M/T Thordis
Updated Sept. 3-2012

To Thordis on the "Ships starting with T" page.

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As will be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Thordis was on her way from Balik Papan to Port Darwin when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940. After the German invasion it was not uncommon for Norwegian ships to be treated with distrust and suspicion, resulting in quite a few of them being forced into port by British war ships, and even put under armed guard. This also happened to Thordis on Apr. 15 when she was escorted from Darwin to Thursday Island, together with M/T Havbør. They were subsequently joined by Anders Jahre and Høegh Giant, before continuing to Brisbane on Apr. 19.

Her 1941 voyages also start on Page 1 and continue on Page 2 (it'll be noticed that she had quite a long stay in Singapore that summer).

She was at Haifa on Christmas Eve 1941, along with several other ships, among them the Norwegian M/T Vilja and M/T Athene, when the tanker Phenix suddenly blew up while maneuvering out from the harbour (from Page 3 of the archive documents, we learn that Thordis had arrived Haifa from Alexandria on Dec. 19). Most of the ships managed to get clear of the burning and sinking ship (though Vilja had been damaged). Thordis was sent to Beirut, where she arrived Dec. 25. It's believed that the cause of the explosion might have been similar to what had happened at Alexandria a few days earlier - see M/T Sagona.

According to A. Hague's record above, Thordis ran aground on Apr. 22-1942, when on her way from Colombo to Cochin. She was refloated and arrived Cochin on Apr. 28, continuing to Bombay for repairs 2 days later, with arrival May 3, subsequently spending a long time there; departure is given as Sept. 29, when she proceeded to Abadan - again, see Page 3. As can be seen, she also had a long stay in Bombay at the end of that year. Her 1943 voyages also start on this document (convoy information in Voyage Record above), while the rest are shown on Page 4 and it'll be noticed that there's another long gap in her voyages that year. She had arrived New York from Trinidad on June 16-1943 and did not leave again until Sept. 16-1944, joining Convoy HX 309, for which Laurits Swenson served as the Vice Commodore's ship (several Norwegian ships took part; follow the link for more details). The reason for this long stay in New York is not known. Thordis arrived Southampton, via Portland, on Oct. 6, subsequently spending over a month at Tyne. She later remained in Falmouth for almost a year; again, reason not known.

From Page 4, we learn that she went home to Norway in Nov.-1945.

According to this external page, she was sold in Nov.-1951 to Sameiet Vaagan (Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab), Stokmarknes and renamed Vaagan. Sold in May-1955 to British Iron & Steel Co. (BISCO). Allocated to Thos. W. Ward Ltd. for breaking up, arriving Inverkating, Scotland on June 22-1955.

Back to Thordis on the "Ships starting with T" page.

Other ships named Thordis: Wilh. Wilhelmsen had a Thordis, built in Sunderland 1899, 3736 gt - lost March 4-1906 near Port Stevens, N. S. W. Another Thordis was built for the company in 1906 at Fevik, 1749 gt, lost July 5-1911, voyage Petropavlovsk-Vladivostok. Tønnevold also previously had a Thordis, built in Oakland, California 1917, she had Norwegian officers and a Chinese crew. Sold (to Oslo) in 1925 and renamed Hampholm. See also this posting to Uboat.net's forum.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, Roger W. Jordan, "Olaf Tønnevold & Sønner 1878-1978" Birger Dannevig - and misc.