M/T Britamsea

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


Received from Arve Wiborg, who owns this model.

Another picture is available at the last external link below.

Some War Voyages:

In 1942 (exact date not known) she had a frightening voyage around Cape Hatteras. Two ships nearby were torpedoed and those on board Britamsea were prepared for the worst. A third ship, which was American was hit, but continued full speed with a big hole in her side and oil pouring out of her. As she passed Britamsea she signalled: "U-boats having training exercises in this area, navigate with care". This resulted in a lot of laughs and helped calm the nerves somewhat.

Rick Pitz, a visitor to my website, has informed me via this message in my Gustbook that Britamsea was in Convoy GAT 16, which left Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for Trinidad on Oct. 22-1942 with 24 ships, among them several Norwegian, namely Thorshavet, Alar, Thorshov, Sandanger, Skandinavia, and Anna Knudsen. Britamsea's destination is given as Carapito. This convoy is available at the first external link provided below, and as will be seen when following the instructions at the link, information on several other convoys she sailed in will come up. From this it should be possible to construct a picture of her misc. voyages in chronological order. (A personal story I've found states that Britamsea was in service between the Caribbean and the U.S. in 1943 and '44, with cargoes of aviation fuel).

A 17 year old messboy from Canada jumped overboard from this ship one Christmas Eve. He was never found, though a search with lifeboats was initiated from Britamsea, as well as from the Norwegian Bañaderos, which sailed behind her in the convoy. No year is given for this incident, but it could possibly have been while in Convoy GN 29, which had left Guantanamo on Dec. 20-1942 and arrived New York on the 26th, and in which both these ships are listed at the first external site below (as are several other Norwegian ships, namely Alar, Bajamar, Braga, Fenja, Garonne, Lynghaug and Thorsholm).

POST WAR:

Sold by Skibs A/S Alse (Onstad Shipping A/S, Oslo, managers) in June-1960 to British Iron & Steel Corporation and allocated to Shipbreaking Industries Ltd. for breaking up at Faslane, Scotland. Arrived at Faslane July 22-1960 for breaking up. Britamsea had been laid up at Port de Bouc, France, since Aug. 1-1959.

Related external links:
Convoy GAT 16 - 27 ships are listed here. The Panamanian Norbris, which had Norwegian managers and is therefore included on this site, is also included in this convoy. Note also that by going to this page and clicking on "Ship Search", using "Britamsea" as keyword, several other convoys will come up, including many more GAT convoys (Guantanamo-Trinidad) in the period 1942-1944, as well as returning TAG convoys, among a long list of others. Here is Convoy GN 29, mentioned in my text above.

2 who died on this ship - Able Seaman Daniel Karlsen is said to have died on Nov. 15-1941 following an accident at sea, while Electrician Tollev Lilletvedt died on Jan. 25-1943 following another accident. My Norwegian Guestbook has a message from his granddaughter.

Lillesand Sjømannsforening's website (Lillesand Seamen's Association) has a picture of this ship, along with pictures of several other Norwegian ships.

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

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, Roger W. Jordan - and misc.