D/S Ada
Updated July 8-2008

To Ada on the "Ships starting with A" page.


Picture received from Per Myklestu.

When named Bessa post war. (From Bjørn Milde's postcard collection).

Voyage Record – From July-1940 to Aug.-1945:

(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database.
Supplemented with information received from Tony Cooper, England).

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Compare Arnold Hague's records with these original images from the Norwegian National Archives
(unfortunately, some of the scans have information missing in the margin):
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1940	July 6	Baltimore	Guaira	July 16	Independent	–
	July 16	Guaira	Puerto Cabello	July 18	Independent	–
	July 19	Puerto Cabello	Maracaibo	July 21	Independent	–
	July 23	Maracaibo	Trinidad	Aug. 4	Independent	–
	Aug. 6	Trinidad	Mobile	Aug. 15	Independent	–
	Aug. 18	Mobile	Nuevitas	Aug. 24	Independent	–
	Aug. 28	Nuevitas	Philadelphia	Sept. 4	Independent	–
	Sept. 22	Philadelphia	New York City	Sept. 22	Independent	–
	Sept. 28	New York City	Hampton Roads	Sept. 29	Independent	–
	Oct. 1	Hampton Roads	Bahia	Oct. 25	Independent	–
	Oct. 27	Bahia	Rio	Oct. 31	Independent	–
	Nov. 2	Rio	Capetown	Nov. 20	Independent	–
	Nov. 21	Capetown	Durban	Nov. 29	Independent	–
	Dec. 10	Durban	Aden	Jan. 3-1941	Independent	–
1941	Jan. 17	Aden	Suez	Jan. 24	BN 13	See BN 13 (external link)
	Febr. 24	Suez	–	–	BS 17	Dispersed March 3 See BS 17 (external link)
	March 4	Detached from BS 17	Basra	March 14	Independent	–
	March 20	Basra	Durban	Apr. 18	Independent	Sailing date approximate
	Apr. 19	Durban	Capetown	Apr. 23	Independent	–
	May 1	Capetown	Pernambuco	May 17	Independent	–
	May 18	Pernambuco	Hampton Roads	June 4	Independent	–
	June 6	Hampton Roads	New York City	June 8	Independent	–
	Aug. 6	New York City	Parrsboro	Aug. 9	Independent	–
	Aug. 25	Parrsboro	Halifax	Aug. 27	Independent	–
	Sept. 7	Halifax	Sydney, C.B.	Sept. 9	Independent	–
	Sept. 11	Sydney, C.B.	Loch Ewe	Sept. 27	SC 44	See SC 44 (external link)
	Sept. 28	Loch Ewe	Methil	Sept. 30	WN 186	See WN 186 (external link)
	Oct. 1	Methil	Southend	Oct. 3	FS 609	See FS 609 (external link)
	Oct. 14	Southend	Tyne	Oct. 15	FN 532	See FN 532 (external link)
	Nov. 21	Tyne	Methil Roads	Nov. 22	FN 557	See FN 557 (external link)
	Nov. 22	Methil Roads	Methil Roads	–	Intended for EN 10	Did not sail, or returned to port See EN 10 (external link)
	Nov. 26	Methil	Loch Ewe	Nov. 28	EN 12	See EN 12 (external link)
	Nov. 29	Loch Ewe	Bound for Halifax	–	ON 41	Dispersed in 47 44N 45 16W, Dec. 11 Convoy will be added. See ships in ON convoys
	Dec. 11	Detached from ON 141	Halifax	Dec. 20	Independent	Engine repairs on arrival to Apr. 27-1942
1942	Apr. 30	Halifax	Belfast	May 15	SC 82	–
