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Owner: A/S Sjofna Built in Skien 1925. Previous names: Skagatind 1936, ex Hovland. Captain: Olaf Thorvald Olsen
In service mostly on the coast of England. Svint (destination given as Rouen) was scheduled for Convoy OA 167, which left Southend on June 13-1940, but she did not sail. (Other Norwegian ships included in this convoy are Heina, Lysaker IV, Troja and Tungsha). Svint shows up again a couple of days later in Convoy OA 168GF, which left Southend on June 15, then joined up with OB 168GF from Liverpool 2 days later to form Convoy OG 34F, arriving Gibraltar on June 24. Svint, however, was only bound for Bordeaux (ref. external links below - these convoys had many other Norwegian ships as well). At the end of Sept.-1940 she was in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 6, cargo of lumber for Frazerburgh. The Dutch D/S Karanan was the victim of a German aircraft attack on Febr. 19-1941, and Svint took her in tow to Falmouth. Svint herself survived 3 air attacks in one day, March 28, while travelling around Longships Light, Lands End. The first 2 did no damage, but during the last attack one of her crew was injured by machine gun fire, and Svint had to go to Penzance to put the injured man ashore. Related external links:
Svint was on a voyage from Workington to Plymouth with a cargo of coal, in a convoy(?) between Falmouth and Milford Haven, when she was attacked by aircraft 7 n. miles off Kellan Head, Trevose, just after midnight on July 10-1941. One of the bombs went through the starboard side of the bridge and detonated in the sea, while 2 others detonated off the port side of the engine room, causing the floor plates to be blown out of position and water to gush in, while it filled with steam due to broken steam pipes. Within 3 minutes there was about 2' of water in the engine room, and quickly increasing until the engine room and stokehold were flooded. The 1st Mate was found killed on the foredeck. All on board were in the port lifeboat* when the aircraft returned and dropped 3 more bombs, all hitting the sea close to the lifeboat, filling it with water. The ship was still afloat so they stayed nearby until a rescue vessel from Padstow came out in the morning and picked them up. The captain and 3 men returned that same day to find Svint in tow by two naval vessels, but she had taken in so much water that she sank that afternoon. An inquiry was held on July 22-1941 (in Padstow, where they were landed?) with the captain, the 2nd mate, the 1st engineer and Able Seaman Holm (helmsman) attending. *Some of the details above were found in "Nortraships flåte", but I get the understanding from the 1st engineer's statements that they remained on the ship until taken off by the rescue vessel from Padstow at daylight. Able Seaman Holm stated that he "helped recover the port lifeboat which had become adrift". He added that he had seen the 1st mate, who appears to have been the officer on watch, going to the starboard gun. The 2nd mate said he had seen a hole in the starboard side of the bridge close to the gun, and there was a large amount of debris on the bridge. Only one attack is mentioned in these statements, which refer to the captain's report as well, but I don't have a copy of this report. A visitor to my site says that according to "Shipwreck Index of the British Isles" Svint lies at 50 38 26N 04 57 12W.
Related external link: Back to Svint 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", Volume II, Norwegian Maritime Museum, and misc. (ref. My sources).
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