Convoy SC 73 - warsailors.com

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CONVOY SC 73
Departed Halifax on March 6-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 24th (Arnold Hague says 24 ships).

Transcribed from several documents received from Tony Cooper, England (his source: Public Records Office, Kew). Station numbers and sequence of departure were received from Ted Agar - His source: Halifax diary. Stations are pendants flown on departure Halifax, and may have changed as the voyage progressed. ~~Crossed out~~ ships did not sail, underlined returned to port. MOWT = Ministry of War Transport
Ship	Nationality	Cargo	Station	Destination	Remarks
Empire Bunting	British	general - wood pulp	51	Liverpool	Commodore Vessel
~~Viking Star~~	"	frozen meat	81	Mersey	Sailed in SC 74
~~Ingerfire~~	Norwegian	phosphates	–	Tyne	From SC 72 Listed in SC 75
Wichita Falls	American	general	12	Reykjavik	–
Gerassimos Vergottis	Greek	dates	53	London	From SC 71
~~Ingman~~	British	steel - wood pulp	–	London	To SC 74 - did not sail Listed in SC 75
Anna N. Goulandris	Greek	pig iron - general	63	Liverpool	–
Chagres	Panamanian	general - mail 58	33	Mersey	From SC 72 Returned to Halifax w/collision damage Listed in SC 77
Peter Helms	American	general	22	Reykjavik	Returned to port (St. John's) w/boiler trouble
Guido	British	general	not known (possibly 93? See * in Notes)	Liverpool	From SC 72
Baron Cochrane	"	grain	41	London	From SC 72
~~Lackenby~~	"	general	–	Tyne	From SC 72 Shows up again in SC 79
Empire Cromwell	"	general	71	Southampton	–
Uranienborg	Danish / MOWT 1940	grain	92	Belfast f. o.	Returned to Halifax w/collision damage
Ramava	Latvian(?)	railway ties	73	Swansea / Southampton	–
Castilian	British	general	11	Hull	–
Aeas	Greek	grain	23	Hull	–
New York City	British	general	91	Avonmouth	–
~~Dunsley~~	"	sugar	62	Greenock	Listed in SC 74
~~Elizabeth Massey~~	"	general	61	Liverpool	Listed in SC 74
Dunav	Yugoslavian	general	72	Manchester	From SC 72
~~Trompenberg~~	Dutch	phosphates	–	Ipswich	Listed in SC 74
Condylis	Greek	grain	44	London	–
Maud	Norwegian	grain	83	Cardiff	–
Margarita Chandris	Greek	sugar	not known	Liverpool	–
Vinga	Norwegian	Adm. tanker B	32	Hvalfjord	From HX 178
Heimgar	"	flour	82	Glasgow	–
Inger Elisabeth	"	flour	52	Clyde f. o.	–
Empire Woodcock	British	general	42	Tyne	–
~~Mamura~~	Dutch	Tanker W	–	Avonmouth	–
Danby	British	grain	35	London	Returned to Halifax w/weather damage Listed in SC 74
Empire Opossum	"	steel - general	64	Tees	See Notes
~~Stalowa Wola~~	Polish	general	–	Manchester	Listed in SC 74
~~Zeus~~	Greek	grain	–	London	Listed in SC 75
~~Lido~~	Norwegian	flour	–	London	Listed in SC 75
Empire Albatross	British	steel - trucks	74 (or 94?)	Cardiff	Returned to Halifax w/weather damage Listed in SC 74
~~Leonidas N. Condylis~~	Greek	grain	–	London	From SC 72 Listed in SC 74
Empire Planet	British	general	13	London	Returned to Halifax w/weather damage Listed in SC 75
Benalder	"	general	21	Liverpool	–
Independence Hall	American	general	25	Clyde f. o.	Lost - See Notes
Fylingdale	British	steel - pulp	31	Manchester	–
Milcrest	"	steel - general	84	Cardiff	From SC 72
Joining from Newfoundland (WSC 73) (sailed March 10)
Exterminator	Panamanian	general		N. Russia sailed directly to Reykjavik	From SC 72 Joined Convoy PQ 14 to Murmansk
* Ted's diary also lists Gyda (station 93 - this might simply be a misspelling of Guido?), Askild (14 - Norwegian), Sarnolite (24) and Royalite (34) among the ships going out with this convoy, but as can be seen these ships are not included in the Advance Sailing Telegram - perhaps they went out for other reasons? See also * in Notes. The Rescue Vessel Toward was also with this convoy, sailing in station 54. She was on her 18th voyage as such, having been requisitioned on Dec. 14-1940. She had started this voyage from Clyde on Febr. 14 with the westbound Convoy ON 67 to Halifax (March 1) and returned with SC 73 March 6, to Clyde March 23-1942.

Notes:
Note that Empire Opossum shows up in some previous convoys on this website as American Western Ocean.

The American Independence Hall struck a reef off Sable Island on March 7-1942, broke in two and sank the following day.

The ships left port in the following order:
At 11:04 the British freighter Empire Cromwell went out followed at 11:10 by Baron Cochrane and with a few minutes between each ship: Benalder, Empire Bunting (Flagship), Fylingdale, Castilian, Toward, Vinga, Wichita Falls, Ramava, Peter Helms, New York City, Uranienborg, Heimgar, Gyda (might be Guido?), Inger Elisabeth, Margarita Chandris, Aeas, Askild, Empire Woodcock, Anna N. Goulandris, Maud, Chagres, Empire Planet, Milcrest, Dunav, Gerassimos Vergottis, Condylis, Sarnolite, Royalite, Empire Albatross, Empire Opossum, Danby, Independence Hall - no times are given for the last 8 ships.

* The Canadian Sarnolite and Royalite are also mentioned among the ships that went out with Convoy SC 71 on Febr. 22, and they are also listed among the ships for Convoy SC 75 on March 18. Looking at the arrival dates for each of these convoys it seems clear that they could not have sailed to England in SC 71 or SC 73, as well as SC 75. It's possible they were en route to other ports when they went out with one or the other of the first 2 convoys, or went out to test gunnery. As already mentioned, they are not included in the Advance Sailing Telegram for SC 73.

All the Norwegian ships mentioned in SC 73 are further discussed under their respective letter of the alphabet - index below.

Back to Convoy Index

To the next SC convoy in my list SC 74

Aa–Al	An–Ar	As–Av	Ba	Be	Bi–Bl	Bo	Br–Bu	C	D
E	F	G	Ha	He	Hi–Hy	Hø	I	J	K
L	M	N	O	PQ	R	Sa–Sc	Se–Sj	Sk–Sn	So
Sp–St	Su–Sø	Ta–Te	Th–Ti	To	Tr–Tø	U	V	W	Ø

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