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M/T Høegh Giant To Høegh Giant on the "Ships starting with H" page. Owner: Skibsaktieselsk. Abaco, Aruba, Astrea & Noruega. Completed in Febr.-1937 by Deutsche Werft A.G., Hamburg. Captain: Finn Ager Madsen. 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.
According to "Nortraships flåte", Høegh Giant arrived Brisbane in convoy from the Thursday Islands, together with other Norwegian tankers on Apr. 19-1940, in other words, 10 days after the German invasion of Norway. Please see Havbør for an explanation. Note, however, that according to Page 1 of the archive documents, she arrived Brisbane on Apr. 26, as did Havbør; they had both left Thursday Island on the 19th. Her 1941 voyages also start on Page 1 and continue on Page 2, which also shows some of her early 1942 voyages.
Høegh Giant made her first North Atlantic convoy crossing in the fall of 1941, having joined Convoy HX 152 from Halifax on Sept. 28 (in station 92) along with the Norwegian Drammensfjord (106), Beth (44), Evita (93), Trondheim (95), Salamis (84), and Storanger (83). Høegh Giant arrived Avonmouth, via Belfast Lough, on Oct. 16. She headed back to the U.S. later that month with the westbound Convoy ON 30, station 44 (the Commodore's narrative is also available). Her destination is given as New York, but her arrival there is not given on Page 2 of the archive documents, which says she arrived Port Arthur on Nov. 18, having started out from Belfast Lough on Oct. 27 (the convoy had been dispersed on Nov. 9). From Port Arthur, she proceeded to Halifax 2 days later, and from there, she joined Convoy HX 163 on Dec. 3. She arrived Bowling on Dec. 20. That year was rounded off by sailing back across the Atlantic with the westbound Convoy ON 50*, which originated in Liverpool on Christmas Eve and dispersed on Jan. 3-1942, Høegh Giant arriving Baytown on Jan. 15, having sailed from Greenock on Dec. 25, station 45. The Norwegian Charles Racine, Fagerfjell, Fernwood, Fjordheim (returned), Innerøy, Sama, Skandinavia, Strinda and Taborfjell are also listed. On Febr. 7-1942, we find her in Convoy HX 174 from Halifax, together with the Norwegian James Hawson (returned), Athos, Fernwood, Vanja, Thorsholm, Beth and Anderson (ran aground, see Anderson), as well as the Panamanian Norvinn (collided, returned). According to Page 3, Høegh Giant arrived Bowling (via Clyde) on Febr. 21. She subsequently joined the westbound Convoy ON 71*, which originated in Liverpool on Febr. 26 and was dispersed March 8. She was bound for Aruba and had station 73, arriving Aruba on March 18. Other Norwegian ships, some of which were also bound for Aruba, were Athos, Fagerfjell, Fjordaas, Gallia, Garonne, John Bakke, Malmanger, Skaraas, Solfonn, Velma and the Panamanian Norvik (also included under the N's on this website). From Aruba, she later headed to Freetown, Puerto la Cruz and Curacao, then back to Freetown, bringing us to May 27-1942, when she ambarked on her last voyage.
There seems to be some disagreement with regard to the events surrounding the sinking of this ship, and for info I've added all the details I can find from my misc. sources. According to Arnold Hague, she had arrived Freetown from Curacao on May 17-1942*, departing Freetown (in ballast) for Trinidad on May 27 - see also Page 3. The Norwegian book "Nortraships flåte", says she was in position 07 17N 43 06W at 06:45 on June 3 when she was hit by a torpedo below the after deck, port side (U-126, Bauer - 3 torpedoes were fired in this attack). She stayed afloat, but engines had to be stopped for about half an hour, until she at 07:30 continued at 10 knots with the gun crew on their posts. Suddenly, the U-boat was spotted a couple of hundred meters behind them on the starboard side. The gunners immediately fired, then saw 3-4 columns of water around the boat which quickly submerged. The fourth shot landed where the boat had gone under, leading them to think it had been sunk. Nothing further happened until 21:00 that same day when the U-boat again attacked, this time with 2 torpedoes which struck on the starboard side, just forward of amidships (3 torpedoes may in fact have been fired in this attack as well).
