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Owner: D/S A/S International Built at Moss Verft, Norway 1923. Captain: Jan Richardsen. In Admiralty service.
Experienced the Japanese bombing raids on the harbour of Rangoon on Christmas Eve 1941, as well as those on Colombo harbour on April 5-1942 (see D/S Soli), and survived both, though with some damage. However, she was not quite as lucky on May 5-1943 when on a voyage from Sydney (May 4) to Port Darwin with general cargo and ammunition, escorted by USS Patterson. Several aircraft were also circling above. She was hit on the port side aft, near Hatch No. 4 by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-180 (Kusaka), position 30 35S 153 29E (off Coff's Harbour, N.S.W., according to Hocking, about 30 n. miles northeast of Smokey Cape according to "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig"). On the bridge was 2nd Mate Høegh, the Danish Able Seaman Bolding was at the wheel, and Able Seaman Holm was on lookout duty. The explosion blew up Hatch No. 4 and she immediately started to sink. The 2nd mate opened the case where the lifebelts were kept and threw them down to the boatdeck before running down from the bridge. He met the captain and the 1st mate who were on their way to the aft port lifeboat, carrying the ship's papers. The ship was listing to port at this time, and while working to launch the lifeboat a 2nd torpedo hit in the engine room, port side. The entire boatdeck was destroyed, the funnel and after mast came crashing down. The carpenter and boatswain were probably killed at that time, having been aft when the explosion occurred. Several men were blown overboard, those who could jumped into the sea as Fingal went down in less than a minute. The survivors didn't have much to hold on to at first, but after a while a lot of debris as well as the rafts (partly destroyed) came floating up. The destroyer was about 3/4 of a mile off and immediately started to drop depth charges. Two hours later the 19 survivors were picked up by USS Patterson, which searched for the missing men for 10 hours to no avail, before heading for Newcastle where the 7 wounded were sent to a hospital on May 6, while the others were sent to Sydney. 12 had died, incl. the captain. They are commemorated at the Australian War Memorial, link below. An Australian visitor to my website, Charles R. Taylor tells me that Fingal was under charter to the Australian Government at the time of loss. He has also sent me the names of those who survived and those who lost their lives (such input is very much appreciated! Thank you!!), they've been added below. He in turn obtained the list from one of the survivors, Bernie O'Brien who now lives at Long Jetty, New South Wales. Mr. O'Brien has since been in contact with 4 of the survivors in recent years, namely Bird, Miller, Johansen and Frederick. I have his phone number if anyone would like to get in touch with him, just contact me at the address at the bottom of this page and I'll send it on. According to him, USS Patterson had been ordered away from the location of sinking by Naval Officer In Charge, Brisbane but fortunately the navigator of an RAAF plane sighted the survivors in the water and Patterson was recalled to the rescue. Crew List: This list has been compared to what can be found in "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum) and adjusted accordingly.
Fingal's casualties are commemorated on the Australian War Memorial, and can be found in the Commemorative Roll Database that I've linked to below. Related external links: Commemorative Roll Database - (Australian War Memorial). By using the last names as keywords, the casualties from Fingal will appear. See also this page, and scroll down to the 3rd WW II plaque. * Gunner Payne can also be found listed at the Commonwealth War Graves Comm. website, as can trimmer Ralph Hendersen. The Australian War Memorial has a picture of this ship. It can be found by running a search through their collection search page. Caption: "C. 1942. Aerial starboard bow view of the Norwegian cargo steamer Fingal which was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine, probably I-180, off Nambucca Heads on a voyage from Sydney to Darwin on 1943-05-05. The Fingal was a defensively equipped merchant ship (DEMS) whose guns were manned by two royal Australian navy DEMS gunners, Geoff Miller and S.C. Payne. Payne was amongst the twenty seven lost with the ship. Note the 12 pounder gun mounted aft". The number of casualties here is 27 as opposed to the correct 12.
Japanese submarines Back to Fingal on the "Ships starting with F" page. I've found a much earlier ship by the name Fingal in the book "Damp - Dampskipets æra i Vestfold", built in Leith 1863, 958 gt, lengthened 1873, W. Tully & Co., Hull until 1888 when F. Hagerup & Co., Grimsby took over, then Fingal A/S, Hilmar Lehmann 1889-1891, A/S Fingal, Kristiania 1891-1892, A/S Fingal, Hans Fredriksen, Sandefjord 1892-1894. in 1895 she belonged to Sølversborg Skeppsvarv. Aground on June 2-1894 near Snipan, Norra Quarken, taken in to Holmsund June 19. Sold at auction in Stockholm July 28-1894, repaired the following year. 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) and misc. other as mentioned in the above text - ref My sources.
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