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Owner: D/S A/S Carolvore Built in Stockton-on-Tees, delivered in Dec.-1920 as Stonewall to Garland SS Corp, New York. Owned from 1923 by St.Helen's Shipping Co, London as Silverbirch. Renamed Ardenhall in 1924 for S.N.Co, West Hartlepool, Cefnybryn in 1936 for Kilvey Shipping Co (Ambrose, Davies & Matthews), Cardiff, Galeb from 1936 for Jugoslavenska Plovidba DD, Susak, Yugoslavia. Sold in 1939 to D/S A/S Carolvore, Farsund, Norway and renamed Vest. Captain: Thorolf Gundersen On charter to The Ministry of War Transport from 1940 and all through the war, then returned.
Vest was scheduled to sail in Convoy SL 98 from Freetown to Liverpool on Jan. 15-1942, but returned to port (ref. external link below). In May-1942 we find her in the slow Convoy SC 83 from Halifax (having cancelled from the 3 previous convoys, SC 80, SC 81 and SC 82). In July that same year she's listed in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 93, cargo of steel and lumber for London, and in Sept.-1942 she sailed in station 53 of the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 128. Her destination is given as Halifax - follow the links for more details; several Norwegian ships took part. Going back to the external website that I've linked to below, Vest can be found in Convoy OS 45 in March/Apr.-1943, voyaging from Milford to Freetown with coal, station 43. The same website also has her in Convoy SL 129 (MKS 13) the following month, departing Freetown on May 11-1943, arrival Liverpool on June 1. Cargo is given as Pepel ore, voyage from Pepel to Loch Ewe. The Norwegian Belnor, Fernhill and Heimvard are also listed. In Sept.-1943 she shows up in the Sydney section of the slow Convoy SC 141 from Halifax to the U.K., cargo of steel and lumber for Garston. The following month she's listed in Convoy OS 56/KMS 29, on a voyage to Gibraltar with a cargo of coal in station 14. This convoy left Liverpool on Oct. 7 and split up on Oct. 18, KMS 29 arriving Gibraltar Oct. 20-1943. Follow the external link mentioned for more convoy details. Related external links:
As mentioned, KMS 29 had arrived Gibraltar on Oct. 20-1943. On Nov. 2-1943, Vest arrived Brindisi, Italy with her 6180 tons coal (the voyage having started in Cardiff), and being too deep for the quay she dropped anchor to await orders. On Nov. 24 she received orders to head to Bari to unload half of the cargo, then return with the rest, and departed Brindisi the following day. On the 26th* she commenced discharging coal to the depot vessel S/S Frisconini, and also provided bunkers to the Danish Lars Kruse (British flag at the time), continuing unloading in the course of the subsequent few days, and providing bunkers for various naval vessels. On Dec. 2 she was placed in between Frisconini and S/S Odysseus which was to receive bunkers, but when a storm blew up the work ceased around noon (the depot vessel had caused some damages to her port side in the strong winds). A tug moved Odysseus away from her.
At that time a large allied convoy of tankers, ammunition ships and supply vessels was at anchor at Bari with much needed supplies for the British, American and Canadian armies for their advance up the Italian mainland. The Liberty ship USS John Harvey (captain Knowles) had a cargo of liquid mustard gas bombs, (suspecting the enemy might resort to chemical warfare) and was guarded by a unit of the 701st Chemical Maintenance Company. In addition to Vest the Norwegian D/S Bollsta, Norlom, Lom and Salamis were present. About 20 enemy aircraft attacked that evening and one of the ammunition ships was hit and blew up, starting the domino effect of events, setting a number of ships on fire. The end result was over 1000 dead, many injured and suffering from the effects of the mustard gas. At least 17 ships were sunk (follow the link to Bollsta for a list of all the ships damaged or sunk - see also the external links at the end of this text for further information). Vest took part in the defence by firing her guns from the bridge and boat deck, supervised by Captain Gundersen and 1st Mate Fulland on the bridge, and 2nd Mate Karlsen on the boat deck, the latter also being the gunnery officer on board. About 15 minutes after the attack had started she was hit by a bomb, causing the funnel to fall down, blowing the upper part of the bridge away; shrapnel and pieces of glass were flying around. Able Seaman Pettersen stated at the subsequent inquiry that he saw the captain, the 1st mate and a British gunner being thrown down to the lower bridge. 15 were injured, Donkeyman Moldevær most severely, his left hand almost ripped off. He was also bleeding heavily from a wound in his thigh, and needed urgent medical attention. The injured were placed in the motor lifeboat and the port lifeboat, which both had to be rowed as the gasoline tank for the motorboat had been destroyed during the bombing. They managed to get passed the burning ships and within half an hour they reached shore where the injured were taken by car to a hospital. Donkeyman Moldevær was later sent by plane to North Africa, according to Stoker Sperre's statements at the subsequent inquiry. The captain and the 1st mate had intended to return to the ship to save the ship's and their own papers as soon as the injured had been seen to, but in the meantime the ammunition ship exploded, turning the entire harbour into an inferno. Those who had remained on board had assembled amidships on the starboard side and somehow escaped serious injury, managing to launch a 3rd lifeboat and get themselves to safety. At that time Vest was on fire on both sides of the after deck. The fire soon spread to other areas of the ship, and the following afternoon, Dec. 3, when the captain, the 1st mate and 2-3 others went back on board they found Vest seriously damaged, and parts of the ship, including several cabins completely burnt out. 8 days later, 10 crew members were sent to Toronto, then on to Bizerta, later to Tunisia. From there they were transported to Algiers by train with arrival during the night of Dec. 21. An inquiry was held there on Dec. 23-1943 with Able Seaman Pettersen and Stoker Sperre attending. None of the officers had arrived Algiers, 14 men, including the captain having remained in Bari on orders from Ministry of War Transport to oversee the unloading of her cargo. Some of the cabins could still be used. On Dec. 7 they had been requested to provide bunkers for D/S Spero (the Norwegian one?) which came alongside. This ship also helped extinguish a small fire in the coal in No. 2 hold with the help of a water hose laid out from the latter ship. On Dec. 9 Pelagos (not the Norwegian one) and Giampavlo received bunkers from Vest, as did S/S Slokada and Screlno the next day. The 14 who remained in Bari have been denoted * in the crew list below. Vest was in for repairs for the rest of the war
Sold in 1950 to Kristiansand and renamed Siredal. Sold in 1954 to Skibs A/S Motor (Einar Salvesen, Kragerø, manager), renamed Regulus in 1956. Sold in 1959 to Bowring & Curry GmbH, Hamburg and renamed Ruth. Sold to breakers at Hong Kong, where she arrived on Oct. 29-1959. Related external links: Back to Vest on the "Ships starting with V" page. A fishing vessel, M/B Vest (R 270 A) escaped from Sævelandsvik on May 17-1940 with 7 people on board, 4 of whom were British, arriving Lerwick on May 18. Vest later returned to Norway, then made another trip to Shetland on Aug. 7-1941 with 2 people. This external Norwegian website has a picture and more information. 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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