D/S Rym - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

Manager: Johs. Larsen, Bergen
Tonnage: 1369 gt, 790 net, 2140 tdwt.
Call Sign: LESY

Built by NV Scheepsbouwwerf De Noord, Alblasserdam in 1919. Previous names: Mont Rose, then Mosel. According to Uboat.net, she was completed in July 1919 as Dutch Mont Rose for Van der Eb & Dresselhuys Scheepvaart Mij, Rotterdam. Sold in 1922 to Germany and renamed Mosel for Rochling Menzell, Hamburg. Sold to Norway in 1925 and renamed Rym for Johannes Larsen, Bergen.

Captain: Conrad Rustad

Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2

Some Convoy Voyages:

Please follow the links provided for more information on these convoys - several Norwegian ships took part. More convoy information will be added.

Rym is listed in Convoy HN 8 from Norway to the U.K. in Jan.-1940.

In March that same year she's listed among the ships in Convoy OA 102, departing Southend on March 2-1940, dispersed March 5. Her destination is given as Swansea. Later that month, we find her in Convoy OB 109, originating in Liverpool on March 13-1940. Her voyage information is given as Swansea - Massachusetts, cargo of coal. However, she's said to have returned to port, later joining Convoy OB 111, which originated in Liverpool on March 16 and dispersed on the 20th. Emma Bakke and Leiesten are also included in the latter. (Rym is also listed as cancelled from Convoy OB 107 on March 11. The external website that I've linked to below has more on the OA and OB convoys mentioned here). Note that according to Page 1 of the archive documents, she left Swansea on March 11 and arrived Boston on Apr. 6.

Rym, which had arrived Halifax from Boston on Apr. 21-1940, is listed in station 62 of Convoy HX 41 on May 8-1940, cargo of lumber for Montrose, but was unable to maintain speed and left the convoy 2 days after departure - follow the link for convoy details.

As can be seen when going back to Page 1 of the archive documents, she made a voyage from Reykjavik to Sydney, C.B. in July-1940. I have no convoy information for this voyage, perhaps she had sailed independently? At the beginning of Sept.-1940 we find her in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 3, from which the Norwegian Lotos was sunk, among others. Rym had a cargo of lumber for Methil on that occasion. She later joined Convoy OA 229, which left Methil on Oct. 13-1940 and dispersed on the 18th. No destination is given for Rym, but from the archive document mentioned above, we learn that she arrived Sydney, C.B. on Oct. 30. With a cargo of pit props for Sunderland, she was scheduled to return with Convoy SC 14 at the end of the following month, but instead joined the next Convoy on Dec. 8, SC 15. However, she put in at St. John's, N.F. on Dec. 18, and did not head to the U.K. until Jan. 31-1941, when she shows up in the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 21. She arrived her destination Sunderland on Febr. 28.

In March-1941 she can be found in Convoy OG 56, which originated in Liverpool on March 17 and arrived Gibraltar Apr. 2; Rym, however, was bound for Halifax, so must have left the convoy at some point in order to proceed to this destination, where she arrived Apr. 5, having started out from Oban March 18 (this convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section, but for now, please see my page listing ships in all OG convoys). She was scheduled to return to the U.K. in Convoy SC 31 in May that year, but did not sail. According to Arnold Hague, she joined Convoy SC 35, but it looks like she returned to port, or was only bound for St. John's, N.F. where she arrived June 27, then proceeded to Sydney, C.B. the next day, later joining Convoy SC 36 from there on July 1. SC 36 will be added to my Convoys section, but for now, the ships sailing in it are named in the section listing ships in all SC convoys.

The following month, Rym was 1 of 14 Norwegian ships in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 4, joining from Loch Ewe, bound for Halifax, station 56 (see Page 2). She arrived Halifax on Aug. 24, the convoy having been dispersed on Aug. 18. This was to be her last westbound convoy voyage; as will be seen, she was sunk on her way back to the U.K. in Oct.-1941.

Related external links:
OB convoys - OB 107, OB 109 and OB 111 are included. Another section of the site (based on Arnold Hague's database) has OA 102 and OA 229, both mentioned above.

Final Fate - 1941:

Rym was in Convoy SC 48 which departed Sydney, C.B. for the U.K. on Oct. 5-1941. She had a cargo of 570 standards of timber for Londonderry. Cruising order/Commodore's notes as well as misc. other reports are also available for this convoy.

