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M/T Ferncastle To Ferncastle on the "Ships starting with F" page.
Owner: A/S Glitre. Built in Hamburg in 1936. Captain: Thoralf Andersen. Related item on this website: Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives: Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database). Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each. Errors may exist, and some voyages are missing.
As can be seen when going to Page 1 of the documents received from the National Archives of Norway, Ferncastle was en route from Curacao to Buenos Aires when Norway was invaded on Apr. 9-1940. In June-1940 she can be found among the ships in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 47, in which the Norwegian Italia was sunk. Ferncastle was bound for Avonmouth with fuel oil, sailing in station 47, and arrived Avonmouth on June 16. Later that month, she joined Convoy OB 174, which left Liverpool on June 25 (Ferncastle joined from Milford Haven) - ref. external links at the end of this page. Her destination on that occasion was Kingston, Jamaica, where she arrived independently on July 12, the convoy having been dispersed on June 30. The Norwegian Helgøy, Hird, Litiopa, Notos and Tautra are also listed. At the end of July, Ferncastle is mentioned in connection with Convoy HX 62, but lost touch with the convoy, as did Sveve and Salonica. The information here is a little confusing, in that it looks like Ferncastle had started out from Bermuda; she's not listed on the convoy form for the Bermuda portion, but is mentioned in the Advanca Sailing Telegram for this portion (though is crossed out). The Commodore states that she was among the ships losing touch the first and second day out of Halifax (this statement would make more sense if the two portions had already joined up, and the Commodore means that these ships lost touch two days after he himself had left Halifax in the main convoy, but junction with the Bermuda portion was not made until Aug. 5, HX 62 having left Halifax on July 31 - Note that the 3 Norwegian ships that lost touch with HX 62 are not named in the table itself, but in the Advance Sailing Telegram and in the text under "Notes"). Ferncastle returned to port after losing touch (Halifax), subsequently joining the next convoy, HX 63, which left Halifax on Aug. 4. Again the info is confusing, because she has been given a "B" number, which usually denotes the Bermuda ships, but she's not included in the convoy form for this portion. When going to Page 1 of the archive documents, we see that she did leave Halifax on Aug. 4, having previously arrived there from Aruba. She was bound for Milford with diesel oil at the time, arriving there, via Avonmouth, on Aug. 29. She left Milford Haven already the next day, taking station 34 of Convoy OB 206, which sailed from Liverpool on Aug. 31-1940 and dispersed Sept. 5. Einvik and Erviken are also included in this convoy, which is available via the external link provided below. Ferncastle's destination is given as Freetown; Freetown is not mentioned on Page 1 of the archive documents, which states she arrived Aruba on Sept. 16, continuing to Bermuda the following day, with arrival Sept. 22. Two days later, she's listed in Convoy BHX 76 (the Bermuda portion of Convoy HX 76), but did not join the main portion to continue to the U.K. There's a note in the convoy document saying "to be sent to Halifax to await orders". According to the archive document already mentioned, she arrived Halifax on Sept. 27. Arnold Hague has included her in Convoy HX 88, leaving Halifax on Nov. 14-1940, arriving Liverpool on Nov. 30 (Ferncastle arrived Clyde Nov. 29). This convoy is not yet available among the HX convoys on my own website (will be added - see ships in all HX convoys), but I've linked directly to Hague's listing at the end of this page, and as can be seen, the Norwegian Gallia is also named. Ferncastle had a cargo of dieso and gas oil, and sailed in station 43. From Clyde, she later joined Convoy OB 272, which originated in Liverpool on Jan. 10-1941. Ferncastle arrived New York independently on Jan. 25, the convoy having been dispersed on the 14th. Other Norwegian ships were Brask (sunk, follow link for details), Don, Gezina, Kongsgaard, Marita, Ravnefjell and Victo (again, see the external link at the end of this page). Having made another voyage to Aruba and Bermuda, she was scheduled to return to the U.K. with Convoy HX 115 from Halifax on March 17, but instead joined HX 116 on March 21, destination Clyde, station 22, arriving Clyde on Apr. 9, Bowling the next day. Towards the end of that month she's listed as bound for Aruba, Convoy OB 314, which left Liverpool on Apr. 23, dispersed Apr. 30, and also included Grado, Ørnefjell, Vanja and Velox. Ferncastle joined from Clyde, and arrived Aruba on May 13. She started on her return voyage to the U.K. again on May 25-1941 with Convoy BHX 129 (Bermuda portion of HX 129), cargo of gas oil for Clyde, where she arrived June 12. See also the Cruising order for this convoy. She subsequently joined Convoy OB 338 from there in order to head to New York, where she arrived independently on July 8 (convoy had started out in Liverpool June 21, dispersed July 3, and also had Alaska, Malmanger, Norefjord, Skaraas and South Africa among its ranks). On July 22, she took station 113 of Convoy HX 140 from Halifax, diesel oil for Barry Roads, with arrival Aug. 8 (see Page 2 of the archive documents). Other Norwegian ships were Madrono (112), Boreas (16), Velox (56), Velma (96), Alaska (106), Stiklestad (95), Vardefjell (84), Evita (114), Olaf Bergh (124), Skiensfjord (97), Thorshov (83), Bonneville (82), Thorshavet (43) and Helgøy (77). Beth and Petter were also initially in this convoy but left due to engine problems. A week later, we find Ferncastle, with destination New York, in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 8. She arrived New York independently on Sept. 2, the convoy having been dispersed on Aug. 25. She now made a voyage to Curacao, and early in Oct.-1941, she shows up in Convoy HX 153 from Halifax, along with the Norwegian Katy, Temeraire, Sveve, Haakon Hauan, Bonneville, Lista, Santos and Andrea Brøvig. Ferncastle (and Katy) returned to the U.S. the following month with the westbound Convoy ON 32, sailing in station 55, bound for New York, with arrival there on Nov. 18. Ferncastle is said to have rescued seamen from British ships in the Belle Isle straits in 1941 (no further details are available). Please see Page 2 and Page 3 of the documents received from the National Archives of Norway and Hague's Voyage Record above for information on her subsequent voyages. According to "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, Ferncastle was shadowed by a U-boat in March-1942 off the west coast of India. They had a 4" gun on board, and the captain ordered the gun crew to open fire, while continuing at full speed. 13 shots were fired, whereupon the U-boat submerged and disappeared. (The Norwegian term for submarine and U-boat is "undervannsbåt", meaning "under the water boat", so when J. R. Hegland says "undervannsbåt" it does not necessarily mean a German U-boat).
Ferncastle's fate was sealed when she on June 17-1943, on a voyage from Australia to Abadan in ballast, was hit by 2 torpedoes from the German raider Michel's MTB. She had left Esperance on June 10, according to Page 3 of the archive documents - time of loss is given as 21:30. Please continue to Ferncastle on my page Norwegian Victims of Michel for much more info on this incident and the fate of her crew. There's also a crew list. Related external links: Back to Ferncastle on the "Ships starting with F" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Skip og menn", Birger Dannevik, and various sources as named on each convoy page - (ref. My sources).
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