M/T Kongsgaard
Updated Nov. 18-2008

To Kongsgaard on the "Ships starting with K" page.

Crew List

As the convoy was subject to several U-boat attacks her gunners kept watch by the guns 24 hours a day, and extra lookouts were stationed. Kongsgaard was the 2nd ship in the 8th column (station 82), 2nd Mate Müller was on duty on the bridge in the early morning hours of June 27. The captain had just left the bridge when at about 01:50 (British Summertime) the ship right in front of her was torpedoed*, and a few seconds later the vessel in front of her on the starboard side exploded with an enormous bang. The ship in front of Kongsgaard was the Dutch Maasdam (station 81) which was torpedoed by U-564 with the loss of 2 men. She had 32 passengers and a general cargo. Kongsgaard's Captain Moen's report on this incident states that the second ship must have been loaded with explosives, and this fits with the British Malaya II in station 91, also struck by U-564. She had a cargo of metal, wheat and TNT, 39 died.

* Rowher gives the time as 01:55 for Maasdam (60N 30 35W), 01:56 for Malaya II (59 56N 30 35W) and 01:57 for Kongsgaard (60N 30 42W). These positions are according to data of the Allied authorities. Obviously, the 3 ships would have been in more or less the same position at the time of attack.

Shortly afterwards, Kongsgaard received a torpedo from U-564 (Suhren), position 60N 31W according to the captain's report. She was engulfed in black smoke from stern to bow from the explosion and also from the ship that had been torpedoed just beforehand. Debris from the explosion on the latter ship landed on board Kongsgaard and all around her, while the windows of the chart house and the wheel house burst, as did the doors in the passageway and to the saloon. The engine was stopped and all the lifeboats were immediately launched, as it was impossible to see exactly how bad the situation was in the darkness which was made worse by the thick smoke. However, when the smoke cleared after a while it looked like the ship would probably stay afloat, so the captain and 9 men remained on board to see what could be done. In the meantime 3rd Mate Kolkinn and an able seaman stayed alongside in the starboard lifeboat to be ready to receive the 10 still on board if necessary. 1st Mate Finn Wathne managed to extinguish a fire in the pump room and as the ship was listing about 15° he was also asked to trim from the port tanks to the empty starboard tanks (the torpedo had hit in the empty No. 2 port wingtank and the pump room which was filled). As soon as everything appeared to be in order the lifeboat was hoisted back on board.

In the meantime the Canadian Randa (ex Danish), which the captain says acted as rescue vessel for the column, had launched a motor lifeboat and was picking up crew and passengers from the ship that had been torpedoed in front of them. Randa had also picked up the men from Kongsgaard's motor lifeboat and the port boat. Randa's motorboat now came over to Kongsgaard and offered to take the remaining men on board, but this no longer seemed necessary. M/T Havprins also offered to take them on board (this ship also rescued survivors from the ship that had been torpedoed in front of Kongsgaard, follow the link for more info). A 3rd lifeboat from Kongsgaard was a little further away, but its occupants were notified of the fact that Kongsgaard was afloat so they came back to the ship. The motorboat from Randa then brought the men already picked up by that ship back to Kongsgaard. The motor lifeboat and the port midships lifeboat had been damaged while alongside Randa and were half filled with water. They tried to take them back on board, but as they were still in the danger zone this was given up and Kongsgaard proceeded with just the 2 lifeboats. Everyone was back on board by 04:10 and she could continue her voyage. Around 18:00 she had caught up with the convoy again.

The next day, June 28, Kongsgaard was starting to list to starboard and an inspection showed that No. 2 tank on the starboard wing was flooding quickly. They managed to straighten her up again by trimming, but she was very deep in the water. In the early morning hours of June 29 the convoy was again attacked by U-boats, but Kongsgaard escaped harm this time. In the afternoon of July 1 the captain was told by the Commodore to continue to Swansea, but as Kongsgaard's degaussing was useless, she was short of 2 lifeboats, and very deep in the water, he preferred taking her to the nearest port Belfast first, or Clyde, where the danger of magnetic mines was minimal. Permission was granted from the Admiralty and she arrived Belfast in the morning of July 2. (She later sailed from Belfast Lough for Swansea on July 21, arriving July 23).

