M/T Herborg

To Herborg on the "Ships starting with H" page.


Very kindly sent to me by Historical Department, MAN B&W Diesel, Copenhagen - (see also their museum website).
I also received a picture of Herborg while building.

Other pages on this website with information related to this text:
Norwegian victims of Thor - Details on the capture of Herborg by this German raider.
Merchant Marine Prisoners of War - Herborg crew list.

Herborg had been 1 of 7 tankers in convoy MS 3 which had departed Melbourne in ballast on Jan. 30-1942, to pick up as much oil as possible in Palembang. I understand the captain at that time was John O. Westad. The Norwegian; M/T Erling Brøvig, Elsa, Seirstad were also in this convoy. (This was around the time that the Japanese attacked Sumatra with Palembang as their main goal). Around Febr. 12 all the ships in Palembang got the order to sail, as an attack was imminent. That night the Banka Straits was full of ships of all types, trying to retreat ahead of the Japanese threat. On Friday the 13th the convoy of tankers was out of the Straits and headed for Batavia, with the British destroyers Jupiter and Stronghold as escorts, when attacked by at least 8 aircraft. Erling Brøvig was hit by a bomb and set on fire, but the crew managed to extinguish the fire and take her to Batavia, where the ships arrived the following day. Most of her cargo of 4500 tons fuel oil was transferred to M/T Herborg.

Seirstad had also been damaged in this Japanese air attack, while the Dutch tanker Manvantara got a direct hit and sank (4 died), and the Dutch Merula was set on fire; the survivors were rescued by the escort, 5 died (Note: "The World's Merchant Fleets" says 42 died, 8 survived). The captain of Herborg took Merula in tow in an attempt to save her, but had to abandon the effort when the fire started up again with renewed force.

Captured - 1942:

On June 19-1942 Herborg was on a voyage from Abadan to Fremantle with 11 000 tons crude oil when she was captured in broad daylight by the German auxiliary cruiser T/S Thor. Read more about Herborg's capture and her fate, as well as that of her crew under "Norwegian victims of Thor". My page "Merchant Marine Prisoners of War" has a complete crew list - follow the links provided above.

Back to Herborg on the "Ships starting with H" page.

Other ships by this name: This company had previously had another Herborg, ex Conus, ex War Begum, 5578 gt, built Newcastle 1919. Sold to Tønnevold's Rederi A/S in 1928 and renamed Thelma. Sold and renamed Herborg in 1937, sold again in 1938 to Japan, renamed Hokki Maru. Sunk by the American submarine Lapon on Sept. 27-1944. Another Herborg had originally been delivered as Samnanger in 1963 - see details under "Other ships by this name" under my text for Samnanger.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, and misc. as named on the page about Norwegian ships captured by Thor - (ref. My sources).