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M/S Nyhorn To Nyhorn on the "Ships starting with N" page.
Manager: Christian Haaland, Haugesund Delivered in Dec.-1929 from A/S Burmeister & Wain's Maskin- & Skibsbyggeri, Copenhagen as Nyhorn to D/S A/S Idaho, Haugesund (Chr. Haaland). Transferred to A/S Atlas in 1933. Captain: Frants Askeland. Other pages on this website with information on Nyhorn:
One of the 26 Norwegian ships interned in North and West Africa in the summer of 1940 (ref. links above for a list of all 26). She had arrived Casablanca with general cargo from New York via Lisbon on June 30-1940. According to a story written by the 2nd mate, Nyhorn had been under French charter since Dec.-1939 and was en route from the U.S. for Marseilles with war stores when ordered (possibly by Nortraship) to go to Casablanca to unload her cargo there. After having unloaded in Casablanca she was kept back by the Vichy French authorities, then on Sept. 10 she was placed in a French convoy along with other allied ships and taken to Port Lyautey arriving the next day. The 2nd mate says there were 6 Norwegian, 5 Danish, 1 Dutch and 1 English ship interned there at the time, moored along the Sebou River, 4 miles up from the coast. "Nortraships flåte" says she was interned on June 30-1940, while R. W. Jordan's "The World's Merchant Fleets" says she was seized in Casablanca June 3-1940 (date possibly just a printing error?).
In June-1941, 13 men from various interned ships attempted to escape in a lifeboat from M/S Batavia. They were 1st Mate W. Andresen, 2nd Mate Helge Gundersen and 5 crew (from Batavia?), as well as 1st Mate Tønseth and the 4th engineer from M/S Gran, 1st Mate Møller from Birgit (Danish), 1st Mate Michelsen from Storaa*, Steward A. Jørgensen from Hilde (Danish) and 2nd Mate Ingolf Sexe from Nyhorn. But they didn't get very far. Ingolf Sexe says they were fired upon with machine guns when they were about 400 meters from the Media Fortress that night and had to jump overboard so as not to get shot. The boat was destroyed, but they were all able to swim ashore where 30-40 men awaited them, and they were subsequently placed in a cell in the old fort (from 1680). They had to stand straight up and down all night, then the next morning they were marched off into town, 7 km away where they were given a 15 days' jail sentence, though being as the prisons were overcrowded the officers were ordered to "serve their time" on board ship, while Batavia's crew stayed in jail.
Ingolf Sexe tried again, this time in a boat built in No. 1 hold of Nyhorn, the first of 3 built in that ship and used in successful escapes. The construction started on Sept. 15-1941, and in on the scheme were Electrician Olaf Ballestad, Assistant William Høibo, 2nd Engineer Alf Skogland, as well as Ingolf Sexe. Only 5 days later they left Nyhorn in the 16 ft long vessel, and this time they slipped passed the fortress unnoticed. They had a few mishaps en route, but were eventually picked up by the Spanish trawler San Pelayo of Vigo and taken to Gibraltar, arriving in the morning of Sept. 24. (Ingolf Sexe later joined a British Royal Navy vessel where he stayed for 7 months before joining the Norwegian Navy).
