Olaf's information has been supplemented by Report of Proceedings by Commodore, received from Doug McLean, Canada - His source: Public Records Office, Kew.

Other sources used for the information on this page:
"Lloyd's War Losses", Vol I.
"Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two", Jürgen Rohwer.
"The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan.
"The Allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague.
"Convoy Rescue Ships 1940-1945", Arnold Hague.
"Dictionary of Disasters at Sea during the Age of Steam", Charles Hocking.

As can be seen from the station numbers, this convoy had 10 columns and 5 rows. By going to one of the convoys for which I have given a cruising order (for instance, ON 20) it's possible to see what this convoy looked like (except for the number of rows). Also, a blank convoy form is available for download from Mike's Holdoway's website; just take away 2 columns and 1 row, then place the ships in their appropriate stations.

For info, some of the ships in this convoy had previously arrived the U.K. with Convoy HX 251, others with HX 252 and HX 253. See also HX 254 and SC convoys from the same time period.

Escorts:
B 3 Group: HMS Keppel (S.O., Commander M. J. Evans), Escapade (later returned, see reports on this page), Towy, Narcissus, and Orchis, French Roselys, Lobelia and Renoncule, and Rescue Trawler Northern Foam.

A. Hague names the following escorts (extracted from this list of ONS convoy escorts, received from Don Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year. Don's own work, covering "Royal & other Navies Day-by-Day in World War 2" can be viewed at this website):
Sept. 14-Sept. 20: Escapade.
Sept. 14-Sept. 25: Keppel, Lobelia, Narcissus, Northern Foam, Orchis, Renoncule, Roselys.
Sept. 19-Sept. 20: St. Croix.
Sept. 19-Sept. 22: Itchen.
Sept. 19-Sept. 25: Chambly, Morden, Sackville.
Sept. 20-Sept. 25: Towy.
Sept. 25-Sept. 29: Barrie, Buctouche, Nipigon, Richmond.
Sept. 28: Westmount.

Notes - Convoy ON 202:
Commodore for ON 202 was E. O. Cohrane, R.N.R. in the Dutch Westland, Vice Commodore was the captain of Empire Cavalier.

The Commodore says about his ship Westland that she was a "Very good ship. Signalling arrangements excellent. No echo-sounding machine and no D/F were disadvantages".
He adds "Rescue ship Rathlin was of great assistance as whipper-in and repeating ship. Vice-Commodore was very helpful especially in low visibility - suffered from an unreliable engine continually breaking down".

Cavina, Dorelian, Empire Mist, Rathlin, Tilapa, Cairnvalona, and Leerdam parted company for Halifax at 08:30 on Sept. 28 in 42 51N 61 07W.

Alcoa Cutter and Casimir Pulaski left for Boston at midnight Sept. 28/29.

Empire Cavalier - signal mast requires lengthening at least 10 ?, can only just hoist a 4-flag hoist.

Escorts (from misc. reports):
West. local south: Columbia, Kamsack, Battleford, Blairmore.
West. Local North: Montgomery, Cobalt, Cowichan, Lachine.
Ocean Escort C2 Group: HMCS Gatineau, (S.O., Commander P.W. Burnett), Drumheller, Kamloops, HMS Icarus, Polyanthus (sunk), Destiny, Lancer, Lagan (damaged)
9th Escort Group: HMS Itchen (S.O., Commander C.E. Bridgeman [lost his life when sunk]), and HMCS St. Croix (sunk), Chambly, Morden and Sackville.
See also this page, including this report.

