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M/S Tarifa To Tarifa on the "Ships starting with T" page. Manager: Wilh. Wilhelmsen, Tønsberg Launched by F. Schichau G.m.b.H., Danzig (Yard No. 1357) on Aug. 20-1936, completed Nov. 7. Captain: Hans Bjønness Related item on this website:
At the first external website that I've linked to below, Tarifa is listed in Convoy SL 124, which left Freetown on Oct. 3-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 22nd. She had a cargo of grain and mails, and also had a passenger on board, destination Belfast. The Norwegian Albert L. Ellsworth and Minister Wedel also took part, as did Norlys (Panamanian flag). The same website has her in Convoy WS 25, which left the U.K. on Dec. 18-1942. Follow the link for further details. In May-1943, she sailed in the New York-U.K. Convoy HX 239. Her destination is given as Swansea, general cargo, station 101 of the convoy, which departed New York City on May 13 and arrived Liverpool on the 28th. As will be seen by going to the link, she was in the company of several other Norwegian ships. Related external link:
Torpedoed and sunk by U-510 (Eick) on March 7-1944, about 250 n. miles east of Socotra, position 12 48N 58 44E, on a voyage from Suez and Aden to Melbourne with a cargo of, among other things 8240 tons Phosphate, 1290 tons crude oil, and 500 bags of mail. She had a crew of 47 and also had 101 military personnel from Australia and New Zealand and 1 other passenger on board (under Captain A.I.F. S. R. Dawson). She had had left Aden in the evening of March 2 and joined a convoy the following day, but had left it on March 6 and continued alone, zig-zagging. The explosion occurred between holds No. 3 and 4, and a few seconds later another explosion occurred near No. 5 hold. 2 were killed on impact, while a 3rd, Gunner Harry Stiansen was fatally injured and was declared dead by a military doctor after he had been taken into a lifeboat from the water. ("Nortraships flåte" has given him the name H. Kristiansen). He was later buried in the sea. No SOS could be sent from the ship because all the radio equipment and the radio station had been destroyed. One of the aft lifeboats had been destroyed in the second explosion, but 5 lifeboats were successfullly launched, with the captain leaving the ship as the last man at 11:25, about 5 minutes after the attack had occurred, and a few minutes later Tarifa was gone. Those who had been on board were distributed in such a way that as many as possible were taken into the lifeboats and rafts, with each boat taking a raft in tow. At about 11:35 the U-boat was seen surfacing about a mile off, then disappeared in a northerly direction. Distress calls were sent out via the emergency set in the lifeboat, but no replies were received. Another attempt was made at midnight, but again the signals were not acknowledged. The boats set sail for Socotra, but the next day it was decided that the captain's boat should go on ahead to get help as quickly as possible, and after having taken 3 men from the raft into the boat, the rest of the people on the raft he had been towing were distributed between the other boats, whereupon the raft was let go. With a total of 22 men in the boat the captain left the others. He landed at the Royal Air Force base on Socotra at 19:00 on March 12 where arrangements for the rescue of the remaining crew and passengers were made. On March 13 the first aircraft left the base and within an hour the boats and rafts were spotted, then a Royal Naval vessel was directed to their position. At 03:00 on March 14th they were all taken on board the British frigate HMS Avon which landed them in Aden (the lifeboats and rafts were shelled and sunk). The captain was taken to Aden by aircraft that same day, while the others were taken there by a British vessel. By March 16 all the survivors were assembled in Aden. According to an article written by an able seaman on board at the time Tarifa had previously made some trips to East Africa, Mauritius, Reunion Tamatave (Madagaskar), Mombasa, Tanga, Dar es Salaam, Beira, Lourenco Marques, then to Australia where she took on board a cargo for Suez (mostly food stuffs), departing Melbourne on Jan. 2-1944. Later she went to El-Quseir for a cargo of phosphate for Australia, but stopped by Suez to pick up the soldiers, pilots and Navy personnel who were going home to Australia and New Zealand. They were to live on deck on this voyage. Tarifa then continued to Aden for bunkers before heading east in a convoy, but left the convoy near Ras al Hadd. The able seaman says they were hit by 2 torpedoes, 1 between No. 2 and 3 hatch, the other on the poop; she sank in 10 minutes. Only those who were on the afterdeck were forced to jump overboard, the rest were able to get in the 5 boats and some rafts. 1 of the casualties had been crushed between a lifeboat and a raft on the poopdeck, another died in his cabin (the 2nd mate stated at the subsequent inquiry that the torpedo struck right below Gunner Olander's cabin, where he was sitting reading at the time). After a week's sailing they were picked up and taken to Aden, where the soldiers were placed in a camp, while the crew were given hotel rooms. The maritime inquiry was held in Liverpool on Apr. 25-1944 with the 1st and 2nd mates, the 4th engineer and the steward attending. All the witnesses had travelled from Aden to Port Said on board Tricolor, continuing to the U.K. on board the British Mahanada, while the captain travelled from Aden to Australia. Crew List:
Related external links: Operations information for U-510 The Australian War Memorial has a picture of this ship. It can be found by running a search through their collection search page. Back to Tarifa on the "Ships starting with T" page. Wilh. Wilhelmsen later had another ship by this name, from 1948 till 1969. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Wilh. Wilhelmsen fleet list, "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume II, Norwegian Maritime Museum and misc. others as named within above text - (ref. My sources).
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