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M/S Hermion To Hermion on the "Ships starting with H" page. Manager: Bruusgaard, Kiøsterud & Co., Drammen. Built in Vegesack in 1937. From Sept.-1937 to Sept.-1939 on charter to Kawasaki Kisen KK, Kobe, Japan. Related items on this website: Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives: Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database). Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each. Errors may exist, and some voyages may be missing.
As will be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Hermion was on her way from Corner Brook to Kingston, Jamaica when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940. She appears to have spent quite a long time at Suez the following year, having arrived there from Aden on March 30-1941. Departure is given as May 19 - see Page 2. 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. (Going back to Page 2 above, we learn that Hermion had departed Melbourne on Nov. 16 and arrived Colombo Dec. 5). 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 above). The ships 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 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). Her 1943 voyages start on Page 3 and continue on Page 4, which also shows some of her early 1944 voyages. 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 (according to Page 5, Hermion was in Port Said on that date), aged 18, and another, Assistant Steward I. W. Muchenberg is buried at Bone War Cemetery, Algeria, date of death Apr. 18-1944 (Hermion was in Bone on that date). They are commemorated at the Australian War Memorial - ref. external link provided below. 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 (the cook's wife, ref. link to Guestbook message further up on this page) 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 didn't 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. Page 5 also lists Hermion's 1945 voyages, while Page 6 shows some early 1946 voyages.
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. Related external links: The Fall of Malaya and Singapore Commemorative Roll Database - (Australian War Memorial). By entering the names, with "Second World War, 1939-1945" in the other search field, more details on the 2 men who died from Hermion will appear (I cannot find R. Ritter). See also this page and scroll down to the fourth WW II plaque. Back 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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