	May 16	Belfast Lough	Holyhead	May 17	BB 174	See BB 174 (external link)
	May 19	Holyhead	Milford Haven	May 20	BB 176	See BB 176 (external link), but Ada is not included
	May 22	Milford Haven	Southampton	May 24	WP 160	See WP 160 (external link)
	May 29	Southampton	Barry Is.	May 30	PW 163	See PW 163 (external link)
	May 30	Barry Is.	Newport	May 31	–	–
	June 2	Newport	Barry	June 2	–	–
	June 5	Barry	Milford Haven	June 6	–	–
	June 8	Milford Haven	Halifax	June 25	ON 102	Bound for Chatham, N.B. Convoy will be added. See ships in ON convoys
	June 26	Halifax	Sydney, C.B.	June 28	HS 17	See HS 17 (external link)
	July 3	Sydney, C.B.	Chatham, N.B.	July 5	Independent	–
	July 14	Chatham	Sydney, C.B.	July 16	Independent	–
	July 17	Sydney, C.B.	Loch Ewe	July 30	SC 92	–
	July 31	Loch Ewe	Methil	Aug. 2	WN 316	See WN 316 (external link)
	Aug. 3	Methil	Spurn Head	Aug. 4	FS 872	See FS 872 (external link)
	Aug. 10	Spurn Head	Methil	Aug. 12	FN 783	See FN 783 (external link)
The above entries are from Arnold Hague's database. Tony Cooper's records instead show the following for this time period (green rows).
	–	–	Methil Roads	Aug. 2	–	–
	Aug. 2	Methil Roads	Spurn Head	Aug. 3	–	–
	Aug. 3	Spurn Head	Hull	Aug. 4	–	–
	Aug. 10	Hull	Spurn Head	Aug. 11	–	–
	Aug. 11	Spurn Head	Methil Roads	Aug. 12	–	–
	Aug. 17	Methil	Loch Ewe	Aug. 19	EN 125	See EN 125 (external link)
	Aug. 22	Loch Ewe	Halifax	Sept. 5	ON 124	Bound for Sydney, C.B.
	Sept. 11	Halifax	Sydney, C.B.	Sept. 13	HS 50	See HS 50 (external link)
According to Tony's records, she then arrived Pugwash on Sept. 14, and:
	Sept. 25	Pugwash	Sydney, C.B.	Sept. 27	Independent	–
	Sept. 30	Sydney, C.B.	Oban	Oct. 14	SC 103	See SC 103 (external link)
	Oct. 14	Loch Ewe	Methil	Oct. 17	WN 349	See WN 349 (external link)
	Oct. 18	Methil	Southend	Oct 20	FS 937	See FS 937 (external link)
	Nov. 3	Southend	Methil	Nov. 6	FN 856	See FN 856 (external link)
	Nov. 6	Methil	Loch Ewe	Nov. 8	EN 159	See EN 159 (external link)
	Nov. 15	Loch Ewe	Halifax	Dec. 5	ON 146	Bound for New York Convoy will be added. See ships in ON convoys
	Dec. 9	Halifax	New York City	Dec. 13	ON 148	Convoy will be added. See link above
1943	Jan. 19	New York City	Gitmo	Jan. 26	NG 338	See NG 338 (external link)
	Jan. 26	Gitmo	Trinidad	Febr. 1	GAT 40	See GAT 40 (external link)
Missing voyages can be found by clicking on the links to Page 3 and Page 4 provided above this table.
	Sept. 26	Trinidad	Gitmo	Oct. 1	TAG 87	See TAG 87 (external link)
	Oct. 2	Gitmo	Key West	Oct. 5	GK 761	See GK 761 (external link)
	–	Key West	Mobile	–	–	–
	Nov. 3	Mobile	Key West	Nov. 6	HK 151	SW passage to Key West See HK 151 (external link)
	Nov. 6	Key West	Gitmo	Nov. 9	Not listed, but possibly KG 668?	See KG 668 (external link)