From the Commodore's Notes:
Gatineau, Lagan, Drumheller, Icarus, Kamloops, Polyanthus and Lancer - joined at 11:45 on Sept 16 off Oversay, left at 11:00 on Sept. 25 in 48 55N 48 55W.
Itchen, Escapade, St. Croix, Morden and Sackville - 11:30 on Sept. 19 in 57 07N 27 00W to 11:00 Sept. 25 in 48 55N 48 55W. With regard to Escapade and St. Croix the Commodore states "These two never seen or heard".
Keppel, Orchis, Lobelia, Renoncule, Narcissus, Chambly, Towy, Roselys, Northern Foam - from 17:15 on Sept. 20 in 57 21N 31 05W to 11:00 Sept. 25 in 48 55N 48 55W.
Montgomery, Cobalt, Cowichan and Lachine - from 17:00 on Sept. 25 in 48 55N 48 55W (this position makes no sense, it's the same as for 11:00 the same day) to 08:30 on Sept. 28 in 42 51N 61 07W.
Columbia, Kamsack, Battleford and Blairmore - from 08:30 Sept. 28 in 42 51N 61 07W to New York, Oct. 1.

From A. Hague's database, for comparison (extracted from this list of ON convoy escorts, received from Don Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Battleford - From 28/09/43 to 01/10/43
Blairmore - From 28/09/43 to 01/10/43
Chambly - From 19/09/43 to 25/09/43
Cobalt - From 25/09/43 to 28/09/43
Columbia- From 28/09/43 to 01/10/43
Cowichan - From 25/09/43 to 28/09/43
Drumheller - From 16/09/43 to 25/09/43
Escapade - From 20/09/43 to 20/09/43
Gatineau - From 16/09/43 to 25/09/43
Icarus - From 16/09/43 to 25/09/43
Itchen - From 19/09/43 to 23/09/43
Kamloops - From 16/09/43 to 25/09/43
Kamsack - From 28/09/43 to 01/10/43
Keppel - From 20/09/43 to 25/09/43
Lachine - From 25/09/43 to 28/09/43
Lagan - From 16/09/43 to 20/09/43
Lobelia - From 20/09/43v25/09/43
Montgomery - From 25/09/43 to 28/09/43
Morden - From 19/09/43 to 25/09/43
Narcissus - From 20/09/43 to 25/09/43
Orchis - From 20/09/43 to 25/09/43
Polyanthus - From 16/09/43 to 21/09/43
Renoncule - From 20/09/43 to 25/09/43
Roselys - From 20/09/43 to 25/09/43
Sackville - From 19/09/43 to 25/09/43
St Croix - From 19/09/43 to 20/09/43
Towy - From 20/09/43 to 25/09/43

Ships sunk Sept. 20 - incl. escort vessels:
The escorting HMCS St Croix was sunk by U-305 (Bahr), damaged earlier by the same U-boat. According to Charles Hocking (see My Sources) this destroyer was the former USS McCook which had been transferred to Canada under the Lend-Lease agreement, built 1919, 1190 gt. St. Croix (Lt. Commander A. H. Dobson) was hit by a torpedo during the 3rd assault on Sept. 20, sank from another hit later in the night. 5 officers and 75 ratings were picked up by HMS Itchen. (He says all but 1 was lost when Itchen sank, yet under Itchen he says they were all lost - see also Page 2). The external websites that I've linked to at the end of this page have names of casualties.

Frederick Douglass, on a voyage from Avonmouth for NewYork in ballast, was sunk by U-645 (Ferro), damaged earlier by U-238 (Hepp). She had a crew of 40, 29 gunners and 1 female stowaway - There were no casualties, survivors were picked up by Rescue Vessel Rathlin, see reports on subsequent pages.

Theodore Dwight Weld, on a voyage from Manchester for New York in ballast, was sunk by U-238. She had a crew of 70 and 28 gunners - 20 crew and 13 gunners killed. Some survivors were picked up by Rathlin - see subsequent pages.

HMS Polyanthus (built 1940, 925 tons) was sunk by U-952 (Hocking says 84 were lost, incl. Lt. J. G. Aitken [picked up by Itchen, died when that ship was sunk] 6 other officers and 77 ratings). See also external link provided below.

Ships sunk on the 23rd:
Oregon Express was sunk by U-238 (Hepp), position 53 40N 39 50W. More details are available on my page about Oregon Express.

M/S Skjelbred was also sunk by U-238. See Skjelbred.

