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M/S Hermion To Hermion on the "Ships starting with H" page. Manager: Bruusgaard, Kiøsterud & Co., Drammen. Built in Vegesack 1937. Related items on this website:
From Sept.-1937 to Sept.-1939 on charter to Kawasaki Kisen KK, Kobe, Japan. From June-1941 to April-1946 under control of Australian government and managed by Orient Steam Navigation Co Ltd, London. Hermion was one of the Norwegian ships involved in the search for survivors from the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney in Nov.-1941, but none were found (Herstein and Pan Europe were also involved, and according to this posting on my Ship Forum, Nordnes and Ohio also took part). Sydney had sunk, and had been sunk herself with a loss of all her men by the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran on Nov. 19 (survivors from the German cruiser had been rescued from rafts and lifeboats southwest of Carnarvon, West Australia by allied ships on Nov. 24). Hermion was later part of Convoy JS 1, which was organized to move the Australian division in Palestine to Singapore early in the year of 1942 (background history under Pan Europe). The convoy arrived Colombo at the end of January and continued east on Febr. 3, but en route it became clear that Singapore would fall to the Japanese forces, thereby also posing a threat to Sumatra, so it was decided to move reinforcements there instead. Hermion and 4 of the convoy's ships were rerouted to Oosthaven at the southern point of Sumatra, escorted by cruisers, while the Norwegian ship D/S Prominent and the rest of Convoy JS 1 were sent to Batavia, arriving Febr. 14. (M/S Hindanger was on her way from Suez to Rangoon with 250 British troops and equipment when Rangoon fell [March 8] and was rerouted to Bombay). An Australian visitor to my website has informed me that one of Hermion's crew members, Seaman Harry Francis Willis is buried at Moascar War Cemetery in Egypt, date of death given as May 4-1944, aged 18, and another, Assistant Steward I. W. Muchenberg is buried at Bone War Cemetery, Algeria, date of death Apr. 18th-1944. They are commemorated at the Australian War Memorial. Both had joined the ship in Australia; since Norway was occupied it became difficult to replace crew with Norwegians, so it was common to take on men of other nationalities. For a long time I had been trying to find out whether these men died of natural causes or whether anything war related happened to Hermion on the dates given, then Iris Aamot stepped up again and told me the following: "Have just been reading about the Hermion and very interested about the two boys who died and were buried in Egypt. I am wondering if they were the same boys that my husband Hans Aamot told me about many times. There were two boys from South Australia, I think they were galley boys when Hans was cook. When they were in the Persian Gulf the boys got smallpox. Everyone was frightened to look after them so Hans was the only one that helped them. He looked after them and was so sorry for them, but unfortunately they both died. Sounds very much like the same boys. Hans had been innoculated for smallpox back in Norway when he was young and always said that that saved him catching the smallpox from the boys. He didnt know who their family were and would have liked to have contacted them when he came back to Australia. He often spoke of them". Iris has told me that her husband Hans may even have been steward at that time, in other words, I. W. Muchenberg may have been his own assistant. Note also that in this message in my Guestbook, there's mention of a Rolland Ritter, who is also said to have died of Smallpox on Hermion. Iris does not mention him, and I'm afraid I don't know anything more about it.
During 1947-48 she was on charter to Wilh Wilhelmsen for Australian service. Sold in 1957 to Karl Gross, Brake, Germany, and renamed Adele Ohlrogge. Sold to Spanish breakers and arrived at Puerto de Santa Maria on Dec. 17-1966 to be broken up. External links related to the text on this page: The Fall of Malaya and Singapore The sinking of HMAS Sydney To Hermion on the "Ships starting with H" page. Other ships by this name: Norway had another ship named Hermion later on. Delivered as Høyanger to Westfal-Larsen & Co., Bergen in March-1959, built in Amsterdam, 9477 gt. Sold to Arne Teigens Rederi/Bruusgaard Kiøsteruds Rederi, Drammen in Apr.-1974, renamed Hermion. Taken over by p/r Hermion (Thoresen International), Drammen in 1977, then by Bruusgaard Kiøsteruds Skibs-A/S, Panama in 1981. In 1984 a Hermion was delivered to K/S A/S Hermion (Helge R. Myhre A/S), Oslo, built in Moss, 15 399 gt. Had various Norwegian managers until 2004 when she was sold to India and renamed Maharshi Shivatreya. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Misc. sources, incl. "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland and various E-mails from visitors to my website.
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