M/S Sama
Updated Febr. 5-2010

To Sama on the "Ships starting with S" page.

Crew & Passenger List


Source: Sverre Johansen, Norway.

(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database).

Misc. Convoy Voyages:

For information on voyages made in between those mentioned here, please see the documents received from the National Archives of Norway and Hague's Voyage Record above. Follow the convoy links provided for more details; several Norwegian ships took part.

As will be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Sama was en route from Santa Marta to Gothenburg, Sweden and Oslo, Norway when the Germans invaded Norway in Apr.-1940, but was diverted to Garston. She arrived Kirkwall on Apr. 10, Garston Apr. 13.

The following month, she's listed, together with the Norwgeian Katy, in Convoy OB 153, departing Liverpool on May 22-1940. This convoy joined up with Convoy OA 153 on May 25, the combined convoy forming the Gibraltar bound Convoy OG 31F, which arrived there on May 30 (ships in all OG convoys - will later be added to its own individual page). Her destination is given as Dakar, where she arrived on June 3, continuing to Duala that same day then on to Freetown. From there, she headed back to the U.K. with Convoy SL 37 on June 25 (the Norwegian Salta is also included), and in Aug.-1940, we find her, together with Heina, Idefjord, Nea, Ringstad, Thalatta and Thorshavn, in Convoy OB 203, which left Liverpool on Aug. 24 and dispersed on the 28th. Her destination is not given, but going back to Page 1 of the archive documents, we learn that she arrived Victoria, Nigeria on Sept. 17 (according to A. Hague, she had stopped at Freetown from Sept. 9 to Sept. 12). From Victoria, she proceeded to Freetown 3 days later, then sailed from there to the U.K. on Sept. 27, arriving Liverpool, via Garston, on Oct. 14. At the end of that month, she appears in station 14 of Convoy OB 237, which originated in Liverpool on Oct. 31 and dispersed on Nov. 2, Sama arriving Kingston, Jamaica on Nov. 15 (she had started out from Garston on Oct. 30). See the external links provided within the Voyage Record for more on these OB convoys, as well as SL 37.

Sama had returned to the U.K. in Nov./Dec.-1940, and had made another voyage to Kingston and back in Jan.-1941, as well as a voyage from the U.K. to St. John, N.B. and back in Febr./March-1941 (according to A. Hague, all these voyages were made independently) - again, see the archive document referred to above. She had left Liverpool on March 26 and was on her way back to St. John, N.B. alone when she on March 28 encountered the British troopship M/S Staffordshire in a critical situation after having been damaged in an attack by German aircraft from I/KG 40 that same day (position 59 30N 10 18W). Sama took on board 234 (254?) survivors as well as 4 (6?) dead and returned immediately to Stornoway, arriving the next day. Lillesand Sjømannsforening (external link) has a detailed description of this incident by Karsten Karlsen, who was Sama's 1st mate at the time (text in Norwegian only).

Sama left Stornoway again on Apr. 1 to resume her voyage to St. John, N.B., where she arrived on Apr. 10, heading back to the U.K. on Apr. 20 with Convoy HX 122 from Halifax, cargo of bacon, station 12. The Advance Sailing Telegram for this convoy gives her destination as Avonmouth; the archive document says she arrived Bristol on May 9. Cruising order/Commodore's notes are also available for HX 122. Later that month, she's listed in Convoy OB 323, originating in Liverpool on May 17, dispersed May 25. Again, no destination is given for Sama, but when going back to Page 1, we learn that she arrived Montreal on May 31, having started out from Milford Haven May 16. In June that same year, we find her in the Sydney, C.B. portion of Convoy HX 132, bound for Liverpool with general cargo and refrigerated goods, station 73 - the Commodore says with regard to Sama "Station keeping and signalling exceptionally good." With a general cargo and 8 passengers, she later joined Convoy OB 344, which departed Liverpool on July 7 and dispersed on July 16, Sama arriving Montreal on July 19. According to Arnold Hague, she subsequently went back across the Atlantic with Convoy HX 142, which sailed from Halifax on Aug. 1 and arrived Liverpool on the 18th; Sama, carrying a general cargo, 6519 mails and 6 passengers, joined from Sydney, C.B., taking station 86. This convoy is not yet available among the HX convoys included on my website, but will be added - see ships in all HX convoys. She now joined the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 10, leaving Liverpool on Aug. 27. Her destination was again Montreal, where she arrived Sept. 13, the convoy having been dispersed 2 days before. See also Page 2.

