M/S Bronxville - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

WW II:

Bronxville was one of 4 vessels in an outward bound convoy that ran aground on Jan. 21-1942 near Ballyquintin light south of Belfast in a storm. Monbretia was one of the other ships; both were towed to Belfast for repairs at the beginning of February.

From a man in Ireland I've received the following:
"I can add something to your entry for the Bronxville which went aground near here in a snowstorm, the whole convoy being led into trouble by the escort HMS Monbretia which saw distress lights from another ship the Dorrien Rose which had grounded earlier. One of the crew of the Bronxville told me she had among her cargo a large number of cases of whisky. The customs authorities sealed the hatches and placed a guard, but the crew entered the hold from below and sold a large amount of the whisky ashore in the nearest village, Portaferry. This man, Bert McGinty, who moved to Canada post-war was aboard when she was torpedoed and said they owed their lives to the discipline that prevailed on that ship; other ships' crews did not respond to an emergency so readily".

Final Fate - 1942:

Bronxville departed New York on Aug. 10-1942 with a cargo of 800 tons general, 531 tons of which was explosives placed in the shelter deck. She also had trucks and drums on deck and was bound for Liverpool. Her armament consisted of a 4" gun, 2 x 20 mm anti aircraft guns and 6 machine guns. She arrived Woods Hole on Aug. 11 to wait for a convoy, then left in the evening of Aug. 13 for Halifax, arriving on Aug. 15. She was scheduled for Convoy HX 203 which departed Halifax on Aug. 16-1942, but instead joined the slow Convoy SC 97 which left on Aug. 22 - several Norwegian ships took part in both these convoys, as will be seen by following the links.

Bronxville, in station 81 of the convoy, was torpedoed at 06:05 convoy time on Aug. 31-1942 by U-609 (Rudloff), struck on the starboard side near hatch No. 1, resulting in a fire breaking out in No. 1 hold with the flames leaping high in between the hatches. Fortunately, Bronxville sank before the fire ignited the ammunition. (Rowher gives the time of attack as 10:05 German time in 57 13N 33 40W - Captain Bolt's report gives the position as 57 11N 33 45W, adding she sank at 06:12, 7 minutes after the torpedo had hit).

The entire crew of 39 was picked up about 20 minutes later by the rescue vessel Perth and landed at Gourock on Sept. 6, then sent to Glasgow where the maritime hearings were held on Sept. 8.

The Panamanian Capira was hit at the same time, and Perth also recovered 33 of the men from that ship, others were rescued by other vessels.

Crew List - No Casualties:

Captain Bjarne Bolt	1st Mate Leif Kongstein	2nd Mate Frans Sand	3rd Mate Aage Ludvigsen	Radio Operator Wilfred Froste (Canadian)	Carpenter Peder S. Kvernvik
Boatswain Per W. A. Odden	Able Seaman Lars Sola Moen	Able Seaman Olaf Johanssen	Able Seaman Harry Steffensen	Able Seaman Gunleiv Gundersen	Able Seaman/Gunner Konrad Myklebust
Able Seaman/Gunner Robert A. Miller (British)	Ordinary Seaman Thorleif Wilhelmsen	Ordinary Seaman Nick Cherwaty (Canadian)	Ordinary Seaman Daniel Reid (British)	Ordinary Seaman Charles Porter (British)	Ord. Seaman/Gunner Elias Sandhåland
Ord. Seaman/Gunner Rolf Trevland	1st Engineer Thor Nilsen	2nd Engineer Olaf O. A. Knotten	3rd Engineer Telford Halvorsen	4th Engineer Haakon Noddeland	Electrician Robert J. McGinty (British)
Mechanic Thrygve K. Thorsen	Mechanic Harry Hansen	Mechanic Karl H. Olausen	Mechanic Olaf Høie	Oiler Arne Hansen	Oiler Richard W. Carlson (Canadian)
Engine Boy George F. Shelby (Canadian)	Steward Thoralf Larsen	Cook Kristian Tallaksen	Galley Boy John F. Pollock (British)	Mess Boy Janis Nauthal (Latvian)	Saloon Boy James C. Foran (Irish)
Gunner Fredrick Clase (British)	Gunner Richard Edwards (British)	Gunner Fred Cowan (British)

Related external link:
U-609

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

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), "The Allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague, and misc. others for cross checking info. - ref My sources.