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M/T Bello To Bello on the "Ships starting with B" page. Owner: Skibs-A/S Oiltank Built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend, Sunderland in 1930. Captain: Einar Trygve Bernt (had been on board for a year and half when she was torpedoed).
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database). Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each. Errors may exist, and record appears to be incomplete (several voyages are missing).
Bello is mentioned in Convoy OB 143 in May-1940 (with a note attached saying "possibly this convoy"). This convoy left Liverpool on May 6, joined up with OA 143 on the 9th, the combined convoy forming the Gibraltar bound Convoy OG 29 (see my page naming ships in all OG convoys). Bello, however, does not appear to have been bound for that part of the world; she's said to have arrived Portland - date is given is May 8, which surely must be an error, unless there's a Portland, U.K.? She shows up again in Convoy OA 159, originating in Southend on June 1-1940. Her destination is given as New York, cargo of whale oil, station 42. The Norwegian Corvus is also included. The external website that I've linked to below and within the above table, has more on the OA and OB convoys. She was scheduled to return to the U.K. with the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 60 the following month (Bermuda portion), but did not sail. In Dec. that year we find her in Convoy HX 93, but she was unable to keep up with the convoy speed and was sent back to port in order to join the slow Convoy SC 15, which sailed from Sydney, C.B. on Dec. 8. She's listed in Convoy OG 55 in March-1941, as can be seen by going to the list of ships in all OG convoys that I've linked to above. This convoy departed Liverpool on March 7 and arrived Gibraltar on the 21st, but Bello had detached from the convoy to proceed to Aruba, where she arrived on March 29. She was scheduled for Convoy HX 120 from Halifax in Apr.-1941, but did not sail. In June that same year she was in Convoy HX 133, in which Soløy and Vigrid were sunk, and Kongsgaard was torpedoed and damaged. The following month she's listed in Convoy OB 345 and arrived New York on July 27 after having detached from the convoy (which left Liverpool on July 11, arrived Halifax on the 26th). In Aug.-1941 we find her in station 114 of Convoy HX 147, along with the Norwegian Nueva Granada (station 104), Bralanta (in station 102), Solør (station 54), Sandanger (station 103, which means she was the 3rd ship in the 10th column, right behind Bralanta and in front of Nueva Granada), Slemmestad (station 95), Strinda (station 63), G. C. Brøvig (station 44), and probably O. A. Knudsen (name is misspelt, might also be Ida Knudsen, in station 112). She was scheduled to go back with the westbound Convoy ON 21* at the end of Sept. (left Liverpool Sept. 28, dispersed Oct. 14), but returned to port and instead joined ON 22*, which left Liverpool on Oct. 2, dispersed on the 15th, destination Baton Rouge, station 75. Bello returned to the U.K. with Convoy HX 162 in Nov./Dec.-1941, together with the Norwegian Astrell, Brant County, Katy, Sama, Skandinavia, Beth and Høegh Scout. Norvinn (Panamanian flag, Norw. managers and therefore listed on this site) was also scheduled to be in this convoy but did not sail. Bello, bound for Galveston, later returned across the Atlantic with the westbound Convoy ON 52*, which left Liverpool on Dec. 31, dispersed Jan. 11-1942. She's also listed among the ships leaving Halifax in Convoy HX 178 on March 3-1942. A visitor to my website has told me that Bello was in a collision with Dundee in March-1942 in convoy - not sure which convoy this was, but it might have been while in HX 178? At the beginning of May that year we find her in station 23 of the westbound Convoy ON 91*, which departed Liverpool on May 1, dispersed on May 15. Bello is said to have arrived New York on May 16. An article in "Krigsseileren" No. 2 for 1992, written by 2nd mate Ragnar Kristian Pedersen, says Bello ran aground in heavy fog when on a voyage from New York via Long Island Sound and the Cape Cod channel to Boston in the spring of 1942 (she had a pilot on board at the time). According to her voyage record, however, this took place in June. When the fog cleared they could see the Little Gull Island lighthouse just a couple of hundred meters ahead and on the starboard side, an equal distance away, was one of the U.S. Coast Guard stations. The radio operator was unable to get in touch with New York, so the captain had to use a lifeboat to row in to the Coast Guard station to call from there. Salvage vessels and barges came out and she was later towed to New York where the damages were found to be so extensive she had to stay in dock for 5 weeks. Later that year, at the end of Aug.-1942, she joined Convoy HX 205, returning to New York at the end of the following month with the westbound Convoy ON 133* (left Liverpool on Sept. 25, arrived New York Oct. 11), then sailed to the U.K. with Convoy HX 216, which departed New York City on Nov. 19 and arrived Liverpool on Dec. 6. Bello's destination is given as Bowling, cargo of gasoline and oil, station 84. This turned out to be her last eastbound Atlantic convoy voyage, because on her return voyage she was sunk.
