Convoy HX 151 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)
Convoy HX 151 Cruising Order
Departed Halifax on Sept. 22-1941 and arrived Liverpool on Oct. 7 (Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" gives 46 ships).
Received from Ted Agar. (His source: A diary. Although the information is usually incomplete, as it appears to be in this case, I consider this diary valuable and important in and of itself and, therefore, I've chosen to transcribe it and keep it "as is" on this website, adding further details and/or corrections from other sources separately, rather than within the form itself [except for cargoes], as seen below).
Cargoes have been extracted from a document received from D. Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see his listing for HX 151 at Ships in all HX convoys.
For info, some of the ships in this convoy later returned with the westbound Convoy ON 26. See also ON 30.
Br=British, Norw=Norwegian, Gr=Greek, Du=Dutch, Sw=Swedish, Am=American, Can=Canadian.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Raby Castle
general
207 bags mail
(Br)
21
Tamaroa
refrig.
168 passengers
(Br)
31
Mathura
general
(Br)
41
Empire Spray
general
CAM ship
(Br)
51
Daghestan
grain
CAM ship
(Br)
61
Port Adelaide
refrig. - general
1 passenger
(Br)
71
*
81
See below
91
*
101
Athelprincess
molasses
(Br)
12
Empire Barracuda
steel
3 passengers
(Br)
22
See below
32
Oneida
general - lumber
Iceland
(Am)
42
See below
52
Northern
Sword
general
Iceland
(Am)
62
Umtali?
general
80 passengers
(Br)
or
Laurits Swenson?
general
4 passengers
(Norw)
See below
72
Empire Mica
aviation gas
(Br)
82
Peisander?
general
3 passengers
(Br)
or
Eastern City?
general
CAM ship
(Br)
See below
92
Adula?
petrol
(Br)
or
Dolabella?
petrol
(Br)
See below
102
Shillong
general
5711 bags mail
2 passengers
(Br)
13
Empire Oryx
steel
(Br)
23
British Prudence
FFO
(Br)
33
Maaskerk
general
66 passengers
(Du)
43
Meline
dieso
(Norw)
53
Thorshøvdi
fuel oil
(Norw)
63
*
73
See below
83
Bic Island
general
(Can)
93
Morgenen
petrol
(Norw)
103
Clan Mactavish?
general
(Br)
or
Sophocles?
general
5 passengers
(Norw)
See below
14
Historian
general
(Br)
24
Leiv Eiriksson
FFO
3 passengers
(Norw)
34
Evros*
iron ore
(Gr)
44
Tigre
sugar - general
(Norw)
54
Dagrun
steel - tobacco
(Norw)
64
Blankaholm
sugar
(Sw)
74
Curacao
general
51 passengers
(Du)
84
Bodegraven
general
44 passengers
(Du)
94
Hardanger
general
(Norw)
104
See below
15
25
Empire Falcon
sulphur
(Br)
*
35
45
La Cordillera
general
(Br)
55
San Cipriano
petrol
(Br)
65
See below
75
Asbjørn
general
(Can)
85
Sama
refrig. - general
7 passengers
(Norw)
95
105
San Andres
flour
(Norw)
*The Greek Evros returned to port - she's listed as sailing in SC 48 instead, and was in fact sunk while in that convoy - follow link for details.
The diary also mentions the Norwegian Belinda, but it's hard to tell which station number she had and, therefore, she's not included in the form above. The same is true for the Icelandic Edda. A. Hague has listed Belinda in station 73, cargo of petrol, Edda in station 42, general cargo, bound for Iceland.
*When comparing this information with A. Hague's listing for HX 151 at Ships in all HX convoys, it'll be noticed that he has included some ships that are not mentioned in the diary, as follows:
In station 71 - The British Empire Spring, cargo of grain, CAM ship
In station 91 - The British Clausina, cargo of petrol and paraffin
In station 63 - The British Pacific Enterprise, general cargo, 10 passengers
He has also listed the Swedish Shantung in station 25 (which conflicts with Empire Falcon), general cargo and 9 passengers. The diary has this ship in the next convoy, HX 152.
