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M/S Lidvard To Lidvard on the "Ships starting with L" page.
Some more pictures (all from K. S. Sidselrud): Manager: Lauritz Kloster, Oslo Built in Malmö, Sweden 1939. Captain: Nic. F. Lindtner, later replaced by 1st Mate Kaare Sidselrud on Jan. 8-1942 (had also served as captain of the company's Sørvard and Heimvard). Other pages on this website with information related to this ship:
According to this log Lidvard made voyages to Sweden, New York, San Pedro, Yokohama, Kobe, Bordeaux, the Baltic, U.S.A etc, in the course of 1939, with cargoes consisting of srap iron, rice, wood pulp etc. Captain Lindtner was also the captain at this time, with Kaare Sidselrud as 1st mate. When the war broke out in Europe she was en route from Östrand to Portland, U.S.A.. She departed for Boston on Sept. 13 with arrival the following day, then left on Sept. 16 for New London with arrival on the 18th, departed for Philadelphia that same day and arrived on the 20th, then left for Norfolk the same day, arriving there the next day. On Oct. 6 she continued to Newport News, then left on the 7th with scrap iron for Japan, going through the Panama Canal on Oct. 13, arrived San Pedro on the 23rd, then departed for Moji that same day, arrived on Nov. 13., departed Nov. 19 for Yawata, with arrival the latter on the same day. On the 26th she left for Calcutta where she arrived on Dec. 10, continued to Colombo on the 19th with arrival on Dec. 25, but departed the next day for the U.S. again. Lidvard arrived New York on Febr. 1-1940. On the 8th she continued to Baltimore, arrival the next day, departure for Norfolk on the 10th arriving the following day, then started on a voyage back to Japan on Febr. 15, again with scrap iron. She went through the Panama Canal on Febr. 21, arrived San Pedro on March 2, departing the same day for Victoria B.C. where she arrived on March 6. On March 13 she left Union Bay, with arrival Amagasaki / Kobe on the 31st. She left again on Apr. 5, arrived Saigon on the 12th, then departed Saigon with a cargo of rice for Dakar on Apr. 25 with arrival the latter on May. 30-1940, where she was subsequently interned. Crew List as per May 30-1940
14 of these were from the Stavanger area, including the captain.
Rolf Kringstad, Ole Andreas Nøland, Racin Andersen, Raymond O. Olsen and Sverre Leander Stiansen. Rolf Kringstad was the oldest at age 19. They reached Bathurst in 40 hours by sailing and rowing, and were invited to lunch at the governor's, who was really impressed. A few days later they were able to let the others on Lidvard know that they were ok, and though they were happy for them, many were upset that they had left without saying so, as the boat would have had room for more.
Harald Askildsen, Ingolf Erevik, Torstein Birkenes, Gunnar Hauge, Lars Steffensen, Harald Dahm, Kristen T. Vanvik, Kjell Andresen and Asbjørn H. Nerland. After a 2 days stay in Bathurst they were sent to Freetown, where Askildsen, Erevik and Hauge joined the same ship, while the others joined various other ships.
Otto Hult, Georg K. Harestad, Erling Johan Øksnevad, Markus Grødem, Henry J. L. Hansen and Hans E. Kvia. With them were also an Estonian and 2 Danish men who had taken the lifeboat from their ship Harald (Danish). Their trip was not without incident as they encountered 3 horrendous storms on the way, which threatened to put an end to their plans. In addition the boat turned out to be leaking so they had to bail the whole time. But they finally made it to Bathurst and after a couple of days the Norwegians were sent to Freetown with an English destroyer. Hult, Hansen and Kvia joined the Danish vessel Valkyrien, which sailed under the British flag and was going to Cape Town. The rest of the Norwegians, the Estonian and the 2 Danes stayed in Freetown a few days longer before they joined various ships.
Lidvard made history when through ingenious workmanship and planning the entire ship escaped from Dakar, and after a nerve racking voyage she made it safely to British Freetown on July 29 (the Vichy French patrol boat Edith Germaine was sent out to look for her, but could not catch up with her). To prevent ships from escaping the Vichy-French authorities had removed the starting air pipes of the main engines, but Lidvard's engine crew managed to manufacture imitations. 2nd Engineer Johan Karlsen and 3rd Engineer Martinius A. Utheim, with the help of materials supplied by Kaare Sidselrud worked on making the pipes in utmost secrecy for months, without even the chief engineer's or the captain's knowledge. Under the pretense of having to test the engine, they succeeded in convincing the authorities to bring the real ones back on board, and then swapped them with the fake ones after the "testing" was done. There had been prior indications that the Vichy French were planning to requisition the ship, so the French of course saw the sense in making sure the engine was in top shape after a year in internment. When the crafty engineers were sure their deceipt had gone unnoticed, they finally informed the captain of their plan. 3 days had then gone by since the fake pipes had been taken ashore by the French officers, and it was assumed nobody had noticed they were not the real product. Already the next evening, around midnight, Lidvard eased her way out of the harbour, though so noisily that from the description of it it's rather hard to believe they succeeded in their attempt.
