Convoy HX 168 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)

Convoy HX 168 Cruising Order
Departed Halifax on Jan. 2-1942, dispersed Jan. 13 (Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" gives 36 ships)

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

Please note that more ships are named in Notes below, as well as in the 2nd table further down on this page.

Br=British, Du=Dutch, Norw=Norwegian.

See Notes & 2nd table below

51
Corner Brook
(Br)

See 2nd table below

71
Tortuguero
(Br)

81
Empire Spring
(Br)

91
Daltonhall
(Br)

See Notes & 2nd table below

See 2nd table below

32
British Engineer
(Br)

See Notes & 2nd table below

82
G. S.
Walden
(Br)

See Notes & 2nd table below

73
Cymbula
(Du)

See Notes & 2nd table below

See 2nd table below

See Notes & 2nd table below

See 2nd table below

54
F. J. Wolfe
(Br)

See Notes & 2nd table below

Notes:
The Norwegian Brimanger was cancelled, Robert F. Hand did not sail, Dutch Zuiderkerk was damaged in a collision and stayed in port - all 3 are listed in the next convoy, HX 169.

38 sailed (36 appear to have been in the convoy at first - convoy consisted of 41 ships).

The Norwegian Sandar is also said to have been in this convoy, but this can't be correct, because she's listed in the slow Convoy SC 63 on Jan. 3 - see also SC 61 and SC 62.

The text in the diary reads:
"This convoy of 36 ships was dispersed, heavy fog in Halifax made difficult the movement of shipping but sailings that did take place did so as follows" (time for the first ship to leave is given as 09:53):

The British Corner Brook (51), Empire Spring (81), Daltonhall (91 - Hurricane NJF), British Engineer (32), Dutch Cymbula (73).

Then it says: "Dense fog closes in and shipping movement appears to be stopped. 2:45 The fog lifts slightly".

Then at 3:11 (I assume this is 15:11) the Norwegian Fernmoor departed (72), followed a few minutes later by the British Tortuguero (71), and almost an hour later by the British G. S. Walden (82), then the British F. J. Wolfe (54).

The text continues:
"At 9:53 noticed a ship going out flying 81 (Corner Brook is given pennant No. 51 in previous statement). There seemed to be a convoy under way, but the fog closed in so thick that it was impossible to see the sheds at the water's edge. From that time on there was nothing to be seen. There was a great deal of whistling and signalling in the harbor, but I thought this was ordinary traffic and had no idea they would try to run a convoy out under such conditions until 3.11 when the fog thinned out a little. The last ship went out at 4.21, the F. J. Wolfe. Later I learned that there were 41 ships in movements, 1 was cancelled (Brimanger), 1 did not sail (Robert F. Hand), 1 was damaged in collision (Zuiderkerk, Dutch) and stayed in harbor leaving 38 that got away ok. The fog was so thick that official observers were unable to note the time of departure of many of the ships and simply marked 27 of them "Gone" when the fog lifted to reveal empty berths. This was said to be the most unusual convoy of the war. The following ships complete the January 2nd 1942 convoy; but not in this order:"

No pendant No.'s are given, but see the 2nd table below - note that some of these also appear in the next convoy, HX 169 :
The British Ocean Vanguard, Mahout, British Engineer (32), Lancastrian Prince, Stentor, Eastern City, City of Derby, Dalhousie, Jean L. D. (ex French), Winamac, Cape Breton, Cape Verde, Theseus, Delilian, Novelist, Toltén and Narragansett.
The Greek Mount Kyllene, the Russian Kiev, the Dutch Amsterdam, Zuiderkerk and Mangkalihat (all 3 are listed in the next convoy), the Norwegian G. C. Brøvig, N. T. Nielsen-Alonso, Triton, Atlanticand Tai Shan, the Swedish Eknaren and Yngaren (straggled, sunk on Jan. 12 by U-43 - ref. external link below), and the Panamanian El Lago.

