Convoy HX 147 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)

Convoy HX 147 Cruising Order
Departed Halifax on .Aug. 29 -1941 and arrived Liverpool on Sept. 12 (Arnold Hague says 64 ships in his "Allied Convoy System").
This does not mean that all the ships arrived that port on that date; some ships had other destinations.

Received from Ted Agar, England. (His source: A diary).

The majority (but not all) of the ships have been given a convoy station (see also list further down on this page).

Cargoes have been extracted from a document received from D. Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see his listing for HX 147 at Ships in all HX convoys.

For info, some of these ships had previously arrived with the westbound Convoy ON 3.
A few of them later returned with the westbound Convoy ON 20, Sept. 25.

Br=British, Bel=Belgian, Du=Dutch, Norw=Norwegian, Da=Danish.

11
Tortuguero
refrig. - general
10 passengers
(Br)

21
Dromus
lub. oil
(Br)

See below

41
Port Campbell
refrig. - 10 passengers
(Br)

51
Port Huon
refrig. - 10 passengers
(Br)

61
Elysia
general - 28 passengers
(Br)

71
British freighter*

81
Pacific Pioneer
general - 4 passengers
(Br)

91
Daphnella
benzine - paraffin
(Br)

101

111
Schuylkill
petrol
(Br)

121
Daltonhall
CAM ship
grain
(Br)

12
Baharistan
cotton seed
(Br)

22
Athelvictor
petrol - paraffin
(Br)

32
Pontfield
gas oil
(Br)

42*
Athelsultan?
fuel oil
(Br)

Elona?
petrol
(Br)

52
San Emiliano
petrol - paraffin
(Br)

62
Nela
refrig.
(Br)

72
Samaria*
(Br)

82
British Fortitude
petrol
(Br)

92
Singkep
general - 3 passengers
(Du)

112
O. A. Knudsen
petrol
(Norw)

122
Silveray**
lumber - general
(Br)

13
City of Hereford
pig iron - groundnuts - iron ore
(Br)

23
Toorak
gas oil
(Br)

33
Enggano
sugar - tea - flour
4 passengers
(Du)

43
Manchester Citizen**
refrig. - general
5 passengers
(Br)

53
Empire Coral
aviation gas
(Br)

63
Strinda
FFO
(Norw)

73
Adviser
steel - general
(Br)

83
Athelempress
FFO
(Br)

See below

103
Sandanger
petrol
(Norw)

113

123
Custodian
general - grain
(Br)

14
Baron Scott
general
(Br)

24
Luculus
lub. oil
(Br)

34
British Ardour
petrol
(Br)

44
G. C. Brøvig
fuel oil
(Norw)

54
Solør
petrol - paraffin
(Norw)

64
Glenpark
steel - general
4 passengers
(Br)

74
Gudrun Maersk
sugar
(Da/Br)

84
Sourabaya
fuel oil
(Br)

104
Nueva Granada
pool oil
(Norw)

114
Bello*
paraffin
(Norw)

124
Lochmonar
general - 11 passengers
(Br)

15
Stanmore
general
(Br)

25
Madras City
steel - general
(Br)

35
Dornoch
general
(Br)

45
Ribera
sugar
(Br)

55
Opawa
refrig. - general
300 bags mail
(Br)

65
Modavia
refrig. - general
(Br)

75
Scottish Star
refrig.
(Br)

85
Belgian freighter*

95
Slemmestad
general - steel
(Norw)

105
Br. tanker*

115
Dutch freighter*

125
Marwarri
general
(Br)

66
Dutch tanker*

76
Westland
general - 3096 mail
7 passengers
(Du)

96
Mirza
dieso
(Du)

106
Daytonian
general
(Br)

116

126

A couple of the ships have been given the same station number in the diary, hence my question marks.

The diary also mentions the British Darina and Davila, but station numbers were not known and, therefore, they have not been included in the above table. According to A. Hague, Darina, cargo of gas oil, was in station 31, Davila (FFO) was in station 93.

