M/T Beth - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

Owner: A/S Bill
Manager: L. Gill Johannesen, Oslo
Tonnage: 6852 gt, 10 475 tdwt.
Call Sign: LDPH, new BMCR..

Beth, with fuel oil for Le Havre, is listed among the ships in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 45 in May/June-1940, joining the convoy from Bermuda (Convoy BHX 45) - follow the link for cruising order (several Norwegian ships took part). Together with Balla, Fernbrook, Granli, and Madrono, she later joined Convoy OB 194, which left Liverpool on Aug. 6 and dispersed on the 10th, Beth arriving Capetown independently on Sept. 4 (see link provided in above table).

She was scheduled for Convoy HX 140 in July-1941 but developed engine problems and had to leave the convoy, subsequently joining HX 141, according to Arnold Hague. It will be noticed, when following the link to my page about this convoy, that Beth is not mentioned, but my information is incomplete - the external site that I've linked to within the above table has more complete details. The same site also has details on Convoy OS 4*, in which the Norwegian Segundo was sunk, and which Beth now is said to have joined in order to make a voyage to Curacao, arriving there on Sept. 12, returning to the U.K. later that month with Convoy HX 152 from Halifax, along with the Norwegian Drammensfjord (station 106), Høegh Giant (92), Evita (93), Trondheim (95), Salamis (84), and Storanger (83), all listed on this website. Beth arrived Liverpool on Oct. 14, and a few days later she took station 22 of the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 28*, which left Liverpool on Oct. 20 and dispersed Nov. 3. Her destination was Trinidad, where she arrived independently on Nov. 11. Other Norwegian ships in this convoy were Brant County, Grena, Laurits Swenson, Morgenen, Polartank, and Ringstad.

At the end of that month she intended to head back to the U.K. in Convoy HX 162, together with the Norwegian Astrell, Brant County, Katy, Sama, Skandinavia, Bello and Høegh Scout. (Norvinn, Panamanian flag, Norw. managers and therefore listed on this site, was also scheduled for this convoy but did not sail). Beth, however, returned to Halifax, later joining HX 163, which departed Halifax on Dec. 3. Beth, again bound for Trinidad, subsequently joined the westbound Convoy ON 51* at the end of that month, and was again in the company of other Norwegian ships, namely Carrier (returned), Far, Fjordheim, Ingerfire and Sirehei. Beth arrived Trinidad independently on Jan. 21-1942, the convoy having dispersed on the 11th.

In Febr.-1942 we find her in Convoy HX 174, together with the Norwegian James Hawson, Athos, Fernwood, Vanja, Thorsholm, Høegh Giant and Anderson, as well as the Panamanian Norvinn - all listed on this website. This convoy left Halifax on Febr. 7-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 21st, but Beth was bound for Hvalfjord, Iceland where she arrived on Febr. 19, later joining the westbound Convoy ON 74* from there on March 14, station 112. ON 74 had originated in Liverpool on March 9, and among the ships named in it are the Norwegian Arosa, Borgfred, Elg, Sirehei, Thorsholm, Titanian, Tortugas and Tungsha. Beth was again bound for Trinidad, and detached from the convoy in order to proceed to her destination, arriving March 31.

Beth subsequently made an independent voyage to Freetown the following month, arriving Apr. 20; her further movements are noted below.

By May 10 Beth had loaded a cargo of 10 109 tons of Admiralty fuel at Ponte Pierre, but could not depart for Freetown until the 16th because of a faulty dynamo that needed to be repaired. The day after departure, in the morning of the 17th, they spotted a drifting raft in the oil covered sea and realized a tanker had been sunk in the area (M/T San Victorio?). At 20:20 ship's time, when about 135 miles east/southeast of Barbados she was struck by a torpedo from U-162 (Wattenberg) in the starboard side near No. 1 tank, resulting in a tremendous explosion with oil all over the ship.

