M/T Norland

To Norland on the "Ships starting with N" page.

Crew List

Related items on this website:
Guestbook message - From the daughters of one of the crew members, James Glover.
Another Guestbook message - From crew member William Cohen (see crew list further down on this page).

Final Fate - 1942:

Norland was en route from Glasgow to Corpus Christi in ballast on her first voyage when she was torpedoed on May 20-1942 by U-108 (Scholtz), soon after having left Convoy ON 93 as planned, position 31 22N 55 47W*. At the time she was on course 236° true, sailing at a speed of 12 1/2 knots, in clear weather with moderate sea, wind southeast force 3, excellent visibility, no other ships in sight. There were 4 lookouts; the 2nd mate, Ordinary Seaman Danielsen (helmsman) and 1 more on the bridge and 1 on top of the wheel house, while the gun crew of 3 were aft.

The torpedo hit with tremendous force at No. 8 tank forward of the bridge on the starboard side, about 10' below the water line, ripping the side of the ship up in a length of 50-60'. When the captain, who had been in his cabin came to the bridge and saw that the lifeboats were about to be launched, he ordered this to be stopped. The engine had been stopped immediately after the torpedo had struck, but when it became apparent that the ship was not sinking it was started again and they proceeded at full speed, having swung the ship towards Bermuda.

* The position above is from Rohwer's "Axis Submarine Successes". A report on the sinking presented at the maritime inquiry says the torpedo hit at 12:57, adding that the position at 12:00 had been 31 29N 55 37W. (Rohwer gives the German time 18:39).

About 10 minutes later a periscope was spotted approx. 6 miles off, but disappeared after the gunners had fired in its direction with the 4" gun. However, the U-boat resurfaced about half an hour later and proceeded to shell the ship, whereupon Norland's gunners replied with 15-20 shells, but they all fell short. As she could not achieve a great speed with the big hole in her side, and the U-boat's shells landed ever closer, the engine was ordered stopped again, an SOS was sent out detailing their situation, and the ship abandoned at 15:00. 3 lifeboats were launched, with 19 men incl. the 1st mate in one, 15 incl. the captain in another and 14 with the 2nd mate in the third. They remained nearby until Norland caught on fire amidships and aft, and was sinking deeper and deeper (they estimated the U-boat had fired about 150-200 shells at her), then all 3 boats set a course for Bermuda.

They stayed together for the first 3-4 days, but due to a heavy rain storm 2 of the boats lost sight of the captain's boat, one in the afternoon of May 23, the other in the afternoon of May 25. All 48 were ultimately rescued (the captain's boat was picked up by coast guard cutter No. 453 off Cape Lockout at 15:55 on June 7 and landed at Morehead City, N.C. a couple of hours later), but the lifeboat with 14 men in it had more in store. The Dutch ship D/S Polyphemus picked them up near Bermuda on May 25, but the next day that ship was also torpedoed (U-578 - Rehwinkel), and they found themselves in lifeboats again. The survivors in 3 of the boats from Polyphemus were picked up near Nantucket Island, and those in the other 2 by a Portugese ship after a week's sailing. All the survivors from Norland also survived this 2nd torpedo incident, but many others had died.

From a visitor to my website, Jos Odijk, I've received some information that he found in "De Nederlandse blauwpijpers" by G.J.deBoer ISBN 90-6013-939-9 (The Dutch Blue Funnels.) - Historical overview of the shipping company "Nederlandse Stoonmvaart Maatschappij Oceaan" (1891-1978), and here's a summary:

M/S Polyphemus (Captain C. Koningstein)- cargo of 5000 tons wheat and 790 tons wool, left Sydney on Apr.-16-1942 for England, arriving Balboa on May 10, then stopped in Cristobal for bunkers the following evening. After having overhauled the engine she left for Halifax on the 16th, but returned that same day due to engine problems. After repairs she continued on May 19. On the 25th a lifeboat with 14 of Norland's crew members was spotted and its occupants rescued. At 18:18 on May 26, when about 350 miles north of Bermuda Polyphemus was hit by 2 torpedos on the starboard side, destroying her stern, and killing 15 Chinese crew who were in their quarters. Captain Koningstein ordered the lifeboats launched and after about 7 minutes the ship was abandoned. All survivors, including those who had been rescued from Norland's boat earlier, were distributed in 5 lifeboats. These boats were commanded as follows:
Boat number 1 - Captain C. Koningstein and 4th Officer J.Bos.
Boat number 2 - 3rd Engineer J. Dijkdrenth.
Boat number 3 - 2nd Officer L.J. Burger.
Boat number 4 - 1st Officer H. Brandenburg.
Boat number 5 - Chief Engineer T. Loomans with the 2nd officer from Norland as navigator.
A couple of minutes later the submarine came up and asked the usual questions (what ship, what cargo etc. - though the sea was covered with bags of wheat and wool so the cargo was obvious). After having given them a carton of cigarettes and the course to New York, the U-boat submerged. At 19:01, almost 45 minutes after she had been torpedoed, Polyphemus sank by the stern.

