D/S Stalheim

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

Crew List


Source: Sverre Johansen's postcard collection.

This one was received from Graham Locke, who runs the Port Talbot Coastguard website (external link).
He in turn received it from a Port Talbot Coastguard crew member.
(See also the link further down on this page to pictures of the Stalheim wreck buoy).

Received from Clive Cheeseman
Can anyone confirm this is the Stalheim discussed on this page?

Misc. War Voyages:

Prior to the outbreak of WW II this ship had been going mostly between Norway and the U.S./Canada, and was in Montreal when the war started in Sept.-1939. She proceeded for Norway with her cargo but was stopped by the British and taken to the Orkneys for contrabande control. After a few days she continued to Moss, Norway, then to Drammen before heading to England. After a few more voyages Norway-England she started carrying fruit between Palestine and Norway from early 1940.

She's listed among the ships in Convoy HGF 21 from Gibraltar to the U.K. at the beginning of March-1940. Later that month she shows up in Convoy OB 115, which left Liverpool on March 23-1940, joined up with OA 115 to form Convoy OG 23* on March 25, the combined convoy arriving Gibraltar on the 31st. Her destination is not given, but she had station 75. The external websites that I've linked to below have more on these convoys.

* This convoy will be added to my site in due course - in the meantime, see the page listing ships in all OG convoys.

When the Germans invaded Norway on Apr. 9-1940 she was in Tel Aviv loading oranges for Oslo, but was instead ordered to proceed to Liverpool with the cargo, and towards the end of that month we find her in station 34 of Convoy HGF 28 from Gibraltar. She was 1 of 5 Norwegian ships in that convoy, the others being Sevilla, Kosmos II, Bur and Einar Jarl.

That summer she's listed in Convoy OB 160, leaving Liverpool on June 2-1940. Again, her destination is not given, but she had station 22 of the convoy. Later that month, she joined the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 53, together with several other Norwegian ships - follow the links for further dates and cruising orders. As will be seen, this turned out to be her last, eastbound North Atlantic crossing.

Final Fate - 1940:

Stalheim departed Port Talbot with a cargo of coal for Cardiff on July 31-1940. Intended to stop at Barry for the installation of degaussing, but didn't get that far. Just a few minutes after departure, about 100 meters from land she struck a mine, which according to a message on my Ship Forum was a German laid aerial magnetic mine (position 51 34 37N 03 49 40W). 5 were killed, 13 seriously injured, only 3 escaped unharmed. The captain was knocked unconscious and found himself in a hospital when he woke up the next morning (he was there for 3 weeks). According to a survivor's story the 5 who died had all been in the engine room. He adds that various types of vessels came out to assist in the rescue operations. (The same survivor says she had a complement of 22(?), 14 of whom + the pilot were admitted to a hospital).

Jan-Olof, Sweden has told me that "Lloyd's War Losses, Vol I British, Allied and Neutral Merchant Vessels Sunk or Destroyed by War Causes", 1989 reprint says she was on a voyage from Port Talbot for Barry and St. John, N.B. with a cargo of 1876 tons of anthracite. Position is given as half a mile W.S.W. from South Pier, Port Talbot. Another visitor to my site says that “Men of the Mumbles Head” states she burnt fiercely and sank within 3 minutes. Mumbles Lifeboat crew was mustered but cancelled when they heard an RAF rescue launch had picked up 17 survivors of the crew of 20. "Shipwreck Index of the British Isles" says it was a magnetic mine.

Crew List:

Survivors
Captain Holger Jensen	1st Mate Leif Ludviksen	2nd Mate Jørgen Iversen	Able Seaman Lion Zabari (Palestinian)	Able Seaman John Hagstrøm	Ordinary Seaman Walter Martinsen
Ordinary Seaman Thorbjørn Berg	Ordinary Seaman Kåre Forsland	Ordinary Seaman Dagfinn Karlsen	1st Engineer Karl Olsen	Stoker Arthur Gabrielsen	Trimmer Tor Lund
Steward Trygve Hansen	Cook Johannes Johansen	Mess Boy Magnus Indrevold *	Pilot Bert Gunn (British)	* See this Guestbook message.
Casualties
† 2nd Engineer Albin Andersen *	† 3rd Engineer Georg Hill Olsen	† Donkeyman Ragnvald Hansen	† Stoker Anker B. Bernhardsen	† Stoker Jørgen Andreassen

Related external link:
Stavern Memorial commemorations

Some of Stalheim's survivors travelled to Cardiff and later joined the Swedish D/S Taberg, in service England-Spain/Portugal. Apparently, the chief engineeer's collection of chickens and pigs on board this ship was a welcome addition to their otherwise rather simple food supply, and was especially useful after they had evacuated about 200 refugees from Le Havre (I get the understanding they were landed in Casablanca). Taberg was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine Guglielmo Marconi on June 6-1941 on a voyage England-Spain in ballast, Convoy OG 63. The 6 survivors (out of a complement of 22), among them the Norwegian Johannes Tøsse (possibly the cook above?) and Thor Lund (probably identical to the trimmer in the crew list above) were picked up from their raft a day later by a Britsh naval vessel (trawler?) and taken to Gibraltar (attacked by aircraft en route?). Thor Lund later served on Idefjord, Thorsholm, Britamsea, Herma and Roseville.

External links related to Swedish Taberg:
The Swedish Taberg is also included on the Memorial for Seamen, Stavern website, but only the
2 Norwegians who died are commemorated. The text says that she was 300 n. miles west of Gibraltar on her way from Glasgow to Huelva at the time. As can be seen, John Hagstrøm is listed.

Guglielmo Marconi
Italian Submarine Operations in the Atlantic Ocean

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

This company also had a ship named Stalheim post war. This was the former D/S Carmelfjell, which was sold in 1950 to A/S Standard (manager J B Stang, Oslo) and renamed Stalheim. Sold in 1958 to K/S A/S Motore & Co. (manager Nils Hugo Sand, Oslo). Renamed Seawake in 1959. Sold in 1960 to F. Meotto, Italy, and renamed Giudecca. Sold in 1962 to captain Salvatore Lofaro, Torre del Greco, Italy, and renamed Rosario Lofaro.

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 - (ref. My sources) and misc. E-mails from visitors to my site.