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M/S Høegh Silverlight To Høegh Silverlight on the "Ships starting with H" page. Manager: Leif Høegh & Co. A/S, Oslo General cargo vessel completed by Deutsche Werft Reiherstiegwerft, Hamburg in Dec.-1936. Managed during the war by S & J Thompson Ltd., London, managers of Silver Line Ltd., which had a joint service arrangement with Leif Høegh before the war.
Høegh Silverlight was at Cebu (Philippines) on Dec. 7-1941 but managed to get out on the 14th, before the islands fell to the Japanese. In Jan.-1944 she was in Convoy GUS 27 which was attacked by aircraft off Derna shortly after midnight on Jan. 9. No ships were lost. This convoy had departed Port Said on Jan. 5 and reached Hampton Roads on Febr. 4, 52 ships. That summer, in July-1944, she acted as Commodore Ship for Convoy GUS 46, which departed Port Said on July 14-1944 and arrived Hampton Roads on Aug. 8. Høegh Silverlight had 5 mates and 2 female radio operators in 1944, one of whom was the Canadian Margaret Benham (from Febr.-1944 until Febr.-1945 - she later served on M/S Roseville). In addition to the Norwegian steward and cook the ship had 13 Lascars (from Goa, India) who had their own steward, 2 cooks, 2 salon boys, 5 messboys, 2 Boys and a laundryman. She had 2 boatswains, 1 Norwegian and 1 Chinese. When in New York loading for an Indian port in Sept.-1944 she had the wreck of the French liner Normandie* in the neighbouring pier, capsized and burnt out. While there, they experienced a tremendous hurricane, which caused a lot of damages and deaths in the area. On Sept. 27 Høegh Silverlight headed out in convoy for Gibraltar and made several voyages New York-India. On one of the return trips to New York she had raw Opium in her cargo, and had to have armed police on board while it was being unloaded. When the war ended in Europe she was in Cochin, India, then returned to New York. When the news of Japan's capitulation came on Aug. 14-1945 she was in the Suez Canal - she was back in New York again on Oct.30.
Høegh Silverlight was sold in Jan.-1953 to Kyodo Sempaku K.K., Japan and renamed Ginyo Maru. In 1960 owners became Kyodo Sempaku K.K. and Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Japan. Sold in 1964 to Japanese shipbreakers. Arrived at Osaka in Dec.-1964 for breaking up. Related external link: To Høegh Silverlight on the "Ships starting with H" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, Leif Høegh & Co. fleet list, "The Allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague, "The World's Merchant Fleets", R. W. Jordan, article in the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren, Issue No. 3 for 1985, written by Ola Johansen - see M/S Heimvard. (ref. My sources).
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