Convoy HX 179 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)
Convoy HX 179 Cruising Order
Departed Halifax on March 9-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 22nd (Arnold Hague gives 21 ships).
List received from Ted Agar. (His source: A diary).
Cargoes have been extracted from a document received from D. Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see his listing for HX 179 at Ships in all HX convoys.
Br=British, Du=Dutch, Norw=Norwegian, Pa=Panamanian.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
11
Empire Rainbow
grain
CAM ship
(Br)
See below
21
Novelist
general
CAM ship
(Br)
31
Empire
Swan
general
(Br)
41
Cymbula
lub. oil
(Du)
51
Empire Confidence
general
7 passengers
(Br)
61
Beaverhill
general
(Br)
71
Regent Lion
petrol
(Br)
81
Ardenvohr
general
252 mails
(Br)
12
Observer
general
(Br)
22
El Aleto
(Br)
See below
32
*
52
Woensdrecht
petrol
(Du)
62
San Cipriano
petrol - paraffin
(Br)
82
Marie Bakke
general
(Norw)
See Notes below
13
Viking Star
(Br)
See Notes below
23
Empire Chivalry
general
122 mails
(Br)
33
Hercules
general
(Du)
43
Tuscan Star
refrig. - 2 mails
14 passengers
(Br)
53
Audacious
general
4159 mails
(Pa)
63
Delilian
general
(Br)
73
83
*
14
24
34
Fort Amherst
(Br)
44
54
Myrmidon
general
1429 mails
87 passengers
(Br)
64
74
84
According to a note for Convoy SC 74, Empire Moon, sailing in that convoy, came from HX 179.
Comparing the above with Arnold Hague's listing for HX 179 at Ships in all HX convoys, we see that Cymbula is listed as British.
Also, he has the British Empire Chivalry in station 22, while El Aleto is not included at all - note that this ship also appears in the next convoy, HX 180, so it's possible she left port on March 9 for other reasons than to join HX 179. Audacious, which returned to port, is also included in HX 180.
He says Empire Rainbow became a straggler on March 13 and joined up with Convoy SC 73.
Fort Amherst detached for St. John's, N.F. on March 11, arrived the next day.
Hague also has a British Foundation Franklin, which also detached for St. John's on the 11th, no station number is given for this ship (not mentioned in the diary).
Viking Star is not mentioned in A. Hague's list - see Notes below.
*However, A. Hague has some ships in stations where none are listed in the diary, namely:
In station 32 - The Norwegian Thorshov, cargo of petrol
In station 83 - The Panamanian Alan-A-Dale, general cargo (also mentioned in the diary, but station number was not known by the author).
Notes:
The diary has a notation for Viking Star as she goes out at 12:10 saying "Drops out of Convoy and anchors off Tower", then later, after the last ship has gone out at 14:15, "Viking Star has taken her signal letters down". It looks like she had originally been sceduled for Convoy SC 73 on March 6 - instead of joining HX 179, she joined Convoy SC 74 a few days later.
The Norwegian Marie Bakke had returned to port with weather damage when in Convoy SC 63 in Jan.-1942.
The British freighter Alan-A-Dale was the last ship to leave at 14:14 - no station given and, therefore, not included in the table above.
The ships left port in the following sequence (according to the diary):
The first ship to leave at 11:10 was Empire Confidence (Flagship), then with a few minutes between each ship the Catapult freighter Novelist, followed by Empire Swan ("B" flag), Beaverhill (2 open decks), then Audacious, Empire Rainbow, Cymbula, Ardenvohr, Tuscan Star (2 open decks, men and women passengers), Marie Bakke (2 red bands on stack), Viking Star (drops out off Tower), Woensdrecht, Empire Chivalry, Delilian (crated planes), San Cipriano, Observer, Hercules, Fort Amherst, Myrmidon, Troubadour (crated planes), El Aleto, Thorshøvdi, Regent Lion, and at 14:15 Alan-A-Dale went out, as already mentioned.
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):
Calgary - From 09/03/42 to 13/03/42
Charlottetown - From 09/03/42 to 13/03/42
Clayoquot - From 09/03/42 to 13/03/42
Dianella - From 13/03/42 to 22/03/42
FS Roselys - From 13/03/42 to 22/03/42
Halifax - From 09/03/42 to 13/03/42
Kingcup - From 13/03/42 to 22/03/42
Loosestrife - From 13/03/42 to 22/03/42
Molde - From 22/03/42 to 22/03/42
St. Clair - From 09/03/42 to 13/03/42
USS Bristol - From 13/03/42 to 22/03/42
USS Buck - From 13/03/42 to 22/03/42
Verity - From 09/03/42 to 13/03/42
To the next HX convoy in my list HX 180