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D/T Arthur W. Sewall To Arthur W. Sewall on the "Ships starting with A" page. Owner: Skibs-A/S Garm Built by W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. Ltd., Newcastle upon Tyne in 1926. Captain: Wilhelm Pallesen. Related item 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:
Arthur W. Sewall is listed in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 51 in Oct./Nov.-1941, bound for Milford Haven and Southampton (she's said to have been cancelled from the faster convoy, HX 155, which is not available to me). She returned across the ocean at the end of Nov. with the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 40*, which departed Liverpool on Nov. 25 and dispersed Dec. 4 (according to the Voyage Record, she joined this convoy from Belfast); her destination is given as Curacao, where she arrived on Dec. 19. In Jan.-1942, we find her, with destination Manchester, in the slow Convoy SC 64, returning with the westbound Convoy ON 65* the following month (departure Liverpool Febr. 8, dispersed Febr. 19). She was again bound for Curacao, arriving there on March 3. She saved a man from the Norwegian Tønsbergfjord on March 12-1942, follow the link for more info (according to her Voyage Record, Arthur W. Sewall was en route from Curacao to Halifax at the time). About a week later, on March 18, she can be found among the ships in Convoy SC 75. A couple of weeks after arrival U.K. she joined Convoy OS 25 (Apr. 12-1942). See the links provided within the table above. Arthur W. Sewall was on a voyage in ballast from Liverpool to Curacao in station 64. Note that a number of other Norwegian ships also took part in the convoys mentioned here; follow the links for more info.
Arthur W. Sewall left Freetown on Aug. 1-1942 in ballast for Trinidad (for orders) and was protected by a convoy until the morning of Aug. 6, at which time the convoy was dispersed, so that she was sailing alone following courses as instructed by the Admiralty when she was hit by 2 torpedoes from U-109 (Bleichrodt) in 08 27N 34 21W in the afternoon of Aug. 7. The 1st one struck on the starboard side below the bridge and the 2nd in No. 7 tank. The U-boat had not been seen beforehand. There were no casualties. 2 distress messages were immediately sent out with the emergency set (these were heard by a British vessel), and the secret papers dropped overboard. After the explosion the ship listed first to port, then to starboard and later back to port again. One of the lifeboats had been destroyed, half of the survivors took to the remaining 3 boats right away, while the rest stayed on board for about half an hour until it became clear the ship could not be saved. While the remaining 17 were launching a raft on the poop a third torpedo missed the stern by a couple of yards (this according to maritime hearings). The 17 on the raft paddled towards the lifeboats and at about 18:30, an hour after the first torpedo had struck, they were all well astern of the ship when a 4th torpedo hit amidships. From the boats they later spotted a periscope and as they rowed away in the dark they watched as the U-boat shelled their ship for a long time until she finally went down somewhere between 22:00 and 23:00. The U-boat then appeared to search the ocean with lights, but the survivors managed to row away unseen. At about 02:00 on Aug. 8 the U-boat eventually disappeared in a northeasterly direction. All the survivors were picked up by the Greek D/S Athina Livanos on Aug. 10 and landed in Port of Spain on Aug. 19.
The maritime hearings were held in New York on Sept. 24-1942 with Captain Pallesen (in his cabin when the torpedo hit), the 2nd mate (instructing a new gunner on the gun platform at the time), 3rd mate (on duty on the bridge, having just releaved the 1st mate who was going down for a meal), Ordinary Seaman Larsen (on duty on the upper bridge), and the 2nd engineer appearing (on duty in the engine room - he's named Limkjær in the maritime statements, Thorsen in the crew list).
Crew List - all rescued:
Norwegian, unless otherwise noted * See link to Guestbook message at the beginning of this page.
Related external links: Back to Arthur W. Sewall on the "Ships starting with A" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume I, and misc - ref My sources.
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