Site Map | Search Warsailors.com | Merchant Fleet Main Page | Warsailors.com Home |
|
D/S Einvik To Einvik on the "Ships starting with E" page. Owner: Skibs-A/S Einvik Built by Polson Iron Works Co. Ltd., Toronto, Canada (146), delivered in Jan.-1919 as War Taurus to The Shipping Controller (managed by Tyzack & Branfoot), London. 250.9' x 43.4' x 20.9', Triple exp. (builders), 238 nhp. Renamed Cormount in 1920 for Cory Colliers Ltd., London. Sold in 1924 to D/S A/S Spin, Kristiania (Oslo), then sold that same year to Crisco Rederi A/S (Ragnar Moltzau), Kristiania, renamed Femund 1925. Sold in 1928 to Max Moltzau, Oslo, renamed Rendal in 1928, having been sold to A/S Rendal (Ragnar Moltzau), Oslo that same year. Sold in 1934 to Skibs-A/S Einvik (Bjarne Tetlie), Trondheim and renamed Einvik 1935. Captain: Finn Wetteland
Einvik is listed as sailing in the U.K.-Norway Convoy ON 15 in Febr.-1940. The following month we find her in Convoy HN 17 from Norway to the U.K., bound for West Hartlepool in ballast. She joined Convoy ON 25 in order to head back to Norway at the beginning of Apr.-1940, and since she was later under Allied control she must have been one of the ships that returned to the U.K. due to the German invasion which was underway - follow the links for more information, several Norwegian ships took part in all these convoys. In June-1941 she was scheduled for the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 33, but did not sail. At the time she had a cargo of lumber and pit props for Cardiff. She subsequently joined the next convoy, SC 34, but returned to port and is said to have been sent to join Convoy SC 36. This convoy, which left Sydney C.B. on July 1 and arrived Liverpool on the 19th, is not available to me so I cannot confirm whether she sailed or not.
Einvik was on a voyage from Quebec to Cardiff with a cargo of pitprops and lumber when she was sunk by U-501 (Förster) on Sept. 5-1941, position 60 38N 31 18W. At the subsequent maritime hearings in Glasgow on Oct. 1-1941 Captain Wetteland handed in a report concerning 3 of Einvik's stokers whom he had reported to the British General Consulate in Reykjavik accusing them of sabotage, and seems to (indirectly) blame them for the loss of the ship. He says that Einvik was in St. John's on Aug. 25, ready for departure. Stokers T. Dwyer, A. Dwyer and J. Bobb were not on board when work started that morning, though they knew that the ship was to leave. A. Dwyer returned at 16:15, the other 2 were found and brought on board by the police at 18:00. Just before departure the 3rd engineer had heard one of them tell the others to keep the steam low to make it as difficult as possible for the ship. In fact, all the stokers were in a somewhat rebellious mood. Einvik departed St. John's in convoy at 19:00 that same day, and the steam was low from the start. This continued into the following day, Aug. 26, and they eventually lost sight of the convoy, but spotted it again on the 28th and were able to take their place that afternoon, then joined the main* convoy later that night. However, in spite of 2 stokers and a trimmer on every watch (as ordered by the captain from Aug. 27) the steam was kept low, and by the evening of the 29th they lost sight of the convoy. The stokers seemed to be under the impression that if they lost the convoy they would have to return to St. John's, but on the 30th the captain gave them a good talking to and announced that under no circumstances would he return the ship to St. John's, and if they did not shape up he would consider their behaviour as sabotage. At that time the ship had hardly any speed at all, and the wind was increasing to a gale with high seas.
By Sept. 1 the stokers appeared to have reconsidered; Einvik was doing 7 knots for the next 3 days, and an attempt was made to catch up with the convoy again. The weather had also improved. However, at 03:15 on Sept. 5 the mate on duty, 1st Mate Eugen Kvalheim saw a dark object on the port side about half a mile off. He ordered the wheel hard to starboard while at the same time telling the lookout, Ordinary Seaman A. Beams to call all men on deck, but a moment later a torpedo struck near the foreward mast, port side. Einvik's only armament was a machine gun and a Tommy gun so the order was given to abandon ship and within 10 minutes both boats were on the water and clear of the ship. The Canadian Radio Operator Elmer Rusenstrom remained on board in order to send out an SOS with their position, then left the ship in the workboat and rowed away from the ship. At that time the U-boat opened fire and Einvik sank in about 45 minutes, after having been hit by about 25 shells (position given as approx. 61N 30W). After she had been sunk the radio operator was taken on board the starboard lifeboat, while the workboat was let go. Iceland Radio had received her distress signals, but when an aircraft and a corvette came to the scene that evening no ship nor survivors were to be seen, only some debris and oil on the water. By then the 2 lifeboats had set a course for Iceland, sailing together until Sept. 9 when a gale force wind separated them. The starboard boat landed at the Vestmanna Islands in the morning of Sept. 13, while the port boat landed at Herdisvik a couple of hours later. Most of the men were in need of medical treatment upon landing. On Sept. 22, 17 of Einvik's crew travelled from Reykjavik to Gourock with D/S Bergensfjord, arriving on Sept. 25. The 3rd engineer, the steward and the donkeyman had signed on other ships and stayed behind in Reykjavik as did Able Seamen Lerstang, Fossheim and Johansen who did not want to travel with the troop transport. The maritime hearings were held in Glasgow on Oct. 1-1941 with the captain, the 1st mate and the 2nd engineer appearing.
Back to Einvik on the "Ships starting with E" 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. - ref. My sources.
|