A telegram from First Lord of the Admiralty arrived on July 5 congratulating them on bringing their ship safely to port after being torpedoed.

A visitor to my site, George Monk, has told me that the following men received British awards, probably for the above incident? (his source: Seedies List of awards to the British Merchant Navy which includes awards to Allied merchant seamen).
Captain Leif Moen - HonOBE(Civ) - (=Honour of the British Empire)
Chief Engineer Ole Jahre Andersen - HonMBE(Civ)
1st Mate Finn Wathne - Commendation
Radio Officer Roland Gilbert Gould - Commendation
The chief engineer later died when Kongsgaard was sunk (see crew list below), while the others survived.

Other ships sunk in Convoy HX 133, in addition to Maasdam, Malaya II and the 2 Norwegian ships already mentioned, were the British Brokcley Hill (no casualties) and Grayburn (35 died). The convoy had departed Halifax on June 16-1941 and arrived Liverpool on July 3. The Dutch Tibia had been in much the same situation as Kongsgaard, and also made it to Belfast, having been torpedoed and damaged by U-79 on June 27. Again, more information can be found by going to my page about HX 133.

Kongsgaard had made a voyage to Curacao at the beginning of 1942. She had left Belfast Lough on Jan. 24 and joined the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 59, which had originated in Liverpool on Jan. 23 and later dispersed on Febr. 6, Kongsgaard arriving Curacao on Febr. 13. This convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys. The Norwegian Braganza, Hardanger (returned), Herbrand, Hilda Knudsen, Norsktank (returned), O. A. Knudsen, Pan Aruba, Salamis, Sommerstad (returned), Svenør, Sydhav, and Thorshavet are also listed.

From Curacao she proceeded to Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela on Febr. 14, arriving the next day, departing again on Febr. 20 with 15 600 tons light crude oil for Aruba. She had been ready to leave on the 16th, but had been held back due to enemy activity in Caribbean waters. She passed Wilhelmstad, Curacao early in the morning of Febr. 21 and shortly afterwards a Dutch destroyer came towards them and gave them routing instsructions and positions and also told them they were to go to St. Nicolaas Bay, so her course was altered accordingly, while she continued to zig-zag, which she had done all along. At 08:50 she was 2 1/2 miles west of North Point, Curacao, and her course was altered as per instructions from the destroyer (a 90° alteration to port), still zig-zag'ing. Between 09:10 and 09:15, Captain Moen, who was on the port side of the bridge saw a torpedo heading their way, about 100 yards off (U-67 - Müller-Stöckheim), and ordered hard starboard wheel to avoid other possible torpedoes, while sounding the alarm. At the same time the torpedo struck between the pump room and engine room on the port side, immdiately setting the oil cargo on fire, sending flames high above the entire afterpart. The explosion destroyed all connections between the bridge and poop so no orders could be given. The radio operator was told to send an SOS witht their position but soon had to leave the radio station as the fire was spreading. 1st Mate Wathne, who was trapped in his cabin by the flames managed to get out through his porthole, then ran forward where those who had been on the bridge joined him, except the captain and the radio operator. A dinghy was thrown overboard, whereupon 2nd Mate Müller and the saloon (galley?) boy jumped overboard and tried to save themselves in it, but the flames quickly caught up with them.

The ship had now slowed down and was drifting sideways with the starboard side to the wind, so that the flames blew away from that side, enabling those who were still amidships to launch the starboard boat, and after having picked up 2nd Engineer Rosengren from the water, they rowed away as fast as they could. The boat had been sprayed with oil and was extremely difficult to maneuver with the slick oars. A British gunner, George Gurney, who had manned the Oerlikon on the upper bridge was severely burnt, but did what he could to help them get away from the burning oil on the water and they finally succeeded.

3 hours later a small fishing vessel manned with police and Red Cross representatives came alongside. The men in the lifeboat were doing reasonably well, so the rescuers were requested to search for possible other survivors, since the lifeboat was so difficult to maneuver and they were exhausted themselves (those in the lifeboat had noticed earlier that the starboard aft lifeboat had been launched, though they had not seen the boat itself). This fishing vessel had just previously found a man in the water; he had managed to swim through the flames until he reached open water. This was Able Seaman Magnus Heggø*, who with the assistance of the 4th mate had launched the starboard aft boat 1 1/2 minutes after the explosion, but the fore and aft tackles had not been released evenly with the result that the boat fell down very quickly, then capsized. He did not know how many had been in this boat.