Sama returned to the U.K. with Convoy HX 151 from Halifax, together with the Norwegian Dagrun (station 54), San Andres (105), Meline (43), Morgenen (93), Belinda, Thorshøvdi (53), Sophocles (left the convoy and sailed independently), Tigre (44), Hardanger (94), Leiv Eiriksson (24) and Laurits Swenson (it says Swenson only, but I assume this is Laurits Swenson). This convoy left Halifax on Sept. 22-1941 and arrived Liverpool on Oct. 7; Sama, however, stopped at Belfast Lough on Oct. 5, later proceeding to Cardiff, with arrival there Oct. 11. At the beginning of the following month, she's listed in station 14 of the westbound Convoy ON 32, again bound for Montreal, where she arrived, via Sydney, C.B., on Nov. 18, then headed back in the other direction on Nov. 27 with Convoy HX 162 from Halifax, together with the Norwegian Astrell, Brant County, Katy, Bello, Skandinavia, Beth and Høegh Scout. Norvinn (Panamanian flag, Norw. managers and therefore listed on this site) was also scheduled for this convoy but did not sail. Sama subsequently joined the westbound Convoy ON 50, departing Liverpool on Dec. 24-1941 - please scroll down to ON 50 on this page (will later be added to its own, individual page, along with further info). Her destination is given as St. John's, N.F., but according to Page 2, she arrived St. John, N.B. on Jan. 6-1942, the convoy having been dispersed on Jan. 3.

She headed back to the U.K. again on Jan. 20-1942 in Convoy HX 171 from Halifax, and arrived Cardiff, via Belfast Lough, on Febr. 3.

Final Fate - 1942:

As mentioned above, Sama had arrived Cardiff from Halifax on Febr. 3-1942. From Cardiff, she later headed to Milford Haven and Belfast Lough, arriving the latter on Febr. 14 (again, see Page 2), departing again on Febr. 15 with a cargo of 1040 tons of china clay for St. John, N.B., joining Convoy ON 67, which had sailed from Liverpool on Febr. 14 (will be added to my Convoys section as soon as I can, in the meantime, the ships sailing in it, and escorts, are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys). In addition to her crew she had 8 passengers on board, sailing in station 13. The weather was stormy all along, and her starboard lifeboat was damaged by the heavy seas, but was pulled on board and temporarily repaired by the carpenter.

In the early morning hours of Febr. 22, a powerful explosion occurred in the stern section of the ship; she had been torpedoed by U-155 (Piening), position 49 30N 38 30W, and started to sink very quickly. The engine stopped and the lights went out, which meant that the alarms were rendered inoperable, but those who heard the explosion and came on deck quickly launched the port lifeboat. However, they couldn't get away before the ship sank because the davits got caught in it, causing it to capsize so that those who were in the boat had to throw themselves into the water. Others, who had been seen on deck, went under with the suction. Several had to jump overboard from the stern part, as they could not get amidships owing to the fact that the after deck was already under water. It was assumed that many crew members had gotten trapped in their cabins and passageways when the bulkheads collapsed (this according to the 3rd engineer, who was in the mess room when the explosion occurred - the bulkheads there also collapsed).

After the ship had sunk, both rafts, the ship's dinghies and the port lifeboat floated up, and the 24 who were in the water clung to these until 20(*) of them were rescued a couple of hours later by the escorting American destroyer USS Nicholson (DD 442)**. The captain, the 3rd mate and the carpenter had been among those on one of the rafts which had capsized several times, and they were not seen again, while 1 was crushed to death between the raft and the side of the destroyer. Due to the darkness it was impossible to tell who he was.

The survivors were landed in Halifax on March 1.

