I have added the nationalities of the ships with the help of "The World's Merchant Fleets". R. W. Jordan.

Br=British, Gre=Greek, Du=Dutch, Norw=Norwegian, Sw=Swedish, Fr=French, Pa=Panamanian

B = Bermuda portion

Note that some ships are missing from this form - again, see the Advance Sailing Telegram below.

Transcribed from several documents received from Tony Cooper - His source: Public Records Office, Kew.

Note that some of the ships in this AST are not mentioned on the A 1 form above

* As already mentioned, I believe Shirak, British Ardour and Henry Dundas, which have been crossed out in the Advance Sailing Telegram, sailed with the Bermuda convoy, but went into Halifax and did not join the main convoy.

There were initially 29 ships in the convoy - 16 joined with the BHX feeder convoy from Bermuda for a total of 45 ships, 43 of which were still present at the local escort rendezvous point - the Norwegian Arosa having dropped astern ("not under control") in 41 15N 53 40W - did not rejoin - and the French Louis L-D having "deserted the convoy during the night of Saturday 22nd June 1940 - unobserved, but probably about 2200 in hazy weather and before moon rise" (according to Commodore's comments). Approx. position 49N 25W .

The Bermuda portion joined at 12:30 on June 19 in 43 47N 38 42W, one day late due to dense fog and very low visibility.

Average convoy speed: 8 knots.

Commodore's comments on station keeping:
"British ships - very good. Neutrals - fair. There were 15 neutrals in this convoy - 11 of these for their first time. A number of them were unable to make 9 knots in fine weather."

Commodore's comments on W/T signalling:
"There was a certain amount of oscillation taking place in the convoy and I had to make signals about it. It was found impossible to trace it by D.F., but the Ocean Escort and my own Chief P. O. Telegraphist both suspected a Greek ship named Joannis - position 32 immediately astern of Commodore."

Commodore's comments on ship's unable to maintain pre-arranged speed:
"Norwegian ship Balla (very small), Greek Joannis, British ship Nolisement were the worst offenders. None of these ships appeared capable of more than 8 3/4 knots in the finest weather, and then only for a short period. No other reasons are known."

Ocean Escort: Armed merchant cruiser (former passenger vessel) HMS Voltaire in company from Haifax until 13:15 on Monday, June 24-1940, parting company in 50 21N 17 43W.
Local Escorts: Corvettes HMS Heartsease and HMS Arabis for "A" portion, destroyers HMS Whirlwind (S.O.) and HMS Volunteer.

More details on all the Norwegian ships sailing in this convoy can be found via the alphabet index below.

Back to Convoy Index