Convoy HX 37 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)
CONVOY HX 37
| Convoy HX 37 Cruising Order Departed Halifax on Apr. 22-1940 and arrived Liverpool on May 7 (Arnold Hague says 32 ships). | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transcribed from original documents received from Roger Griffiths (his source: Public Records Office, Kew). Nationalities have been added with the help of "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan. There are 2 A 1 forms for this convoy, the first one is extremely messy, with ships crossed out and arrows going all over the place. Even though some ships are crossed out, it looks like this does not necessarily mean they did not sail; some of them appear to have been crossed out simply because they became stragglers - please compare the information in this first form with Arnold Hague's listing for HX 37 on the page naming ships in all HX convoys. Br=British, Norw=Norwegian, Fr=French, Pa=Panamanian, Gr=Greek, Eg=Egyptian | ||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 11 Manchester Exporter general Liverpool (Br) | 21 Dolabella lub oil Manchester (Br) | 31 Orbita general Liverpool (Br) | 41 Daldorch Falmouth (Br) | 51 HMS Alaunia Escort (Br) | 61 Pacific Shipper general London (Br) | 71 Port Gisborne meat - butter London (Br) | 81 San Pedro general Brest (Fr) | 91 Lustrous crude oil Pauillac (Br) |
| 12 |
22 Traveller steel - cotton Liverpool (Br) | 32 Queen Adelaide steel - cotton Manchester (Br) | 42 Harlesden wheat Leith (Br) | 52 | 62 Loch Dee grain Hull (Br) | 72 |
82 Reginolite crude oil Le Havre (Br) | 92 Monique crude oil Le Havre (Fr) |
| 13 |
23 |
33 |
43 |
53 | 63 Athelprincess molasses Hull (Br) | 73 |
83 Ile de Brehat general Le Havre (Fr) | 93 |
| 14 Warkworth grain Londonderry (Br) | 24 |
34 Hopestar grain Avonmouth (Br) | 44 Embassage wheat Falmouth (Br) | 54 | 64 |
74 |
84 Mount Helmos general London (Gr) | 94 Mont Everest horses Brest (Fr) |
| 15 | 25 Mount Pera general Liverpool (Gr) | 35 Fana paper - resin Bristol (Norw) | 45 | 55 | 65 | 75 Skudd 6 Downs (Norw) | 85 | 95 |
| As will be seen when going back to Arnold Hague's listing for HX 37 on the page naming ships in all HX convoys, he has included all the ships that are crossed out above, except Laristan, Star of Luxor and Texas Banker. He says Lagarto and Point Ancha became stragglers on Apr. 26, while Sommerstad had straggled on Apr. 23. Pelagos put back to Halifax Apr. 27.Texas Banker is listed in the next convoy, HX 38, while Laristan shows up again in HX 48 (see also the Advance Sailing Telegrams on my pages for HX 39 and HX 41). |
| Here is the 2nd A 1 form from the Public Records Office | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| As can be seen, several of the above ships have been removed from this form, including most of the Norwegian ships. Some of the destinations have also changed. | ||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 11 Manchester Exporter Liverpool (Br) | 21 Dolabella Glasgow (Br) | 31 Orbita Liverpool (Br) | 41 Port Gisborne Portland (Br) | 51 HMS Alaunia Escort (Br) | 61 Pacific Shipper London (Br) | 71 Daldorch London (Br) | 81 San Pedro Brest (Fr) | 91 Lustrous Pauillac (Br) |
| 12Warkworth Londonderry (Br) | 22 Traveller Liverpool (Br) | 32 Queen Adelaide Manchester (Br) | 42 Loch Dee Portland (Br) | 52 | 62 Skudd 6 Falmouth(Norw) | 72 Mount Helmos London(Gr) | 82 Reginolite Le Havre (Br) | 92 Monique Le Havre (Fr) |
| 13 | 23 | 33 Athelprincess Liverpool (Br) | 43 Harlesden Portland (Br) | 53 | 63 | 73 | 83 Ile de Brehat Le Havre(Fr) | 93 |
| 14 | 24 | 34Hopestar Avonmouth (Br) | 44 Embassage Portland (Br) | 54 | 64 | 74 | 84 | 94 Mont Everest Brest(Fr) |
| 15 | 25 Mount Pera Liverpool (Gr) | 35 Fana Bristol (Norw) | 45 | 55 | 65 | 75 | 85 | 95 |
Notes: Commodore was in Orbita, Vice Commodore in Pacific Shipper, Rear Commodore in San Pedro.
Ocean Escort: HMS Alaunia.
A. Hague names the following escorts (extracted from this list of HX convoy escorts received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Alaunia - From 22/04/40 to 06/05/40
Leith - From 04/05/40 to 07/05/40
Restigouche - From 22/04/40 to 23/04/40
St. Laurent - From 22/04/40 to 23/04/40
Vivacious - From 04/05/40 to 07/05/40
To the next HX convoy in my list HX 38
| Aa–Al | An–Ar | As–Av | Ba | Be | Bi–Bl | Bo | Br–Bu | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E | F | G | Ha | He | Hi–Hy | Hø | I | J | K |
| L | M | N | O | PQ | R | Sa–Sc | Se–Sj | Sk–Sn | So |
| Sp–St | Su–Sø | Ta–Te | Th–Ti | To | Tr–Tø | U | V | W | Ø |
