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M/T Alcides To Alcides on the "Ships starting with A" page. Owner: Dampsk. A/S Eikland. Built by Barclay Curle & Co., Glasgow (639) in 1930. Captains: Karl Henriksen, later Arne Karlsen. In Admiralty service from 1941 (Royal Fleet Auxiliary). Related items on this website:
Follow the convoy links provided for more information on them. Compare Arnold Hague's records with these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Alcides served as oiler for allied war ships at Mombasa for a while (the British had established a naval base there after the Japanese had taken Singapore). Early in the summer of 1943 she departed Mombasa alone to load a cargo at Abadan for Fremantle. For this voyage, Captain Henriksen was replaced by Arne Karlsen on July 9. A shipment of oil was loaded in Abadan before she departed at 01:00 on July 11 (this date according to Norwegian source - Voyage Record says July 10) with expected arrival Fremantle Aug. 8. On July 13 she stopped at Khor Kuwai in order to supply Empire Taj with 500 tons fuel oil and other supplies, and departed again that same afternoon for a convoy port in the Persian Gulf, arriving the same evening, leaving in convoy at 12:00 the following day, but left the convoy around midnight on the 15th as per the Commodore's orders (this detachment date also conflicts with Voyage Record), so that she was sailing alone, following the cources and instructions provided by the Admiralty, when she was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-10 (Tonozuka). According to the radio operator's personal account they had been awakened by a big "bang" at 04:15 on July 23, so all guns were manned though nothing further happened at that time and nobody could explain what had caused the noise. Later that morning they had some problems with the engine and stopped to repair. By 10:00 everything was in working order and she proceeded at maximum speed, adopting a zig-zag course. At 10:30, while the radio operator was outside the radio room with the captain, 3* torpedoes hit - 1 in the middle of the stern deck, 1 in the engine room and 1 in the poop deck. Tremendous explosions resulted, columns of smoke and oil were sent high in the air, a gaping hole was seen on the port side of the after deck where oil was gushing into the sea, another gaping hole went through the area where the crew's cabins were located and into the engine room. It was thought that the 3rd torpedo had hit where the ammunition was stored, thereby causing the explosions.
The radio operator immediately tried to send out S.O.S., but both transmitters had been destroyed in the explosion, so all he could do was make sure all the codebooks were thrown overboard. The ship sank very quickly by the stern; only the midships lifeboat and the aft, starboard boat were intact, and the crew had great difficulties launching them. 1 fell down when one of the Indian seamen cut the lines too early and in the process the captain was severely injured with a fracture to his spine. The radio officer, as the last one to leave, had to use a rope to lower himself into the oil covered sea, then swam across to one of the lifeboats. At this time the ship had stopped sinking, her bows pointing up to the sky; it was believed that the empty foreward hold with trapped air in it delayed the speed of her sinking, thereby saving a few lives. 2nd Mate Odvar L. Olsen had command of 1 of the boats and ordered the men to row towards their shipmates in the water, while the other boat commanded by 2nd engineer Karsten Johansen followed suit. While this was taking place Alcides disappeared in the deep and shortly thereafter the submarine came up and ordered the boats alongside, but they continued to pick up survivors from the water. Alcides had a complement of 52 - 32 from India, 15 Norwegians, 1 Norwegian/American, 1 Australian and 3 English gunners. 12 were found to be missing in all, estimated to have gone down with the ship or otherwise drowned, including the 3 gunners who had been on the platform getting things ready for the regular noon exercise. 1st Engineer Fridtjof Johnsen and Mechanic Andreas Ramberg were among the missing, as was the Australian Sydney Hutchinson, who had been injured and had drowned according to 1st Mate Johan Fahlstrøm. All the others had been able to get off the ship, 40 men in 2 lifeboats. The men on the sub were now becoming threatening and Captain Arne Karlsen ordered both boats to go alongside, whereupon he, along with Radio Operator Johan Arthur Johansen (age 24), and 2nd Mate Odvar L. Olsen (also mentioned above) were taken on board. The prisoners, who had been placed in a tiny room on the sub heard the shots and the screams from their shipmates as they were massacred. Total loss of men, 49. The 3 officers stayed aboard I-10 for 12 days and were extensively questioned. On Aug. 4 they were blindfolded and taken ashore at Penang, Malaysia where they lived at what appeared to be a naval base for 5 days before being taken aboard another sub on Aug. 9. On Aug. 18 a small landing craft took them from the sub and into the port of Nagasaki. From there they were transported by train to Ofuna where they stayed for about 3 months before being moved to Omori on Dec. 3. Please continue to my page Life in Imprisonment, which has a more detailed account on the 12 days spent in I-10 as well as summaries of various personal accounts about life at Ofuna, Omori etc. A total of 19 Norwegian seamen from M/S Kattegat, D/T Madrono, M/T Herborg and Alcides ended up at Omori, half way between Tokyo and Yokohama, some via several other camps. Their names can be found on my POW's page. From what I can gather the officers from Alcides were freed by the Americans on Aug. 29-1945, taken by plane to Okinawa, then Manila, and arrived Seattle on Oct. 3-1945 aboard a troop transport. They arrived Norway with D/S Stavangerfjord on Nov. 11-1945. The maritime hearings had been held in New York on Oct. 17-1945 with the 3 surviving officers appearing. Odvar Olsen died in Norway in 1982.
If Alcides did indeed have 32 from India on board (as stated in all my sources), there appears to be one name too many here (there are 53). Also, I notice that several of the Indian names are very similar, perhaps one of them may be listed twice with a different spelling, for instance Hoosein Eussof and Hasson Eusoof might be one and the same man? (Some of the names look more Italian to me that Indian).
Related external links: Omori Tokyo Base Camp No. 1 - Includes a roster where 9 Norwegian seamen (from Alcides, Madrono, Kattegat) are listed with their POW numbers. The Australian War Memorial has a picture taken on board this ship. It can be found by running a search through their collection search page (type "Alcides" in the search field). The caption is: "Alexandretta, Turkey. 1941-05-20. Party of men on board the Norwegian tanker Alcides on its departure from Turkey for Port Said. Amongst those on board were members of 2/2nd Battalion who had escaped from Greece and a number of escaping Norwegians". Back to Alcides on the "Ships starting with A" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Handelsflåten i krig", Book 4 by Guri Hjeltnes, the radio operator's misc. articles in several issues of the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren", "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume I, and misc. other. incl. official report written in New York on Oct. 16-1945 (ref My sources).
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