D/S Leka
Updated Dec. 19-2009

To Leka on the "Ships starting with L" page.


Source: Bjørn Milde's postcard collection.

Received from, and painted by, Jan Goedhart, Holland.

Leka rescued survivors from the Norwegian Manx in Jan.-1940 - follow link for details. According to a posting to my Ship Forum she also rescued 1 of the 2 surviving crew members of the Swedish steamer Foxen (ex Danish Askø, according to J. Rohwer) on Jan. 24-1940. The other survivor was also rescued by a Norwegian ship (name not mentioned) and taken to Bergen.

In Febr.-1940 she's listed in the U.K.-Norway Convoy ON 11, and in the middle of March we find her in Convoy ON 20. She later travelled from Oslo to Hartlepool, where she arrived on Apr. 6, thereby ending up in allied service during the war (the Germans invaded Norway on Apr. 9).

Leka was in Calais on May 22-1940 during the chaotic days of evacuations from France. On the same day a British battalion was landed with orders to hold the city. The captain managed to prevent the French garrison of 800 men from boarding Leka, and instead took on board 1125 refugees, mostly women and children, and got them out at the last minute, landing them safely at Southampton. My Ship Forum has postings from one of those refugees, and my Guestbook has a message from the grandson and son of others. I've passed on several articles about this dramatic evacuation, and if time allows I'll add a translated summary of them here. In the meantime, I'll be glad to provide these articles if required (my contact address has been added at the end of this page). Among them is a long article found in the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren", Issue No. 2 for 1975 written by Captain Utne himself, describing Leka's difficult situation in the spring of 1940, and the frustrating, bureaucratic obstacles he ran into. In Issue No. 2 for 1979 there's another article in connection with his 90'th birthday - the text in both is in Norwegian.

As can be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, she made a voyage from the U.K. to Sydney, C.B. in July-1940. I have no convoy information for this voyage; perhaps she had sailed independently? She headed back in the other direction with the slow Convoy SC 5 on Sept. 18, cargo of lumber for Preston, with arrival Oct. 4, and later that month she's listed, together with Carmelfjell, Morgenen and Sophocles, in Convoy OB 233, which left Liverpool on Oct. 23 and dispersed on the 27th; see the external website that I've linked to within the Voyage Record for more convoy information. No destination is given for Leka, but going back to the archive document already mentioned, we see that she arrived Sydney, C.B. on Nov. 4. She was scheduled to return with Convoy SC 13, but instead joined the next convoy on Nov. 30, SC 14, pit props for Immingham.

At the beginning of Febr.-1941 we find her in Convoy OB 281, originating in Liverpool on Febr. 1, dispersed on the 5th. Again, no destination is given for Leka, but according to Page 1 of the archive docs, she arrived Halifax on Febr. 23, having started out from Loch Ewe on the 3rd. Braganza and Lincoln Ellsworth are also listed in this convoy; again, ref. external link in the table above. She headed back to the U.K. on March 10 with the slow Convoy SC 25 from Halifax, cargo of timber for Great Yarmouth, where she arrived on Apr. 9.

In May, she made a voyage to Huelva, having joined Convoy OG 61, which originated in Liverpool on May 5 and arrived Gibraltar on the 19th; Leka arrived Huelva that day, having started out from Oban on May 6 - see Page 2. This convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section in due course; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it are named on the page listing ships in all OG convoys. Berto, Bonde, Gard and Vestland are also included. Leka, with a cargo of pyrites for Hull, returned with Convoy HG 64 from Gibraltar at the beginning of June, escort's report is also available for this convoy.

In July she appears in Convoy OB 347, which originated in Liverpool on July 16 and dispersed on the 31st. Other Norwegian ships were Akabahra, Astra, Balduin, Bjørkhaug, Fido, Gudrun, Hestmanden, Marga, Maridal, Orania, Siak, Spes and Sveve. This convoy is also available at the external website mentioned above. Leka's destination is given as Sydney, C.B., where she arrived on Aug. 2, having joined from Loch Ewe. According to Arnold Hague, she returned to the U.K. with Convoy SC 41, departing Sydney, C.B. on Aug. 24. This convoy is not yet available among the SC convoys included on my website, but will be added - for now, please see ships in all SC convoys. She was again in the company of several other Norwegian ships, as will be seen when going to my page about Einvik, which was sunk.

In Febr.-1942, I have her, together with Solhavn and Kongshavn, in Convoy RU 12 from Reykjavik to the U.K., in ballast for Clyde (according to A. Hague, she had previously arrived Reykjavik in Convoy UR 5 on Jan. 7 - ref. external link provided in Voyage Record, see also Page 3).

She took part as supply ship for the Invasion of Normandie in June-1944, arriving June 11, leaving July 7, according to "Nortraships flåte" (she had a different captain by then). Her voyages in this period start on Page 10, but voyages to Normandie are not detailed.

In the fall of 1945, she got to go home to Norway, making a few more trips home before that year was over, and again in Jan.-1946 (see Page 14 and Page 15).

Back to Leka on the "Ships starting with L" page.

C. T. Gogstad & Co. had lost a ship named Leka in WW I, built 1892, 1845 gt - torpedoed and sunk by UC-71 in the North Sea on Sept. 24-1917.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, and misc. as named within text - (ref. My sources).