The info has been supplemented by a separate list of ships received from Tony Cooper (his source: Public Records Office, Kew) whose info has been added here in italic text. Tony's list also includes ships joining from Sydney, C.B. and Newfoundland. On the whole it agrees with the diary, but in some instances it conflicts with it; this could simply mean that the ships moved to different stations as the voyage progressed.

Cargoes have been extracted from a document received from D. Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see his listing for HX 143 at Ships in all HX convoys.

See also Convoy ON 11 and subsequent ON convoys.

Br=British, Du=Dutch, Po=Polish, Norw=Norwegian, Sw=Swedish, Da=Danish, Fr=French, Gr=Greek.

MoWT = Ministry of War Transport.

Empire
Ray
(see 124)

Saintonge
fuel oil
(Fr [Br]*)

Southern
Empress
fuel oil
(Br)

Treminnard
flour
(Br)

Carmelfjell
general
(Norw)

Empire
Spring
grain
CAM ship
(Br)

Anna
Mazaraki
(see 115)

The diary also has a 13th column, with just one ship listed, namely the Swedish Tisnaren in station 135, right next to Katy. Tony says there were only 12 columns, and that Tisnaren was in station 15. The sequence list below also mentions Losada, station number not given and, therefore, not included above. Note, however, that A. Hague has not included Losada in HX 143, instead, he has listed her in Convoy SC 40, which left Sydney, C.B. on Aug. 10 - see Ships in all SC convoys. (She did leave Halifax on Aug. 5, but was en route to Sydney, C.B. at the time, so the author of the diary who saw her leave with the other HX convoy ships probably assumed she was destined for this convoy).

A. Hague lists Ceronia as British. For City of Cardiff, he has a note saying "new prop shaft fitted at Liverpool". He also says that Ravnefjell became a straggler - date not given.
He has Empire Lightning in station 88, which gives the convoy 8 rows. It'll be noticed, that he also has many of the other ships in different stations than what is shown above; again, see his listing for HX 143 at Ships in all HX convoys.

Notes:
*Saintonge was originally the Danish Henning Mærsk, sold to France in 1939, sailed under The Ministry of War Transport from 1940, back to France 1945 ("The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan).

**Tony gives me station 105 for Katy, this could simply mean she moved into that station from 125 later on. Also, he gives station 85 for Carmelfjell, which conflicts with Baron Ogilvy; again this could mean that there was a change in positions as the convoy progressed. As will be noticed some ships, including the Norwegian Petter, Ravnefjell, Carmelfjell, Primero, Benwood and Salamis, are not mentioned in the list below, which probably means that these joined from a feeder convoy from Sydney, C.B. or Newfoundland later on. When the additional ships in Tony's list are added, there are 73 ships.

The ships left Halifax in the following sequence (according to the diary, which does not include ships joining from Sydney, C.B. and Newfoundland):
The first to leave at 11:00 was the British Madura, followed a few minutes later by the British Iroquois, Eulima, Athelviscount, Aymeric, Bellhaven, San Arcadio, British Dominion, Trojan Star, the Dutch Magdala, Swedish Tisnaren, the British Chesapeake, Norwegian Belinda, British Charles L. D., Dutch Kedoe, an unnamed French tanker, British Corbis, Athelknight, Egyptian Prince, Silverguava, Dutch Ceronia, British Kirkpool, Jean L. D., Southern Empress, Inverilen, King Neptune, Empire Ibex, Norwegian Thorshavn and Mosli, British Baron Ogilvy, Empire Opal, Regent Lion, Nyanza, Novelist, Norwegian Andrea Brøvig, British Empire Shearwater, Pacific Exporter, Dutch Ganymedes, British Teddington, Greek Anna Mazaraki, British Port Dunedin, Norwegian Katy, British Celtic Monarch, unnamed Norwegian tanker, British Grainton, City of Cardiff, Empire Lapwing, Losada (as mentioned above, this ship is listed in the slow Convoy SC 40 from Sydney, C.B.), Polish Zagloba, British Empire Spring, Malayan Prince, Lacklan, Empire Ray, Dutch Gaasterkerk and the escorting HMS Wolfe which left Pier 23 at 16:00 and followed the convoy to sea. At 15:10 there's a notation that a tanker "goes out"; whether this means that the tanker goes out to sea, or whether it leaves the convoy is not clear.

A. Hague names the following escorts (extracted from this list of HX convoy escorts, also received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Agassiz - From 08/08/41 to 17/08/41
Annapolis - From 05/08/41 to 05/08/41
Arabis - From 17/08/41 to 20/08/41
Burnham - From 08/08/41 to 17/08/41
Dauphin - From 06/08/41 to 07/08/41
Galt - From 08/08/41 to 17/08/41
Levis - From 08/08/41 to 17/08/41
Malcolm - From 17/08/41 to 20/08/41
Mayflower - From 08/08/41 to 17/08/41
Napanee - From 06/08/41 to 07/08/41
Niagara - From 05/08/41 to 05/08/41
Northern Gem - From 17/08/41 to 20/08/41
Northern Pride - From 17/08/41 to 20/08/41
Northern Wave - From 17/08/41 to 20/08/41
Sardonyx - From 17/08/41 to 20/08/41
Scimitar - From 17/08/41 to 20/08/41
Verbena - From 17/08/41 to 20/08/41
Violet - From 17/08/41 to 20/08/41
Watchman - From 18/08/41 to 20/08/41
Wolfe - From 05/08/41 to 17/08/41

Related external link:
The Empire Ships - More information on all the Empire Ships sailing in Convoy HX 143.

Back to Convoy Index