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D/S Marita To Marita on the "Ships starting with M" page. Owner: A/S Bruusgaard Built by Shanghai Dock & Engineering Co. Ltd., Shanghai, China in 1919. Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Marita, in ballast for Glasgow, is listed in Convoy HN 10B from Norway to the U.K. in Febr.-1940. In Apr.-1940 she was in Convoy HN 24, which arrived Methil from Norway on Apr. 7-1940; in other words, she got out of Norway just before the German invasion (Apr. 9). Marita had a general cargo for Manchester on that occasion, and arrived her destination on Apr. 10. Both these convoys also had a number of other Norwegian ships; follow the links for details. In Oct.-1940, we find her in Convoy OA 226, which departed Methil on Oct. 8, joined up with Convoy OB 226 on the 11th and dispersed the next day, Marita arriving St. John's, N.F. on the 23rd. This convoy is available via the external link provided at the end of this page. As will be seen on Page 2 of the archive documents, she returned to the U.K. the following month, departing Sydney, C.B. on Nov. 9, arriving River Clyde on the 25th. This voyage was made with the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 11, in which Bruse and Salonica were sunk, among others - follow the links for more details. Marita had a cargo of lumber and was bound for Ridham Dock. She's also listed in Convoy OB 272 (from which Brask was sunk), originating in Liverpool on Jan. 10-1941, dispersed on the 14th. Again, see the external link below. Her destination is not given, but when going back to the archive document referred to above, we see that she arrived Freetown on Jan. 31, having started out from Oban on Jan. 11. She returned to the U.K. with a cargo of iron ore in Convoy SL 66, departing Freetown on Febr. 18-1941, again with other Norwegian ships in company (see external link below). Marita arrived Barrow on March 15, and the following month, she appears in Convoy OG 58, which left Liverpool on Apr. 6 and arrived Gibraltar on the 21st. Marita, however, was bound for Halifax, where she arrived on Apr. 22 (having joined from Clyde), so would have left the convoy at some point in order to proceed to this destination. OG 58 (from which Polyana was sunk) will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section, but for now, the ships sailing in it are named on the page listing ships in all OG convoys. Marita rescued survivors from the British S/S Empire Storm, torpedoed by U-557 on May 29-1941 when straggling from Convoy HX 128, and landed them in St. John's on June 4 (a Norwegian source says 42 men). At the time, Marita was a member of the slow Convoy SC 32, which had left Halifax on May 19 (she had been scheduled for the previous SC 31 on May 9, but did not sail). She had a cargo of timber for Bristol, and is said to have completed her voyage to the U.K. with Convoy SC 35 after the rescue. In Aug.-1941 she was 1 of 14 Norwegian ships in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 4. Her destination is given as Bathurst, station 25, arriving Aug. 24. According to Arnold Hague, she returned to the U.K. with Convoy SC 44, departing Sydney, C.B. on Sept. 11, arriving Liverpool on the 30th. This convoy, in which the Norwegian Barbro was sunk, is not available among the SC convoys included on my own website, but I've linked directly to Hague's listing at the end of this page. The archive documents that I've linked to above has information on further voyages - convoy information for some of these will be added. Skipping now to Dec.-1943, when she's listed as bound from Algiers to Augusta in Convoy KMS 34* (convoy left Gibraltar Dec. 9). She arrived Augusta on Dec. 15, having left Algiers on the 11th - see Page 6. In Febr.-1944 she's said to have made a voyage from Bizerta to Algiers in Convoy MKS 39* (originated in Port Said Jan. 30). The 2nd external website that I've linked to below later has her in the Gibraltar (MKS) portion of Convoy SL 149/MKS 40* in Febr./March-1944, destination Workington. SL 149 had left Freetown on Febr. 11 and joined up with the Gibraltar portion on the 22nd, the combined convoy arriving Liverpool on March 7; Marita arrived Workington that day, having started out from Algiers on Febr. 19. The Norwegian Bosphorus, Drammensfjord and Kong Haakon VII are also listed. When going to Page 8 of the archive documetns, we see that Marita got to go home to Norway already in the summer of 1945. See also Page 9, which shows several more voyages to Norway.
Related external links: SL/MKS Convoys - As can seen, Marita listed in SL 149/MKS 40. Another section of the site has OA 226, OB 272, SL 66, SC 35, and SC 44, all mentioned in the above narrative. Back to Marita on the "Ships starting with M" page.
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