M/S Vigrid
Updated Apr. 17-2009

To Vigrid on the "Ships starting with V" page.

Crew & Passengers

Owner: Skibs A/S Gdynia
Manager: Olav Ringdal,Oslo
Tonnages: 4765 gt, 2834 net, 7618 tdwt.
Dimensions: 400.6' x 54.2' x 26.3'.
Machinery: 2 x 6 cyl. 4 S.C.S.A. oil engines, totalling 3100 ihp by Algemeine Electricitäts Gesellschaft, Berlin, driving twin screws.
Service Speed: 10 knots.
Signal Letters: LDCC

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

Some War Voyages 1938-1941:

In the book "Sjøfolk i krig" by Leif M. Bjørkelund there's a personal story told by one of Vigrid's crew members, Rasmus Meland, who had previously served on D/S Sydfold (pre war) and later on M/S Ida Bakke. The book is largely based on interviews with seamen 50 years after the war. Meland says Vigrid was in the Gdynia America Shipping Lines Ltd., and was in service U.S.A./Poland when he joined her in 1938. They took on a general cargo in Gdynia, then went to Ålborg where cement was added to her cargo (used for the building of hotels in New York), before heading straight to New York. He adds that the engine crew consisted of 3 engineers, an assistant, an electrician, 6 mechanics and an oiler. Every 3 months she was in Gdynia; in the US, New York was the port of arrival but they also visited several other ports along the east and south coast. Their last trip to Poland took place just before the war broke out in 1939, arriving Gdynia in the middle of August and was ready for departure on Sept. 1. Vigrid was one of the last ships to get out, and they could see warships and aircraft as they left. She stopped in Gothenburg where they were able to catch up on the news, before heading for Ålborg, again for a cargo of cement. While there, one of the crew got married. The bride ended up travelling with them for the next 9 months, instead of the planned round trip US/Denmark. Once out in the North Sea on their return to America they encountered thick fog, and were then surrounded by British warships for a contraband check, whereupon her journey was resumed.

The service to Poland could, of course, not be continued, so Vigrid was now attached to the Mærsk Line, A.P. Møller, Copenhagen, and after having loaded cargoes in various US ports she was ordered to Tacoma for a cargo of copper for Vladivostok, USSR., arriving there just before Christmas, then to Yokohama where Christmas was celebrated. The journey continued to Kobe for New Year's, then on to Shanghai early in 1940 where a crack in her deck was repaired (this had occurred en route to Vladivostok during the storms they encountered on the voyage, which took 36 days instead of the usual 20). On to Rangoon, Burma (still for the Mærsk Line), then to Calcutta for a general cargo and ore in Vizagapatam on the east coast of India, then to Madras, before returning to Boston, U.S.A. On Apr. 9, Vigrid passed the Equator and that same day they received the news that Norway had been invaded. She arrived Boston on the 18th, continuing to New York a few days later, where Meland payed off, so he was not on board when she was torpedoed in 1941.

Vigrid, with a general cargo for Brest, can be found among the ships in Convoy HX 50 in June-1940 - several Norwegian ships took part, as will be seen when following the link. In Aug-1940, we find her in Convoy OA 202, which left Methil on Aug. 21 and dispersed on the 25th. Her destination is not given (ref. external link below), but from the archive document we learn that she later arrived Table Bay on Sept. 25, continuing to Melbourne the following day.

In Jan.-1941, she's listed in Convoy BHX 104 from Bermuda, bound for West Hartlepool with zinc and sugar, again in the company of several other Norwegian ships.

That spring, she shows up in Convoy OB 308, which originated in Liverpool on Apr. 6-1941 and dispersed Apr. 13; again, no destination is given, but she arrived New Orleans on May 4, having started out from Loch Ewe on Apr. 8. This convoy is available at the external website that I've linked to below. From New Orleans, she headed to Bermuda a month later, arriving there on June 12.

Related external link:
OB Convoys - OB 308 is included. Another section of the site (based on Arnold Hague's database) has OA 202.

Final fate - 1941:

Vigrid had departed New Orleans for Bermuda on June 5-1941, arriving June 12, as already mentioned above, then left Bermuda with Convoy (B)HX 133 on June 14, bound for Belfast and Manchester with 6000 tons of general cargo. In the evening of June 23 she became a straggler due to engine trouble and was about 40 n. miles behind when she was torpedoed and sunk in the morning of June 24 by U-371 (Driver), 54 30N 41 30W (south/southeast of Cape Farewell).

Vigrid had 47 people on board, 10 of whom were American Red Cross nurses on a voyage to Europe. Vigrid was rapidly sinking after a 2nd torpedo had gone into Hold No. 4, but 4 lifeboats were successfully lowered and the ship abandoned. It was decided to sail on in independent groups rather than trying to stay together, whereupon 2 boats set course for Ireland, the other 2 for Greenland. 1 of the eastbound boats disappeared underway, the other, containing 2 nurses, 2 officers and 3 crew was located by the British escort vessel Keppel on July 17 (or 13th?) and its occupants taken to Londonderry that same day, where they were all taken to a hospital.

