it looked as if it had broken off. Two hours later, the British destroyer HMS Hurricane and frigate HMS Kale (K 241), which had been chasing the U-boats returned to the scene, and Kale picked up the survivors from Scebeli. They were landed in Argentia, New Foundland on Apr. 26.

Just for info, the above mentioned report also adds: "Reported that convoy passed through heavy ice from 10:00 GMT on April 24 until 05:00 on April 25, at which time the convoy was diverted to the south. Approximate position of heaviest part of ice was given as 47 53N 48 48W. On April 20, 1943, the convoy also encountered a concentration of field ice, with occasional icebergs, in approximate position of 58 04N 38 48W. Considerable ice damage was thought to have been suffered by several vessels, particularly one Liberty ship".

* There's quite a bit of confusion and disagreements regarding this incident in my various sources. According to "Nortraships flåte" Convoy ON 178 consisted of 18 ships and 7 escort vessels (but this convoy was much larger), and says Scebeli was torpedoed by U-415. Roger W. Jordan, "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939" says Scebeli was in Convoy ONS 3 at the time, and was torpedoed by U-191 (Fiehn). He agrees with the position given above. On the other hand, Jürgen Rohwer agrees with "Nortraships flåte" with regard to the convoy (ON 178) but with R. Jordan with regard to the U-boat (U-191). Yet another source, Arnold Hague (The Allied Convoy System 1939-1945) agrees with Convoy ON 178, and also states U-191 was the culprit. Convoy ONS 3 had left Liverpool on Apr. 4-1943 and arrived Halifax on Apr. 28. ON 178, on the other hand, did leave Liverpool on Apr. 12, arriving New York on May 2. Another interesting fact to note is that "Nortraships flåte" says 3 ships were sunk, the other sources give only 1 for ON 178, namely Scebeli. According to A. Hague, Convoy ONS 3 did have 18 ships, 2 sunk, both on Apr. 21, namely the British Ashantian and Wanstead.

R. Jordan says: Scebeli was in ONS 3, there is no doubt about that. ON 178 was not too far away. U191 was in a group of U-boats called the Meise group which was lurking off Newfoundland and on 20.4 it was learned that the convoy HX 234 would be passing to the west of the line of patrol of the Meise group. The U-boats moved northwards and the convoy was sighted on 21.4 by U-306. On her way to get close to the convoy, U-706 sighted convoy ONS 3. The Meise group boats divided, some going after each convoy. U415, U191, U203, U438, U613 and U191 went for ONS 3 and on 21.4 U-191 torpedoed Scebeli. U-191 was sunk shortly after this by Royal Navy escort vessels. U-415 scored the other successes against ONS 3 - two British freighters.

Another researcher and visitor to my site states that Scebeli was definitely in convoy ON 178, adding that U-191 probably did torpedo this ship, but as the U-boat was lost two days later, the war diary for this period will be missing. He bases his conclusions on a number of factors, as follows:

Rohwer claims U-191 attacked at 18:30 CET i.e. German time, which at that date was German Summer Time, and was 2 hours ahead of GMT. In his report, which I've added below, the captain of Scebeli says his ship was torpedoed at 15:45 ship's time (while he gives the time as 17:45 GMT in another report dated Apr. 23-1943). The local time for the longitude of 44W would have been 3 hours behind GMT or possibly 2 1/2 hours behind. The rule is for every 15º of longitude there is a difference of 1 hour from Greenwich Oº. Thus, going westward the time lags behind GMT and going east the time is in advance of GMT. U-boats were instructed to keep report times in CET - Berlin time/Central European Time, which was either German Winter Time or Summer Time, the former being 1 hour ahead of GMT and the latter 2 hours ahead of GMT, as mentioned. Consequently, in the case of Scebeli, if U-191 had attacked at 18:30 CET as Rohwer claims, the attack would have been at 13:30 local time (3 hours behind GMT). So, either Rohwer's book has incorrect time information or the captain's report has incorrect time, though the latter seems unlikely. The grid position of U-191, AJ 2895 = 56.33N 44.48W is reasonable to tie in with the position given for Scebeli's sinking, 56 07N 44 26W, when allowing for errors on both sides. The poor weather at the time may have prevented an accurate reading from the sun and the stars.

This Guestbook message from the son of the 3rd mate states: "My Father, Sverre Johansen, was the third mate on the Scebeli when she was torpedoed. On several occassions he told me about the events of 21st April 1943. I think I can throw some light on the time of the sinking. Dad said that he was just leaving his cabin and preparing to go on watch to relieve the second mate when the torpedo struck. The tradition was to relieve your comerade with a warm drink 5 minutes before he was due to go off watch. With the watch changing at 16:00 it is likely that the torpedo did strike at 15:45 local ship's time as stated by the Captain. It was almost dusk when the survivors were picked up by HMS Kale which would also confirm the time of the sinking as it gets dark around 17:00 at that time of year. My Father used to toast the Royal Navy on the anniversary of the sinking because he was so impressed that the look-outs spotted the lifeboat in the failing light and he complimented the Captain of HMS Kale for the skill in drawing alongside the lifeboat close enough to allow all the survivors to jump onto scrambling nets that had been hung over the side."

Page 4 of the archive documents states: "Vessel abandoned 21.4.43 (19:30)".

As already mentioned, Scebeli is indeed listed in Convoy ON 178, which will be added to my Convoys section in due course (as will Convoy ONS 3). In the meantime, see the section listing ships in all ON convoys, and the page for ships in all ONS convoys. The Norwegian O. B. Sørensen and Panamanian Norvinn (Norw. managers) are also listed in ON 178, while the only Norwegian ship in ONS 3 was Fernbank.

