D/S Solhavn
Updated May 3-2010

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

A picture of Solhavn is available on this external page (Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane).
See also this external page as well as this page (click in the photos to enlarge).

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

Some Convoy Voyages:

For information on voyages made in between those noted below, please see the documents received from the National Archives of Norway and A. Hague's Voyage Record above. Follow the links provided for more convoy information; the Commodore's notes and/or escort's reports are also available for some of them and several Norwegian ships took part. (Direct links to the OB convoys can be found within the table above).

A. Hague has included Solhavn in Convoy HN 8, which left Norway on Jan. 19-1940 and arrived Methil on the 22nd. The following month he has her in the U.K. to Norway Convoy ON 11, and in March she's listed in the original Advance Sailing Telegram for Convoy HN 19 from Norway, bound for Glasgow with general cargo. According to A. Hague, she subsequently joined Convoy ON 25 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, arriving Kirkwall on Apr. 11. From Page 1 of the archive documents, we learn that she had been bound for Sauda, Norway at the time, but was diverted to Rouen, later arriving there on May 9 (via Methil Roads).

According to the external 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 that month 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.

As will be seen when going back to Page 1, she later made a couple of more voyages to France, and that summer she's listed, together with Barøy, Torvanger and Varøy, in Convoy OB 180, which originated in Liverpool on July 7 and dispersed on the 10th. Her destination is given as Sydney, C.B., where she arrived on July 20, returning 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. The Norwegian Bestum, Evanger, Olaf Fostenes and Thorøy are also listed in this convoy, which originated in Liverpool on Aug. 29 and dispersed the next day. No destination is given for Solhavn on that occasion, but from the archive document, we learn that she arrived Sydney, C.B. on Sept. 10 (having started out from Milford Haven on Aug. 28). With a cargo of lumber for London, we now find her in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 6 on Sept. 27, and at the end of Nov.-1940 she's listed, together with Andrea Brøvig, Brisk, Elg, Havørn, Malmanger, Profit and Skrim, in Convoy OB 252, originating in Liverpool on Nov. 30, dispersed Dec. 4. According to Page 2, Solhavn arrived Sydney, C.B. on Dec. 23, having started out from Oban. She proceeded to Halifax that same day, remaining there for about a month before heading to St. John, N.B., with arrival there on Jan. 28-1941.

In Febr.-1941 she joined the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 23, cargo of lumber for London. Having made some voyages around the U.K., she headed to Reykjavik, and as will be seen on Page 2 of the archive documents, she made a voyage from there to Yarmouth, N.S. in May that year. According to A. Hague, this voyage was made 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. In Aug.-1941, we find her in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 4. Solhavn was bound for St. John's, N.F., station 95, arriving there on Aug. 21 (Page 2), the convoy having been dispersed on Aug. 18. Arnold Hague has her returning to the U.K. with Convoy SC 45*, which left Sydney, C.B. on Sept. 18 and arrived Liverpool on Oct. 4; Solhavn (cargo of lumber) stopped at Loch Ewe that day. The Norwegian Bjerka, Libra, Nea, Orania, Rio Verde, Snar, Trolla and Varanger are also listed in this convoy.

Her subsequent voyages are shown on Page 3; convoy information for some of these can be found in the above Voyage Record.

Skipping now to Febr.-1942, when I have her, together with Leka and Kongshavn, in Convoy RU 12 from Reykjavik to the U.K., in ballast for Clyde. She later had a long stay at Goole (Page 4), then in June, she made a voyage to Halifax, having joined the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 106*, which originated in Liverpool on June 23 and arrived Halifax on July 8 (she had joined from Loch Ewe). She headed back to the U.K. on July 24 in Convoy SC 93 from Sydney, C.B., cargo of lumber for Grimsby, where she arrived (via Loch Ewe and Methil Roads) on Aug. 11, returning across the Atlantic later that month with Convoy ON 124. According to the archive document, 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, arriving Liverpool on Oct. 14. 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 on Page 4, Page 5, Page 6 and Page 7, she now made voyages mostly around the U.K., with some voyages to Iceland in between (it'll also be noticed that she occasionally had fairly long stays in port). 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 her destination on Oct. 27.

Her 1944 voyages can be found on Page 8, Page 9 and Page 10, while her 1945 voyages are listed on Page 11 (shows a long stay at Tyne that spring) and Page 12. Again, convoy information for some of these is available in the Voyage Record above.

* The ON convoys 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. Note also that the entire SC series will be updated and completed (including the already existing convoys - some have already been updated), but for now, other ships sailing in SC 45 and SC 103 are named in the section listing ships in all SC convoys.

More information on the other Norwegian ships mentioned here can be found via the alphabet index at the end of this page, or go to the Master Ship Index.

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 link:
Stavern Memorial commemoration - As mentioned in the narrative 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: Misc. sources: Pre war and post war details are from "Våre gamle skip", Leif M. Bjørkelund & E. H. Kongshavn.