M/T Sydhav

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

Crew List

Owner: Skibs-A/S Sydhav
Manager: Trygve Lodding, Oslo
Tonnage: 7587 gt., 4557 net, 12 120 tdwt.
Call Sign: LDIG

Delivered in March-1929 from Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., Wallsend as Sydhav to Skibs-A/S Sydhav (Trygve Lodding), Oslo. 450.8' x 61' x 33.2', 6 cyl. 2 TEV DM (Wallsend Slipway & Eng. Co. Ltd., Wallsend), 1010 nhp.

Captain: Nils O. Helgesen

Some War Voyages:

(More will be added).

Sydhav, bound for Clyde with fuel oil, is listed among the ships in Convoy HX 118 from Halifax to the U.K. at the end of March-1941 - follow the link for more convoy details. The following month we find her in Convoy OB 316, departing Liverpool on Apr. 28, dispersed on May 5. Ref. external link provided below; the Norwegian Annavore, Danio, and Taranger are also listed.

Later that year, she joined Convoy HX 165, which left Halifax on Dec. 15-1941 and arrived Liverpool on the 30th.

At the beginning of 1942 she's listed as bound for Curacao in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 59, which left Liverpool on Jan. 23-1942 and dispersed on Febr. 6. This convoy will be added to my Convoys section, but in the meantime, the ships sailing in it are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys, and as will be seen, the Norwegian Braganza, Hardanger (returned), Herbrand, Hilda Knudsen, Kongsgaard, Norsktank (returned), O. A. Knudsen, Pan Aruba, Salamis, Sommerstad (returned), Svenør, and Thorshavet are also included.

S. Inselseth, who later went on to become the captain of one of my mother's ships after the war (see M/S Mogen), served on Sydhav until Jan.-1942; in other words, he paid off shortly before her last voyage.

Related external link:
Convoy OB 316

Final Fate - 1942:

Sydhav was on a voyage from Curacao and Trinidad for Freetown, having departed Curacao in the evening of Febr. 17 with 11 400 tons oil. She was struck by 2 torpedoes from U-505 (Loewe) in the morning of March 6-1942, the first one hitting in the engine room on the starboard side, the other a little foreward of it just a couple of seconds later, 04 47N 14 57W*. The starboard lifeboat was destroyed, so the crew aft ran to the port boat, but the ship was sinking so quickly (by the stern) that all hands, including those amidships, had to jump overboard, and were pulled under with the suction. The captain and several others never resurfaced, while those who did saved themselves on 2 rafts. The U-boat was spotted about 200-300 meters away and those on the rafts heard that the Chinese mess boy, who was clinging to debris in the water, was hailed, then the boat submerged without having approached the rafts. The mess boy was later pulled into the port lifeboat which was found capsized nearby and which they managed to bail, but he died from his injuries shortly thereafter so they were never able to ask him what had been said. They rowed around in the area until it got dark in the hopes of finding their missing shipmates, then headed north. Shortly after midnight on March 7 they were picked up by the British HMS Kelt and taken to Freetwon.

In the very last issue of the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren" (2000) there's an article about this incident. On board was the young Thorstein Schau who had signed on Sydhav in Apr.-1941 at which time they headed for Curacao, then to London. He says that on that voyage they were not far away when the German Bismarck was sunk; they could hear the sounds of the guns firing. At the beginning of March-1942, Sydhav was again in Curacao, preparing for what later proved to be her last voyage. According to Schau things started to happen already as they left the harbour area when 3 ships were sunk near the inlet, one of them being the Norwegian Kongsstein, according to him. However, this must be an error, this ship was laid up in Sweden for the duration, but he may be referring to Kongsgaard(?). He says that Sydhav was kept back for a while because of these occurrences, so even if he is referring to Kongsgaard, the dates don't quite seem to fit, in that this ship was sunk on Febr. 21-1942, and according to the 2nd mate's sinking report for Sydhav, she had departed Curacao on Febr. 17 (unless she returned to port?). Schau says that en route to Freetown they passed 4 ships that had been sunk, but could do nothing to help as they were not allowed to stop. On March 6 he was asleep in his cabin when the first torpedo hit. In a short while he was out on deck, but just as he was heading for the boat deck to get to his assigned lifeboat another explosion occurred which tore away the ladder he was climbing. When he came to he was in the water, but spotted a raft which he and some of his shipmates managed to get into, before finding a lifeboat with a damaged bow, righted it and climbed in. The water was seething with sharks, and to their horror they had to watch as one of their shipmates, who was floating on a mattress nearby was attacked, a sight they would never forget.

