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M/T Fjord

To Fjord on the "Ships starting with F" page.

Crew List

Owner: A/S D/S Fjeld
Manager: Anton Meidell, Bergen
Tonnage:
4032 gt, 2536 net, 7030 tdwt.
Call Sign: LEOW

Built by Tyne Iron Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Willington Quay-on-Tyne in1914. Previous name: Orla until 1937 (A/S D/S Eir - O.Grolle Olsen & L.Hysing Olsen, Bergen).

Captain: Halfdan Tønder

Fjord was the victim of a German air attack on July 17-1940, about 13 n. miles off Dartmouth, but was not hit.

At the end of Nov.-1940 she's listed in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 14, pit props for Barry.

In Apr.-1941 we find her in the the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 29, cargo of sulphur, station 95. In Aug. that year she was one of 14 Norwegian ships in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 4. Her destination is given as Halifax, and she had station 22 of the convoy.

According to the first external website that I've linked to at the end of this text, Fjord joined Convoy OS 9 on Oct. 13-1941. She was in station 22 on a voyage from Milford to Lisbon with coal. This convoy included 13 vessels that were destined for Gibraltar, Fjord being one of them. Other Norwegian ships in this convoy were Annavore, Fagersten, and Varanger. Follow the link for more convoy information. Annavore and Fagersten later joined Convoy HG 76 in order to return to the U.K. (Annavore was sunk) and it looks like Fjord had also originally been scheduled for this convoy, which was held back and did not leave Gibraltar until Dec. 14-1941. Fjord, however, was torpedoed before she reached Gibraltar.

 Final Fate - 1941: 

Torpedoed off Estepona Point, Spain by U-557 (Paulshen) on Dec. 2-1941, when on a voyage from Aguilas, Spain for Barrow via Gibraltar with a cargo of 5900 tons iron ore, having departed Spain the day before. She was hit amidships on the starboard side, probably in the boiler room, and went down so quickly that the crew had to jump overboard. 22 managed to find 2 rafts, while 14 lost their lives, some in the explosion, others when the ship went down.

The survivors landed about 9 kilometers southeast of Estepona, then travelled to Estepona the next day. From there they were sent to Algeciras where they were questioned by Spanish Naval officers, before they were sent to Sevilla on a tug. The allied consulates got busy investigating the case, as it was obvious the U-boat had been within the Spanish (neutral) territorial waters at the time. The only surviving navigator was 2nd Mate Borgar Knutsen, who reported to the Norwegian consul in Sevilla that he was certain the torpedo had come from the side of the ship that was facing the shore and that Fjord went down about 2 1/2 miles off Estepona. Fjord had a British radio operator, who claimed they were so close to land that it would have been possible to swim the distance.

They were later sent to Gibraltar in order to continue to England. The maritime hearings were held in London on Febr. 4-1942 with the 2nd mate, the carpenter and the boatswain appearing.

Crew List:
Stoker Sverre Brovik had previously served on Vivi.
I'm not sure if this link will work in all browsers, but
this (external) page has some details on all the other ships he served on (text in Norwegian).

Survivors:
2nd Mate
Borgar Knudsen
Radio Operator
Albert Cocks
(British)
Carpenter
Nils Bergan
Boatswain
Nils Olaf Hansen
Able Seaman
Reidar Scharning
Able Seaman
Alfred Johannesen
Able Seaman
Ragnar Leirvik
Ordinary Seaman
Richard Calvert Haws (Howe?)
(Canadian)
Ordinary Seaman
Knut Hansen
Ordinary Seaman
Evald Rebane
(Estonian)
Ordinary Seaman/Gunner
Gullik Gulliksen
3rd Engineer
Ivar Bakkeland
Stoker
Otto Meijer
(Swedish)
Stoker
Sverre Brovik
Stoker
John Mickla(?)
(Canadian)
Trimmer
William Clarke
(British)
Trimmer
Erling Øverlid
Cook
Hans Konradsen
Galley Boy
Charles Abbott
(American)
Ole Sundby *
(From Nyhorn)
Karl Kolstø *
(From Nyhorn)
+ 1 more survivor?
Casualties:

Captain
Halfdan Tønder

1st Mate
Hans Revne

3rd Mate
Fritz Pedersen

Able Seaman
Gustav Nøkling

Ordinary Seaman
Artemi Peremees
(Estonian)

1st Engineer
Johan Espeland

2nd Engineer
Albert Karlsen

Donkeyman
Theodor Andersen

Stoker
Harry Røhme

Stoker
Martin Korneliussen

Stoker
Alf Karlsen

Trimmer
John Buchanan **
(Canadian)

Steward
Stener Bjønnes

Mess Boy
Lewis Howard
(British)

* These 2 men had escaped from Nyhorn

** More details on J. Buchanan is avaiable on this page (external link). He has also been included in the Canadian Merchant Navy War Dead database.

My Guestbook has a message from the niece of one of the casualties of Fjord, Fritz Pedersen.

Related external links:
OS and OS/KMS Convoys - This website lists all the ships in quite a few of these convoys, along with their convoy stations and info on their destination. As can be seen, Fjord is listed in Convoy OS 9.

The Norwegians - At first sight, 16 Norwegians appear to be listed here, but upon checking further I find that some of them belong to other ships (3 were from Lysefjord, 1 from Korsfjord, 1 from Tanafjord) so be aware of this problem with the search results on this website; In this case of course, it has to do with the "fjord" name in all 3 ships.

U-557

Back to Fjord on the "Ships starting with F" 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) and misc. - ref. My sources.

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