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D/S Blink To Blink on the "Ships starting with B" page.
Owner: Skibs-A/S Manitowoc. Built by C. Hill & Sons, Bristol in 1920. Previous name: Arlette until 1933. Captain: Sigvart Ulvestad Related items on this website: I mention all these because I often get mail from people who had a relative on a Norwegian ship, and are looking for others who were on board, or had a relative on board at the time of loss. See also:
See also the text further down on this page. Follow the links provided to available convoys for more information on each.
Blink was in New York in the summer of 1940 loading general cargo for Havana, Cuba. After 3 days in Havana she proceeded to a port on the east coast of Cuba to take on board a cargo of sugar for New York, and later headed back to Cuba to load another sugar cargo for New York. After having unloaded this cargo in New York, they heard they were going to New Jersey to pick up ammunition for the U.K., and as a result of this several crew members left, and she was unable to proceed due to the lack of crew; only 14 out of 30 remained. After having been laid up at Bayonne for a couple of weeks the captain had managed to get together a full crew, partly from the training ship Danmark, which was laid up in Jacksonville, Fl., partly from New York and Boston. After New Jersey Blink went to Botwood N.F. for a cargo of pyrites. She left for New Orleans around Nov. 1, stopping en route at Newport News for coal bunkers. The captain's wife came on board there, having escaped from Norway to Sweden, from there to Russia, then by way of the Transsiberian railway to Vladivostok, across the Pacific on a ship, and finally across the American continent by rail to Newport News. (Blink was on charter to the Philadelphia company Simpson, Spencer & Young; the Simpson in this name being the Simpson whose well known Wallis was the reason for the English King's abdication). As mentioned in the above Voyage Record, Blink is listed, together with the Norwegian Erica, Hildur I, Lago and Lisbeth, in the U.K.-Gibraltar Convoy OG 76, which departed Milford Haven on Oct. 26-1941, but Blink returned to port following a collision with Empire Pelican. Blink later joined Convoy OG 77, which left Milford Haven on Nov. 24-1941, but again returned. Her final destination is not given, but she was probably not bound for Gibraltar. I believe she would have left the convoy at sea to proceed to a destination across the North Atlantic. Other Norwegian ships in Convoy OG 77 were Hellen, Selbo and Sirehei. These 2 OG convoys will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section, with more information on them; in the meantime, see the page naming the ships in all OG convoys. Blink subsequently joined the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 49, leaving Liverpool on Dec. 21-1941, dispersed on Jan. 5-1942 - see the section naming ships in all ON convoys. The Norwegian Bur, Ravnefjell, Titanian and Veni are also included in this convoy.
Blink left Charleston (another source says Tampa) on February 9-1942, bound for Halifax in order to join Convoy SC 70. She had a cargo of 3600 tons of phosphate for Ipswich. On Febr. 11 she was hit by 3 torpedoes from U-108 (Scholtz), position 35 00N 72 27W, about 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras. The first one hit on the port side and went straight through the ship (hold No. 2) without detonating. The next two, about 1 min. later, hit amidships in the engine room, also from the port side, destroying the port lifeboat. The radio station was destroyed, so no SOS was sent out. She was armed with a 3" gun but this was not used as the U-boat was not seen. 5 men were assumed killed, namely 1st Engineer H. Dahlman, Donkeyman K. Johansen, the Dutch Stoker Pieter Roos, Canadian Messboy Robert Siteman, and the British Gunner William Lewis. See my link to the Commonwealth War Graves Comm. website further down on this page. 23 got in the starboard lifeboat, while the South African Stoker H. Gillik and the British Galleyboy A. Pappacena were seen heading for a raft, never to be seen again, though some weak lights were later observed behind Blink, which lead the others to believe that the raft had been launched. The survivors set sail, heading for land. The next morning the lifeboat turned over and Able Seaman R. Graves drowned, the 3d mate having tried in vain to save him. When the boat capsized they lost all their bread and water. They managed to right the boat, then swam around while 2 men attempted to get the water out of it, but this proved impossible due to the heavy seas that kept washing over it, so they all swam back and reboarded the lifeboat. The boat capsized several times, and by Febr. 13, 11 men remained, sitting in the boat with cold water up to their chests; one by one the others had died, including the captain. On the 14th only 6 were left, but that afternoon they were spotted by the lookout on D/S Monroe (W. W. Glendaniels) in position 33 34N 71 41W and rescued. All of them were hospitalized in Baltimore.
"Thursday Febr. 12: Friday Febr. 13: Saturday Febr. 14: The following were saved: Tuesday Febr. 17: All of them had hallucinations while in the lifeboat. Gulliksen was fished out of the sea twice, once after having "gone to bed" in a "real" bed with white, clean sheets he had seen in the water, another time after he had attempted to walk up to a hotel he had seen "further up the street". The maritime hearings were held in New York on March 12-1942, with B. Lunde (in his cabin at the time of the attack), Able Seaman Numme (on lookout duty on the bridge), and Steward Friis (in the saloon) appearing. Before the sinking of Blink Birger Lunde had served on Brimanger and Hosanger, and was on board M/S Taranger when she was sunk by U-95 in May-1941, then joined Lysaker IV. After the loss of Blink he signed on Oregon Express and was injured when she was sunk in Sept.-1943. He also briefly served on Polarland. During the war he was awarded the St. Olav Medal with oak leaves by King Haakon VII. He later served on American ships, Korean War, settled in the U.S., died 1996. I have been in touch with his son who has told me that he made a point of visiting all the families of each of Blink's casualties after her loss. Most Norwegian seamen would have known him, as he devoted his life to helping them get their pensions, working tirelessly to beat the bureaucracy. After his death, a magnificent memorial in the form of a painting depicting his life was hung in the church in his home town of Fana.
Crew List:
Related external links: Lillesand Sjømannsforening's website (Lillesand Seamen's Association) has a picture of this ship, along with pictures of several other Norwegian ships. Back to Blink on the "Ships starting with B" page. Other ships by this name: This company later had another ship by the name Blink from 1947. See Post War info for Inger Lise. Also, Norway earlier had a whale catcher named Blink, built 1911, 128 gt, sold to Chr. Salvesen & Co., Leith in 1913, then to Durban in 1926. D/S A/S Bestum, Oslo owned a ship by this name in 1932, originally built as War Cross in 1917, renamed Ars for owners in France 1919, Cap d'Ailly 1927, then Blink in 1932. Renamed Hsin Ping in 1933 (Shanghai), lost off Hong Kong in 1937. Additionally, a Blink of 907 gt was delivered in Jan.-1957 for the management of Bøhme & Ursin-Smith, Oslo. Sold to Stavanger in 1969 and renamed Sirabuen, then Normannvik the following year for owners in Oslo. Sailed as Arne Vik from 1973 (Stavanger owners), Panamanian Tropic Venture 1974, Indonesian Batik 1975, broken up 1984.
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