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D/S Spind To Spind on the "Ships starting with S" page. Owner: A/S Salvesen Delivered from S. P. Austin & Sons Ltd., Sunderland (386) in Apr.-1917 as Haslemere to The Shipping Controller (Furness, Withy & Co. Ltd.), London. Taken over in Jan.-1920 by A/S Glittre (Fearnley & Eger), Oslo (for whom she had probably originally been launched) and renamed Homledal. Sold in Aug.-1935 to A/S Salvesen (Jacob Salvesen), Farsund and renamed Spind. Captain: Johannes Berg Jonassen
Spind, with a cargo of lumber for London, was scheduled for the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 11, in which Bruse and Salonica were sunk in Nov.-1940, but did not sail. She's also crossed out on the convoy documents for SC 12, SC 13, SC 14 and SC 15, but finally got away with SC 16 on Dec. 15, cargo of lumber for Hull. In June-1941, we find her, with a cargo of lumber for Sharpness, in station 92 of the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 130, along with a number of other Norwegian ships (she had originally been in HX 127, which left Halifax on May 16, but she returned to port, and was then scheduled for HX 129 at the end of May, but did not sail).
Spind departed Barry Dock with a cargo of coal, coke and engine parts on Aug. 9-1941, then left Milford Haven in Convoy OG 71 for Lisbon on Aug. 12. Off Lisbon Spind was detached(?*) from the convoy in order to go the rest of the way to her destination on her own, and was alone in position 40 43N 11 39W when she was torpedoed in the morning of Aug. 23-1941 by U-564 (Suhren) and later that morning by U-552 (Topp). According to "Nortraships flåte" both missed, which disagrees with Jürgen Rohwer**. U-552 then started shelling her, and the crew had to take cover. According to a log extract, the U-boat used machine guns, heavy guns and fire bombs. Spind's gun crew was able to fire 2 shots at the U-boat before her entire complement managed to get into the lifeboats, 20 minutes after the attack had commenced - some had to jump overboard and were later picked up. The 2nd mate was shot and severely injured while lowering himself down to the starboard boat by sliding down the falls. When they left, the ship was on fire in the accommodations amidships from the fire bombs, as was the bunker coal in the 'tween deck. Ten minutes later the British destroyer HMS Boreas approached the lifeboats at full speed and told them they would be picked up later - the U-boat withdrew at this time. *The fact that this destroyer arrived so quickly makes me wonder if the details above saying that Spind was detached from the convoy is entirely correct? (source: "Nortraships flåte"). HMS Boreas attempted to extinguish the fire on Spind and searched for the U-boat before picking up her crew. The 2nd mate was given medical attention by the doctor on board. Another attempt was made to extinguish the fire, but she was seemingly beyond saving, the midships portion having burnt out and the forward hold on fire as well, so after having consulted with the captain and the 1st engineer, the destroyer sank her with gunfire so as to prevent her from being a danger to other shipping (she was gone within 5 minutes). This disagrees with Rohwer's info which says she was sunk by the U-boat.
The crew was landed in Gibraltar on Aug. 25-1941 where accommodation had been arranged for them by the Norwegian Consul, and where the 2nd mate was immediately admitted to Colonial Hospital. His condition was pronounced serious as he had received a bullet in his lung as well as other injuries. Survivors / Fatalities has the names of casualties from the Norwegian destroyer Bath, which was torpedoed by U-204 (Kell) on Aug. 19 while in the convoy in which Spind had sailed.
The 1st mate, who was on the bridge at the time of attack, stated that he had heard the motor of the U-boat on the surface on the starboard side prior to the attack at 06:30. When the shelling started he gave orders for the engines to be stopped, before running to the port lifeboat carrying the ship's log book, then returned to the radio room only to find it smashed. He subsequently waited for the gun fire to stop so that the port lifeboat could be launched, and with the assistance of the boatswain he was able to put it on the water. The boat was pushed off, whereupon the U-boat came around from the starboard side and proceeded to fire upon the lifeboat (?) with a machine gun. The 1st engineer stated that he was lying on the sofa in his cabin when a shell came through the iron plate of the deck house, then went through the bulkhead and into the 2nd engineer's cabin where it exploded. Fortunately, the 2nd engineer was on watch at the time. Taking cover the best he could, the 1st engineer managed to join the others in the port boat which was being launched when he came out on deck. He adds that this boat also picked up 6 or 7 crew members from the water (a total of 18 men in this boat). Like the 1st mate, he too claims that the U-boat came around to the port side and started firing at the lifeboat, so that they had to lay flat in the boat while the bullets passed right over them (the boatswain concurs - it's more likely that the U-boat was firing at the ship, not the lifeboat). He adds that they subsequently joined the other lifeboat which was leaking badly, having been holed by bullets. Crew List - No casualties:
Related external links: My query to the ubootwaffe.net forum Operations information for U-552 Back to Spind on the "Ships starting with S" page. Other ships by this name: Jacob Salvesen also lost a ship by this name during WW I, originally built in 1877 as Amanda for owners in Hartlepool, 1174 gt. Sailed as Eva for A/S Eva (Frithjof Ohlsen), Fredriksværn from 1893, then under the same name for Th. Brøvigs Rederi (C. G. Brøvig), Farsund from 1901. Renamed Spind in 1915 for Jacob Salvesen, Farsund, sunk by UC 69 on June 19-1917, voyage Tyne-Livorno with coke. A. Salvesen, Farsund had a ship by this name from 1919, see Tora Elise. See also pre war information for D/S Regin, which had previously sailed as Jacob Salvesens Spind from 1922. Additionally, Jacob Salvesen's 5th ship by this name had originally been delivered in 1943 as Tully Crosby to The United States War Shipping Administration, 1791 gt., became British Baltic Jeep that same year, then Alexander T in 1949. Jacob Salvesen took over in 1951 and named her Spind. Later names: Heilo 1953 (Oslo owners), Capetan Vassilis 1956 (Costa Rica), Christina 1959 (Beirut), Capetan Vassilis again in 1961. Lost in Apr.-1965, following a fire in her cargo, voyage Madras-Rotterdam. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume II, Norwegian Maritime Museum, and misc. (ref. My sources).
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