At 13:30 another fishing vessel came up to the lifeboat and they were taken on board. This vessel had also searched the attack area for possible survivors. Additionally, a fast motorboat had searched around the burning wreck as had 3 aircraft, but no more were found. The survivors were subsequently transferred to this motorboat and landed in Bullenbay where ambulances were waiting. 2 were badly burnt and sent to the hospital in Wilhelmstad, where the others were also sent. Kongsgaard eventually sank during the night leading up to Febr. 22.

The following info from U-67's KTB was sent to me by a visitor to my site:
"21.2.42 EC 9379
15h10 viewing tanker
15h32 simple shot tube 1 and 2; 1 hit rear part of the ship immediately on fire
19h02 first shot to dead - missing without explanation
19h30 second shot to dead hit on rear part tanker again in sea of smoke and fire, can see temporarily the stern. Then nothing more.
38 dead 8 survivors"

* Magnus Heggø had been on Kongsgaard since Jan.-1942. After having spent some time in the hospital he briefly joined President de Vogue, then served on Madrono when this ship was captured by the German raider Thor in July-1942 and endured a horrible time thereafter (see the story under "A Sabotage Attempt"). He'll be 82 years old this year (2004). He had joined his first ship at age 15, namely D/S Truth, on which his father already served at the time. Truth was in the coal and sugar trade between the U.S. and West Indies. When this ship was sold in 1939 he joined Ingerfem, where he was when Norway was invaded by the Germans on Apr. 9-1940. (After the war he served as captain on Westfal-Larsen's Varanger).

"Notraships Flåte", J. R. Hegland - 1976, which says Kongsgaard was 7 n.miles west of North Point, Curaçao when the attack took place (time given as 09:12) gives the U-boat as U-502 (Rosenstiel). I've been told by a visitor to my site that Jürgen Rohwer did indeed list U-502 in the first edition of his book, and U-67 as sinking the American tanker J. N. Pew on the 22nd (German time), but the time of attack by U-502 on Kongsgaard did not match up with the time that Kongsgaard reported, neither did the attack on the American ship correspond with position and time of U-67. I have Rohwer's 1999 edition of the book, which has been corrected to show the U-boat as U-67 for Kongsgaard and U-502 for the American ship.

Crew List:
* I believe Georg Svensen and Georg Svendsen listed below must be one and the same person. This crew list appears to be a combination of those who were on board during the first attack in June-1941 and those who survived/were killed in the second attack. In other words, my guess is that Georg Svensen was a survivor of the first attack, but was killed in Febr.-1942. There were 8 survivors from the sinking in 1942, so there might still be one name too many below. Some sources say there were 37 casualties, others say 38. According to a memorandum from Navy Department - Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, based on the captain's statements, Kongsgaard had a crew of 46, 38 were missing (the man found in the water by the fishing vessel may not be included among the number of survivors in this report, but if this is the case, the total number of survivors adds up to 9). This memorandum also states that the captain had changed his originally intended course, following instructions signalled from the Dutch destroyer, though he himself felt the new course wasn't safe, and 2 hours later they were torpedoed. An S.O.S. was sent but no reply was received and the destroyer did not arrive for 6 hours.

Related external links:
Operations Information for U-564 - The U-boat that attacked Kongsgard in June-1941.

U-564 | Reinhard Suhren

Stavern Memorial commemorations - 31 Norwegians appear to be commemorated at this memorial for seaman in Stavern, Norway. However, 2 of them are listed twice. The boatswain is listed once as Karl Theodor Thygersen and also as Karl Theodor Jensen (same birthdate), and Assistant Einar Karsten Kristensen is listed as Kristensen, and as Christensen. I've compared all the names to the above and the list seems to agree on the whole, though some of the names are spelt a little differently.

Operations information for U-67 - As can be seen this U-boat was responsible for the loss of several other Norwegian ships.

U-67

Back to Kongsgaard on the "Ships starting with K" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "The Allied Convoy system", Arnold Hague, "Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two", Jürgen Rohwer, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume I, and misc. (ref. My sources).