Both aft boats were launched as was the motorboat, the latter with the 1st mate, the steward, the radio operator and the captain. 3 men had ended up in the water; the 3rd mate was picked up by the starboard boat and the other 2 by the port boat commanded by the 2nd mate. Having heard cries from someone else in the water they rowed around and found Able Seaman Jens Adolfsen, too exhausted to help himself, so Able Seaman Gundersen went in the water and got him into the boat. About 20 minutes after the 1st torpedo had hit, when the boats were clear of the ship a 2nd torpedo hit behind midships near tank No. 5, the explosion sending flames sky high, and about 5 minutes later the ship sank.

After Beth had gone down the U-boat came up near the captain's boat to ask the usual questions and also offered help (this was refused). A report presented at the maritime hearings states that a green flare was seen from another U-boat nearby, whereupn U-162 left them, steering in a southerly direction while starting to submerge.

The boats had become separated in the dark, but shortly afterwards the captain's boat and the port lifeboat with 17 men were reunited. The 3rd boat could not be found. They remained in the area until daylight, then set a course for Barbados, landing at Conset Bay 36 hours later. They requested that the authorities send out an aircraft to look for the others, and 3 days later they were told that the 9 in the 3rd boat had landed at Tobago in the evening of May 20, and that they had been sent to Port of Spain the next day.

The maritime hearings were held in New York on July 8-1942 with Captain Gulliksen, one of the mates, Able Seaman Jens Adolfsen (lookout), Able Seaman Henry M. Brekke (helmsman), and Radio Operator Karl Lorang-Olsen appearing. The latter had sent out SOS after the 1st torpedo hit. None of the survivors could say how Boatswain Svendsen had perished. He had helped launch the port boat and it was suggested that he had perhaps been crushed between the boat and the side of the ship, the tackles and everything else being slippery with oil.

Crew List:

Survivors
Captain Hans Gulliksen	1st Mate Ottar Birkelund	2nd Mate Lars Birkeland	3rd Mate Allert Rognø	Radio Operator Karl Lorang-Olsen	Carpenter Gudmund Dale
Able Seaman Gunnar Nilsen	Able Seaman Georg Gundersen	Able Seaman Torbjørn Tovsland	Able Seaman Henry M. Brekke	Able Seaman Gunleiv Gundersen	Able Seaman Jens Adolfsen
Able Seaman Hans Hagelien	Able Seaman Lester Pace (Canadian)	Ordinary Seaman Håkon Vold Olsen	1st Engineer Kristian Andersen	2nd engineer Alf Cato Wick	3rd Engineer Oscar Bergquist
4th Engineer Fritz Larsen	Mechanic Thormod Sæter	Mechanic John Lindal	Mechanic Bjarne Bakke	Pump Man Olav Brudevold	Oiler Kåre Reed
Oiler Thomas McFarline (British)	Oiler Liam Laughline (Irish)	Steward Bernt Olsen	Cook Yngvar Johannessen	Mess Boy Charles Houston (British)	Mess Boy John Adamson (British)
Casualty:
† Boatswain * Sigurd Bernhard Svendsen

* Boatswain Svendsen's son Sverre Einar Svendsen died when the Swedish Korshamn (ex Norwegian Vigo) was sunk in March-1941. See Convoy HX 112.

Related external links:
SL convoys and OS/KMS Convoys - The site also has several other convoy series, and a very useful Multi-Convoy Web Search feature - here's the main page. As can be seen, Beth is listed in Convoy SL 108, but not in OS 4 - She is, however, included in this convoy in another section of the site.

Casualties - The memorial for seamen in Stavern says 2 men died while trying to get the boats on the water, namely Radio Operator Olav Johnsen Aga and Boatswain Sigurd Bernhard Svendsen. However, this appears to be incorrect. According to the book "Våre falne", which lists Norwegian WW II casualties, Olav J. Aga died in an accident on board on June 17-1941 and is buried in Brooklyn.

U-162 | Jürgen Wattenberg

Back to Beth on the "Ships starting with B" page.

L. Gill Johannesen later had another ship by this name, built 1949, 8630 gt., see also Odd's ships

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum), and misc. others for cross checking info. as named in the text - ref My sources.