D/S Rinda

To Rinda on the "Ships starting with R" page.

Crew List

Misc. WW II:

Mined off Terschelling in Sept.-1939, brought into port and repaired.

Listed as sailing in Convoy SLS 46, which departed Freetown on Sept. 1-1940. Towards the end of Nov. she was scheduled for Convoy OB 246 (left Liverpool on Nov. 20), bound for Freetown and Cape Town, but did not sail, and shows up again in Convoy OB 250, which left Liverpool on Nov. 26 and dispersed on the 29th. Ref. external links below.

See also this
list of OA and OB convoys 1940

Final Fate - 1941:

Struck by 2 torpedoes and sunk off Liberia at 21:40 on May 30-1941 by U-38 (Liebe), position 06 52N 16 25W*, on a voyage from Haifa and Table Bay to Freetown and the U.K. with general cargo, including cotton bails and potash. She had departed Cape Town on May 17. As No. 4 and No. 5 hatches were blown open it was assumed that one of the torpedoes struck in the after part of No. 4 hold and the other in the forward part of No. 5 hold, both having been seen by the 1st mate just before the explosion occurred. It appeared to him as if they were only a few feet away from each other, one a little ahead of the other. Able Seaman Per Korsvold and the British Stoker George Dwyer, who were asleep on No. 5 hatch were killed. Boatswain Oskar Holmberg was standing on deck and was killed when he was hit by a bail of cottom. Captain Olsen and Able Seaman Lyder Pettersen who were on the bridge (the latter on lookout duty) were also killed. 1st Mate Ugland was also on watch on the bridge, as was Able Seaman Halvorsen, who was at the wheel - both survived. The engine room watch consisted of 1st Engineer Tollefsen, Donkeyman Vassengen, both of whom died, and Stoker Gustavsen, who survived.

The ship had a motorboat (No. 1 boat) on the starboard side on the lower bridge, and 2 boats on the boat deck - No. 3, 481 c. feet, hanging swung out on the starboard side, and No. 5 - a large motorboat, also hanging swung out of the davits on the port side. (She also had a small boat [No. 2] on the port side of the lower bridge, but this was not considered a lifeboat as it did not have any air tanks, but it was fitted out with similar equipment as the other boats). The No. 4 boat (418 c. feet) was standing in its chocks, free of lashings. Before they could launch the boats the ship capsized to port and sank, resulting in the No. 5 boat becoming jammed underneath its own davits. Both starboard boats remained lying for a moment on the ship's side, but there was not enough time to get the tackles unhooked before the ship went under. The men and boats were either pulled down, or washed off the boat deck, and the only boat that got clear and floated free was the No. 4 boat, with 1 man hanging on to the gunwale. Later, more men were able to get into it, some had managed to get onto rafts that had also floated free. Burning cotton from the cargo illuminated the debris, and the survivors in the lifeboat moved around and picked up as many men as they could find, until 18 had eventually been picked up, including those on the rafts. After supplies had been transferred from the 4 rafts they searched for more survivors for 3-4 hours but none were found. 4 survivors had been injured, namely Stokers Knudsen, Gustavsen and Fosse, and Ordinary Seaman Rabbestølen. They were made as comfortable as possible under the circumstances before sail was set for Freetown. ("Nortraships flåte" says the captain and 22 of his men had died, while Wilh. Wilhelmsen's Fleet List and "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig" say 13 lost their lives).

Before Rinda sank the radio operator had sent out a distress signal, but as the ship capsized he had not been able to include their position. However, the signal had been intercepted by Freetown Station which immediately transmitted it to patrol vessels. The next day, May 31 they were located by a flying boat which in turn notified the armed trawler HMS Pict (FY 132), on patrol outside Freetown. In the morning of June 1 they were picked up and taken to Freetown, where the injured men were taken to the hospital ship Oxfordshire that evening, while the others were accommodated at a school in town. Bernt Gustavsen had been seriously burnt and stayed in a hospital for 11 months after the sinking. He later joined the Norwegian Navy, but died when Montbretia was sunk in 1942. The other survivors eventually arrived Glasgow in the beginning of Aug. that year. 5 of them were subsequently trained to be gunners (possibly at Dumbarton, Scotland where Norway had a training camp), namely Simon Jonassen, Sverre Hansen, Thorbjørn Noreng Larsen, Hans Hansen and Arnfinn Rabbestølen.

