D/S Svein Jarl

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

Crew List

Some War Voyages:

According to a French visitor to my site Svein Jarl was stopped for examination off southern France by French patrol boats on Nov. 23-1939. Ordered to Marseilles, then allowed to proceed.

Listed as sailing in the Gibraltar-U.K. Convoy HGF 23 in March-1940, bound for London with general cargo, station 83. The Norwegian Fernwood was also in this convoy. Svein Jarl was also scheduled for Convoy HG 33 in June that year, but cancelled and instead joined Convoy HGF 34, in which the Norwegian Tudor was sunk. Svein Jarl was bound for Portland, then London, cargo of onions.

Attacked and damaged by German aircraft (Focke Wulf 200 Condor?) on Aug. 18-1940 (straggler from an Atlantic convoy*), west of Bloody Foreland, position 56N 11W. 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.

* This may have been Convoy OA 199 in which she's listed as bound for Clark City. This convoy left Methil on Aug. 15-1940, dispersed 5 days later. Ref. external links provided below.

At the end of Oct.-1940, she was scheduled for the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 9, but cancelled and instead joined the next convoy, SC 10, cargo of pulp and lumber for Gravesend, together with Norwegian Spes and Gaston Micard.

Final Fate - 1941:

Departed Oban in Convoy OB 288 on Febr. 19-1941 bound for Halifax in ballast, but lost the convoy in bad weather, and by Febr. 24 she had disappeared. Believed to have been torpedoed by U-69 (Metzler) on Febr. 23-1941, sunk 59 30N 21W - no survivors (a visitor to my site says: I doubt very much that who sank the Svein Jarl will become known. The attack attributed by U-69 to Sven 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). Follow the link to OB 288 for a lot more details on this convoy.

"Nortraships flåte" states that Svein Jarl was torpedoed by U-96 (Lehmann-Willenbrock), giving the position as 59 10 21 00W. According to Jürgen Rohwer this U-boat torpedoed and sank the British ship 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 gives the date of Svein Jarl's sinking as Jan. 23. Charles Hocking says she was probably sunk on Febr. 25, about 1000 miles east of Cape Farewell.

Arnold Hague (The Allied Convoy System) states that OB 288 departed Liverpool Febr. 18, and was dispersed Febr. 22. Arnold Hague has no ships sunk in OB 288, but 2 damaged (he does not list 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.

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:
Norwegian commemorations - This site says 25 Norwegians died, all 25 are named here. Alf Andaas is listed with the last name Sandaas, Alf Kristiansen is not listed (unless he's identical to Alf Aune?) nor is Karl Stadig. In addition there's 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. More details on this ship under "other ships by this name" below.

Picture of Hjalmar Olsen

Convoy OB 288 - This site is about Sirikishna, and has a crew list for this ship, as well as a list of men lost from the various ships in the convoy.

Operations information for U-69

U-69

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. This page has a picture of the ship (external link), as well as pics of dives on her (unfortunately, the text is in Greek; this is 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).