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D/S Lotos To Lotos on the "Ships starting with L" page. Manager: Stener S. Müller, Bergen Built by H. te Veldhuis, Papendrecht, Netherlands in 1920. Previous names: Erholm, Svartisen until 1935. Captain: Karl Hjellestad Lotos managed to get out of Rouen, without a pilot and under constant bombardment from 11 aircraft on the morning of June 10-1940, just as the Germans were taking control of the city. In Le Havre that same evening she experienced the intense air attacks there, witnessing D/S Ellavore being hit, but Lotos escaped harm. Transported some of the crew from Ellavore to the U.K. (some more details under Ellavore).
At 02:41 hrs Central European Time on Sept. 16-1940 she was torpedoed abaft of Hatch 2 on the starboard side by U-99 (Kretschmer) and sunk 15 n. miles northwest of Rockall, when on a voyage from Dalhousie to Belfast and River Tyne with 500 standards of timber. She had originally been in Convoy SC 3 which had left Sydney C. B. on sept. 2, but couldn't keep up with the speed and had lost the convoy on the same day (time given by "Nortraships flåte" is 23:38, Sept. 15). The bridge was smashed in the explosion and the wheelhouse collapsed, but the helmsman (possibly Ordinary Seaman Underwood or Jr. Ordinary Seaman Mori) was not injured. 2 lifeboats were lowered; they also tried to get the motorboat out, but this proved impossible as the deck cargo had been thrown over the winch by the explosion. Once they were in the boats they were hailed by the U-boat. The ship sank about 20 minutes after the attack. 8 survivors in the captain's lifeboat reached land at Castlebay, the Hebrides after almost 5 days. 9 survivors in the other boat had already made it to shore by then. The maritime inquiry was held in Newcastle on Tyne on Oct. 4-1940 with the captain, the 1st mate, the 2nd engineer and the steward appearing. Voyage and cargo information in the first paragraph above is from "Lloyd's War Losses", Vol I. According to the captain's statements Lotos was on a voyage from Boutouche to Belfast f. o. when the incident occurred. The Advance Sailing Telegram for SC 3 says she had a cargo of pit props. Rohwer says Lotos was built in 1919. He also says she was sunk 15 n. miles northeast of Rockall. He does not mention her in connection with convoy SC 3, but the ship above her in his listing, the Canadian Kenordoc was a straggler of that convoy, sunk by the same U-boat on Sept. 15. As will be seen by going to my page about SC 3, this convoy had a large number of Norwegian ships - see also Vigsnes, Granli and Granfoss.
Related external links: Back to Lotos on the "Ships starting with L" page. Other ships by this name: Stener S. Müller later had another ship by this name in 1946, originally delivered in Dec.-1929 as I. W. Winck to Carl W. Winck, Helsingborg, 1515 gt. Collided on the Thames on Dec. 8-1939 with a British steamer when on a voyage Sweden-London with a cargo of lumber. Condemned, then sold in 1940. Repaired in Apr.-1942 and re-entered service as Isobel (Panamanian flag). From 1946 she sailed as Lotos for Stener S. Müller, Bergen. Sold in Nov.-1948 to D/S A/S Alf Lindøs Rederi and renamed Lindborg, in seasonal lumber trade. Sold in Jan.-1969 to Østfold Skipsopphugning (breakers), Greåker. In 1965 a tanker named Lotos was delivered for the management of A/S Rederiet Odfjell, Bergen, 2999 gt. Sold to Singapore in 1974 and renamed Onestar, sailed as Witsupply from 1987(Georgetown), later converted to barge. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume II, and misc. (ref. My sources).
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