M/T William Strachan

To William Strachan on the "Ships starting with W" page.

William Strachan going into Havanah.
According to a message in my Guestbook from the son of a crew member, this was taken Apr. 30-1939.

Manager: Willy Oppen & O. Sørensen, Oslo
Tonnage: 6157 gt

Built in Belfast 1931.
In service Sumatra, Java and Borneo with oil.

All the pictures on this page were received from Thore Kibsgaard, son of Torvald Kibsgaard.

See also my page:
Merchant Marine Prisoners of War - Torvald Kibsgaard is among the Norwegian prisoners listed here.

Afterdeck of ship - 1941.	Torvald Kibsgaard is the fellow in the white singlet on the left, 1941. No. 2 on the right is Ingvald Øksenholt.

In the wrong place at the wrong time:

Torvald A. Kibsgaard worked as able seamen on this ship, but became sick and paid off in Manila on Sept. 9-1941 where he was admitted to a hospital. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor he and some other Norwegians were transferred to a motel in the city. After the attack on Manila they were unable to get out due to the fact that Norwegian ships were directed elsewhere, so in order to avoid internment they all joined the US Navy. Torvald, age 23 was put in charge of the tug S/S Henry Keswick and transported supplies to Corregidor; a Norwegian engineer from Bergen was also on board (see a Guestbook message from the captain's grandson). New Years Eve (after D. MacArthur had decided to withdraw) Kibsgaard was again sent to Corregidor, and from then on the 2 Norwegians transported supplies back and forth between Corregidor and Bataan. Henry Keswick was shelled and sunk at "North Dock", Corregidor, and in March the 2 shipmates were on the previously Chinese S/S You Sang. While loading bombs during the battles for Bataan, You Sang was sunk at the Bataan harbour Mariveles. After the fall of Bataan in Apr.-1942 Kibsgaard took part in the ammunition transport to the gun positions on Corregidor using trucks. The day after the invasion, on May 5 he was given a gun and ordered to the trenches with the other soldiers, but when he started to display symptoms of severe shock he was picked up and taken to a hospital at Malinta Tunnel, where he was diagnosed with shock as well as malaria.

After Corregidor had fallen (May 6-1942) he was ordered by the Japanese to clean up after the battles, remove the bodies etc. From then on he was a prisoner of the Japanese, first sent to Cabanatuan, then in 1943 to Batangas, (both on Luzon) to help build the airport there. When the Americans bombed the airport they were working on early in 1944 he was transferred to Camp Murphy where he stayed until Oct.-1944. His next stop was the Bilibid prison, Manila where he met several other Norwegians. After MacArthur had retaken the Philippines, the Japanese wanted to avoid letting the prisoners fall into the hands of the Americans so thousands were moved to Japan. Kibsgaard and 2 other Norwegians (Johan Skulstad and Ragnvald Augustin - listed on Page 3 of my POW's section - see also the external links to POW rosters at the end of this text) were placed on the cargo ship Hokusen Maru, initially bound for Japan, but after 41 days of terror they were landed at Formosa (now Taiwan). Several ships in the convoy had been sunk by American submarines, and a lot of prisoners had died on the ship due to the horrendous conditions on board. After about 4 weeks of "resting up" on Formosa they were put on another Japanese transport and moved to Omuta, where they worked in the coal mines for about 6 months until the war was over.

Hokusen Maru

He says the prisoners were ordered to board this ship on Oct. 1-1944, but she didn't sail until the 3rd (most Norwegian books state they left Manila at the end of Oct.). Incredibly, I found the story of another man who seems to have been in most of the same places, namely Ralph W. Walden - this external site includes a detailed description of the voyage with Hokusen Maru (nicknamed Benjo Maru), and mentions several other events that correspond with Torvald Kibsgaard's story, so who knows, the 2 may have known eachother?

More info on Hokusen Maru:

Built 1920, 2095 gt. Passenger/freighter built at Canadian Allis Chalmers for South American Steam Shipping (British) as War Wombat. Sold to Oguma & Co., Japan in 1924 and renamed Chokyo Maru. Sold again to Nihonkai Kisen in 1939 as Hokusen (meaning north Korea) Maru. Records indicate that she arrived at Manila, from Kaohsiung, on Sept. 18-1944. In a convoy of eight ships escorted by three sub chasers, she departed Manila on Oct. 3. After losing three ships by U.S. sub attack, the convoy reached Hong Kong, instead of Kaohsiung, on Oct. 11-1944. (This corresponds with what is found in Ralph Walden's story, though he says they were underway for 3 or 4 weeks before she dropped anchor in Hong Kong, where they stayed for about 10 days before continuing to Takao, Formosa).

POST WAR:

Some post war movements of William Strachan, according to a message on my Ship Forum, posted by R. W. Jordan:
Left Abadan Nov. 10-1945 for Suez. Left Piraeus Oct. 15-1948 for Abadan. Left Curacao on May 25-1949 for Cuba. Left Rotterdam Oct. 3-1950 for Bahrain. These movements are from Lloyd's Shipping Index. Additionally, the tanker held a Lloyd's Register class, and was surveyed at Oslo in March 1949. It does not appear in Lloyd's Register 1952-53 nor in Lloyd's Shipping Index in 1953 under the name William Strachan. Further responses to the Forum query on William Strachan provide the info that she was renamed Drepanum in 1951, after having been purchased by Transmediterranea Societa di Navigazione per Azione, and managed by Compagnia de Navigazione Transmediterranea, Palermo, Sicily. Both of these companies were beneficially owned by Count Salvatore Tagliavia. Drepanum arrived at La Spezia, Italy, on July 3-1963 to be broken up.

Related external links:
2 who died / William Strachan - cause not given, but the date March 1-1943 is mentioned for "forlist" which means wrecked or lost. I'm not sure what happened to the ship on that date (but it was obviously not lost). Boatswain John Herman Berg and Seaman Otto Normann Pettersen are named. The latter is listed on Page 3 of my POW's page, and judging from the date of his death he may in fact have been aboard the Japanese Oryoku Maru when that ship was bombed. However, he's not listed on the Oryoku Maru roster, so it could be just a coincidence. In "Nordmenn i fangenskap" Kristian Ottosen gives the same information for Otto Normann Pettersen as he does for Egil Andreassen "Arrested May 6-1942, transferred Cabanatuan, transferred Bilibid, died Dec. 15-1944". Andreassen and some other Norwegians can be found on the rosters for this ship, which are downloadable from this page - click on "Database".

Taiwan Camps - Includes an alphabetical list of names of prisoners (Torvald Kibsgaard can be found under the K's, camp is given as SH=Shirakawa, Formosa). The site also has several related links.

I also found Torvald Kibsgaard and his friends Johan Skulstad and Ragnvald Augustin listed on
this master roster for Kyushu POW camps. Camp # 17 Omuta is listed behind their names. (Captain Karl Hjalmar Hansen of Scotia is also on this roster).

Back to William Strachan on the "Ships starting with W" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Handelsflåten i krig", Guri Hjeltnes, "Ingen nåde", Kristian Ottosen, and E-mails from T. Kibsgaard's son Thore.