M/T Nueva Andalucia - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

Manager: The Texas Company (Norway) A/S, Oslo. This company was controlled by The Texas Co., US, and its ships managed by Haakon Chr. Mathiesen, Oslo.
Tonnage: 10 044 gt, 5786 net, 14 300 tdwt
Machinery: Two 8 cyl. 2T single acting DM (MAN, Augsburg), 5100 bhp.
Signal Letters: BNMJ (formerly LKKO)

Delivered in March-1940 from Deutsche Werft A/G, Hamburg (232).

Captain: Olav Solhøy, since Jan. 20-1942

Related itaems on this website:
Guestbook message from a lady whose neighbour remembers some of the crew staying with them for a while.
Message in Norwegian Guestbook translated below.

Misc. War Voyages:

Nueva Andalucia was scheduled for Convoy HX 160 in Nov.-1941, but instead joined the next convoy, HX 161 together with the Norwegian Solfonn, Stigstad, Havprins, Havkong, Vav, an unnamed freighter, and 3 unnamed tankers. She returned across the ocean the following month with the westbound Convoy ON 48, bound for Aruba.

She can also be found on the convoy form for HX 171 in Jan.-1942 together with several other Norwegian ships, and in Febr. she's listed as bound for Port Arthur with the westbound Convoy ON 67 (this is the convoy in which Eidanger and several others were sunk).

The 2 ON convoys mentioned above will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course. In the meantime, the ships sailing in them are named in this section listing ships in all ON convoys.

Final Fate -1942:

Ran aground on the approach to Halifax due to heavy weather with snow on March 22-1942, en route to Halifax from Port Arthur with 14 000 tons petrol for England, having left Port Arthur on March 12. On the bridge at the time were the 1st mate, 2nd Mate Aarestad, the captain and the helmsman. Ordinary Seaman Edvardsen was on lookout duty. She had stopped at around 13:00 near Chebucto Head to wait for a pilot, and when a patrolboat approached 15 minutes later it was believed to be the pilot boat, so they signalled for a pilot. The reply was that they would probably get a pilot near the examination vessel so they continued at slow speed. When a buoy was spotted ahead at 13:45, hard starboard wheel was ordered to the helmsman, Ordinary Seaman Ulversøy, but 5 minutes later she hit the ground at what was at first believed to be Litchfield Shoal, but later the buoy they had seen was found to be a mile further in. The engine was stopped and the starboard anchor dropped, while a request was sent out for a tug and pilot. Upon examination the No.'s 1 and 2 center tanks and the pumproom were found to be leaking, and petrol was seen around her. Other vessels nearby were warned of the situation, and everything was turned off on board (boilers, electric lights etc.).

All the men donned their survival suits and were told to be ready by the lifeboats, and at 16:30 they signalled to a patrol boat to come alongside and take on board some of the crew. Several attempts were made, but this eventually had to be given up because the patrol boat was damaged due to the heavy breakers. The lifeboats were not launched for the same reason. At 21:30 the ship broke in 2 with a horrendous bang, and the after part started drifting towards land. Fearing mines, both aft lifeboats were now launched. In doing so, Carpenter Helle and Mechanic Tangen were injured. Around 22:00 all the men were in the boats and heading for shore, picked up by a guardboat about 30 minutes later.

The following additional details were received from Tony Cooper, England:
Broke in 2 March 23, forward section caught fire and blew up, after section went aground on Thrum Cap shoal. On March 27 a representative from F. B. Hall. Company signed a salvage contract with Foundation Maritime Ltd to salvage the after part, which was refloated on Apr. 21 and beached. By Apr. 22 the bow section fire was out, 2000 tons of gasoline still on board, "will salvage". The after part was towed to port on May 7 with 4600 tons gasoline and 350 tons diesel still on board, then berthed at Dartmouth N.S. on July 19 to discharge cargo. On Aug. 30 she left Halifax in tow of tugs Peter Moran and Foundation Aranmore, arriving New York for repairs on Sept. 7-1942.

The hearings were held in Halifax on March 26-1942 with the captain, the 1st mate, 2nd mate Aarestad, the 1st engineer, Ordinary Seaman Edvardsen and Ordinary Seaman Ulversøy appearing.

In my guestbook there's a message from a lady whose neighbour remembers some of the crew staying with them for a while. Her father was a lighthouse keeper. In another message in my Norwegian Guestbook the poster says he knows 2 men who were on board Nueva Andalucia who are still "going strong" (2002), namely 1st Mate John Chr. Christensen, who was on board at the time of loss, and Rudolf Glad Jørgensen, who worked in the engine room. The latter had paid off by the time the ship was lost and had joined the Swedish Trolleholm which was captured by Thor (there's more on this in a note at the very end of my page "Norwegian Victims of Thor"). The poster says he has asked John Chr. Christensen where the survivors lived after the loss of Nueva Andalucia, but he only remembers that he and the 2nd engineer lived with a family in town.

The same poster later sent me the following (also in the Norwegian guestbook), which I've translated from Norwegian (he has copied it from "Arendals Sjømandsforenings 150 års Jubileumsbok", which is a special "150th anniversary book" for Arendal's Seamen's Association" by Kristen Taraldsen - added here with the permission of the author, who feels it's important to get these stories translated and posted, so that they can reach a wider audience):
On March 22-1942 at 13:50 M/T Nueva Andalucia ran aground in heavy snow at a place called Mars Hook in the inlet to Halifax. The Texaco ship had a cargo of 14 000 tons petrol for England. At 21:30 that evening she broke in 2 abaft of midships in the pumproom. The entire complement took to the boats. 2 explosions boomed across the city, frightening people to death, as they remembered the catastrophic explosion in Halifax in 1917. The explosion occurred in the foreship. The flammable cargo was immediately set ablaze. "The flames stood several hundred meters tall. I've never seen such a horrendous ocean of flames" says John Chr. Christensen who was the 1st mate at the time. Everyone escaped without injury. The afterpart drifted towards shore before running aground at Light House Bank, where it settled in 24 ft of water. It remained in Halifax for several months before being towed to New York. "Seeing Nueva Andalucia in flames, and the thought of her crew who had lost their ship was sad" says later Ambassador Harald Juell in his book "En havn på østkysten" (A Port on the East Coast"). Together with the Canadian Admiral L.W. Murray he stood on Point Pleasant and watched the burning wreck. The Admiral, who had the highest military responsibility for the Canadian Atlantic coast was shaken.

John Chr. Christensen later joined M/T Skandinavia.

POST WAR:

Re-entered service for same owners and with the same name in 1947, following repairs and the addition of a new foreship at Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. Broken up in Grimstad in Nov.-1961.