*Comparing the diary info with Arnold Hague's details for HX 147 at ships in all HX convoys, we find that the unnamed ships are listed as:
In station 71 - British Manchester Division, general cargo, 8 passengers
In station 85 - Belgian Jean Jadot, general cargo and 10 passengers
In station 105 - British British Courage, cargo of pool oil
In station 66 - Dutch Cleodora (carrying FFO)
He has no ship in station 115, but this unnamed ship may have been the Dutch Ulysses, which Hague has in station 114 (steel and general), while Bello has been given station 113.
Instead of Samaria in station 72, he has the British Orbita, general cargo and 1525 passengers. Samaria is not mentioned at all in HX 147.

**He has also included some ships that are not mentioned in the diary, namely:
In station 101 - The British Sovac, cargo of lub. oil.
In station 86 - The British Manchester Trader, general cargo and 16 passengers
Additionally, the British tugs Caroline Moller and Restive have been included, as has Laconia (with a note saying "paid off at Liverpool 1.10.41, to trade"; see list of escorts below).

* He has Athelsultan in station 42, adding that she arrived Scapa Flow on Sept. 12, while Elona is listed in station 94.

** Silveray detached for Iceland with defects; date not given. Manchester Citizen is said to have joined up with the slow Convoy SC 41 (will be added, see ships in all SC convoys).

The ships left Halifax in the following order, listed here according to nationality (keeping the sequence of departure within each nationality):
The British Elysia (the first ship to leave at 07:18), Athelvictor, Pacific Pioneer, Baharistan, Scottish Star, San Emiliano, Opawa, Lochmonar, Gudrun Maersk (Danish ship under Ministry of War Transport 1940-1946), British Ardour, Schuylkill , Athelsultan, Nela, Port Huon, Baron Scott, British Fortitude, Ribera, Toorak, Sourabaya (6 bombers), Luculus, Adviser, Dromus, Dornoch, Custodian, Stanmore, Daphnella, Empire Coral, Modavia, Daltonhall, Marwarri, City of Hereford, Athelempress, Darina, Davila, Tortuguero, Madras City, Glenpark, Pontfield, Port Campbell, Silveray, Manchester Citizen, Elona, Samaria (carrying troops - as mentioned above, A. Hague instead has Orbita), Daytonian, and 3 unnamed British ships.

The Norwegian Bralanta, Nueva Granada, Bello, Solør , O. A. Knudsen, Sandanger, Slemmestad, Strinda and G. C. Brøvig. Follow the links provided within the table above for more details on these ships.

An unnamed Dutch tanker (probably Cleodora), the Dutch Enggano, Singkep, Mirza, Westland, and another unnamed Dutch vessel (probably Ulysses), as well as the unnamed Belgian ship with bombers on deck (Jean Jadot).

The escorting HMS Laconia departed from Pier B as the last ship at 12:00.

Some of the escort vessels, Wetaskiwin, Mimosa, Gladiolus, and Buttermere, left during the passage to assist convoy SC 42. (As can be seen, Buttermere is not included in Hague's list of escorts).

A. Hague names the following 15 escorts (extracted from this list of HX convoy escorts received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Amazon - From 08/09/41 to 11/09/41
Aubretia - From 08/09/41 to 12/09/41
Belmont - From 08/09/41 to 11/09/41
Bulldog - From 08/09/41 to 11/09/41
Columbia - From 29/08/41 to 08/09/41
Daneman - From 08/09/41 to 12/09/41
FS Aconit - From 08/09/41 to 11/09/41
FS Mimosa - From 29/08/41 to 08/09/41
Gladiolus - From 29/08/41 to 08/09/41
Heartsease - From 08/09/41 to 12/09/41
Laconia - From 29/08/41 to 12/09/41
Nigella - From 08/09/41 to 12/09/41
Northern Wave - From 08/09/41 to 12/09/41
St. Apollo - From 08/09/41 to 12/09/41
Wetaskiwin - From 29/08/41 to 08/09/41

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