Meanwhile, the 2 northbound boats stayed together, but storms and heavy seas made the sailing a nightmare, and one night one of the boats disappeared, while the captain's boat with 9 crew and 4 nurses managed to keep going. Just as their willpower and hopes of survival were diminishing, as were their food and water supplies, they were found on July 5 by an American Naval fleet en route to Iceland to land occupation forces there. The destroyer Charles F. Hughes (DD-428) took the 14 exhausted survivors (including 4 nurses) on board and searched for a long time for the boat that had disappeared, but to no avail. The 14 were landed in Reykjavik on July 8, where an inquiry was held on July 10 with the captain, the carpenter and the 2nd engineer attending.

26 had died, including 4 of the American nurses, 21 survived.

The captain's report gives the time of attack as 07:40 in 55N 41W, Rohwer agrees with this position, giving time as 11:32, German time.

M/S Soløy, M/T Havprins (rescued 9 nurses from the Dutch Maasdam, follow link for more details) and M/T Kongsgaard (torpedoed, but not sunk) were also in Convoy HX 133, as were several other Norwegian ships - follow the link to more convoy information above; the page includes the Commodore's notes and his narrative of voyage. See also the external links at the end of this page.

Part of a Thank You Note from one of the Nurses who Survived:

(translated from "Tusen norske skip", Lise Lindbæk).

"To be completely fair and as a sign of my gratitude I am not speaking for myself only, but for all 10 nurses. We were all treated like queens aboard your ship, with the attention, politeness and service we could never even have dreamed of. The crew showed perfect harmony and excellent cooperation between them; aboard the lifeboat we experienced gentlemanly behaviour and cooperation of the kind I only thought existed in fairytales. It was a horrible experience, but if any compensation can be found for it, it is this: to see than men can act so perfectly in an emergency".

Info as per the Public Records Office, Kew:

(sent to me by a visitor to my site).

Torpedoed June 24-1941 at 10:35 GMT, in No. 1 and 2 holds and in No. 4 and 5 holds. Number of crew is given as 38, with number of nurses as stated in my own text (making the total number of people on board 48, as opposed to 47). These records also agrees with the number of lifeboats getting away, and the fact that 7 survivors were landed at Londonderry by HMS Keppel. Further details from these records state that the submarine came to the lifeboat and asked for the ship's name and cargo and promised to send a w/t message. The captain's boat had 4 nurses, last seen drifting near position of attack on the 24th. The 2nd mate's boat had 4 nurses, last seen in the same position, 2nd mate was considering heading for Greenland. Other boat not seen after 24th and thought to be heading for the UK, as did the 1st mate's boat with 2 nurses, 4 ratings and chief engineer, while 2 ratings, 1 Norwegian and 1 British died of exposure. HMS Keppel, picked up survivors on July 13th, in 60 38N 23 15W at 02:30, landed at 23:30 on July 17. Note: I'm not quite sure how to interpret this report; the way it's written it looks like, either 6 or 8 survivors were picked up by Keppel, depending on how it's read, in that it says the following:
"Chief Officer's boat with 2 nurses, 4 ratings and Chief Engineer decided to make for UK (this totals 8). 2 ratings, 1 Norwegian and 1 British died of exposure (if 2 died in this boat, there were 6 left, although this sentence may refer to another boat?; and it could also mean that 4 died of exposure?). On 13th July in 60 38N 23 15W at 02:30, picked up by HMS Keppel and landed 23:30, July 17-1941". According to the list below, a total of 7 were rescued from the 1st mate's boat, 2 had died of exposure.

Crew & Passengers:
The survivors denoted * were in the captain's lifeboat, the rest of the survivors were in the 1st mate's boat.
The 2nd mate was on watch on the bridge when the attack occurred, the captain was in his cabin.
The carpenter was on duty by the gun.
The 2nd engineer was in the engine room, as was the 1st engineer (fixing the engine problem).

