D/S Svein Jarl
Updated Dec. 28-2010

To Svein Jarl on the "Ships starting with S" page.

Crew List

A picture (showing sister ship Einar Jarl) is available at Uboat.net (external link).

Her voyages are listed on this original document received from the National Archives of Norway.

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

Some Convoy Voyages:

For information on voyages made in between those mentioned here, please see the document received from the National Archives of Norway and A. Hague's Voyage Record above. Follow the links provided for more convoy information; escorts' reports and/or the Commodore's notes are also available for some of them and other Norwegian ships also took part.

A French visitor to my website has told me that Svein Jarl was stopped for examination off southern France by French patrol boats on Nov. 23-1939. Ordered to Marseilles, then allowed to proceed.

In March-1940 she's listed, along with Fernwood, in Convoy HGF 23 from Gibraltar, bound for London with general cargo, station 83. Judging from the information found on the archive document, she was in Port Talbot when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9. She had arrived there from London on Apr. 6, and departure is given as Apr. 22. A few days later we find her, together with Høegh Scout, in Convoy OB 135, which originated in Liverpool on Apr. 24 and joined up with Convoy OA 135 on the 26th, the combined convoy forming Convoy OG 27, which arrived Gibraltar on May 3 (will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section - see ships in all OG convoys). Svein Jarl had sailed from Milford Haven on Apr. 25 and was bound for Piræus, where she arrived May 10. She subsequently made a voyage to Alexandria and back to Gibraltar, and was scheduled to return with Convoy HG 33 from there on June 8 (she had not arrived Gibraltar until June 9), but instead joined Convoy HGF 34 on June 13, in which the Norwegian Tudor and others were sunk; follow the links for more details. Svein Jarl's destination is given as Portland and London, cargo of onions. She arrived London (via Weymouth Bay) on June 26.

On Aug. 18-1940, she was attacked and damaged by German aircraft (Focke Wulf 200 Condor?), west of Bloody Foreland, position 56N 11W; she's said to have been a straggler from an Atlantic convoy. This was probably Convoy OA 199, in which she's listed as bound for Clarke City. This convoy had left Methil on Aug. 15. No one was killed, but 2 men were injured and were transferred to a British destroyer for medical treatment the next day. Svein Jarl then proceeded to Londonderry for repairs, arriving there that same day, Aug. 19, remaining until Sept. 17 when she headed to Clyde. We now find her in Convoy OB 220, originating in Liverpool on Sept. 27, dispersed Oct. 1, Svein Jarl arriving Clarke City on Oct. 12 (she had joined from Clyde - see archive document). Bruse, Bjerka and Torfinn Jarl are also named in OB 220 - see the external links provided within the table above for more details on the convoys mentioned here.

From Clarke City, she later proceeded to Sydney, C.B. on Oct. 22, with arrival Oct. 25. She had been scheduled to return to the U.K. with the slow Convoy SC 9 on Oct. 24, but instead joined the next convoy on Oct. 29, SC 10, cargo of pulp and lumber for Gravesend. The Norwegian Spes and Gaston Micard are also listed.

Her subsequent voyages are shown on the archive document (it'll be noticed that she had quite a long stay in Rochester), while convoy information for some of these can be found in the Voyage Record above.

For more information on all the other Norwegian ships mentioned here, please see the alphabet index at the end of this page, or go to the Master Ship Index.

Final Fate - 1941:

Svein Jarl departed Oban on Febr. 19-1941, bound for Halifax in ballast, joining Convoy OB 288, but lost the convoy in bad weather, and by Febr. 24 she had disappeared. Please follow the link to my page about OB 288 for a lot more details on this convoy. Some reports are also available, as is an account of the convoy's passage (by Roy Martin). See also the external links at the end of this page.

She's believed to have been torpedoed and sunk by U-69 (Metzler) on Febr. 23, 59 30N 21W, but as will be seen from the next few paragraphs there's quite a bit of confusion and disagreement as to who sank Svein Jarl. There were no survivors.

A visitor to my website says: "I doubt very much that who sank the Svein Jarl will become known. The attack attributed by U-69 to Svein Jarl does not fit the description of this ship. With the exception of U-107 who identified his victim Manistee and U-73 whose KTB matches up with the Master's account of the Waynegate, no U-boat identified his victim. 4 ships went missing, and of the remainder there is so much conflict with times and information from the merchant ships that few accounts match up with KTB's."

"Nortraships flåte" states that Svein Jarl was torpedoed by U-96 (Lehmann-Willenbrock), giving the position as 59 10N 21 00W. According to Jürgen Rohwer this U-boat torpedoed and sank the British Anglo Peruvian in the same convoy, Febr. 23, and also the Scottish Standard the day before (straggling from another convoy, OB 287, and already damaged by bomb hits from a German aircraft on the 21st). Rohwer does not mention Svein Jarl being a straggler from OB 288. Roger W. Jordan ("The World's Merchant Fleets 1939") gives the date of Svein Jarl's sinking as Jan. 23 (probably just a printing error). Charles Hocking ("Dictionary of Disasters at Sea during the Age of Steam - including sailing ships and ships of war lost in Action 1824-1962") says she was probably sunk on Febr. 25, about 1000 miles east of Cape Farewell. Uboat.net has suggested U-95 as the culprit (link at the end of this page).

Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" states that OB 288 departed Liverpool Febr. 18 and was dispersed Febr. 22. He has no ships sunk in OB 288, but 2 damaged (however, he does not include stragglers, nor ships sunk after dispersal). He also lists OB 287 as dispersed, and Scottish Standard, which Rohwer says was damaged by aircraft and sunk by U-boat, is listed by Hague as sunk by aircraft on the 21st (5 dead). Additionally, he lists the British ships Gracia (no casualties) and Housatonic (3 dead) as sunk by aircraft in Convoy OB 287, on the 19th (again, see my page about this convoy).

Just for info, U-69 was responsible for the attack on Lise the following year, while U-95 had damaged Ringhorn in Nov.-1940 and sank Taranger in May-1941 - follow the links for details. As for U-96, see Caledonia, Torungen, Tyr and Sveve.

Crew List - No survivors:

Casualties
† Captain Martin Marsteen	† 1st Mate Alf Andaas (Sandaas?)	† 2nd Mate Victor Gjertsen	† 3rd Mate Helge Hallesen	† Able Seaman Arnold Rask	† Able Seaman Georg Larsen
† Able Seaman Roald Kristiansen	† Able Seaman Odd Mikkelsen	† Able Seaman Hjalmar Olsen*	† Able Seaman Kåre Guldbrandsen	† 1st Engineer Charles Nilsen	† 2nd Engineer Arnt Karlsen
† 3rd Engineer Wilhelm Lønø	† Donkeyman Alfred Vik	† Stoker Alfred Andersen	† Stoker Johan Eriksen	† Stoker Otto Gustavson (Swedish)	† Trimmer Alf Kristiansen
† Trimmer Karl Stadig	† Steward Nils Taranger	† Cook Håkon Johansen**	† Mess Boy Charles John Turner*** (British)

Related external links:
Stavern Memorial commemorations - This site claims that 27 died, including 25 Norwegians. Unfortunately, the site has recently been updated and as can be seen, the crew list is no longer included; the only way to find them would be by going to "Søk 2. verdenskrig", clicking on "Personer" and entering each name in the search field. Alf Andaas was listed with the last name Sandaas, Alf Kristiansen was not mentioned (but there was an Alf Aune - same person?) nor was Karl Stadig. However, there was a Hans E. Johansen, Tarald E. Johnsen, Hans Mong, Johan A. Olsen and an Øivind Skauge commemorated. The text goes on to say that a new Svein Jarl struck a mine near the west coast of Greece on Jan. 16-1948, killing 1 Norwegian, Kjell Herbert Fredriksen, who's included among the 25 Norwegians commemorated at this memorial. More details on this ship can be found under "other ships by this name" below.

The story of OB 288 - This site is about Sirikishna (Commodore Vessel for OB 288) and has a crew list for this ship, as well as a list of men lost from the various other ships in the convoy. 27 are named for Svein Jarl.

Ships hit from OB 288 - As can be seen, Uboat.net gives U-95 (Schreiber) as the attacker of Svein Jarl.

Operations information for U-69

U-69 | U-95 | U-96

Back to Svein Jarl on the "Ships starting with S" page.

Nordenfjeldske's other ships by this name (info from "Nordenfjeldske - 1857-1985", by Finn R. Hansen):
The company had a Svein Jarl in WW I, delivered in Apr.-1909, 1135 gt, torpedoed and sunk by U-19 on June 9-1915, when on a voyage Workworth-Kirkenes with a cargo of coal; 12 died, 3 were saved. Nordenfjeldske's 3rd Svein Jarl was originally contracted by Sprinwell Shipping Co., London with the intended name Springsound (built in Trondheim, 2102 gt), but she was taken over by German authorities and transferred to Deutsche Dampfschiff-Gesellschaft 'Hansa' Bremen, launched as Nierstein on Sept. 17-1940. Due to breach of contract she was sold to Nordenfjeldske on Febr. 13-1943 and renamed Haakon Jarl, renamed Svein Jarl in Febr.-1947. Struck a mine and sank off Patras on Jan. 16-1948, on a voyage Calamata-Patras with general cargo. 9 crew died. I've been told that the remains of this ship have been found at 26-42 m depth close to the river Evinos and the city of Mesologgi, Western Greece. See this page. This page has a picture of the ship, as well as pics of dives on her (unfortunately, the text is in Greek; here's the main page).

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nordenfjeldske - 1857-1985", by Finn R. Hansen, "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume II, Norwegian Maritime Museum. and misc. (ref. My sources).