Captain N. F. Lindtner, 1st Mate Kaare Sidselrud, 2nd Mate/Radio Operator Alf G. Henriksen, 3rd Mate Karl Haraldstad, Boatswain Roger Roppestad, Able Seaman Bjarne Isaksen, Chief Engineer Bjarne Smørdal, 2nd Engineer Johan Karlsen, 3rd Engineer Martinius A. Utheim, Electrician Michael Eriksen, Steward Alexander Green Gundersen, Cook Hans Hansen Aamodt, who had signed on in Dakar from D/S Hadrian (the original cook Hans E. Kvia had escaped earlier), and a native boy from Dakar who worked as a messboy (Ahmed Taoré? See the link to the movie at the very end of this page, which claims he plays "himself" in the movie). Also, from other interned ships the following came along: From Hadrian: Captain Bernt Breivik, Chief Engineer Edvard Magnussen Njøten, and Able Seaman Hugo Mattson (Swedish) From D/S Skotfoss: Captain Kristian Marentius Nilsen, Chief Engineer Kristen Hjalmar Kristensen, Steward Nils Ingvart Larsen and Boatswain Herman Elias Johansen. The men on the latter 2 ships had been living on Duala for a while as Hadrian and Skotfoss had been requisitioned by the Vichy French, along with Rutenfjell. With all the previous escapes Lidvard was rather short on men, but that problem was solved when 21 men from M/S Salta, which was also interned in Dakar, escaped in a lifeboat (with an iron pipe as mast) on the same night as Lidvard did. After rowing and sailing for 2 days they reached Bathurst and was sent from there to Freetown on an English corvette, then joined up as crew on Lidvard. Captain Nic. F. Lindtner and the 2 engineers, Bjarne Smørdal and Johan Karlsen received the highest ranked Norwegian war medal "Krigskorset", ref. my Norwegian War Medals page for more details. The captain and the chief engineer (Smørdal) were also named to "Officers of the Order of the British Empire" by King George VI, and Lindtner in addition received "Lloyds Silver Medal for Meritorious Services". Additionally, a visitor to my site, George Monk, has told me that 2nd Engineer Johan Karlsen received the HonMBE(Civ), (his source: Seedies List of awards to the British Merchant Navy which includes awards to Allied merchant seamen). The rest of the crew received Krigsmedaljen (also found on my War Medals page). The Guestbook message from Kaare Seeberg Sidselrud lists the medals his father 1st Mate Kaare Sidselrud received (post humuously). He adds that Lidvard was leased from Nortraship to the Australian Army Transport Corps very soon after the escape from Dakar.
After her escape she departed Freetown on Sept. 14-1941 with a cargo of ore for the U.S., having been docked and throughly cleaned up. She arrived Hampton Roads on Oct. 6 and continued that same day to Port Richmond with arrival the following day. On the 9th she left for Philadelphia where she arrived the same day, then left for Boston on the 11th, arrived the 13th, left again on Nov. 8 for Australia, going through the Panama Canal on the 15th and arriving Tocopilla on the 22nd. She departed the latter on Dec. 1-1941, then arrived Wellington on Christmas Eve, leaving the same day for Melbourne where she arrived on Dec. 30. On Jan 2-1942 she departed Melbourne for Geelong where she arrived the same day, then departed on Jan. 6 to go back to Melbourne with arrival the same day. While there, Captain Lindtner had to go ashore due to illness and was replaced by 1st Mate Kaare Sidselrud on Jan. 8. She left again on the 8th, arrived Bunbury on the 15, departed the latter on Jan. 24 for Colombo. Lidvard arrived Colombo on Febr. 5, left again on the 7th, arrived Basrah on Febr. 17, left on March 7 with arrival Abadan the same day, then departed Abadan on March 12-1942 and arrived Bombay on the 18th. A few days later, on March 26 she left Bombay for Fremantle where she arrived on Apr. 12. Now followed several voyages between Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle NSW, Mackay, Bunbury, Basrah, Abadan, Aden, Bombay, Port Adelaide, Whyala, Port Kembla, until she on Dec. 4-1942 left Newcastle NSW for the U.S., with arrival San Francisco on Dec. 27-1942. 1943 again saw her back in Australian waters, having departed San Francisco on Jan. 7-1943. Via Oakland she arrived Geelong on Febr. 24, Melbourne on the 25th, Whyala on March 7, Port Kembla on March 10, Newcastle NSW on the 16th, Williamstown on Apr. 3. It looks like she made a trip to Peru from there on Apr. 11-1943, with arrival Callao (just outside Lima) on May 7, Tocopilla on May 16, then to Auckland where she arrived on June 16, then Brisbane on the 23rd of that month. Voyages to Mackay, Townsville, Chairns, Newcastle NSW, Sydney, Whyala, Port Adelaide, Fremantle, Colombo, Sydney, Melbourne and Williamstown now followed, bringing her into Dec.-1943. On the 21st of that month she departed Williamstown for Colombo, then to Fremantle, Port Adelaide, Aden, Suez, Port Said, Bone, back to Port Said, Suez, Aden, Melbourne, Fremantle, then again Aden, Suez, Adabiya, back to Suez, Port Said etc, then to Fremantle again in July-1944. In fact, that month, we find her listed among the ships in Convoy GUS 47, which left Port Said on July 24-1944; Lidvard's voyage information is given as Melbourne-Bone. Several similar voyages were made during the rest of 1944. 1945 saw her in Fremantle again, as well as Walleroo, Port Adelaide, Port Pirie, Port Lincoln, Williamstown (where she was on VE Day), Melbourne, Sydney, Geralton, Port Kembla etc. In Dec.-1945 she made a voyage to Lae, New Guinea, then went back to Brisbane on Dec. 29-1945.
According to a message on my Ship Forum Lidvard was sold to Henriksens Rederi, Oslo in Dec.-1954, renamed Brede. Sold to the Bulgarian Government, May-1965, renamed Opal. Renamed Tzanko Tzerkovski 1970. Scrapped in Yugoslavia in 1976. To Lidvard on the "Ships starting with L" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland and E-mails from Kaare Sidselrud, son of the 1st mate, later captain. The names of crew were found in the book about Lidvard's escape, "Flukten fra Dakar", 1951 (a movie was also made). I've seen an English translation of the book (Flight from Dakar) at Bookfinder (external link). My own Books page has information on how to find a Norwegian version.
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