The captain and 3 men launched the gig, while the rest of the crew went in 2 lifeboats. The U-boat came up and called twice over to the gig, but when the captain didn't understand what was being said, 3 bursts of machine gun fire were sent above the lifeboat, injuring the captain in the arm. Høegh Giant, which was still afloat, was then shelled, but this source does not specify whether the ship actually sank at that time. The two lifeboats with 35 survivors landed at Devil's Island at 15:00 LAT on June 13, where they were placed under guard and disarmed of a 30 caliber machine gun and 2 pistols they had with them. They were kindly treated by those who were interned there, but after 6 days they were given the choice of staying there as internees until the end of the war or leave, whereupon they quickly chose the latter, and after the boats had been re-stocked they were allowed to leave. The occupants of one of the boats were picked up by the Canadian Keymont at 15:00 GCT on June 20, about 25 miles north of Paramaribo Lightship, and those in the other by the Dutch Princess Juliana at the same time and date. They arrived Paramaribo that same day; from there they were sent to Trinidad on board the Norwegian D/S Lindvangen. The gig, meanwhile, had landed in Trinidad on June 18 (or 21st?). Some of the above appears to have been taken from a report which was presented at the maritime hearings in New York on Aug. 7-1942, signed by Captain Madsen, Ordinary Seamen Bent Eilersen, who had been at the helm when the torpedoes hit, Able Seaman Alf Fjermestad, on lookout duty, and 3rd Mate Erik Mehus, on duty on the bridge. This report says they had departed Freetown in a convoy at 06:00 on May 27, and that the convoy had been dispersed at 20:00 on the 28th, Høegh Giant continuing as per sailing orders from Navy Control, Freetown. The captain states that 15 radio signals in 3 periods had been sent out after the ship had been hit the first time, adding that she received damages between No. 6 and 8 center tanks in that attack, and developed a heavy list. This report also states that the explosion from the 2 torpedoes in the 2nd attack was so powerful that the starboard bridge wing was torn off, and the motor lifeboat was smashed. While the U-boat was shelling the ship, the gig was separated from the other 2 boats, and when they were not seen at daylight, the gig set a course for Trinidad. The Naval Observer at Paramaribo later expressed the opinion that the ship had been abandoned prematurely, as she was compartmented and very hard to sink, as evidenced by the fact that she was still afloat after 3 torpedo hits and 50 rounds of shell fire. Had the gun crew remained on board "they might have forced the sub to abandon its prey". The observer pointed out that an experienced Navy gun crew might have been able to hit the sub when it surfaced during the first attack which was made in daylight. U-126 was later sunk by aircraft in the Bay of Biscay in July-1943 - see external link at the end of this page.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Again, just for info, a separate report, based on interviews with the survivors, dated July 11-1942 and signed by U.S.N.R. Ensign E. D. Henderson, states: –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– At the end of July, Høegh Giant's survivors were on board the American passenger ship Robert E. Lee. She was on a voyage from Port of Spain to Tampa, Florida, but could not secure a pilot and was directed to New Orleans with PC-566 as escort. She had 268 passengers (mostly survivors of other sinkings), 130 crew members and 6 Naval Armed Guard. On July 30-1942, she was torpedoed by U-166 (Kuhlmann) in 28 40N 88 42W and sank after 15 minutes. 10 crew members and 15 passengers died. Other Norwegians on board were survivors from Andrea Brøvig. All the Norwegians survived and contributed to the rescue of about 185 of Robert E. Lee's passengers. (U-166 was sunk by PC-566 that same day). According to "A Careless Word, A Needless sinking" by Arthur R. Moore, Robert E. Lee was in Convoy TAW 7 at the time (external link - as will be seen, this convoy is said to have arrived Key West already on July 28, 2 days before Robert E. Lee was sunk). This book says she had a complement of 131, 6 Naval Armed Guard and 270 passengers. The ship was abandoned in 6 lifeboats and 16 rafts. PC-566, SC-519 and the tug Underwriter picked up survivors, who were landed at Venice, Louisiana, then transported by bus to New Orleans. According to this posting on my Ship Forum Robert E. Lee had arrived at Antigua on July 12, left Antigua July 13, arrived St. Lucia same day. Left St. Lucia July 14, arrived Trinidad July 15. Left Trinidad July 21 (this fits with the departure date of Convoy TAW 7 - the Norwegian Athos and Ida Bakke are also listed in this convoy), arrived off Tampa July 29. No pilot was available so she proceeded to New Orleans escorted by PC-566. In other words, it looks like she was no longer in the convoy when she was sunk (this message is part of a thread that starts here). Crew List - All survived:
External websites related to the text on this page: U-126 | Ernst Bauer - Note that Uboat.net also has a section for Allied ships hit by U-boats, and by entering a ship's name in the search field, more information is available (including Robert E. Lee). Operations Information for U-126 - As can be seen, this U-boat was also responsible for the sinking of several other Norwegian ships, all of which are listed on my website. PC-566 - On the website The story of U-166 which includes several underwater pictures of this boat. Back to Høegh Giant on the "Ships starting with H" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Misc. sources, incl. "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, Leif Høegh & Co. fleet list, misc. reports and crew list received from Ken Dunn, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume I, "The Allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague, and misc. others (named within the text) for cross checking facts. The summary of statements by survivors from Høegh Giant was received from Tony Cooper, England.
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