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Whale Factory Lancing To Lancing on the "Ships starting with L" page. (A picture is available at Uboat.net - external link) Owner: Hvalfangerselskapet Globus A/S Built by C. Connell & Co Ltd., Glasgow in 1898 as Knight Errant, Greenshields Cowie & Co., Liverpool. Sold in 1914 and renamed Rio Tiete. Sold again in1915, renamed Omsk. Renamed Calanda in 1921, sold in 1922, renamed Flackwell, then sold and converted to whale oil factory Lancing in 1925. Captain: J. H. Bjerkholt, later captain of N. T. Nielsen Alonso (?) My Guestbook has a message from Frank Fussner, who was on board at the time she was sunk (see crew list below). He's interested in getting in touch with shipmates. I have his E-mail address in my files, and can put you in touch - my contact address is at the bottom of this page.
When Norway was invaded on Apr. 9-1940 Lancing was in Rio de Janeiro where she, due to the situation in the world, had been since the completion of the 1939/1940 whaling season. Upon hearing the news of the invasion of Norway some of the crew paid off while the rest came with her to Trinidad, arriving on May 20 (she had been taken over by Nortraship by then and was ordered to an allied port like the rest of the Norwegian ships in various parts of the world). After a couple of days the ship was ordered to Willemstad, Curaçao where the whale oil was discharged, whereupon she continued to Halifax to replenish the whale factories Ole Wegger, Thorshammer, Pelagos and Solglimt. Towards the end of the year she again had sailing orders for Curaçao to pick up bunkers for the whaling fleet, but on her way south to the Antarctic she was suddenly ordered to the nearest South American port, not knowing until later what the reason for this change of plans was. (The majority of the whaling fleet had, meanwhile, been captured by Pinguin so Lancing narrowly escaped the same fate, see my text under the Norwegian Victims of Pinguin). According to "Nortraships flåte" Lancing had departed Curaçao on Dec. 30 with the intention of supplying Ole Wegger and adds that following the capture of the whaling fleet there was great concern for Lancing which finally arrived Rio de Janeiro on Febr. 7-1941*. When asked why they had taken 38 days to get from Curaçao, the captain explained that Lancing had reached position 50S 10W on Jan. 26 when Nortraship in New York had instructed them to proceed to the nearest South American port. Not quite believing in the validity of this signal the captain asked to have it repeated in private code and as soon as this was received he continued to Rio.
Another interesting item to note in Rasmussen's account is that he's convinced Lancing was in Convoy SC 42. Several Norwegian ships were in this convoy but he says Lancing is not listed (in Norwegian sources), and he thinks this is due to the fact that the officers had demanded a lifeboat drill just before departure as the boats had never been on the water before. All the equipment proved to be in order, but Lancing was delayed and joined the formation at the very last minute. His description of what later occurred does indeed fit with the incidents that took place during the passage of SC 42 in Aug./Sept.-1941, and I have now found information that proves him right. The book "Attack & Sink - The Battle of the Atlantic Summer 1941" by Bernard Edwards (1998 - ISBN: 1-883283-34-5) lists Lancing, with a cargo of whale oil in station 102 of SC 42. Please go to Convoy SC 42 in my Convoys section for details on this convoy battle and the names of ships sunk (incl. the cruising order of the convoy).
On Apr. 7-1942 Lancing was on a voyage from Curaçao (departed March 28) with 8900 tons fuel oil for New York when she was torpedoed off Cape Hatteras by U-552 (Topp), position 35 08N 75 22W (F. Rasmussen says they had been ordered to go by Norfolk to join a convoy for New York). The torpedo hit on the starboard side amidships; both lifeboats on that side were blown away so they all had to run to the port side boats. 1 man was killed in the engine room, the remaining 49 went in 4 lifeboats and stayed near the ship until it sank about an hour and a half later. After about 5 hours in the lifeboats they were picked up by a Canadian patrol boat and by the American tanker Pan Rhode Island* that same morning and taken to Norfolk where they spent the night at a naval base, before being sent by Greyhound bus to New York. Hearings were held there on Apr. 16-1942 with the captain, the 3rd mate, Able Seaman Sørensen (helmsman), Able Seaman Johnsen, and Able Seaman Olsen appearing. The latter 2 had both been on lookout duty.
Some of Lancing's crew later joined N. T. Nielsen Alonso, whose captain at the time she was torpedoed in 1943 was Johan H. Bjerkholt; probably identical to Lancing's Captain Bjerkholt. I've compared this crew list with N. T. Nielsen Alonso's crew list and in addition to Captain Bjerkholt I find that Boatswain Rasmus Eikeseth, Stoker Åge Johannessen, and a Swedish Gustav Olsson (listed as mess boy) were on that ship when sunk. There's also an Erling Johannesen - listed as Able Seaman on N. T. Nielsen Alonso, might not be the same man?
* See link to Guestbook message further up on this page. Related external links: Operations Information for U-552 - As can be seen, Lancing was not the only Norwegian victim of this U-boat during the war. 2 who died - In addition to Stoker Hansen there's a Marthinius Marthinsen commemorated at this memorial for seamen in Stavern, Norway. He may have died in a previous incident(?), or he might be identical to the stoker, whose middle name was Marthinius (though their birthdates are different - this might be an error on the site). Lancing - Pictures and facts from a website on shipwreck diving, with underwater pictures of the wreck. There's also a picture of Ordinary Seaman Ragnvald Smevik. Hyperwar - Linked to Robert Cressman's book, events of 1942. To Lancing on the "Ships starting with L" page. Melsom & Melsom later had another Lancing, built in Glasgow in 1950. The Clydebuilt Ships website has more details on this ship. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "The World's Merchant Fleets", R. W. Jordan, article in "Krigsseileren" No. 3 for 1995, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume I, and misc. others for cross checking info.
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