Fort Jemseg, on a voyage from Hull and Loch Ewe for New York in ballast, was also sunk by U-238. She had a crew of 54, 1 of whom was killed. Survivors were picked up by Northern Foam and the Norwegian Romulus.

Itchen was sunk by U-666 (Engel). According to Charles Hocking 14 officers were lost, including Commander C. E. Bridgman.134 ratings died, as did 5 officers and 75 ratings rescued from St. Croix. (3 survivors were picked up by Polish Wisla*, 1 of whom was from St. Croix).

Steel Voyager (Convoy ONS 18), on a voyage from Liverpool for New York in ballast, was sunk by U-952 (Curio). She had a crew of 39 and 27 armed guard, all of whom survived and were picked up by Renoncule and Morden.

* I have received the following from Peter Coy:
There is a point in your website on Convoys ONS18/ON202 which you may care to debate and that is the identity of the rescuer of the 3 survivors from HMS Itchen.

I appreciate that the Senior Officer of B3 Escort Group reported initially that it was the Polish Wisla (see Page 3). However, in the Admiralty's later (15th November 1943) Anti-Submarine Report, now document ADM 199/2060 at Kew, the rescuer is identified as SS James Smith, occupying position 31 in the amalgamated convoy, i.e. directly astern of Itchen's last position. The confusion may have arisen because the sole survivor from St. Croix (Stoker Fisher) wrote in the Royal Canadian Navy Monthly Review (August 1944) that his rescuers were Poles.

As late as 1988 an historian still recorded that one from each of Polyanthus, St. Croix and Itchen survived the night of 22/23 September, whereas it was 2 from Itchen and one from St Croix. The names are known (see my 1997 book on B3 Group, "The Echo of a Fighting Flower"). I was on the bridge of HMS Narcissus that night and witnessed the tragedy".

Additionally, from Doug McLean, I've received this:
"I have been continuing my research of convoys ON 202 and ONS 18 for the past several months. One particular issue has proven challenging. Three ships have been identified as the one that picked up the 3 survivors of HMS ITCHEN on the night of 23 September 1943 – SS WISLA, SS JAMES SMITH and SS WAHELA. The controversy over identifying the correct ship is referred to on your web page for ON 202/ONS 18 - you now have there a letter from Peter Coy suggesting that the best candidate is the SS JAMES SMITH. I am not as sure as he is. I have prepared an analysis of the evidence that is available, and I am enclosing it as a word document (this has now been added to this site in its entirety on Page 4). I do not have Peter Coy’s address, but if it would be possible for you to forward the analysis to him I would very much appreciate it. I have his book, and appreciate that he does try to use all available evidence in his analysis.  His input would be very much appreciated.

I would also be interested in knowing if there would be any way of determining if a ship named WAHELA actually was in any of the North Atlantic convoys. I appreciate that there is no complete list of ships for ONS 18, but I have not been able to find any reference anywhere on the web to WAHELA, whereas WISLA and JAMES SMITH can indeed be found. Any suggestions would be appreciated."

(It seems most likely that Wahela is simply a mis-spelling of Wisla. If anyone would like to contact Doug Mc Lean and/or Peter Coy, I can supply their E-mail addresses - my contact info is provided at the bottom of this page).

Ships damaged:
HMS Lagan, built 1942, 1370 tons, damaged Sept. 20, U-270 (Otto), taken in tow by tug Destiny (see reports on next 2 pages) - total loss.

The American James Gordon Bennett was damaged by U-952, Sept. 23.

The combined convoy was turned over to HMCS Richmond, Senior Officer of Groups WI and W6 at WESTOMP at 11.00 on Sept. 25-1943.

Related external links:
Allied ships hit by U-boats - Enter the name of each ship sunk or damaged in this convoy for more details on the attacks on them.
Convoys ONS-18/ON-202 - An article by Rob Fisher

Casualty list - St. Croix

HMCS St. Croix - includes link to a downloadable casualty list (PDF file), a survivor account, and an account on the loss of the ship.

Excerpts from "In Peril on the Sea"

The loss of HMS Polyanthus

HMCS Sackville

McCook / St. Croix

Back to Convoy Index