One source ("Tilbakeblikk") says that after the torpedoes had struck, the funnel and the entire after deck had been blown off before the alarm could be sounded. Roger W. Jordan has position as *06 52N 15 14W, and Jürgen Rohwer agrees.1st Mate Nils Ugland gives position as 220 miles west of Cape Sierra Leone, at around 10 in the evening of May 31 (in other words, a day later - however, I'm inclined to think this is a simple printing error). His story is included in the book "Menn uten medaljer" (see My sources - link at the end of this page), probably retold to the author of this book many years later. He says he was pulled under when the ship sank but managed to struggle to the surface again. While swimming over to the lifeboat he encountered the radio operator. The carpenter was also one of the survivors picked up from the water. Suddenly they realized everybody's beloved cat was not among them in the boat, so they proceeded to row around into the night, until to their great joy they heard a pitiful "miauu" in the distance. "We rowed as hard as we could and laughed and cried when we lifted the sopping wet furball on board". The cat remained on board Pict, and was ranamed Rinda.

An inquiry was held in Glasgow on July 22-1941 with the radio operator, the 2nd and 3rd mates and the donkeyman appearing. 1st Mate Ugland had remained in Freetown, having been employed by Rinda's agents there, Sierra Leone Coaling Co. 3 of the injured men, Stokers Knudsen and Gustavsen and Ordinary Seaman Rabbestølen were still in hospital in Freetown at that time, while Stoker Fosse had been left behind in Gibraltar where he had signed on another ship. Mess Boy Andreassen had joined another ship in Freetown, and 2nd Engineer Tallaksen had also remained in Freetown, believed to have signed on a Belgian ship.

Crew List:

Survivors
1st Mate Nils Ugland	2nd Mate Finn Richard Thorbjørnsen	3rd Mate Kjell Skovland	Radio Operator Arnfin Mathias Nilsen	Carpenter Thorbjørn Noreng Larsen	Able Seaman Wilhelm Andreas Lund
Able Seaman Edgar Halvorsen	Able Seaman Sverre Hansen	Ordinary Seaman Arnfinn Rabbestølen	Ordinary Seaman Simon Jonassen	Ordinary Seaman Hans Hansen	2nd Engineer Olaf Tallaksen
Donkeyman Kristian Hotvedt	Stoker Lauritz Fosse	Stoker Thorvald Knudsen	Stoker Bernt Gustavsen	Steward Odd Rønning Olsen	Mess Boy Anders Andreassen
Casualties
† Captain Niels Olsen	† Boatswain Oskar Arthur Holmberg	† Able Seaman Andreas Christoffer Christoffersen	† Able Seaman Per Korsvold	† Able Seaman Lyder Pettersen	† Deck Boy Ragnar Olsen
† 1st Engineer Bernt Jens Tollefsen	† 3rd Engineer Johan Johannessen	† Donkeyman Einar Vassengen	† Stoker Thorleif Skotte	† Stoker George Dwyer * (British)	† Cook Leif Petersen
† Galley Boy Kåre Pedersen

Related external links:
Norwegian casualties - 13 Norwegians are commemorated at this memorial for seamen in Stavern, Norway. On this website Bernt Gustavsen, who's listed among the survivors above, is listed as messboy. My information is that he died when Montbretia was sunk the following year.

U-38 | Heinrich Liebe

Wilh. Wilhelmsen Today- with fleet list and company history.

Back to Rinda on the "Ships starting with R" page.

Wilh. Wilhelmsen had previously had another ship by this name, from 1916 till 1917, 5509 gt, built 1916, requisitioned by the British Government (but not under British flag). Wrecked in Edinburgh channel, Thames Estuary, on a voyage from Newcastle to Naples.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Wilh. Wilhelmsen fleet list, "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume II, and misc. as named within text above (ref. My sources).