	Nov. 11	Gitmo	Trinidad	Nov. 16	GAT 98	See GAT 98 (external link)
	Nov. 18	Trinidad	Paramaribo	Nov. 21	–	–
	Nov. 23	Paramaribo	Trinidad	Nov. 26	–	–
	Nov. 28	Trinidad	Paramaribo	Dec. 1	–	–
	Dec. 4	Paramaribo	Trinidad	Dec. 6	–	–
	Dec. 7	Trinidad	Demerara	Dec. 9	–	–
	Dec. 13	Demerara	Trinidad	Dec. 15	–	–
	Dec. 16	Trinidad	Demerara	Dec. 18	–	–
	Dec. 22	Demerara	Trinidad	Dec. 23	–	–
	Dec. 25	Trinidad	Demerara	Dec. 27	–	–
	Dec. 29	Demerara	Trinidad	Dec. 31	–	–
1944	Jan. 3	Trinidad	Demerara	Jan. 5	–	–
	Jan. 7	Demerara	Trinidad	Jan. 8	–	–
	Jan. 11	Trinidad	Demerara	Jan.13	–	–
	Jan. 16	Demerara	Trinidad	Jan. 18	–	–
	Jan. 20	Trinidad	Demerara	Jan. 22	–	–
	Jan. 24	Demerara	Trinidad	Jan. 25	–	–
	Jan. 29	Trinidad	Demerara	Jan. 30	–	–
	Febr. 2	Demerara	Trinidad	Febr. 3	–	–
	Febr. 5	Trinidad	Demerara	Febr. 7	–	–
	Febr. 11	Demerara	Trinidad	Febr. 13	–	–
*All of the above 1944 entries are from Tony Cooper's additions, which are missing from Arnold Hague's Voyage Record. Arnold Hague now has the following, but this entry appears to be an error - I'll leave it in for now:
	*Febr. 13	Key West	Gitmo	Febr. 17	KG 688	See KG 688 (external link)
The next 8 entries are also missing from A. Hague's Voyage Record (in fact, all the Demerara voyages are missing from his record).
	Febr. 16	Trinidad	Demerara	Febr. 18	–	–
	Febr. 20	Demerara	Trinidad	Febr. 22	–	–
	Febr. 23	Trinidad	Demerara	Febr. 24	–	–
	Febr. 26	Demerara	Trinidad	Febr. 28	–	–
	Febr. 29	Trinidad	Demerara	March 2	–	–
	March 4	Demerara	Trinidad	March 5	–	–
	March 8	Trinidad	Paramaribo	March 11	–	–
	March 14	Paramaribo	Trinidad	March 16	–	–
	March 19	Trinidad	Gitmo	March 24	TAG 122	See TAG 122 (external link)
	March 25	Gitmo	Key West	March 28	GK 796	See GK 796 (external link)
	March 28	Key West	Galveston Bar	Apr. 1	KH 507	Key West to Pilottown for Mobile Arrived Mobile March 31 See KH 507 (external link)
	–	Mobile	Pilottown	–	–	–
	May 1	Pilottown	Key West	May 4	HK 223	Pilottown to Key West See HK 223 (external link)
	May 4	Key West	Gitmo	May 7	KG 704	See KG 704 (external link)
	May 7	Gitmo	Trinidad	May 13	GAT 134	See GAT 134 (external link)
	May 19	Trinidad	Demerara	May 20/21	–	–
	May 22	Demerara	Trinidad	May 24	–	–
	May 27	Trinidad	Demerara	May 29	–	–
	May 30	Demerara	Trinidad	May 31	–	–
	June 3	Trinidad	Demerara	June 5	–	–
	June 6	Demerara	Trinidad	June 8	–	–
	June 11	Trinidad	Demerara	June 13	–	–
	June 15	Demerara	Trinidad	June 16	–	–
	June 18	Trinidad	Demerara	June 20	–	–
	June 22	Demerara	Trinidad	June 23	–	–
	June 25	Trinidad	Demerara	June 27	–	–
	June 28	Demerara	Trinidad	June 29	–	–
	June 30	Trinidad	Demerara	July 2	–	–
	July 4	Demerara	Trinidad	July 5	–	–
	July 8	Trinidad	Demerara	July 9	–	–
	July 11	Demerara	Trinidad	July 12	–	–
