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D/T Meline To Meline on the "Ships starting with M" page.
ON 79 (March-1942) ON 129 (Sept.-1942) ON 168 (Febr.-1943) ON 186 (May-1943) ON 193 (July-1943) ON 305 (May-1945) All of the above will be added to individual pages in my Convoys Section, but in the meantime, the ships sailing in them are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys. By looking at the dates, and comparing to the info found on the archive documents, it should be possible to create a picture of her Atlantic crossings back and forth, until I get time to list her voyages in chronological order on this page. My Norwegian "Warsailor Stories" section has the story of someone who served as stoker on this ship from the end of March-1940 till Dec.-1940, Peder Kristoffer Langeland (Norwegian text only). After he had joined Meline in New York, he says they went to Aruba to load crude oil and while there, they learnt that Norway had been invaded (note that according to Page 1 of the archive documents, Meline arrived Curacao from New York on Apr. 10-1940, the day after the German invasion of Norway). He adds that Meline was on charter to Texaco Oil and made voyages in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as a few trips to Freetown to provide bunkers for Sir James Clark Ross. In the summer of 1940 they ended up staying several weeks outside Norfolk, while waiting for Nortraship to get properly established, then made several voyages from Venezuela to the bauxite mines run by Canadian Aluminium (CanAl) in Trininad - the captain at the time had the last name Nilsen, and was the former 1st mate. In Sept.-1941 Meline was in Convoy HX 151 from Halifax (station 43) along with the Norwegian Sama (85), San Andres (105), Dagrun (54), Morgenen (93), Belinda, Thorshøvdi (53), Sophocles, Tigre (44), Hardanger (94), Leiv Eiriksson (24), and Laurits Swenson (it says Swenson, but I assume it should be Laurits Swenson), all listed on this website. The convoy left Halifax on Sept. 22 and arrived Liverpool on Oct. 7. A week later, some of these ships, including Meline, joined the westbound Convoy ON 26. Meline was bound for New York and had station 73; she arrived New York on Nov. 2, the convoy having been dispersed on Oct. 29 - see also Page 2. On Dec. 27, we find her in Convoy HX 167 from Halifax to the U.K. Other Norwegian ships in this convoy were Bralanta, O. A. Knudsen, Thorshavn, Suderøy, Noreg, O. A. Knudsen, Abraham Lincoln, Sandanger among others; follow the link. In Apr.-1942 she sailed in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 185, and the following month she joined Convoy OS 29, voyaging from Liverpool to Curacao via Trinidad in ballast - the external website that I've linked to at the end of this page has more on the latter convoy; see also Page 3 of the archive documents, where we learn that she arrived Trinidad on June 13, Curacao on June 22. On Aug. 16 she was one of several Norwegian ships joining Convoy HX 203 from Halifax, cargo of fuel oil for Belfast, station 73 (she had previously been cancelled from the slow convoys, SC 95 and SC 96). From Belfast Lough, she subsequently joined Convoy BB 14 and arrived Milford Haven on Aug. 29. She was scheduled for Convoy HX 214 from New York on Nov. 3, but instead joined the slow Convoy SC 110, departing New York on Nov. 17 - ref. external link at the end of this page, see also Page 4. The following spring, on Apr. 18-1943, she can be found in Convoy HX 235 from New York, bound for Shellhaven, where she arrived May 9/10. By June she was back in New York, joining Convoy HX 244 on the 15th, bound for Purfleet with fuel oil, station 36. She was also scheduled for Convoy HX 251 at the beginning of Aug.-1943, but did not sail. As will be seen when going to Page 5 of the archive docs, she instead made a voyage to North Africa a couple of months later (convoy details will be added). In March-1944 she made a voyage from Bizerta to Port Said in Convoy KMS 44*, arriving her destination on March 27, having left Bizerta on March 21. She's also listed, with the same voyage information, in Convoy KMS 52*, arriving Port Said on June 16. Additionally, there's a ship by this name listed in Convoy GUS 44 which left Port Said on June 24-1944. This convoy was bound for Hampton Roads (arrival July 18), but several ships parted company along the way; in fact, Meline is said to have left for Augusta on June 29. I also have a little snippet of information stating that Meline later arrived Augusta from Taranto on July 9-1944, and left again that same day (see also Page 6). This fits in with the fact that she's listed as bound from Augusta to Port Said in Convoy KMS 55*, which in turn matches the information found on Page 6 of the archive documents, stating she left Augusta on July 9 and arrived Port Said on the 14th. She subsequently joined Convoy MKS 56*, which left Port Said on July 18 and arrived Gibraltar on the 29th; Meline, however, was returning to Augusta, with arrival there July 24. At the beginning of the following month she joined Convoy MKS 57*, voyage from Augusta to Gibraltar, where she arrived on Aug. 8, having sailed from Augusta on the 2nd. (Further 1944 and 1945 voyages are listed on Page 6 of the archive documents - convoy information for some of them, as well as for those made in between voyages mentioned here, will be added). According to Arnold Hague, she took part in Convoy SC 175, which left Halifax on May 7-1945 and arrived Liverpool on the 21st - also available via the external link provided below. (The rest of her 1945 voyages are listed on Page 7). Again, please see the list of ON convoys further up on this page, as well as the documents received from the Norwegian archives for info on her westbound North Atlantic voyages. As already mentioned, more convoy information will be added to match some of the other voyages listed on the archive docs.
Related external link: Back to Meline on the "Ships starting with M" page.
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