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D/S Vestfold Updated Jan. 22-2010 To Vestfold on the "Ships starting with V" page. Owner: Vestfold Corp., a subsidiary of Vestfold Whaling Co. Ltd., London, associated with Johan Rasmussen & Co. Built by Furness Shipbuilding Co., Middlesbrough in 1931. Whale factory. Captain: Emil Haga.
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database). Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.
Vestfold is listed among the ships in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 38 in Apr.-1940, bound for Mersey with whale oil, station 34. She later joined Convoy OB 159, leaving Liverpool on June 1. Her destination is given as Aruba, and she had station 42 of the convoy - she arrived Curacao on June 20, the convoy having been dispersed on June 4 - ref. link provided in the Voyage Record. Crux is also included, with destination Cardiff. In the summer of 1942 she's listed in Convoy SL 112, which left Freetown on June 4 and arrived Liverpool on the 23rd. Vestfold was on a voyage from Freetown to Belfast with a cargo of fuel and diesel oil, station 63, and arrived Belfast Lough on June 22. The Norwegian Bralanta, Glittre, Herbrand, Norsktank and Atlantic also took part; again, see the external link in the table above for more on this convoy. In Aug.-1942 we find her in station 53 of the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 123, returning to the U.K. the following month with Convoy HX 208 from New York - the Commodore's narrative is also available for this convoy (Vestfold is mentioned under Oct. 1). She now joined the westbound Convoy ON 139, which originated in Liverpool on Oct. 16 and arrived New York Nov. 1 (see ships in all ON convoys), heading back to the U.K. on Nov. 11 in Convoy HX 215. Her last convoy voyage that year was made in the westbound Convoy ON 153, in which Bello was sunk, among others.
Convoy ON 153 had arrived New York on Dec. 31-1942. She's listed in the Halifax portion of Convoy HX 222 which sailed from Halifax on Jan. 8-1943, but according to A. Hague she joined from New York on the 6th. She was torpedoed and sunk on Jan. 17 by U-268 (Heydemann). She had a cargo of 17 386 tons oil and the Lend-Lease LCT-2239, LCT-2267 and LCT 2344 as deck cargo, also carrying passengers. The 3 landing craft were also lost. Roger W. Jordan and Jürgen Rohwer both give the position as 61 25N 26 12W, with Jordan adding that 19 died, 56 survived (agreeing with Lloyd's numbers). There seems to be some disagreement with regard to these numbers in that "Convoy Rescue Ships" by Arnold Hague states that the rescue ship Rathlin picked up 68 survivors. Hague offers the possible explanation that 12 gunners may not have been recorded by Lloyd's. The rescue operation was made very difficult by the fact that the engines were still running when the crew abandoned Vestfold in the lifeboats, resulting in several near collisions while the rescue vessel tried to approach the boats, because Vestfold was cruising in circles. Norwegian ships in this convoy were Glittre, Thorhild, Molda, Lynghaug, Nueva Granada and Tai Shan. Related external links: Other ships owned by Johan Rasmussen & Co. - Here is the main page. There are also pictures of Vestfold. Back to Vestfold on the "Ships starting with V" page. Other ships by this name: Norway had lost a Vestfold to WW I, built Sandefjord 1907, 1883 gt for P. Johannesen, Tønsberg, w/various later owners. Sunk by a German U-boat in 1917. Also, Det Helgelandske Dampskibsselskab, Sandnessjøen had a small Vestfold in 1879, later renamed Bodø for Bodø Dampbaadlag (1892), lost Apr. 11-1906 after having run aground off Kalvik, voyage Bodø-Kalvik. This ship had been built in Scotland in 1861 for unknown owner, 124 gt. Additionally, another Vestfold was built for Johan Rasmussen & Co. in 1950, and another in 1956 as well as in 1967 (all listed at the above website). The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Misc. sources as named within the above text.
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