Surviving Crew
Captain Harald Holst*	1st Mate Fridtjov Karloff Siegwarth	3rd Mate August Ingvaldsen*	Carpenter Einar O. Dahl*	Able Seaman Magnus Boye*	Able Seaman Peder Halvorsen Øie
Able Seaman Conrad Ragnvald Flateby*	Ordinary Seaman Dagfinn Karlsen	Ordinary Seaman Torbjørn Musum*	1st Engineer Haavald Gundersen	2nd Engineer Poul Reinholdt Hass* (Danish)	Electrician Sverre Tombre*
Steward Anton Johansen	Mess Boy Norman Plant* (British)	Gunner Alfred Henry Cousins* (British)
Surviving Nurses
Marion Blissett* (U.S.A.)	Helen Jurewicz (U.S.A.	Margaret Irene Somerville (U.S.A.	Lillian Mary Pesnicak* (U.S.A.	Victoria Mary Pele* (U.S.A.	Rachel Marjorie St. Pierre* (U.S.A.
Casualties - Crew
† 2nd Mate Karl Kanstad	† Boatswain Ivar Gustavsen	† Able Seaman Johan Johansen	† Able Seaman Hjalmar Pettersen	† Able Seaman Ole Olav Moen	† Ordinary Seaman Ole Kaarstad
† Ordinary Seaman Herman Schachner (Czechoslovakian)	† Jr. Ordinary Seaman Ernst Vik	† 3rd Engineer Ingvald Unhammer	† 4th Engineer Kolbjørn Wilhelmsen	† Mechanic William Lynch (British)	† Mechanic Bjarne Johannessen
† Mechanic Andreas Brun	† Mechanic Birger Stokke	† Mechanic Ole Bjarne Karlsen	† Mechanic Arne Waldemar Olsen**	† Engine Boy James Shipley** (British)	† Cook Gunnar Julius Andreas Marcus
† 2nd Cook Leif Johnsen	† Galley Boy William Hill (British)	† Gunner George Glover * (British)	† Gunner Arnt Nilsen Ovena(?)
** Died of exposure in the 1st mate's lifeboat.
Casualties - Nurses
† Nancy Margaret Pott (U.S.A.)	† Dorthea Louise Koehn (U.S.A.)	† Phyllis Lou Evans (U.S.A.)	† Dorothy Catherine Morse (U.S.A.)

Related external links:
Hyperwar - Scroll down to July 5. "The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II", Robert Cressman. According to the text here the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, John Winant reported on July 11-1941 that out of the 27 American Red Cross nurses who had been en route to England, 9 had arrived safely, 10 had been rescued, 4 of whom were in serious condition, and 8 were missing. Position for the torpedoing is given as 58 58N 36 35W. The total number of rescued nurses found in my Norwegian sources doesn't quite add up with what is listed by Cressman. As far as I can tell, he does not mention the 2 rescued by Keppel, nor the 9 rescued by Havprins.

Charles F. Hughes - DD-428 - The rescue of the 14 survivors is mentioned.

In the 1st Chapter of Joining the War at Sea, there's also a mention of the rescue of the American nurses. The author, Frank Dailey states the following: "June 15, 1941. Iceland, just 450 nautical miles from Scotland, named outpost of Western Hemisphere. On June 16, President Roosevelt ordered US troops to relieve British garrison on Iceland", and adds: "First US Naval Task Force, TF 19, organized for foreign service. On July 1, 1941, US Marines left Argentia in a force of 25 ships, with destroyer USS Buck heading the outer screen. On July 5, screen destroyer, Charles F. Hughes, sent to rescue survivors of SS Vigrid, torpedoed June 23. At dusk, Hughes found remaining lifeboat with Vigrid skipper and four US Red Cross nurses. Other boat with six remaining nurses never found. Hughes rejoined at Reykjavik on July 8, 1941". F. Dailey has since told me that he at one time was in touch with one of those nurses via her son who worked in an Albany N.Y. hospital, but later lost contact.

Stavern Memorial commemorations - Norwegians only are commemorated at this memorial for seamen in Stavern, Norway. 18 are listed, however, Leif Henry Jahnsen and Leif Johnsen appear to be one and the same person (same birthdate).

Operations information for U-371

U-371

Back to Vigrid on the "Ships starting with V" page.

Other ships by this name: According to an entry on my ship forum, Olav Ringdal had previously had a tanker by the name Vigrid, built 1930, sold to Japan in 1935 and renamed Kiyo Maru. This ship was sunk by the American submarine Rasher (SS 269) (external link) in the South China Sea, 05 46N 108 36E on Jan. 5-1944. Norway had also lost a steamship by this name to WW I, built 1915, 1617 gt - torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in the English Channel on Dec. 31-1917. Bachke & Co., Trondheim later had a liner named Vigrid, delivered May-29-1951, 2671 gt (2684 gt?), built in Sarpsborg. This ship had originally been contracted by Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab in 1946, contract sold to Th. Brøvig, Farsund in Dec.-1947, contract sold again in 1950 to Bachke & Co. Became Rosto of Haugesund in May-1963 (service Liverpool-Halifax, Canadian Pacific), then Orion of Stockholm in Febr.-1965, Greek Silver Crest from Apr.-1968, broken up in China in 1973.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Wilh. Wilhelmsen fleet list, "Sjøfolk i krig, Leif M. Bjørkelund, "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Tusen norske skip", Lise Lindbæk, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume II (Norwegian Maritime Museum), and misc. others as mentioned in the above text - (ref. My sources).

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