M/T Eidanger has more details on the battle and other ships lost. See also M/T Finnanger, as well as the external links at the end of this page.

* According to the 1st mate's account on the Lillesand Sjømannsforening website (external link), there were 8 men on the capsized lifeboat, 14 on the raft (including the captain, 3rd mate and carpenter, all of whom died - the captain slid out of his lifevest when being hoisted aboard Nicholson and disappeared). When the destroyer arrived to pick up those who were on the boat, she slipped by so quickly that only 6 got picked up, leaving passenger Aronsen and the 1st mate behind. While waiting for the destroyer to come back, the 1st mate saw something dark in the water, and when he grabbed it, it turned out to be a uniform jacket, and underneath it was the unconscious E. L. Chamberlin; they managed to keep him alive. The last man (the 1st mate) was not picked up until 07:15, local time, when the destroyer had returned (this was about 5 hours after the attack - the 1st mate's account gives the time of attack as 02:25, local time). By then it was daylight, but nothing but debris from Sama could be seen. The 1st mate adds that 2nd Mate Ebbesen, Able Seamen Berntsen, Fagermo and Johansen, and engineer Moe had been on duty at the time of attack.

** "Nortraships flåte", which gives the time for the attack as 04:30 GMT, claims the British rescue vessel Toward also picked up survivors from Sama, but according to "Convoy Rescue Ships", Arnold Hague, they were picked up by the American destroyer only. At that time, Toward was busy rescuing the men from the British tanker Adellen which was torpedoed at the same time as the Sama.

U-155 was also responsible for the attacks on Baghdad and Bill later that year, and Lysefjord and Siranger the following year.

Crew & Passenger List:
1st Mate Karsten Karlsen later joined Titanian.

Survivors
1st Mate Karsten Karlsen	2nd Mate Jørgen Ebbesen	Radio Opeartor Tor Pettersen	Able Seaman John Berntsen	Able Seaman Ingvald Holten	Able Seaman Johan Johansen
Able Seaman Oddmund Skarland	Able Seaman Arne Fagermo	3rd Engineer Sverre Moe	Mechanic Gunnar Bråstad	Cook Reidar Linnemann	Galley Boy Thorleif Olsen
Galley Boy Olav Martin Olsen	Saloon Boy Edvin Olsen	Passenger (Distillery Company) F. W. Clark	Passenger (Lt. R.N.V.R.) E. L. Chamberlin	Passenger (Lt. R.N.V.R.) T. S. Forbos (Forbes?)	Passenger (Lt. R.N.V.R.) E. G. Selby
Passenger (Qtr. Master R.N.A.F) O. Aronsen	Passenger (Qtr. Master R.N.A.F) T. Hansen
Casualties
† Captain Ingolf Just	† 3rd Mate Reidar Halvorsren	† Carpenter Olaf Hansen	† Able Seaman Johan Rype	† 1st Engineer Herbert Ottersen	† 2nd Engineer Ingolv Eldøy
† Assistant Anders Berge *	† Refrig. Engineer Hans A. Hansen	† Electrician Leif Andersen	† Mechanic Ragnvald Olsen	† Mechanic Martinus Dahl	† Mechanic Karsten Waag
† Mechanic Svein Sætre	† Mechanic Rolf Svenkerud	† Mechanic Odd Strøm	† Steward** Knut Steen Karlsen	† Gunner Ragnar Antonsen	Passenger (R.N.V.R) H. A. Haddock *
Passenger (Qtr. Master R.N.A.F) A. Hansen	* Possibly the brother of Olav Bernhard Berge who is buried at Saranac Lake. ** The steward was the 1st mate's brother

Related external links:
Stavern Memorial commemorations - Norwegians only.

ON 67 is discussed in detail at the end of
Chapter 3 of the the book "Joining the war at Sea" (far down on the page).

Convoy ON(S) 67 (the correct term is ON 67; ONS convoys did not start until March-1943).
U-155 | Adolf Cornelius Piening

Back to Sama on the "Ships starting with S" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "The allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume II, and misc. as named within text (ref. My sources).