A few ships have been given the same pendant No. in the diary - hence my question marks. According to A. Hague, Laurits Swenson was in station 65, and Umtali had station 62. He has Eastern City in station 81, Peisander in station 82. Adula is listed in station 92, while Dolabella has been given station 22, Clan Mactavish had station 102 and Sophocles is listed in station 104.
Also, he has Athelprincess in station 103, Shillong in station 101
Notes:
Empire Oryx, which was built in in 1919 as West Harshaw and became Empire Oryx in 1940, became Empire Robin at some point in 1941, but I'm not sure when, perhaps it was not until the end of the year (she later became the Dutch Ferdinand Bol 1942 - rammed and sunk by the Norwegian Norse King on July 29-1942, Convoy HS 35).
Port Adelaide was the first to leave at 11:20, and with a few minutes between each ship, the last to depart was the escorting submarine depot ship HMS Forth leaving Pier 28 at 17:15, several hours behind the last ship Bic Island which left at 14:23. A notation for HMS Forth says "flying flags L, 5 & 9, and at 5.37 pm she passed through the gate". I've listed them here according to Nationality, keeping the sequence of departure within each nationality.
The British ships left port in the following order:
Port Adelaide, Mathura, Eastern City (Hurricane LUJ), Empire Oryx, Empire Falcon, Dolabella, British Prudence, Adula, Peisander, Asbjørn (Danish, sailing under the Canadian Governm. 1940-1946), Clan Mactavish (the Norwegian Sophocles is also noted in the same station. She departed at 12:41, left the convoy at 14:50, anchored south of St. George's, then later sailed on independently, perhaps she had some sort of a problem? I assume Clan Mactavish then moved into her station), Athelprincess, Empire Mica, Empire Barracuda, Tamaroa, Umtali, Historian, Daghestan, Empire Spray, San Cipriano, Raby Castle, La Cordillera, Shillong and Bic Island (with a notation saying "she is captured Italian ship "Capo Noli").
The Norwegian ships left as follows:Dagrun, Sama, San Andres, Meline, Morgenen, Belinda (with a notation saying "flags & 3", in other words, a number is missing, so it's hard to tell which station she had), Thorshøvdi, Sophocles (later left the convoy, as mentioned), Tigre, Hardanger, Leiv Eiriksson and Laurits Swenson (it says Swenson only, but I assume it should be Laurits Swenson), all listed on this website - see links provided within the table above for more information on them.
The American Oneida and Northern Sword, the Dutch Maaskerk, Curacao and Bodegraven, the Swedish Blankaholm, the Greek Evros, and the Icelandic Edda (no pendant No. given).
A. Hague names the following escorts (extracted from this list of HX convoy escorts, also received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Annapolis - From 23/09/41 to 24/09/41
Beagle - From 01/10/41 to 04/10/41
FS Lobelia - From 01/10/41 to 05/10/41
Heather - From 01/10/41 to 05/10/41
Montgomery - From 01/10/41 to 06/10/41
Narcissus - From 01/10/41 to 05/10/41
Norwich City - From 01/10/41 to 07/10/41
Roxborough - From 01/10/41 to 05/10/41
Salisbury - From 01/10/41 to 04/10/41
St. Loman - From 01/10/41 to 07/10/41
USS Decatur - From 24/09/41 to 01/10/41
USS Kearny - From 24/09/41 to 01/10/41
USS Livermore - From 24/09/41 to 01/10/41
USS Plunkett - From 24/09/41 to 01/10/41
(As can be seen, A. Hague does not mention a submarine named Forth)
Related external link:
The Empire Ships - This convoy had quite a few Empire Ships. This website provides more information on them.
To the next HX convoy in my list HX 152