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D/T Malmanger To Malmanger on the "Ships starting with M" page.
Manager: Westfal-Larsen & Co., A/S Delivered in June-1920 from Sir James Laing & sons Ltd., Sunderland. 425' x 56.8' x 33', Triple exp. 2200 ihp, 10 1/4 knots. Captain: Jan. M. Jacobsen Related items on this website:
In Admiralty service from 1940 (Royal Fleet Auxiliary, an auxiliary branch of the Royal Navy responsible for, among other things, supplying the fleet with stores and fuel oil. Its vessels were under the control of the Royal Navy but the crews were merchant navy personnel. The vessels were not HMS). A French visitor to my website has told me that Malmanger sailed from Oran in Convoy 24-RS under French escort on May 14-1940. West of Gibraltar the convoy merged with the French Convoy 97-KS from Casablanca. At Le Verdon May 21. Sailed from Le Verdon on June 6-1940 in Convoy 63-X under French escort (Mammy was also in this convoy). At Gibraltar June 12. (See external convoy links below). Malmanger, bound for Clyde with Admiralty fuel, can be found in the Bermuda portion of Convoy HX 57 in July-1940, together with several other Norwegian ships. Later that year she was scheduled for Convoy OB 250, which left Liverpool on Nov. 26-1940, (her destination is given as Trinidad), but instead joined Convoy OB 252 a few days later (left Liverpool Nov. 30) - see the external links below for more on the OB convoys. In Jan./Febr.-1941 she was in Convoy HX 106, again joining from Bermuda, subsequenly joining Convoy OB 298, leaving Liverpool on March 16, dispersed on the 20th. In May she sailed in HX 129 (Bermuda portion), and the following month she shows up, whith destination Curacao, in Convoy OB 338, which left Liverpool on June 21, dispersed on July 3, then returned to the U.K. with Convoy HX 141 which left Halifax on July 27-1941. She parted company from this convoy on Aug. 6 for Iceland. Topdalsfjord also took part. At the end of Sept.-1941 Malmanger joined the westbound Convoy ON 19A from Reykjavik - the 3 ships in this convoy are named at the top of my page for Convoy ON 19. Early in Nov.-1941 we find her in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 53. In Febr.-1942 she's listed, with destination Trinidad, in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 71, which left Liverpool on Febr. 26, dispersed on March 8. This convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section in due course, along with further details on it. In the meantime, please go to ON 71 in the section listing ships in all ON convoys. Related external links: See also this
Malmanger left Trinidad on July 29-1942 for Pointe Noire with a cargo of fuel oil. She was in a convoy* for a few days until the convoy was dispersed and she continued alone. Torpedoed on Aug. 9-1942 by U-130 (Kals), position 07 13N 26 30W. According to the 2nd mate's statements at the subsequent inquiry she was struck by 2 torpedoes, 1 in the engine room, the other further forward, killing 2 men (he gives position as approx. 07 13N 26 13W). The motorboat on the starboard side aft was destroyed, the engine stopped and lights went out, she sank by the stern in about 5 minutes. A lifeboat manned with 4 men was launched, but after it had reached the water the line was cut too soon, and as the ship still had some way, the boat drifted behind it. Some managed to get off on a raft, while others jumped overboard (incl. the 2nd mate) and were later picked up by the lifeboat. Another boat was also lowered, and after they had gotten clear of the ship the U-boat came up and called for them to come alongside. The 1st mate's boat rowed up to the U-boat which submerged shortly afterwards, having taken the captain and 1st Engineer Peder Johan Olsen as prisoners. They were later sent to Marlag und Milag Nord (released Nov.-1943).
The others set sail in the two lifeboats, having agreed to part company. The 14 in the 2nd mate's boat arrived Ballo near Freetown on Aug. 18, having sailed about 700 n. miles. They were later sent to Freetown where they arrived on Aug. 22. The 2nd mate, the 3rd engineer and the steward continued to Liverpool on a passenger vessel on Sept. 1 with arrival on Sept. 14, while the others remained in Freetown. A maritime inquiry was held in London on Sept. 16-1942 with the 3rd engineer and 2nd mate appearing. The latter stated that one of the casualties, Able Seaman Mathisen, who had been on duty, had last been seen curled up outside one of the forward cabins. The other casualty, Donkeyman Olsen was on duty in the engine room when the torpedo struck. (I get the impression from the 2nd mate's statements that a 3rd lifeboat had also initially been launched, but had to be let go because it was damaged. It also appears that an SOS had been sent with the emergency set before Malmanger went down). Meanwhile, the 1st mate's lifeboat with 16 men had reached French West Africa, where they were interned (see my page Interned Ships). Gunner John Østerbø managed to escape to Freetown, and in Jan.