Please note that the unnamed ships are named in the table and Notes below.

Br=British, Am=American, Gr=Greek, Norw=Norwegian, Hon=Honduran, Bel=Belgian, Fr=French, Fi=Finnish, Du=Dutch.

Advance Sailing Telegram

Transcribed from original documents received from Tony Cooper, England - His source: Public Records Office, Kew.
The station numbers in this case have been extracted from a document recived from Don Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see his listing for SC 70 at ships in all SC convoys.

Crossed out ships did not sail, underlined returned to port, except those that are linked, which will automatically be underlined.

MoWT = Ministry of War Transport

The ships left Halifax in the following sequence (as per the diary):
The first ship to go out at 10:21 was the American freighter Eldena* (KEVG), followed at 11:15 by an unnamed British freighter (station 61) and a few minutes later another unnamed British freighter (31), then an unnamed Belgian freighter (54), a British freighter (41), British freighter (81), British freighter (23), Hartlepool, then a British freighter (71, 'B' flag), Empire Day (Catapult freighter, Flagship), an unnamed Norwegian freighter (22), a Greek freighter (34) then strangely the Greek freighter Kalliopi is also listed for station 34. The next one out at 12:03 was Anneberg, then a Belgian freighter (33) followed by Alberte le Borgne (FNOG), Philip T. Dodge, an unnamed British freighter (32), an unnamed Norwegian freighter (74), a British freighter (62, 'B' flag), a Dutch freighter (14), a British freighter (25), then Saltersgate, Skottland, Winkleigh, an unnamed Dutch freighter (52), a Norwegian freighter (53), a British freighter (21), Mana*, an unnamed British freighter (12), a Greek freighter (35), then Kirsten B (with a note saying "she is loaded with Red Cross Ambulances, trucks and automobiles). The last ship to go out at 13:45 was an unnamed Norwegian freighter for station 83, with a 'B' flag. I believe this means she was carrying explosives. As already mentioned, Kirsten B is not included in the Advance Sailing Telegram for this convoy. According to her Voyage Record for this period, she left Halifax for St. John's, N.F. on Febr. 16-1942, with arrival Febr. 20. The author of the diary who saw her leaving with the other ships that were destined for SC 70 probably assumed that she too was intended for this convoy.

* As mentioned in the table above, Eldena joined Convoy PQ 13, departing Loch Ewe on March 10-1942, arrived Reykjavik a week later, sailed from there for Russia on March 20. Mana also joined this convoy. (See also this thread on my Ship Forum).

According to Lloyd's list, these ships left as follows (received from Roy Martin):
Norwegian Kirsten B (for St Johns, Newfoundland), Hartlepool (Loch Ewe), Maycrest (Hull), Norwegian Skottland (Loch Ewe), Dutch Spar (Loch Ewe), Winkleigh (Loch Ewe), Norwegian Veni (Loch Ewe), Saltersgate (Loch Ewe), Alex (Hull), Cap Cantin (London), Empire Elk (Londonderry), Belgian Bruxelles (Clyde), Greek Kalliopi (Loch Ewe), Greek Polyktor (Loch Ewe), Harmonic (Hull), American Eldena (Clyde f. o.), Anneberg (Manchester), Honduran Mana (Clyde f. o.), Empire Day (Mersey), Dutch Aruba (Clyde), Norwegian Lista (Liverpool), Belgian Belgique (Clyde), Margot (Liverpool), Telesfora de Larrinaga (Holyhead), Empire Beaver (Holyhead), Empire Plover (Mersey), Lumen (Belfast), Philip T. Dodge (Belfast), Norwegian Bur (Mersey), Empire Ridley (Belfast), Empire Scout (Belfast), Norwegian Para (Belfast), Alberte Le Borgne (Liverpool).

The convoy arrived rendezvous on Febr. 28.

A. Hague names the following escorts (extracted from this list of SC convoy escorts, received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Alberni - From 15/02/42 to 19/02/42
Amherst - From 19/02/42 to 26/02/42
Celandine - From 19/02/42 to 03/03/42
Clayoquot - From 15/02/42 to 22/02/42
Collingwood - From 15/02/42 to 19/02/42
Dianthus - From 19/02/42 to 03/03/42
Fennel - From 19/02/42 to 03/03/42
Mahone - From 15/02/42 to 19/02/42
Rosthern - From 15/02/42 to 22/02/42
Saskatoon - From 15/02/42 to 19/02/42
Scimitar - From 03/03/42 to 05/03/42
USS MacLeish - From 20/02/42 to 03/03/42

Related external link:
Empire Ships

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