The 2nd boat built in Nyhorn's hold left Port Lyautey on Dec. 8 that same year with 5 men (one source says 11 came along), 1 of them being Ordinary Seaman Ingolf Tvedt who, just before midnight on Dec. 10 fell overboard, off Cape Spartel (Espartel?) light, Spanish Morocco. The others searched for him until after daylight the next day with no luck, then continued their voyage. In the afternoon of Dec. 13 they encountered the Spanish fishing vessel Machaco of Almeira. The captain wished to put into Tangier which was 5 miles away, but the escapees persuaded him to take them to Gibraltar, which they reached in tow of the fishing vessel the following morning, Dec. 14-1941. A hearing was held there on Dec. 17 in connection with Ingolf Tvedt having fallen overboard. At that time they all feared he had drowned, though hoped he might have been able to get to shore. Nobody had actually seen him fall, they only heard the splash and immediately threw out a lifebelt. The others were: 1st Mate Hans Omland (who had served on Nyhorn for 10 years), 3rd Engineer Karluf Karstensen (on board for 6 years), Cook Magne Thordal (on board for 3 1/2 years), and Ordinary Seaman Sigurd Langeland (on board for 2 1/2 years). Meanwhile, Ingolf Tvedt had managed to swim ashore (about 1 mile away), where the light keeper took care of him. The next day he was arrested and put in jail at Tetuan for 2 months in terrible conditions. With the help of the British legation at Tanger he later came to Gibraltar where he joined M/T Slemdal, only to be torpedoed in June-1942. He then went to the Norwegian Radio School in London and sailed on G. C. Brøvig for the rest of the war. The 3rd boat was finished and ready to go on May 10-1942, and also reached Gibraltar safely. This was the canvas boat Norge in which my father's Captain Messel (of D/S Ringulv) escaped with 5 other men, namely Ringulv's 2nd Mate Ingolf Valvatne, Nyhorn's Able Seaman Hans Johansen, Ordinary Seaman Lars Aursand and Oiler Karl Linnerud, as well as Ida Knudsen's Egil Strømmen. The boat is now on display at the Maritime Museum in Oslo.
Crew List:
By Aug.-1942 most of Nyhorn's crew had escaped. The remaining men were interned on shore, while a French crew manned Nyhorn. I decided to check some of the above names against what can be found in "Nordmenn i fangenskap" (Kristian Ottosen), and here is the result: I can't look up each and every name, that would take too much time, but I'd be glad to look up a name on request, if anyone had a relative on board. Just contact me at the address provided at the bottom of this page. Nyhorn was sunk by the French in the river Sebou in Nov.-1942, to prevent the Allies from penetrating (Operation Torch). Raised in the spring of 1943 - this is when my father joined her. In his Letter No. 4 (see link further up on this page) he says that after they had gotten the ship raised from the river and temporarily repaired, they went to Casablanca to take on board a cargo for Newcastle. Due to the U-boat danger they had to head far south before they could proceed northwards to England, but were still attacked by U-boats and many ships in the about 100 ship convoy were lost. But they finally got through the Pentland Straits and to Newcastle, where Nyhorn was further reapaired. Nyhorn was returned to Nortraship's register on Aug. 20-1943. According to the external website that I've linked to below, she sailed in Convoy SL 135 / MKS 22 in this period, voyage Casablanca-Loch Ewe, cargo of phosphates. SL 135 had departed Freetown on Aug. 14-1943, joined up with MKS 22 from Gibraltar on the 26th and arrived Liverpool on Sept. 6 - follow the link for more details on this convoy.
In the Concordia Line from 1948. Sold in 1962 to Valida Cia. Nav. S.A. (N.A. Karageorgis), Piræus and renamed Maritsa. Under Panamanian flag from 1965 as Mastrostamatis, then renamed Sandimitrios (Sandimitrios Cia. Nav.) in 1966. Deleted from Lloyd's register in 1967. Related external links: Knutsen Line - This page has a picture of Nyhorn's dining room (scroll down on the page). To Nyhorn on the "Ships starting with N" page. Other ships by this name: The company later had another ship by the name Nyhorn, built 1975, 17 922 gt. Had various owners, became 17 645 gt in 1989. Sold to Cyprus and renamed Silver Horn in 1991, Lady Ina 1995 (Norwegian), Ina of Oslo 1997, Gina in 1998. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøfolk i krig", Leif M. Bjørkelund, "Våre motorskip", Leif M. Bjørkelund & E. H. Kongshavn, article in "Krigsseileren", No. 2/1982 by 2nd Mate Ingolf Sexe, "The World's Merchant Fleets", Roger W. Jordan, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume II (Norwegian Maritime Museum), "Nordmenn i fangenskap" (Kristian Ottosen) - Sources/Books.
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