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M/T Hamlet To Hamlet on the "Ships starting with H" page. Manager: Bruusgaard, Kiøsterud & Co., Drammen Built by Götaverken A/B, Gothenburg in 1934. Previous names: Eidsvold until 1934, Abu until 1937. Captain: Nils. A. Ambjørnsen.
Hamlet was in Convoy HX 160 in Nov.-1941, together with several other Norwegian ships. Hamlet returned across the ocean the following month with the westbound Convoy ON 46, which left Liverpool on Dec. 13-1941; her destination is given as New York. She's also listed among the ships in Convoy HX 172 in Jan.-1942, then returned with the westbound Convoy ON 67 in Febr., joining this convoy from Iceland (this is the convoy in which the Norwegian Eidanger and several others were sunk). In March that year we find her in Convoy HX 182, returning at the end of Apr. with Convoy ON 89. Note that the ON convoys mentioned here will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course - in the meantime, the ships sailing in them are named in this list of ships in all ON convoys.
Torpedoed by U-753 (von Mannstein) in the morning of May 27-1942 while on a voyage from Texas to Liverpool with a cargo of oil. I've come across an excerpt from Hamlet's logbook in Issue No. 2 for 1975 of "Krigsseileren", which says she had departed Beaumont, Texas with 8927 tons crude oil at 07:20 on May 26. At 04:10 on May 27, when she was in position 28 25N 91 00W she was hit by a torpedo in the forward part of No. 10 tank, starboard side. The engine was stopped, the alarm sounded and guns manned while the lifeboats were made ready for launching. As it appeared the ship would stay afloat they discussed the possibility of getting her to port. The antenna had fallen down so it was impossible to send out a message, and while an emergency antenna was being rigged up another torpedo hit at 04:40, this time she appeared to have been struck in tank No. 12. The ship now started to sink very quickly so orders were given to take to the boats. 4 boats were successfully launched and were away from the ship's side when at 04:55 a 3rd torpedo hit between No. 13 and 15 tanks and she now sank down to the poop (a surfaced U-boat had been observed from the boats before the 3rd torpedo struck). The lifeboats stayed alongside the ship until daylight at 06:30 to make certain no more men were left on board or in the water, whereupon course was set for nearest land (the poop of Hamlet could still be seen at a 45° angel above the water). At 09:30 assistance was offered by some fishing cutters which took the boats in tow, arriving Morgan City, Louisiana around 21:00. The maritime hearings were held in New York on June 3-1942 with Captain Ambjørnsen (in his cabin when the first torpedo hit), 1st Mate Aake Andersen (on duty on the bridge), Able Seaman (helmsman) Frithjof Olsen and Able Seaman (lookout) Olaf Finvik appearing.
Crew List - No Casualties:
Related external links: Lillesand Sjømannsforening has a picture of Hamlet, among several others. Back to Hamlet on the "Ships starting with H" page. Other ships by this name: Bruusgaard, Kiøsterud & Co., Drammen also had a ship by this name built in Gothenburg in 1915 (identical to Credo / Realf II?). I have a picture of a lovely painting of a post war Hamlet, painted by Jan Goedhart, Holland who sailed on her. If anyone would like to have this picture, please contact me through the address provided at the end of this page. See also this page on the Clydebuilt Ships website. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Misc. sources, incl. "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Krigsseileren", Issue No. 2 for 1975, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum) - ref. My sources.
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