Owner: Bryde & Dahls Hvalfangerselskap A/S
Manager: A/S Thor Dahl, Sandefjord
Tonnage: 2671 gt

Built by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. Ltd., Walker, Newcastle in 1893. Previous names: Snowflake until 1913, Kremlin until 1922, Velløy until 1925, purchased Aug. 24-1925 and renamed Thorøy.

Related items on this website:
A Guestbook message from someone whose father, Carsten Isaac Andersen, served as radio operator on Thorøy. Here's another message and a more recent entry (his address can be obtained by contacting me).

Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14 | Page 15 | Page 16 | Page 17 | Page 18 | Page 19 | Page 20 | Page 21

Some Convoy Voyages:

More convoy information will be added.

As will be seen when going to Page 1 above, Thorøy was en route from Aruba to Halifax when Norway was invaded by the Germans on Apr. 9-1940. From Halifax, she proceeded to Reykjavik on May 1.

The following month, she's listed in Convoy OA 169, which left Southend on June 17-1940 and was dispersed 2 days later, Thorøy arriving Falmouth on June 24. This convoy was composed of 2 parts, OA 169(1) and OA 169(2), Thorøy being in station 52 of Part 2, which had several Norwegian ships. She's also listed in Convoy OB 205, originating in Liverpool on Aug. 29-1940, dispersed the next day. Her destination is not given, but from Page 1 of the archive documents, we learn that she arrived Curacao on Sept. 20, having started out from Milford Haven on Aug. 28 (the external website that I've linked to at the end of this page has more on these convoys). She headed back to the U.K. again on Oct. 5 in Convoy SC 7 from Sydney, C.B., in which Snefjeld and several other ships were sunk - please follow the links for more info. The Local Escort's report is also available for this convoy.

Thorøy was subsequently mostly in service around the U.K.

On Jan. 17-1941, she was hit and damaged by a bomb at Avonmouth. No further details are available on this incident, but it looks like repairs were necessary, because according to the archive document mentioned above, she did did not leave Avonmouth until March 6 (she had arrived there on Jan. 3). That summer, we find her in Convoy OB 341, originating in Liverpool on June 30-1941. No destination is given for Thorøy, but according to Page 2, she arrived Belfast on July 3, having started out from Milford Haven on July 1. Later that month, she's listed, with destination Belfast, in Convoy OB 346, which originated in Liverpool July 14. She arrived Belfast on July 15, and had again started out from Milford Haven (July 13). Ref. links below for more info on these convoys.

In Febr.-1942 she's mentioned in Convoy OG 80, departing Milford Haven on Febr. 22, arriving Gibraltar on March 8. There's a note attached saying "possibly this convoy to Clyde" (in other words, if she was in this convoy, she was not bound for Gibraltar). OG 80 will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it are named on the page listing ships in all OG convoys. Thorøy arrived Clyde on Febr. 23/24, according to Page 6.

More convoy information can be obtained by following the instructions provided at the external link below.

She finally got to go home to Norway in Sept.-1945 - see Page 21.

POST WAR:

Sold on Apr. 8-1947 to Laurent Reboul & Gabriel Couteaux, Istanbul, renamed Anne de France.