At about 21:00 on Oct. 16, a ship ahead of her was sunk, namely W. C. Teagle, which sailed in the 10th column of the convoy (station 103, right in front of Erviken - Rym was in station 85). Shortly afterwards the crew on Rym saw the lights from the survivors of this tanker and immediately altered course in order to pick them up, being as she was the last ship in the column and no escort vessel was in sight (the escorts had drawn further astern of the convoy that afternoon). At the same time the Norwegian Erviken had also decided to pick up survivors from the British tanker, and Rym had to alter course to avoid a collision with the Norwegian ship. Rym had turned around to steer towards another light from a lifeboat or a raft, when they heard another explosion and saw that D/S Erviken had been torpedoed (my text for Erviken has more details on this. M/T Barfonn and D/S Ila were also sunk).

Rym proceeded at full speed to catch up with the convoy again, then caught sight of one of the escort vessels which at that time appeared to be 3-4 n. miles astern of the convoy. At about 22:00 they saw the convoy ahead of them, and around 10 minutes later Rym was herself torpedoed. The torpedo, which had come from U-558 (Krech) struck on the starboard side forward, between hatch No. 1 and 2 ("Nortraships flåte" says between 2 and 3). The forward part of the ship went over to port (another report says starboard) and looked as if it was torn away from the rest of the hull, only kept together by the cargo. The cargo on the foredeck had been partly thrown overboard, and discharge derricks were swung out towards port and splintered. The bridge had also received heavy damages, and the starboard lifeboat had been destroyed and the davits bent. She listed heavily to starboard, with the water steadily rising so that the stokehold and engine room were gradually filled, as were the cabins on the starboard side, and the cargo on the after deck was gradually washed overboard.

17 men were ordered to the port lifeboat while the captain, a stoker, an able seaman and the 1st engineer stayed on board to see if the ship could be saved. The corvette HMS Veronica (D. F. White, RNR) came to assist an hour after midnight (Oct. 17), picked up the 17 in the lifeboat and stayed nearby, ready to pick up the 4 left on the wreck if necessary. In the morning it became clear she could not be saved so at 09:00 the remaining 4 men went on board Veronica, which headed back to the convoy. Rym's captain had been told by the commanding officer that a destroyer would be ordered to sink Rym, and "Nortraships flåte" states she was later shelled and sunk by an escort, but I don't know the identity of this ship. However, one of Erviken's survivors, who had been rescued by an unnamed corvette says this corvette cruised around the area until daylight, but no more survivors (of Erviken) were found, only a Norwegian ship floating on its cargo of lumber. The ship referred to here is probably D/S Rym, and he says the ship was sunk by the corvette before course was set for Londonderry, "packed" with survivors, adding they were landed on "Sunday night", which may have been Oct. 19. This leads me to believe that the corvette may have been HMS Veronica (a report by Rym's captain states Rym's survivors were landed by Veronica at Londonderry on Sunday, Oct. 19). So perhaps Veronica eventually shelled and sank Rym? (I'm only speculating here).

As mentioned, Rym's survivors were landed at Londonderry on Oct. 19, then sent to Glasgow the next day. The maritime hearings were held on Oct. 29-1941 with the captain, the 1st mate and the 1st engineer appearing. At the time of the attack, Able Seaman Sætre was at the helm, Ordinary Seaman Korr was on lookout duty, and the 1st mate was on duty on the bridge, while the chief engineer was on watch in the engine room. The captain was also on the bridge.

Position given by Rohwer is 57 01N 24 20W at 02:14 on Oct. 17, German time, but he has no mention of Rym eventually being sunk by an escort. Time given for W. C. Teagle is 01:31, Oct. 17. "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig" gives the sinking position as 65 10N 24 30W for Rym.

Other merchant ships lost in addition to the Norwegian ones alredy mentioned, were the Panamanian Bold Venture (cargo of cotton, steel and copper - 17 died), the Greek Evros (7000 tons iron ore - 30 died), the British Empire Heron (7673 tons sulphur - 42 died), Silvercedar (7300 tons steel and general - 20 died). W. C. Teagle, with a cargo of 15 000 tons fuel oil lost 48 men. The remainder of the convoy arrived Liverpool on Oct. 22. In addition to my own pages about this convoy, the misc. external websites that I've linked to below have a lot more details on the battle.

Crew List - No Casualties:
*Thomas Shaw is also listed among the crew of Hallfried, and later served on several other Norwegian ships - follow the link to Hallfried for a picture and more information on him.
If anyone remembers him, please contact me at the address provided below. See also this message in my Guestbook.