Captain Lysøe's Report:

The captain confirms that Scebeli departed Liverpool (with a complement of 41) on Apr. 12-1943 for New York, adding she was in ballast except for about 2300 bags of mail stowed in the holds (he does not mention a convoy). He places the torpedoing to 15:45, ship's time, with everything in front of the bridge ripped away from the resulting explosion. On the bridge at the time were 2nd Mate Alf Andersen and Able Seamen Alfred Johannesen (helmsman), Audun Hervig and Karl Allum, the latter 2 were look-outs. The captain himself had just left the bridge and was in his cabin when the explosion occurred. He was thrown up to the ceiling and got quite a bump when he came down, though was able to head back to the chart house in order to get to the ship's papers and code books, but found the entrance blocked by cement slabs and steel plates that had been put up for protection in the pilot house and chart house. The radio station was destroyed, as were the alarm installations and internal communications system. The main engine had been stopped right away by the 3rd engineer who was on duty (others on watch in the engine room were Electrician Mathisen, Refrig. Engineer Mjelde, and Mechanics Storlid, Pedersen, Reitan and Berntsen).

Scebeli quickly developed a heavy list to port as the men were getting into the lifeboats. As he came to the boat deck the captain noticed that the port midships boat had been lost during the launching effort ("Nortraships flåte" states it was lost because the men had been unable to work with it due to the ammonia gas from the engine room), so he went to the starboard midships boat and helped get it on the water. It had to move away quickly to prevent being crushed against the side of the ship. Only 10 men had managed to get into this boat. He then proceeded aft where both lifeboats were successfully lowered, and again they had to get away quickly to avoid being crushed underneath the after part of the ship, and to stay clear of the propeller which was above water by this time. Some of those who had launched the boats had to jump in the water and were fished up later, others managed to get on a raft. All 3 boats stayed fairly close to the wreck, though were separated somewhat while rescuing people from the rafts and from the water, so a proper count could not be taken until a couple of hours later when they were picked up by a British escort (this was the frigate HMS Kale), at which time 2 men were found to be missing; 1st Cook Olaf Olsen and Able Seaman Karl Allum. Captain Lysøe requested that their rescuers circle the wreck as closely as possible a few times, in the hope of finding the missing men, but with no luck.

The captain of the escort vessel stated he had to participate in the hunt for the U-boat, but offered to sink Scebeli with his guns first, providing Captain Lysøe would give his permission. Lysøe felt this was not necessary as water had already rushed into the engine room right after the explosion and Scebeli now showed clear signs of sinking on her own. Captain Lysøe concludes his report by saying 39 men had been picked up by the escort and landed in Argentia, N.F. on Apr. 26. Some had slight injuries but were given the necessary care by the doctor on board the escort, and only 1 man had a brief stay at a hospital in St. John's, N.F.

The maritime inquiry was held in St. John's on Apr. 28-1943 with the captain, the 2nd mate (since Jan. 27-1942), Able Seamen Johannesen and Hervig, and the 3rd engineer appearing.

Crew List:
There seems to be a name missing here; Scebeli had a complement of 41, 39 were saved.
The captain refers to the missing cook as "1st cook" in his report, and in his statements at the hearings Able Seaman Johannesen mentions a "2nd cook" - perhaps he's the one not listed below?

Survivors
Captain Julius G. Lysøe	1st Mate Jacob Knudsen	2nd Mate Alf Andersen	3rd Mate * Sverre Johansen	Radio Operator Anker Olsen	2nd Radio Operator Sverre Davidsen
3rd Radio Operator Per Larsen	Carpenter Hilmar Lyngmo	Boatswain Ingeberg Nilsen	Able Seaman Frank Thuestad	Able Seaman Audun Hervig	Able Seaman Johan Rusten
Able Seaman Johan Vikane	Able Seaman Grant Bersli	Able Seaman Alfred Johannesen	Able Seaman/Gunner Reidar Andersen	Able Seaman/Gunner Andreas Christensen	Able Seaman/Gunner Leif Pedersen
Able Seaman/Gunner Torgeir Indstø	Able Seaman/Gunner Bjørn Hugo Nielsen	1st Engineer Olaf Langballe	2nd Engineer Petrus Westerlund	3rd Engineer Per Ellefsen	Assistant Leif Dahl
Refrig. Engineer Olaf Mjelde	Electrician Leif M. Mathisen	Mechanic Olaf Berntsen	Mechanic Wilhelm Reitan	Mechanic Nils M. Pedersen	Mechanic Einar Slaata
Mechanic Johan Bergvik	Mechanic Gregar Storlid	Mechanic Karl Johansen	Mechanic Sverre Røskeland	Steward Kjell Andreassen	Galley Boy Georg Årvik
Mess Boy Harold Smith (British)	Saloon Boy Berger Johansen	+ 1 more?	* See this Guestbook message (Sverre Johansen died Nov. 13-2002, aged 87)
Casualties
† Able Seaman Karl Allum	† Cook Olaf Olsen

Related external links:
Stavern Memorial commemorations

U-191 | U-415

M/V Scebeli - Technical data (Darren Dypevåg).

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, documents, including the captain's report, received from Narve Sørensen (ex Thor Dahl employee), "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume II, summary of statement by survivors (dated May 17-1943, and signed U.S.N.R. Lieutenant J. C. Dea), received from Tony Cooper, England, and misc. others for cross checking as mentioned in the text (ref. My sources).