The maritime hearings were held in London on Apr. 6-1942 with the 2nd mate/radio operator, the 1st engineer and the steward appearing. The 2nd mate had been asleep when the attack occurred.

Crew List:
* Knut Sandøy had also survived the attack on Risanger, and later lost his life when Christian Michelsen was sunk.
** T. Schau had previously served on Salamis, having signed on at age 14 in Dec.-1939.
After the loss of Sydhav, he joined another ship on Apr. 14-1942, possibly Bergensfjord.

Survivors
2nd Mate Knut Sandøy *	Carpenter Erling Bekkevold	Boatswain Ole Johansen	Able Seaman Haakon Kristoffersen	Able Seaman Sverre B. Olsen	Ordinary Seaman Jakob Gullaksen
Able Seaman Ragnar J. Ryden (Swedish)	Able Seaman Gunnar Vennesland	Able Seaman/Gunner Magnus Homanberg	Ordinary Seaman Torstein Schau **	Ordinary Seaman Ole Solstad	Jr. Ordinary Seaman Abrahim Swanopoel (South African)
1st Engineer Olaf Olsen	3rd Engineer Ingebrigt Haugan	4th Engineer Sverre Vaardal	Mechanic Normann Gulbrandsen	Mechanic Anker Andersen	Mechanic Palmer Hansen
Mechanic Toralf Robertsen	Mechanic Fritjof Larsen	Mechanic Knut Steinsvaag	Steward Finn Bruun	Cook Sverre Eriksen	Saloon Boy Wang Sing Kan (Chinese)
Casualties
† Captain Nils O. Helgesen	† 1st Mate Hans Elias Hansen	† 3rd Mate Magnus Iversen	† Able Seaman Kristian Pedersen	† 2nd Engineer Bjarne Evensen	† Mechanic Halvor Grindstad
† Mechanic Egil Andersen	† Stoker Wilhelm Larsen	† Oiler Ah Kiam Goh * (Chinese)	† Oiler Ah Heng Lee * (Chinese)	† 2nd Cook Char Jiow Chin (Chinese)	† Mess Boy Woo Kang Sung (Chinese)

* Billy BcGee, England has told me that these men are commemorated at the Hong Kong War Memorial. More details on them can be found by entering each name in the relevant search field at the Commonwealth War Graves Comm. website, using WW II and 1942 in the other fields to narrow down the search results. Here is Ah Kiam Goh and here is Ah Heng Lee (see also this page in my Survivors & Fatalities section). I'm unable to find the other 2 Chinese crew members - perhaps the names are spelt wrong.

Related external links:
Stavern Memorial commemorations - The 8 Norwegians are commemorated at this memorial for seamen in Stavern, Norway.

U-505
The U-505 episode

U-505 - Historical Navy Ships. From the Naval Historical Center.
Capture of the U-505 - A First Person Account, By Frank P. DeNardo, Former Signalman 2/C aboard the USS Chatelain
Film of the capture of U-505 - Click on "Capture of U-505", then scroll down to bottom of page.
U-505 en route to Chicago - Heaps of pictures of the move!
U-505 captured by Task Group 22.3, June 4, 1944 - A LOT of information on the capture of this U-boat (Archival records, from the website The U-boat Archive).

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

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Krigsseileren", 2002, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum), Leif Høegh & Co. fleet list, and misc. others for cross checking info - ref. My sources.