	July 15	Trinidad	Demerara	July 17	–	–
	July 19	Demerara	Trinidad	July 20	–	–
	July 22	Trinidad	Demerara	July 24	–	–
	July 25	Demerara	Trinidad	July 27	–	–
	July 28	Trinidad	Demerara	July 30	–	–
	Aug. 1	Demerara	Trinidad	Aug. 2	–	–
	Aug. 5	Trinidad	Demerara	Aug. 7	–	–
	Aug. 8	Demerara	Trinidad	Aug. 10	–	–
	Aug. 12	Trinidad	Demerara	Aug. 14	–	–
	Aug. 16	Demerara	Trinidad	Aug. 17	–	–
	Aug. 21	Trinidad	Gitmo	Aug. 26	TAG 153	See TAG 153 (external link)
	Aug. 26	Gitmo	Key West	Aug. 29	Not listed, but possibly GK 827?	See GK 827 (external link)
	Aug. 29	Key West	Mobile	Aug. 31 (Sept. 1?)	KH 569	Key West to Pilottown for Mobile See KH 569 (external link)
	Sept. 22	Mobile	Caibarien	Sept. 26	–	–
	Sept. 28	Caibarien	Key West	Sept. 30	–	–
A. Hague now has:
	Sept. 30	Key West	New York City	Oct. 5	KN 341	See KN 341 (external link)
while Tony's records have:
	Sept. 30	Key West	Delaware Capes	Oct. 5	–	–
	Oct. ?	Delaware Capes	Philadelphia	Oct. ?	–	–
	Oct. 13	Philadelphia	New York	Oct. 13	–	–
	Oct. 18	New York	Niquero	Oct. ?	–	–
	Oct. ?	Niquero	Jucaro	Oct. ?	–	–
	Nov. 1	Jucaro	Delaware Capes	Nov. 9	–	–
	Nov. ?	Delaware Capes	Philadelphia	Nov. ?	–	–
	Nov. 19	Philadelphia	New York	Nov. 19	–	–
	Nov. 26	New York	Havana	Dec. 2	–	–
	Dec. 6	Havana	Puerto Tarafa	Dec. 8	–	–
	Dec. 10	Puerto Tarafa	Key West	Dec. 12	–	–
	Dec. 14	Key West	Philadelphia	Dec. 19	KN 356	See KN 356 (external link)
	Dec. 24	Philadelphia	Hampton Roads	Dec. 24	–	–
	Dec. 27	Hampton Roads	Havana	Jan. 2-1945	–	–
1945	Jan. 3	Havana	Puerto Tarafa	Jan. 5	–	–
	Jan. 10	Puerto Tarafa	Key West	Jan. 12	–	–
A. Hague now has:
	Jan. 13	Key West	New York City	Jan. 19	KN 362	See KN 362 (external link)
while Tony's records have:
	Jan. 13	Key West	Boston	Jan. 20	–	–
	Jan. ?	Boston	New York City	Jan. 28	–	–
	Febr. 5	New York City	Gitmo	Febr. 12	NG 488	See NG 488 (external link)
	Febr. 13	Gitmo	Cristobal	Febr. 17	GZ 121	See GZ 121 (external link)
	Febr. 22	Cristobal	Gitmo	Febr. 27	ZG 123	See ZG 123 (external link)
	Febr. 27	Gitmo	New York City	March 6	GN 190	See GN 190 (external link)
	March 17	New York City	Gitmo	March 24	NG 496	See NG 496 (external link)
	March 25	Gitmo	Cristobal	March 29	GZ 129	See GZ 129 (external link)
	?	Cristobal	Gitmo	Apr. 7	–	–
	Apr. 11	Gitmo	Tybee Roads	Apr. 15	–	–
	Apr. 23	Tybee Roads	Pastelillo	Apr. 26	–	–
	Apr. 30	Pastelillo	New Orleans	May 5	–	–
	May 17	New Orleans	Cartagena	May 24	–	–
	May 28	Cartagena	Barranquilla	May 28	–	–
	June 4	Barranquilla	Cristobal	June 5	–	–
	June 8	Cristobal	New Orleans	June 14	–	–
	July 4	New Orleans	Barranquilla	July 14	–	–
	July 14	Barranquilla	Cartagena	July 14	–	–
	July 14	Cartagena	New Orleans	Aug. 2	–	–
Some more 1945 voyages are listed on Page 7. As can be seen, she got to go home to Norway in Sept.-1945.

