D/S Solhavn
Updated March 3-2009

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

A picture of Solhavn is available on this external page (Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane).

Picture shows Kapland, anchored in the St. Lawrence River (Matane)
Received from Jean-Pierre Charest, Québec (via message in my Guestbook).

Some Convoy Voyages:

Please follow the links provided for more information - several Norwegian ships took part in these convoys. More convoy information for Solhavn will be added.

Solhavn sailed in the Norway to U.K. Convoy HN 8, which left Norway on Jan. 19-1940 and arrived Methil on the 22nd. The following month she appears in the U.K. to Norway Convoy ON 11, and in March she's listed in Convoy HN 19 from Norway, bound for Glasgow with general cargo. She subsequently joined Convoy ON 25 the following month in order to return to Norway, but due to the German invasion on Apr. 9, 17 of the ships turned back for Kirkwall, and Solhavn was among those.

According to the last website that I've linked to at the end of this page (the Memorial for Seamen in Stavern, Norway), Solhavn took part in the evacuations from Dunkirk in the spring of 1940 and was hit by shrapnel. 1 man was injured and later died at a hospital (he's said to have been buried in Rouen). Stoker Jon Lemvik is commemorated. If you read Norwegian there are 2 articles about him (written by Hermund Kleppa) at this external site. One can be found on this page, the other on this page.

Later that summer she's listed in Convoy OB 180, which originated in Liverpool on July 7-1940, dispered on the 10th. Her destination is given as Sydney, C.B., where she arrived on July 20, according to Page 1, and she returned to the U.K. at the end of that month in the Sydney, C.B. portion of Convoy HX 62, bound for Cardiff with pit props (she's not included on the A 1 form, but scroll down to the Advance Sailing Telegram for this convoy). She arrived Cardiff on Aug. 16, later joining Convoy OB 205, originating in Liverpool on Aug. 29, dispersed the next day. No destination is given for Solhavn on that occasion, but when going back to the archive document mentioned above, we see that she arrived Sydney, C.B. on Sept. 10. On Sept. 27, we find her, with a cargo of lumber for London, in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 6. In Nov.-1940 she's listed, again with no voyage information, in Convoy OB 252, originating in Liverpool on Nov. 30, dispersed Dec. 4. According to Page 2, she arrived Sydney, C.B. on Dec. 23, and it looks like she had started out from Oban.

In Febr.-1941 she sailed in the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 23, cargo of lumber for London. As will be seen when going to Page 2 of the archive documents, she made a voyage from Reykjavik to Yarmouth, N.S. in May that year. I have no convoy information for this voyage, perhaps she had sailed independently? The following month, she's listed, again with a cargo of lumber for London, in Convoy SC 34, which left Sydney, C.B. on June 10-1941. In Aug.-1941, she was 1 of 14 Norwegian ships in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 4 - follow the link for names of the others. Solhavn was bound for St. John's, station 95, arriving there on Aug. 21, the convoy having been dispersed on Aug. 18. According to Arnold Hague, she returned to the U.K. with Convoy SC 45, which left Sydney, C.B. on Sept. 18-1941 and arrived Liverpool on Oct. 4. This convoy is not available among the SC convoys included in my own Convoys section, but I've linked directly to Hague's listing at the end of this page.

Subsequent voyages are listed Page 3; convoy information for some of these can be obtained by following the instructions provided at the external link below.

In Febr.-1942, we find her in Convoy RU 12 from Reykjavik to the U.K., in ballast for Clyde. In June that year, she joined the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 106*, which originated in Liverpool on June 23-1942 and arrived Halifax, Solhavn's destination, on July 8. She subsequently headed back to the U.K. on July 24 in Convoy SC 93 from Sydney, C.B., cargo of lumber for Grimsby, returning across the Atlantic the following month with the westbound Convoy ON 124. According to Page 4, she arrived Halifax on Sept. 5, having started out from Loch Ewe Aug. 22. A. Hague later has her in Convoy SC 103, originating in New York on Sept. 26-1942, arriving Liverpool on Oct. 14 - not available on my own site, but see external link below. Solhavn joined this convoy from Sydney, C.B. and stopped at Oban on the 14th.

This was her last Trans-Atlantic voyage. As will be seen when going back to Page 4 of the archive documents, as well as Page 5, Page 6 and Page 7, she now made voyages mostly around the U.K., with a voyage to Iceland in between. Again, follow the instructions at the external link below to find convoy information for some of them, as well as for voyages made in between those already noted above.

In Oct.-1943, I have her in Convoy RU 94 from Reykjavik to the U.K. She was bound for Bristol with U.S. Government stores on that occasion, arriving Bristol on Oct. 27.

Her 1944 voyages can be found on Page 8, Page 9 and Page 10, while her 1945 voyages are available on Page 11 and Page 12.

* All the ON convoys are available and will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course, along with further details on each. In the meantime, please go to Convoy ON 106 in the section listing ships in all ON convoys.

POST WAR:

Sold in Jan.-1959 to Johan Amundsen & Søns Rederi A/S, Haugesund, then in Oct.-1961 to A/S Bokn (Erik Bakkevig), Haugesund. Sold in Dec.-1964 to Astronomer Cia. Mar., Panama and renamed Daidalos. Sold again in 1970 to Cia. Mar. Bulgare, Varna, renamed Bor. Towed to Spezia, Italy, arriving July 16-1970 for breaking up.

Related external links:
Misc. convoys - Clicking on "Ship Search", using "Solhavn" as keyword, will bring up several convoys that are not mentioned in the above narrative, including a lot of local U.K. convoys, as well as some convoys to and from Iceland. Here are OB 180, OB 205, OB 252, SC 45 and SC 103, all mentioned in my text.

Stavern Commemoration - As mentioned in my text above, Stoker Jon Lemvik is commemorated.

Back to Solhavn on the "Ships starting with S" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Pre war and post war details are from "Våre gamle skip", Leif M. Bjørkelund & E. H. Kongshavn, and misc.