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M/S Brand To Brand on the "Ships starting with B" page.
Owner: A/S Borgestad Delivered from Götaverken A/B, Gothenburg, Sweden (402) in May-1927 as Brand to A/S Borgestad, Porsgrunn. 380.5' x 54.7' x 25.7', 2 x 6 cyl. 4 TEV DM (builders), 2120 bhp. Captain: Reidar Helgesen
Brand, with a cargo of sugar for Liverpool, was scheduled for the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 62 at the end of Dec.-1941, but did not sail. She also cancelled from SC 63 a week later (Jan.-1942), but joined the next convoy, SC 64. At the external website that I've linked to below, she's listed among the ships in Convoy OS 21 in March-1942, on a voyage from Clyde to Capetown and Beira with general cargo in station 103 of the convoy, which left Liverpool on March 4. Several other Norwegian ships are also included - follow the link for more details. However, she also shows up, with destination Beira, in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 75, leaving Liverpool on March 10, so she either did not sail in OS 21, or transferred from one to the other to complete her voyage. In March-1943 she's listed in the westbound Convoy ON 175, bound for Halifax (became a straggler). This convoy, and ON 75 mentioned above, will be added to my Convoys section; in the meantime, see this list of ships in all ON convoys. Related external link:
Brand was scheduled for the Halifax section of Convoy HX 236 at the end of Apr.-1943, but instead joined the next convoy, HX 237, on a voyage from Charlottetown via Halifax N. S. for Liverpool with a cargo of 1000 tons ammunition, sulphur, 2500 tons flour & 4500 tons various machines. She had been separated from the convoy in dense fog and was torpedoed on the port side aft at 10:35 ship's time (11:35 GMT) on May 12-1943 in 47 19N 24 41W by U-603 (Baltz), and sank in a few minutes. 2 crew and 1 gunner drowned. 39 survivors got in the 3 lifeboats that had been successfully launched, 1 from the starboard side, 2 from port (an attempt to launch a 4th boat was unsuccessful due to the heavy list). They searched for possible survivors for 3 hours, but as none were found they set sail for Ireland at 14:00. At 18:45 that same day the Canadian corvette Morden (K-170) picked them up. A Swordfish aircraft had been sighted at 16:00 that afternoon and it was believed responsible for the corvette being directed to the boats. M/T Sandanger also became a straggler from this convoy and was torpedoed and sunk by U-221 the same day. Captain Reidar Helgesen wrote a book about his war experiences, entitled "Dra te' sjøss" (in Norwegian, ISBN 82-992998-1-0). Issues No. 3 and 4 for 1997 of the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren" have some excerpts, one of which describes the events surrounding the attack. He says the convoy had been scattered, and the commodore had ordered all the ships to meet at a certain position, but when they got to the rendevouz on May 10 the commodore ship and convoy never showed up. After having waited a while along with 4 other stragglers, one ship after another started out alone and Brand followed suit. In the morning of May 12 Boatswain Sørlie spotted the torpedo heading their way and seconds later it hit in No. 3 hold which was full of sacks of flour 50 lbs each. There was no explosion, but it must have caused a large hole in her side as she immediately started listing and sinking. Both lifeboats and a gig were lowered, but 4 men were found to be missing: 1st Mate Sørensen was thought to have been pulled under by the suction of the ship which sank by the stern in about 9 minutes, Steward Olsen had been by the starboard lifeboat but had been seen running back to his cabin, the deckboy(?) had not been seen at all and an English engine boy(?) had probably not been able to get out of the engine room in time (these titles appear to be wrong - ref. crew list below). Captain Helgesen mentions that they had 2 newly educated British radio operators on board in addition to the Norwegian one. They were both in the captain's boat as was 2nd Engineer Thingstad. They had started to row away when the U-boat came up, but disappeared after having been told the captain had gone down with his ship. Shortly thereafter they spotted some smoke further away, and upon investigating they found a raft with the missing deck boy who had taken full advantage of some of the equipment on the raft to get their attention. Captain Helgesen says they had had 500 tons TNT in No. 1 and No. 5 holds, so the fact that the torpedo had hit in No. 3 hold saved their lives. Not only did the sacks of flour stop it from detonating, but they had also served as "lifebelts" for several of the men who had ended up in the water. Helgesen also mentions 3 large landing craft as being among the cargo. These were floating nearby and he briefly considered transferring to them for warmth and shelter, but quickly thought better of it as there wouldn't have been any way of navigating them, so he settled down to the task of organizing the survivors. Those in the gig were distributed among the lifeboats whereupon they set sail for Ireland. Captain Helgesen's account of their rescue corresponds with my text in the first paragraph. Morden arrived Londonderry very early in the morning (date not given) and after a couple of days the shipwrecked men were sent to Liverpool. The maritime hearings were held in Liverpool on May 24-1943 with Captain Helgesen, the 3rd mate (on the bridge at the time of attack), Able Seaman Olsen (at the wheel), Radio Operator Rasmussen and Assistant Nygaard appearing. According to the 3rd mate, the 1st mate had been on the chartroom roof when the torpedo hit. After the 3 lifeboats had been launched the 2 men jumped overboard together from the starboard side, both with lifevests on, but the 1st mate was not seen again after that. The radio operator had sent out SOS before he too jumped overboard from the starboard side, then held on to some debris until he was picked up by one of the boats.
Related external links: Back to Brand on the "Ships starting with B" page. Other ships by this name: The company 1st Brand had been delivered in 1890, built in Port Glasgow, 2003 gt. Sold to Japan in 1914 and renamed Heiwa Maru. Broken up in 1921. Norway had another Brand (steamship) in 1915-1926. This vessel had started out as Labor of 1496 gt when it was built in England in 1901 for Oscar Hytten & C. E. Semb, Tønsberg. Had several different owners in the years to follow, then became Brand in 1915 (Gran Kahrs, Bergen). Sold to Italy 1926, renamed Federazione, 1937-1943 Marco. Bombed and sunk by British aircraft in Oct.-1943, Yugoslavia. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, issues No. 3 and 4 for 1997 of the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren", "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum), and misc. others for cross checking info. - ref My sources.
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