Related external links: See also this chronological
Bello was in ballast from Glasgow to New York in station 104 of Convoy ON 153 which had departed Liverpool on Dec. 11-1942. At 05:20 (ship's time) in the morning of December 16 she was hit by two torpedoes within a few seconds of each other, U-610* (Freyberg-Eisenberg-Allmendingen), the 1st one hitting in the engine room starboard side, and the 2nd a little further forward. Her after part was practically submerged in less than 30 seconds after the last torpedo struck, so it was believed that none of the men who were in that section of the ship could have managed to get out of their cabins. For the same reason the gunners who were on duty on the platform were also lost. No distress signals were sent. As there was no time to properly launch the lifeboats the captain ordered the crew to the rafts. 3 rafts came clear before the ship sank (51 45N 23 50W); some men were on the overturned port lifeboat, some in liferings.
After about an hour the 7 survivors, including the captain, were picked up by the corvette HMS Pink (K 137) which unsuccessfully searched for more survivors until daylight, then rejoined the convoy. The survivors were landed in St. John's on Dec. 29. Convoy ON 153 arrived New York on the 31st. 28 Norwegian and 5 British seamen died, they are all named further down on this page. The Norwegians are commemorated at the Stavern Memorial for Seamen, link below, while Billy McGee, England has told me that the following 5 young men are commemorated at Tower Hill, Panel 16: Galley Boy Frederick Arthur Bull from Southall, Middlesex (age 19), Mess Room Boy Leslie J. Gatehouse from Highbury, London (age 17), 4th Engineer Officer Robert Goodwin (age 29), Mess Room Boy Anthony Michael Noy (age 18), and Saloon Boy Michael Alexander Peetz (age 16). The official report on the sinking of Bello states she was chartered to British Tanker Co. at the time of loss and says a 3rd torpedo was also fired, but missed and believed to have struck the British Regent Lion*, sailing on Bello's port side (damaged, later salvaged and in the U.K. at the time the report was written, Febr. 6-1943). The time of attack is given as 07:20 GMT in this report, and position 53 N 27W, 550 - 575 miles west of Cape Clear, in stormy weather with heavy seas. "Nortraships flåte" agrees with the time 05:20 given in the 2nd mate's story below, which appears to be ship's time. The report adds she had a complement of 40, 33 of whom were missing. The maritime hearings were held in St. John's on Dec. 31-1942. The following were present: Captain Bernt, 1st Mate Moen, Able Seaman/Gunner Wick (at the wheel when Bello was torpedoed; he was rescued from the capsized lifeboat), and Able Seaman Wisnes (on lookout - rescued while holding on to a door, being the first one to be picked up by the corvette). The Belgian Emile Francqui was also sunk in this convoy (U-664) with the loss of 46 lives, and U-211 sank HMS Firedrake. The report states that the British Tortuguero was damaged (Dec. 16) as was the British Otina (Dec. 20). Jürgen Rohwer does not list a convoy for the attack on Otina, and he does not mention Tortuguero at all (note that, like Bello, Otina had also previously arrived the U.K. with HX 216, the others, including Regent Lion, had arrived with HX 215).
According to an article found in "Krigsseileren" No. 4 for 1992 (also written by 2nd Mate R. K. Pedersen), the torpedo hit in the engine room at 05:20 while he was asleep. He ran up on deck where he found the 1st mate, the captain and a few others attempting to launch the lifeboat amidships. This boat had gotten stuck so they were all ordered to the rafts, but he was knocked overboard by the seas, though was able to get himself to the surface and on to a nearby raft, together with the captain (he says they were the only 2 on this raft). He says that a heavy storm lasting for several days resulted in Pink starting to run out of bunkers while waiting for the weather to improve, so she had to head for the nearest port, Ponta del Gada, the Azores, arriving there on Dec. 22, before continuing west to St. John, N.F., landing Bello's survivors there on Dec. 29. Pedersen says the reason Bello sank so quickly was the fact that she had a lot of ballast due to the storm forecasts. He does not mention a 2nd torpedo, nor does he give details on whether any other survivors joined the 2 on the raft later.
Norwegian, unless otherwise noted
Related external links: Operations information for U-610 Lillesand Sjømannsforening's website (Lillesand Seamen's Association) has a picture of this ship, along with pictures of several other Norwegian ships. Back to Bello on the "Ships starting with B" 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, articles in "Krigsseileren" No. 2, 1992 and No. 4, 1992, official report on the sinking (based on captain's statements), from British archives, received from a visitor to my website, and misc. others for cross checking info - ref My sources.
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