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M/S Tønsbergfjord To Tønsbergfjord on the "Ships starting with T" page. Manager: Den Norske Amerikalinje A/S, Oslo Launched on March 24-1930 by A/S Götaverken, Gothenburg (Yard No. 434) for NAL, delivered in May-1930. Captain: Storm Jørgensen May initially have been in Convoy 7-P from Marseilles in June-1940, but left the convoy and went to Gibraltar instead of Oran, thereby avoiding internment in North Africa - see text under Bosphorus.
Torpedoed by the Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli (Fecia di Cossato) on March 6-1942*, position 31 22N 68 05W, 200 miles west of Bermuda, on a voyage from Bombay to New York with a cargo of tea and rubber (via Cape Town and Trinidad). The torpedo struck aft, causing her engines to stop immediately and all the lights went out. The cabins and corridors were filled with a blueish gas which made it very difficult to breathe. 32 out of her complement of 33 had gotten away in 2 lifeboats when the sub appeared and proceeded to shell the ship with about 10 rounds, until she was set on fire and sank an estimated 10 minutes after the torpedo had struck. 1 man was missing.
In order to get hold of some extra food and water, they waited until daylight at which time they spotted one of the rafts from which they transferred some provisions and water, before setting sail for Florida (southwest). The captain's boat with 18 on board was located by the Dutch Telamon in the morning of March 13th and its occupants landed in Jeremie, Haiti on the 16th. The others were picked up by the Norwegian tanker Velma on the 18th. Olav Hagen, whom the others had assumed was killed, had been knocked unconscious by the explosion, and when he came to and ran up on deck all the others had left the ship, so he placed himself on a raft which floated clear before Tønsbergfjord sank. He was rescued by the Norwegian Arthur W. Sewall on March 12. His story can be found in the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren", Issue No. 3 for 1976. He tells his story 35 years after the fact, but it still amazes me that he appears to think a German U-boat was to blame for the sinking of his ship (I'm not sure at what point it became known that Tønsbergfjord had been sunk by an Italian boat and not a German one, but I would assume this was known by 1976 even if no-one was aware of that fact at the scene in 1942). He also says the incident took place on Febr. 1, but that lapse of memory can be forgiven so many years later. He says he was on duty in the engine room when the torpedo hit, causing all the lights to go out and the water to start rushing into the room. He swam around in the dark and by feeling his way around he was able to recognize certain items which helped him determine where he was so that he eventually found the ladder leading up to the boat deck. The ship was being shelled "by the Germans", but he managed to get to the top bridge where a small lifeboat was located. However, just as he was about to get into it the "Germans" fired again and destroyed the boat. He moved across to the other side of the deck for shelter but just then another torpedo(?) hit, knocking him over and injuring his back. He tried to launch another lifeboat but it was crushed against the side of the ship, so he turned his attention to the rafts, but again "the Germans saw him" and started shooting, hitting one of the buoyance tanks underneath the raft. He launched it and lay completely still in it until morning, when he was somehow able to dress the wounds on his back and elsewhere on his body with the help of the first aid kit found on the raft. Due to the gale force winds he had to tie himself to the damaged, lopsided raft to keep from ending up in the sea, until he on the 7th(?) day saw a tanker coming straight towards him. To his horror the tanker turned around and headed in the opposite direction, but thanks to Petter Skodje, who had spotted movement on the raft Arthur W. Sewall came back and picked him up. He was taken to a hospital in Halifax and later settled there, as so many other Norwegian seamen did after the war. (He also served on Polaris very briefly before that ship was lost). The maritime inquiry was held at Port-au-Prince, Haiti on March 20-1942 with the captain, the 2nd mate, the boatswain and Mechanic Stockvik attending (all of whom had been sleep in their cabins when the attack occurred). Crew List - No casualties:
Related external links: Back to Tønsbergfjord on the "Ships starting with T" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Norwegian America Line fleet list, "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume II, Norwegian Maritime Museum, "Krigsseileren", Issue No. 3 for 1976, and misc. (ref. My sources).
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