-1943 he was given passage for England on S/S Ocean Courage, but this ship was torpedoed by U-182 on Jan. 15, and he lost his life. Bernard de Neumann, a visitor to my website who is researching WW2 prison camps in North and West Africa has shared with me a telegram from the US Ambassador to the UK to the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs transcribing the text of a telegram dated Dec. 7-1942 received from the American Consulate at Dakar which mentions a British seaman from Malmanger, Alexander Elkin, who at the time was to be sent to Sierra Leone upon his release from hospital at Conakry. Bernard points out that this may mean that other members of the 1st mate's boat might also have been held in Conakry, French Guinea. I looked up some of the names listed in the crew list below as being in the port lifeboat in "Nordmenn i fangenskap" (Kristian Ottesen - title means "Norwegians in imprisonment") and found 3rd Mate Årås listed as "arrested" on Aug. 18-1942, transferred to Kankan camp, French Guinea, released Dec. 13 same year. The same details and dates are given for Able Seaman Leiknes, Ordinary Seamen Gundersen and Hansen, 2nd engineer Nilsen, Assistant Karlsen, Stoker Halvorsen and Oiler Rasmussen, as well as for Able Seaman/Gunner Østerbø mentioned above, for whom escape date is given as Oct. 1-1942, and Jr. Ordinary Seaman Nonås (born 1924), who is also said to have escaped, but no date is given. Curiously, the info for Stoker Rosland says that he was arrested on June 24-1940, transferred to Oran, then Marseilles, escaped Nov.-1941, arrested Aug. 18-1942, transferred to Kankan camp, released Dec. 13-1942. Had he, perhaps, been on board one of the other interned Norwegian ships previously, possibly President Herrenscmidt (follow link to "Interned Ships" above), then managed to get away to join Malmanger, only to get interned again? (I cannot find 1st Mate Molstad and Ordinary Seaman Wold in this book). Bernard de Neuman has since provided some additional details, which I've decided to add here, in case someone had a relative among the 11 crew members who were in the 1st mate's boat and is looking for more information: "My late father and the crew of Criton (RN prize from Vichy French) were captured after Criton was sunk on 21 June 1941 and taken to a camp at Conakry (the "English" spellings of towns in West Africa vary because they are "anglicisations" of native names). There was a hospital in Conakry and many of Criton's crew spent time there. Eventually the (Vichy) French court-martialled the executive officers of Criton's prize crew, and all Europeans members of her crew, except those in hospital, were transported to Timbuctoo (26 Sept 1941 - 7 October 1941). The native West African firemen of Criton were sent to a camp at Kankan where they lived in the grounds of an agricultural college. About two month's later the remaining crew at Conakry hospital were sent to Kankan too, where they were accommodated in a (farm) tractor shed also in the grounds of the college. The 3rd Radio Officer of Criton (Peter LeQ. Johnson) being the only officer there, was appointed "Senior British Officer" and acted as an intermediary between the prisoners and the (Vichy) French Army. On 6 August 1942 the Criton prisoners at Timbuctoo began their move to Kankan, arriving 25 August 1942, and rejoined their shipmates. In November, after the Allied landings in North Africa, the Vichy authorities in French West Africa became jumpy, and started to arrest European civilians in their territory and imprisoned them too in Kankan. They also moved any remaining prisoners at Conakry to Kankan. The camp numbers swelled to nearly 200, but PLeQ (19 years old) remained as Senior camp officer! The imprisoned local civilians were released while the merchant seamen remained in the camp. The seamen were then released on 13 December 1942, and escorted over the border to Sierra Leone, where they were handed over to the British who took them in army lorries to Freetown, arriving on 18 December 1942. So the Criton crew and the occupants of Malmanger's 1st Mate's boat were imprisoned together!"
Crew List:
Related external links: Operations information for U-130 - As will be seen from this page, this U-boat was responsible for the lost of several other Norwegian ships as well. The Oceans - gives more info on the loss of Ocean Courage. Back to Malmanger on the "Ships starting with M" page. Other ships by this name: This was Westfal-Larsen's 3rd ship by the name Malmanger. The company also had a ship by this name built in 1910. Sold in 1915 to Johs. Lindvig, Kragerø, renamed Tiro. Sold in 1916 to A/S Gonvik (Christensen & Paulsen), Sandefjord. Sunk by German U-boat northwest of Cape Lizard on Dec. 29-1917. The company had lost a ship named Malmanger to WW I. Some sources say she was torpedoed west of Ireland on a voyage from New York to Avonmouth with a cargo of petroleum on Apr. 22-1917. A visitor to my site has told me that the book "Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast" Vol I says Malmanger was torpedoed 20 miles off Fastnet on March 12-1917, just after her escort Zinna had left her. The latter returned and towed the Malmanger to within sight of land, where she sank bow first with 50 feet of her 300 feet length above water for some time. Baroness di Silva had her chauffeur row around the ship so that she could take photos, one of which is reproduced in the book. The crew were rescued by the sloops, Mignonette and Alyssum. Charles Hocking says she struck a mine south of Ireland on March 22. "Lloyd's War Losses" agrees with this date and the mine theory, as well as with the voyage information. The latter adds that the mine had been laid by the German UC-43, off Baltimore, Ireland. Yet another source (fleet list) also says she was sunk by a German U-boat on March 22-1917, agreeing with voyage and cargo info. This was a tanker, delivered in Febr.-1917. So here we have 3 different dates for the loss. Their 4th Malmanger was built in 1950, became Liberian Grand Integrity in 1965, broken up in Taiwan in 1977. A 5th Malmanger was delivered in March-1968, renamed Star Malmanger in 1972, became Monrovian Star Oasis in 1978, Star Theseus of Piræus in 1979, Star Mindanao of Manilla in 1981. 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, "Nordmenn i fangenskap", Kristian Ottosen, and misc. (ref. My sources).
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