M/S Borgestad - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

M/S Borgestad
Updated Aug. 6-2008

To Borgestad on the "Ships starting with B" page.

Survivors and Casualties

Source: Historical Department, MAN B&W Diesel, Copenhagen - (see their museum website, external link).
They also sent me this picture from the launching.

Owner: A/S Borgestad
Manager: Gunnar Knudsen, Porsgrunn
Tonnage: 3924 gt, 2336 net, 6750 tdwt.
Call Sign: LDYA.

Delivered from Burmeister & Wains Maskin- og Skipsbyggeri, Copenhagen, Denmark (334) in Jan.-1925 as Borgestad to A/S Borgestad, Porsgrunn, 351.3' x 51.4' x 24.2', 2 x 5 cyl. 4 TEV DM (B&W), 1700 bhp.

Captain: Lars Grotnæss.

Related items on this website:
2 messages in my Guestbook from Norma Nergaard's niece.

Voyage Record
From Apr.-1940 to Febr.-1941:

(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database).

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Compare A. Hague's records with this original document from the National Archives of Norway (from Febr.-1940).

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1940	Apr. 1	Durban	Capetown	Apr. 4	Independent	–
	Apr. 8	Capetown	Takoradi	Apr. 19	Independent	–
	Apr. 26	Takoradi	Baie Comeau	–	Independent	–
	May 27	Baie Comeau	Botwood	June 1	Independent	–
	June 5	Botwood	Cristobal	June 23	Independent	–
	June 24	Balboa	Los Angeles	July 7	Independent	–
	July 7	Los Angeles	Tacoma	July 13	Independent	–
	July 15	Tacoma	Vancouver	July 16	Independent	–
	July 24	Vancouver	Colombo	Sept. 9	Independent	–
	Sept. 18	Colombo	Bombay	Sept. 24	Independent	–
	Sept. 24	Bombay	Por Sudan	Oct. 8	BN 6	For Port Sudan (left convoy Oct. 7). See BN 6 (external link)
	Nov. 7	Port Sudan	–	–	BS 8	For Port Elizabeth. Dispersed off Aden, Nov. 12. See BS 8 (external link)
	Nov. 12	Dispersed from BS 8	Port Elizabeth	Nov. 30	Independent	–
	Dec. 30	Port Elizabeth	Capetown	Jan. 2-1941	Independent	–
1941	Jan. 3	Capetown	Freetown	Jan. 19	Independent	–
	Jan. 30	Freetown	–	–	SLS 64	Sunk By Admiral Hipper, Febr. 12. See "Final Fate" below

Final Fate - 1941:

Borgestad, with a cargo of cotton, was in Convoy SLS 64, which left Freetown with 19 ships on January 30-1941, bound for Liverpool without an escort. The Norwegian D/S Bur and D/S Varangberg had ended up so far behind by Febr. 12 they barely had contact with the convoy. (Follow the link to my page about this convoy for more information).

Early in the morning of February 12, in position 37 12N 21 20W (between Madeira and the Azores) the German Admiral Hipper attacked, at a distance of 2500 meters. In fact, the Commander of Hipper had just previously been notified of Convoy HG 53 and was given orders to attack, so when SLS 64 showed up in his course, he initially thought he had encountered HG 53 (in which D/S Tejo was sunk.

Norwegian sources claim that Borgestad was the Commodore* ship of SLS 64, saying that captain Grotnæss must have given the order to disperse, because ship after ship turned around and desperately tried to get away, but Borgestad and the other ships at the head of the convoy had no time for such maneuvers, as Hipper was quickly advancing, and Grotnæss chose to fight, in spite of Borgestad's inferior armament. He headed directly towards Admiral Hipper, in an effort to get that ship as far away from the convoy as possible, with the gunners loading and firing, loading and firing. When after a fierce battle Borgestad eventually sank, 30 men and 1 woman went down with her.

*Although the information in the above paragraph is correct to a certain extent, I have now received some details that would indicate Borgestad was not the Commodore Vessel; Captain Murray, the captain of Warlaby was Commodore and the captain of Margot was Vice Commodore - see also the text for Febr. 12 in the report on my page about Convoy HG 53, which again indicates Warlaby was the Commodore's ship. Also, Borgestad was not the only ship to attempt to ward off Admiral Hipper. Again, follow the link to SLS 64 above for an article received from Roy Martin, a visitor to my website. It includes a list of other ships sunk.

The 1st mate on Borgestad, Harald Nergaard had his American wife Norma (born Hayes) with him on the ship. She was employed as a stewardess, was 21 years old and from Tacoma. The captain was posthumously awarded the highest ranked Norwegian decoration Krigskorset for his actions during this battle, which were officially acknowledged as having saved the convoy from total destruction by the Hipper (Meisel) - again, this is from Norwegian sources. As it was, 7 ships went down, while 12 escaped (2 of which were damaged). The distress calls from the fleeing ships were received by the Admiralty, which dispatched the battle ship Renown and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal from Gibraltar that same afternoon, as well as some destroyers, partly to assist the convoy, and partly to catch the German ship. But Admiral Hipper, which had spent a tremendous amount of ammunition in this battle and had no interest in being engaged by the British force in such a state, quickly headed for Brest, arriving there without having been located. For days there was great fear for the remains of Convoy SLS 64. Varangberg finally reached Gibraltar on Febr. 17, while Bur, as one of the last ships, arrived St. Miguel (Azores) on Febr. 18.