Arnold Hague ("Convoy Rescue Ships 1940-1945") says the Rescue Ship Toward was with this convoy, from joining to dispersal Jan. 9 to Jan. 13-1942. She had been with Convoy ON 53 from Clyde until detachment, Jan 2-Jan 9 (see Ships in all ON convoys), on her 17th voyage as Rescue Vessel (having been requisitioned as such in Dec.-1940).

Convoy HX 168 Based on A. Hague's information

Source: A document received from D. Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database (see his listing for HX 168 at Ships in all HX convoys).

Underlined ships returned to port, except those that are linked (which will automatically be underlined).

Br=British, Du=Dutch, Norw=Norwegian, Sw=Swedish, Pa=Panamanian, Am=American, Ru=Russian, Gr=Greek.

11
Eastern City
grain
CAM ship
(Br)

21
Novelist
general
CAM ship
(Br)

31
City of Derby
general
(Br)

41
Delilian
general
(Br)

51
Corner Brook
steel - paper
(Br)

61
Empire Sailor
general
(Br)

71
Tortuguero
refrig. - general
(Br)

81
Empire Spring
grain
CAM ship
(Br)

91
Daltonhall
grain
CAM ship
(Br)

12
Theseus
general - 649 mails
83 passengers
(Br)

22
USS Pegasus
general
Iceland
(Am)

32
British Engineer
petrol
(Br)

52
Mahout
general
(Br)

62
Stentor
general - 399 mails
78 passengers
(Br)

82
G. S.
Walden
petrol
(Br)

92
Tai Shan
general - 10 passengers
(Norw)

13
Dalhousie
general - 8 mails
(Br)

23
El Lago
general
Iceland
(Pa)

33
Winamac
FFO
(Br)

43
Amsterdam
petrol
(Du)

53
G. C. Brøvig
FFO
(Norw)

63
Narragansett
petrol
(Br)

73
Cymbula
benzine
(Br)

83
Triton
zinc - wool
334 mails
(Norw)

93
Ocean Vanguard
general
(Br)

14
Cape Breton
grain
(Br)

24
Kiev
general
Iceland
Onward to N. Russia
(Ru)

34
Yngaren
manganese
Sunk
(Sw)

44
Seminole
petrol
(Br)

54
F. J. Wolfe
FFO
(Br)

64
Jean L-D
refrig. - general
(Br)

74
Mount Kyllene
general
(Gr)

84
Lancastrian Prince
general
(Br)

94
Toltén
general
(Br)

15
Cape Verde
general - 537 mails
(Br)

55
Eknaren
general
(Sw)

Also, Rescue Vessel Toward, as mentioned.

A. Hague has also added the British Pachesham, cargo of steel and newsprint, joined from Wabana. Station number not given. As can be seen, he has listed Cymbula as British

It'll be noticed that he has not included Zuiderkerk (as mentioned, she was damaged in a collision and stayed in port), Mangkalihat andAtlantic (this is listed as the British ship by that name in T. Agar's diary, but the British Atlantic was in the U.K. at this time. The Norwegian Atlantic had arrived Halifax from Houston on Dec. 30-1941, according to her Voyage Record for this period). All 3 show up again in the next convoy. However, A. Hague has some ships that are not included in Ted's list, namely the British Empire Sailor, Pachesham and Seminole.
He otherwise agrees with Corner Brook in 51, Tortuguero in 71, Empire Spring in 81, Daltonhall in 91, British Engineer in 32, Fernmoor in 72, G. S. Walden in 82, Cymbula in 73 and F. J. Wolfe in 54.

Ocean Vanguard returned after having collided with Toltén, which also returned. Ocean Vanguard is listed in HX 171, while Toltén does not show up again until HX 177. Amsterdam joined HX 169, but returned again, joined SC 66.

For info, the Panamanian El Lago (and possibly the Russian Kiev?) is listed in Convoy PQ 9/ PQ 10 from Reykjavik to Murmansk on Febr. 1-1942, returning to Iceland with QP 8 on March 1.