Further to the above:

A French visitor to my website has told me that Ada was stopped for examination in the Caribbean by French auxiliary patrol boat Gouverneur Mouttet on Apr. 15-1940 (shortly after the German invasion of Norway, Apr. 9). Ordered to Fort-de-France (French West Indies). Released Apr. 23 provided complying with orders from London-based operating office.

The eastbound North Atlantic Convoy SC 44, in which Ada is listed with a cargo of lumber, station 64, left Sydney, C.B. on Sept. 11-1941 and arrived Liverpool on the 30th. The following Norwegian ships are also listed in this convoy: Barbro (sunk - follow link for details), Bollsta, Borgfred, Carrier, Cetus, Gudvin, Hjalmar Wessel, Iron Baron, Lago, Marita, Rolf Jarl, Sirehei, Sneland I, South Africa and Spero. The westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 41* left Liverpool on Nov. 27-1941 and dispersed on Dec. 11 - Ada's destination is given as Halifax. Apart from the escorting corvette Rose, Ruth I was the only other Norwegian ship in this convoy.

As mentioned in the above Voyage Record, Ada joined the Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 82 at the end of Apr.-1942. In June that year she's listed as bound for Chatham, N.B. in the westbound Convoy ON 102*, originating in Liverpool on June 9. Other Norwegian ships were Bernhard, Boreas, Grey County, Inger Elisabeth, Ingerfire, Norse King, Para, Rena, Rio Branco, Solitaire, Trolla, and Vest.

In the middle of the following month she joined Convoy SC 92, cargo of steel and lumber for Hull, returning across the Atlantic in Aug. with the westbound Convoy ON 124. She subsequently headed back to the U.K. in Convoy SC 103*, which originated in New York on Sept. 26 (arrived Liverpool on Oct. 14), but Ada joined this convoy from Sydney C.B. She was again in the company of the Norwegian Boreas, Ingerfire, Rio Branco, Rolf Jarl, and Solitaire, as well as Carmelfjell, Jan, Norfalk, Pan Aruba, Solhavn, Solstad, and Vinland.

She later joined the westbound Convoy ON 146*, departing Liverpool on Nov. 15, arriving New York, Ada's destination on that occasion, on Dec. 8-1942. However, she stopped at Halifax on Dec. 5, then joined Convoy ON 148* from there a few days later in order to complete her voyage to New York. This convoy had originated in Liverpool on Nov. 23 and arrived New York on Dec. 13.

For information on Ada's other voyages, please go back to the Voyage Record above.

* All the ON convoys mentioned here are available and will be added to my Convoys section in due course, with more information on each. In the meantime, the ships sailing in them are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys; as will be seen, they all had several Norwegian ships. The SC series will also be updated and completed - see ships in all SC convoys.

More information on the other Norwegian ships named here can be found with the help of the alphabet index at the end of this page, or via the Master Ship Index.

POST WAR:

Renamed Bessa in 1946. Sold in Jan.-1961 to Kronos Shipping and sailed under Greek flag as Naftilos of Piræus. Drifted ashore on Apr. 17-1968 during bad weather near Jeddah while laid up. Refloated on Apr. 12-1971, broken up.

Back to Ada on the "Ships starting with A" page.

Other ships by this name: There was also an Italian and a Panamanian ship by the name Ada. The Panamanian one became the Norwegian Songa in 1940. Another Norwegian Ada can be found at the website of the Historical Index of the Great Lakes - Type "Ada" in the field for 'vessel', then on the page that comes up, click in the little box with the item number. The next page has technical details on Ada and a picture thumbnail - clicking on the thumbnail will bring up a larger picture. This ship was built in 1917 and belonged to Berg Hansen, Oslo. The page also names her later owners and names, namely Lake Oneida, Astmahco IV, Glendaruel, Willa Crosby, Admiral Moser. When lost in 1936 she was named Sinaloa and belonged to Mexico. Also, Norway had a much smaller ship named Ada in 1958 (300 gt). Later names: Ava and Snefjell.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Våre gamle skip" by Leif M. Bjørkelund & E. H. Kongshavn and misc. as noted in above text.