MORE on Norma Nergaard:
Those of you who live in Scotland and have access to a library might be able to find some articles written by Norma Nergaard in Glasgow Sunday Mail, dated July 16, 23 and 30, and Aug. 6-1938. Her parents were born in England and after having graduated from High School in Tacoma in the summer of 1938 she and her elder sister Mabel travelled to England on board Borgestad, in order to visit relatives in Scotland. Since the ship was not certified for passengers they were hired as mess girls, sailing south along the U.S. coast, stopping in San Pedro, Calif., Panama, Jamaica and through the Caribbean before heading north to London, arriving 45 days later. Once in England they purchased 2 used bicycles and headed for Scotland where Norma was subsequently hired as a journalist for the newspapers Edinburgh Record and Glasgow Sunday Mail, and it was in the latter that she wrote some articles about her travels. When the war broke out she returned to Tacoma, and when Borgestand showed up on the west coast in the spring of 1940 she met up with Harald Nergaard again, and at the end of June that same year they were married. Again she was hired as a mess girl so that the bride and groom could be together. They had a 10 days "honeymoon" in Ceylon while Borgestad was there. Norma was posthumously awarded Krigsmedaljen in May-1946 (also pictured on my War Medals page). See also these 2 messages in my Guestbook from Norma Nergaard's niece (dated Sept. 23 and Sept. 24-2002).

Crew List - No survivors:

Casualties:
† Captain Lars Grotnæss	† 1st Mate Harald Nergaard	† 2nd Mate Erling Ellingsen (Ellefsen?)	† 3rd Mate Georg Gjertsen	† Carpenter Harry Karlsen	† Boatswain Halvor Flåtelien
† Able Seaman Jørgen Hansen	† Able Seaman Halvor Rogn	† Able Seaman Oskar Austenå	† Able Seaman Paul Skaugen	† Ordinary Seaman Kjell Palmgren	† Ordinary Seaman Olaf Olsen
† Jr. Ordinary Seaman Thorleif Nicolaysen	† Jr. Ordinary Seaman Kåre Haraldsen	† 1st Engineer Christoffer Johansen	† 2nd Engineer Ragnvald Halvorsen	† 3rd Engineer Øivind Pedersen	† 4th Engineer Gotfred Andersen
† Electrician Åge Larsen	† Mechanic Halvor Andersen	† Mechanic Bernhoff Morfjord	† Mechanic Oskar Bjørnø	† Oiler Bjørn Hansen	† Oiler Reidar Kristiansen
† Oiler Trygve Hansen	† Steward Lars Jøntvedt	† 1st Cook Thoralf Thorsen	† 2nd Cook Gunnar Amundsen	† Stewardess Norma Nergaard * U.S.A.	Mess Boy Asbjørn Waag
Mess Boy Jens Hobber

* Norma Nergaard's niece (ref. her Guestbook messages) has told me that Norma is commemorated on the WW II memorial at Olympia, WA. I found her on this page at the Washington State Memorials website, which has a listing of everyone commemorated (a lot of names look Norwegian). I also found her by running a search for her name, Norma Hayes Nergaard, at this website (National WW II Memorial, Washington, D.C.). All these links are external.

The Norwegians are commemorated at the Memorial for Seamen in Stavern, Norway, link below.

Related external links:
Stavern commemorations - Middle names, birthdates, and hometowns included (some of the names are spelt a little differently).

KMS Admiral Hipper

The story of Borgestad has been compared to that of the well known
Jervis Bay.

SL Convoys - Has casualty lists for the ships sunk in SLS 64.

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

Other ships by this name: This company had previously had another Borgestad (steamship), built in Middlesbrough and delivered to A/S Borgestad (Gunnar Knudsen), Porsgrunn in June-1906, 3944 gt. Converted to tanker in 1912, 4278 gt. Sold to Oslo in the summer of 1924 and renamed Nina for A/S Oljefart (Henry Borthen & Co.), Oslo. Towed to Istanbul after having run aground in The Black Sea on Dec. 27-1927. Intended repaired at Tyne where she arrived in Febr.-1928, but condemned in May that year and sold for breaking up. Another Borgestad (tanker) was delivered to A/S Borgestad in Oct.-1948, built in Gothenburg, 10 099 gt. Sold in 1964 and renamed Sisangu (managed by Tschudi & Eitzen, Oslo). Became Panamanian Cosmo Trader in 1965, San Eduardo in 1966 (having been converted to bulk carrier, 9394 gt). Sold to Greece in 1973, renamed Montego. Sold to Panama in 1977, renamed Good View. Broken up in 1979. In Nov.-1969 a new Borgestad was delivered to the company (motor vessel), 18 523 gt. Sold to Panama in 1985 and renamed Michelle C. Renamed Karrington in 1988 fro new Panamanian owners. Broken up 1999.