As mentioned, the survivors in 3 of the lifeboats were picked up near Nantucket, while those in the other 2 boats were picked up by a Portugese ship within a week. One of the survivors, R.G. Locke in boat No. 4 kept a notebook. He says first officer H. Brandenburg, 2nd engineer G. Hoogeveen, 2 English apprentices, A. Simkin and W.H. Hoyle, passenger R.G. Locke, 2nd steward I. van der Velde, 4 Chinese (or Lascars?) and 4 survivors from Norland were in this boat (see picture below). Through the first night contact was kept with the other boats with the help of a signal lamp, and all 4 of them could still be seen the following morning, but by that evening only 1 boat could be seen and this too disappeared out of sight that night. Early in the morning of May 29 another U-boat came alongside, wanting to know the name of their ship, and where and when it had been sunk, wished them a good trip then took off again. That same day, shortly after noon, they spotted the Portugese D/S Maria Amelia (Societa de Commercio Industria e Transportes Ltda, Lisbon), Captain de Mirande, en route to New York, where the survivors were landed. They later got passage to England.

The inquiry into Norland's sinking was held in New York on June 22-1942 with only the captain and the 2nd mate appearing.

Crew List:
* 3rd Engineer L. Andersen later lost his life when Nortun was sunk the following year.

Captain Eugen Christoffersen	1st Mate Gilbert R. Schmidt (Danish)	2nd Mate Andreas Bjelde	3rd Mate Knut Kristiansen	Radio Operator Dagfinn Egeberg	Radio Operator D. McNeil (British)
Carpenter Sven H. Svensen	Boatswain Elliot Hansen	Able Seaman Otto Einarsen	Able Seaman William Larsen	Able Seaman Rolf Danielsen	Able Seaman Erling Sjødin (Swedish)
Able Seaman William P. McAllan (British)	Able Seaman/Gunner Karl N. Paulsen	Able Seaman/Gunner Sigurd Søndervig	Able Seaman/Gunner Trygve M. Sveen	Ordinary Seaman Donald Campbell (British)	Ordinary Seaman Kenneth Stewart (British)
Ordinary Seaman Angus J. Campbell (British)	Jr. Ordinary Seaman Peter Kotze (South African)	Jr. Ordinary Seaman Thorolf W. Berger	Deck Boy Victor Haggith (British)	Engineer? S. G. Peage (British)	1st Engineer Leif Oftedahl
2nd Engineer Konrad Helland Rasmussen	3rd Engineer Leif Andersen*	4th engineer Arnt S. Andreassen	Electrician Anders Myhre	Donkeyman Johan M. Nilsen	Mechanic Knut A. Steinsvåg
Mechanic Edward Lilleheil	Mechanic Thor Thorstensen	Pumpman Karl Karlsen	Pumpman Erling Haga	Stoker A. H. Halla (South African)	Engine Boy Francis Agnew (British)
Engine Boy John Hanna (British)	Engine Boy Thomas Miller (British)	Steward Lars Bråten	Cook Kåre Bergene	Helper William M. Cohen** (British)	Helper James Glover*** (British)
Helper Ronald Wilson (British)	Helper Frank McMillan (British)	Gunner Gilbert Burron (British)	Gunner Hedve? Davis (British)	Gunner Thomas Sullivan (British)	Gunner Harry Meek (British)

**See this Guestbook message from William Cohen.

Names are listed below.
Picture received from the daughters of James Glover - see their ***Guestbook message. One of them adds in an E-mail to me:
"Our Father told us when the German Captain came up he said he gave them chocolate along with the cigarettes, he also told us he was in the life boat with the Captain when they got picked up the second time and took to New York. When he was in New York he said the people were very nice to them and he also said that the opera singer Deanna Durbin took them in and to the day he died (Febr. 15-2007) he always played her music and my youngest sister got named after her".

James Glover

Names of the men in the above picture: 1. Frank McMillan (Norland), Glasgow 2. Victor Haggith (Norland), Wembley 3. Kåre Bergene (Norland) 4. 2nd Stewart: I. van der Velde (Polyphemus) 5. Passenger: R.G. Locke - (Polyphemus) 6. Apprentice: A. Simkin (Polyphemus) 7. Chief Officer: H. Brandenburg (Polyphemus) 8. 2nd Engineer: G. Hoogeveen (Polyphemus) 9. M.L. Jodia (Norland) - does not appear as such in crew list for Norland 10. Midship Man: W.H. Hoyle (Polyphemus) Sitting - 4 Lascars (Chinese?) (Polyphemus)

Related external links:
The Empire Ships - On the "Mariners" website. Empire Pict can be found on this page.

Operations information for U-578 - the site also has information on U-108.

U-108 | Claus Scholtz

Back to Norland on the "Ships starting with N" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: E-mail from Barbara Mumford (her source: "Empire Ships"), "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume II, summary of survivors' statements, received from Tony Cooper, England (from British archives), and misc. (ref. My sources).