D/S Siak
Updated March 4-2010

To Siak on the "Ships starting with S" page.


Received from Markus Berger (of Swiss Ships - external link).
Another picture is available on this external page (click in it to enlarge).

Manager: Nils Bull, Tønsberg
Tonnage: 1150 gt.

A. Hague has included Siak in the U.K. to Norway Convoy ON 16 at the end of Febr.-1940. The following month we find her in Convoy HN 19 from Norway to the U.K. The original convoy document gives her destination as Methil, where the convoy arrived on March 17; according to Page 1 of the archive documents, she arrived Blyth on March 19, having sailed from Bergen on the 13th. From Blyth, where she appears to have remained for a long time, she made a voyage to Rouen in May, and also made a couple of voyages to France in June that year.

That summer, she's listed, together with Bonde, Galatea, Hjalmar Wessel, Jernland, Kul and Tai Ping Yang, in Convoy OA 190, which left Methil on July 26 and dispersed on the 29th - ref. external link provided in the Voyage Record. Siak's destination is given as Sydney, C.B., station 84. Her arrival there is not given on the archive document, but she left Sydney again on Aug. 13 for St. Annes des Montes, later returning to Sydney, C.B. in order to join the slow Convoy SC 2 on Aug. 25, in which the Norwegian Gro and others were sunk - follow the links for details. Siak had a cargo of lumber, and arrived Barrow on Sept. 13, remaining there for over a month. She then shows up in station 54 of Convoy OB 232, bound for E. Canada in ballast (ref. link in the table above). The Norwegian Heien, Lysaker IV, Måkefjell, Polyana, Rimfakse, Skiensfjord (Commodore Vessel) and Tyr are also listed in this convoy (Bolette and Selbo were scheduled, but did not sail), which left Liverpool on Oct. 21 and dispersed on the 26th, Siak arriving St. Annes des Montes on Nov. 8. Some of these ships, including Siak, returned to the U.K. again later that month with Convoy SC 13, cargo of lumber for Wisbech - she arrived Clyde on Dec. 8.

She subsequently made voyages mostly around the U.K., as will be seen from the archive documents. Her 1941 voyages start on Page 1 and continue on Page 2.

In July-1941, she's included among the ships in Convoy OB 347, which originated in Liverpool on July 16 and dispersed on the 31st. Akabahra, Astra, Balduin, Bjørkhaug, Fido, Gudrun, Hestmanden, Leka, Marga, Maridal, Orania, Spes and Sveve are also listed. Siak was bound for Sydney, C.B.,where she arrived Aug. 2, having sailed from Clyde on July 17 (see Page 3). A few days later she made a voyage to Alma, N.B. and Herring Cove, before returning to Sydney, C.B. and according to Arnold Hague, she now went back across the Atlantic with a cargo of lumber in station 76 of Convoy SC 41, which left Sydney, C.B. on Aug. 24 and arrived Liverpool on Sept. 11; Siak stopped at Loch Ewe that day, proceeding to Hull that same day, with arrival there (via Methil Roads) on Sept. 16 (Page 4). She had again been in the company of several other Norwegian ships, namely Akabahra, Astra, Audun, Balduin, Blink, Carrier (returned), Einvik (sunk, follow the link for more details), Evviva, Fagersten, Fanefjeld, Grado, Gudrun, Heien, Hestmanden, Hildur I, Ledaal, Leka, Lom, Marga, Nesttun, Orania (returned), Reiaas and Spes. This convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section in due course, along with more information; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it are named in the section listing ships in all SC convoys.

This was Siak's last Trans-Atlantic voyage.

She later took part in Operation Neptune (Normandy invasion), arriving Utah Beach on June 26-1944, according to "Nortraships flåte". A. Hague has included her in Convoy EBC 21 at this time (external link), together with Heire, Munin and Raftsund.

From Page 17, we learn that she got to go home to Norway already at the beginning of July-1945, making another voyage home later that month, and again in Dec.-1945. She also went to Norway in Jan.-1946, March-1946 and Apr.-1946 (Page 18).

For more details on the other Norwegian ships mentioned on this page, please see the alphabet index below, or go to the Master Ship Index

Related external link:
Utah Beach

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