M/S Tancred

To Tancred on the "Ships starting with T" page.

Crew List

Final Fate - 1940:

Torpedoed, shelled and sunk on Sept. 26-1940 by U-32 (Jenisch), 600 miles west-northwest of Valencia, Ireland on a voyage from Liverpool to New York in ballast (about 1200 tons water ballast and 458 tons bunker oil), having departed Liverpool on Sept. 21 in Convoy OB 217 as the 4th ship in the center column.

According to the captain's report the escort had left the convoy at around dawn on Sept. 25, with S/S Nova Scotia continuing as the leading vessel of the convoy until the Commodore signalled for them to proceed to their respective destinations. Position at that time was 54 30N 20 20W. During that afternoon 2 ships from the convoy were sunk, namely Sulairia and Eurymedon, both British, and later the British Corrientes was torpedoed and damaged (later sunk). Tancred continued at full speed according to the course given by Navy Control, while zig-zagging because U-boats were in the neighbourhood.

At 07:07 GMT on Sept. 26, 14 hours and 37 minutes after dispersal, when in position 53 32N 24 35W she was hit by a torpedo in the middle of No. 2 hatch on the port side. (The Greek Papalemos was dimly visible about 3 miles to starboard, presumably from the same convoy). The captain was asleep on the sofa in his cabin at the time, and the explosion threw him to the floor. Running out on deck he met the officer on watch (1st mate) who had given orders to abandon ship very soon after the torpedo had struck, as she had begun to settle by the bow, and No. 1 and No. 2 holds were flooding rapidly. (Damages were on the port side abreast No. 2 hatch, about 8 ft below water line. No. 2 hold opened to the sea and the bulkhead between No. 2 and 3 holds was fractured and hatch covers were blown out from No 1 and 2 holds as well as from no. 3 hold abaft the bridge). The captain saw that No. 3 hold was filling, so he also left the ship as the last person to do so about 8 minutes after the torpedo had hit. No S.O.S. had been sent because the instruments and radio station as well as the charthouse were destroyed by the torpedo.

After a while the U-boat opened fire against the broadside of Tancred with about 20 shots (at about 4000 yards), before disappearing in a westerly direction. But Tancred stayed afloat and with some volunteers the captain reboarded to get some extra provisions, the ship's log book and other valuable papers that were locked in a safe in his cabin under the bridge, as well as another lifeboat if possible, but when he got back on board access to the safe was found to be impossible due to the damage done by the shelling.

The 3 lifeboats stayed about 1 n. mile away from the wreck until it sank, then sails were set and they headed east, keeping in view of eachother. At about 04:20 on Sept. 27 a ship was sighted. S.O.S. morse signals were sent and a rocket fired and at 05:50, in position 53 52N 23 7W all 36 were picked up by Wilhelmsen's M/S Tricolor and landed in New York about a week later. The inquiry was held there on Oct. 7-1940 with the captain, the 1st mate, the 2nd engineer, and Able Seaman Knutsson (helmsman) attending.

In the way of armament Tancred had a 4" gun, a Lewis A/A and a rifle on board. She had no gunners, but the 2nd mate and the crew had been trained a little in the use of the 4" gun in Liverpool. As it happened, there had been no opportunity to use it.

The British Darcoila from the convoy was also sunk by U-32 a few hours after Tancred had been hit.

Crew List - No casualties:
In addition to the 1st mate, the following were on watch:
Able Seaman Knutsson, Ordinary Seaman Gundersen and Deck Boy Jeffries.
The 2nd engineer was on duty in the engine room.

Captain Einar Hansen	1st Mate Dagfin Lauritz Bache	2nd Mate Erik Gunnar Edvardsen	3rd Mate Arne Kurtze Emanuelsen	Radio Operator Karl Johan Evensgård	Carpenter Tørres J. Pedersen
Boatswain Olaf Andersen	Able Seaman Kristian Skår	Able Seaman Nils Sigfried Knutsson (Swedish)	Able Seaman Ole K. Andresen	Ordinary Seaman Peder A. Murberg	Ordinary Seaman Eirik Malm
Ordinary Seaman Harald Gundersen	Ordinary Seaman Hilmar Brænden	Ordinary Seaman Walter Patterson (American)	Deck Boy George Jeffries (British)	Deck Boy George Ping (British)	1st Engineer Karsten Hansen
2nd Engineer Einar Oskar Holst *	3rd Engineer Aage J. Lund	Electrician Fritz E. T. Nilsson (Swedish)	Mechanic Konrad Reknes	Mechanic Olaf B. Berge	Mechanic Willy Rasmussen
Mechanic Frithjof S. Johansen	Mechanic Oswald J. Musikka (Nationality?)	Mechanic Ulrik Ingebriktsen	Oiler Ole M. Larsen	Oiler Øistein Åse	Oiler Josef Johansen
Engine Boy Gwilyn Jones (British)	Steward Kjell H. Andreassen	Cook Reidar Wold	Galley Boy Martin Murphy (British)	Mess Boy Frank Atherton (British)	Saloon Boy Johnny Gulseth

Related external links:
SL Convoys - Mike Holdoway's new section on the SL and SLF convoys (as will be seen, Tancred is listed in SL 41). He also has a section on the OS and OS/KMS convoys. This is a great resource, and well worth a visit.

Operations information for U-32

U-32 | Hans Jenisch

Back to Tancred on the "Ships starting with T" page.

Wilh. Wilhelmsen had 4 ships by this name through the years, this was the 3rd.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Wilh. Wilhelmsen fleet list, "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, a report from Office of the Consular Shipping Adviser, British Consulate General, New York dated Oct. 10-1940, received from a Canadian visitor to my site, who in turn received it from Canadian archives, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume II, Norwegian Maritime Museum, and misc. (ref. My sources).