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M/T Polykarp To Polykarp on the "Ships starting with P" page.
Owner: Kristiansands Tankrederi A/S Completed by Eriksbergs Mekaniska Verkstads A/G, Gotheburg in Oct.-1931 as Fanny Høegh (Leif Høegh & Co. A/S, Oslo). Sold in May-1936 to A/S Kristiansands Tankrederi (Einar Rasmussen, manager) and renamed Polykarp. Captain: L. B. Guttormsen.
A French visitor to my site has told me that Polykarp was seized off Tunisia by the French patrol boat Pen Men on May 1-1940, 8 nm bearing 30 from Cape Blanc. Ordered to Bizerta, released a few days later. At the beginning of Sept.-1940 we find her listed in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 3, from which the Norwegian Lotos was sunk, and which had a large number of Norwegian ships. However, there's a note for Polykarp saying "to be held at Sydney" and she's listed again in Convoy SC 5, with the same note attached. She shows up again in Convoy SC 9.
The German battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau became a serious threat to shipping in the Atlantic early on in 1941. In the course of Febr. that year they cruised as far south as the Cape Verde islands, sank a steamer there, then headed north again. On March 15-1941 they attacked 4 tankers which had belonged to the dispersed Convoy OB 294, position 40 30N 43 45W (northwest of the Azores). The British Simnia tried to get away, while at the same time sending out a distress signal, but in doing so was sunk right away. Three other ships, the Norwegian Bianca and Polykarp (voyage Milford Haven-Aruba) and the British San Casimiro followed the order to stop and had prize crews placed on board. (Please follow the link to Bianca for the names of the ships that were sunk). Roger W. Jordan gives the position for capture as 45 40N 23 26W, while Leif Høegh's fleet list gives 39N 43W, about 750 miles northwest of the Azores. See also some entries to my Ship Forum. Polykarp and her crew, except the captain and a gunner, reached the Gironde inlet on March 24 under the command of Leutenant Klemp. She was renamed Taifun and served as a naval oiler with the Kriegsmarine. Sunk by allied aircraft off Kjelnør on May 3-1945, but later salvaged (see post war info below). Captain Guttormsen and Gunner Tollev Tjelmeland had been transferred to the Scharnhorst, where they stayed for 4 days before being moved to a German tanker and taken to Brest 2 days later. The gunner was sent to Hamburg after 2 weeks, where he stayed another 3 weeks before he was sent home to Norway, arriving on May 10. It wasn't long before he was ordered to report for German sea service, but managed to escape to Shetland with 29 others in the small vessel Straumøy (H 42 Fj) on Aug. 31-1941. On Sept. 19 he joined Suderholm, later Hindanger, then Brand and later Petter II.
In the very last issue of the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren" for 2000 there's an article written by Søren Brandsnes who was on board Polykarp at the time of capture. He says they were sent to a camp (an old barn) on arrival Bordeax, before being transferred to Germany by train a few days later. According to him there were about 1500 prisoners from various nations on this train, and he adds they didn't get much to eat on the 3 day journey. They ended up at Marlag und Milag Nord; his prisoner ID number was well above 85 000. He says the Chinese and Indian prisoners in the camp were treated very badly, but as for themselves they did not suffer any harm. At the beginning of May-1941 about 800 Norwegian prisoners arrived Oslo on the German ship Donau (almost 600 of those were from the captured whalers - refer to Norwegian Victims of Pinguin), others were from Sandefjord, Storstad, Norvard, Ringwood and Granli - see the alphabetical index at the end of this page). Before long he started to plan his escape to England, and together with a friend he purchased a boat which was fitted out with the necessary gear for the trip across the North Sea. They departed Udvåre near Lindesnes on Aug. 17-1941 and after a tense voyage of 54 hours Gerhart Torp, Alf Rasmussen and Søren Brandsnes reached Aberdeen on the 20th, where they were taken to a hotel for a good rest before heading to London together with several other Norwegian escapees. Once in London they even got to meet King Haakon VII and his son Crown Prince Olav. Gerhart Torp joined the Norwegian whale factory Orwell, while Alf Rasmussen and Søren Brandsnes joined Suderholm. To Søren's astonishment he suddenly stood face to face with Tollev Tjelmeland, the gunner from Polykarp who had escaped from Norway previously, so again they ended up serving on the same ship. Rasmussen was on board Bidevind when that ship was torpedoed on April 30-1942, all survived. Søren Brandsnes later served on Maridal, Petter II (link further up), Kaldfonn and Idefjord. He now lives in Kristiansand, Norway, and I had the immense pleasure of meeting him in person, when I visited the "warsailors" there in Sept.-2007. There are some pictures from this event on this page. Dronning Maud (Queen Maud), which they had named the escape vessel, was later sold in Aberdeen. Søren Brandsnes travelled to Aberdeen in the 1980's to try to find out what had later happened to her, but instead he found another boat used by 4 Norwegians to escape from Mandal in 1941. At the time, this vessel, which is listed as VA 92 L on this page of my site, was still in use by a Stonehaven man (just outside Aberdeen) under the name Thistle A717. See also a message in my Guestbook (the very last one), which has a link to a picture of a similar boat, as well as a picture of Søren Brandsnes.
Used as troop transport during the war, but was also used to transport Norwegian Jews, resistance people and political prisoners from Norway to camps in Germany, as were Goteland and Monte Rosa. When Donau departed Oslo on Nov. 26-1942, 532 Jewish men, women and children were on board, only 9 of whom survived to come home to Norway in 1945. The ship was also used to transport Russian prisoners of war who were sent to build bunkers in Norway. Additionally, she carried supplies and troops to Norway, among others injured soldiers from the 6th army who had been flown out of Stalingrad. Donau would then take fresh troops from Norway to the Eastern Front via Stettin.
Polykarp was salvaged in 1946 and returned to Norwegian owners (A/S Kristiansands Tankrederi). She was repaired in Gothenburg, and in 1947 she was sold to A/S Awilco (manager Anders Wilhelmsen, Oslo), and renamed Wilstar. Reengined in 1948 with two 6-cyl. two-stroke sycle single acting oil engines by S.A. Fiat S.G.M., Turin. Sold in 1963 to Christiania Spigerverk, Oslo, for breaking up, and in Nov.-1963 breaking up commenced at Grimstad by Norsk Skipsopphugnings Co. A/S. A posting to my Ship Forum also has some post war details on this ship; the text is in German. Picture of this ship when named Wilstar Polykarp Crew List - No Casualties:
Related external links: Back to Polykarp on the "Ships starting with P" page. The Norwegian D/S Nyco was later renamed Polykarp, as was President de Vogue (both for Einar Rasmussen) - follow links for details. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, E-mail from R. W. Jordan (Post War info), articles found in "Krigsseileren, 2000 and misc. other issues of the magazine, Leif Høegh fleet list, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume II (Norwegian Maritime Museum), and postings to my Ship Forum.
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