Convoy HX 40 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)
CONVOY HX 40 Cruising Order & Advance Sailing Telegram
| Convoy HX 40 Cruising Order Departed Halifax on May 4-1940 and arrived Liverpool on the 19th (Arnold Hague says 28 ships). | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transcribed from A 1 form received from Roger Griffiths (his source: Public Records Office, Kew). Please note that the Advance Sailing Telegram has some ships that are not mentioned on this A 1 form. Nationalities have been added with the help of "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan. Br=British, Norw=Norwegian, Fr=French, Gr=Greek, Pa=Panamanian | ||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 11Teiresias general Liverpool(Br) | 21 Manchester Progress general Manchester (Br) | 31 Margrethe Bakke general Liverpool(Norw) | 41 Nova Scotia general Liverpool(Br) | 51 HMS Esperance Bay Escort (Br) | 61 San Emiliano fuel oil Milford Haven (Br) | 71 Athelregent molasses Hull (Br) | 81Leopold L-D general Brest(Fr) | 91Delphinulalub oil London (Br) |
| 12 |
22Botwey sulphur Manchester (Br) | 32 Abraham Lincoln general Liverpool(Norw) | 42 Gujarat general Liverpool (Br) | 52 | 62 |
72 Fernbank lumber London(Norw) | 82 Geddington Court wheat London (Br) | 92 Lista general Le Havre (Norw) |
| 13 |
23 Chesapeake petroleum Liverpool (Br) | 33 Tilsington Court grain Liverpool (Br) | 43 Gypsum Queen steel - lumber Manchester (Br) | 53 | 63 Mount Kassion grain Falmouth(Gr) | 73 Esturia gasoline Southampton (Br) | 83 Uffington Court grain London (Br) | 93 Clairy crude oil Dunkirk(Pa) bombed - see Notes |
| 14 | 24 | 34 Kars Liverpool (Br) | 44Salvage King Liverpool(Br) | 54 | 64 |
74Touraine(Fr*) | 84 |
94 Hadleigh grain Hull (Br) |
| * Arnold Hague has listed the ship in station 74 as the Norwegian Touraine, but according to her voyage record, she was in a different part of the world at that time. Hague's listing for HX 40 is available on the page naming ships in all HX convoys. As will be seen, he has not included Graig. |
| Advance Sailing Telegram Transcribed from several documents received from Tony Cooper - His source: Public Records Office, Kew. |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship | Nationality | Cargo | Destination | Remarks |
| City of Dieppe | British | Naval stores | Devonport / Plymouth | Not included on A 1 form above |
| Nova Scotia | " | general | Liverpool / Manchester | From HX 39 Commodore Vessel |
| Chesapeake | " | Tanker | Liverpool / Manchester | – |
| Abraham Lincoln | Norwegian | general | Liverpool | From HX 39 |
| Margrethe Bakke | " | copper - fruit | Liverpool / Manchester | From HX 39 |
| " | lumber - lead - fruit | Glasgow | From HX 39 To HX 41 - did not sail Shows up again in HX 43 | |
| Lista | " | general | Havre | From HX 39 |
| " | Tanker B | Milford Haven | From HX 39 Listed in HX 41 | |
| Clairy | Panamanian | Tanker B | Dunkirk | Bombed - See Notes |
| Geddington Court | British | grain | London | From HX 39 |
| Holmelea | " | scrap iron | Ardrossan | From HX 39 |
| French | Tanker B | Havre | Had sailed in HX 39 | |
| British | Tanker B | Liverpool | To HX 41 - did not sail Listed in HX 42 | |
| Botwey | " | sulphur | Liverpool / Manchester | – |
| Salvage King | " | tug | Liverpool | – |
| Greek | lead - lumber | Glasgow | To HX 41 - did not sail Shows up again in HX 49 | |
| Norwegian | Tanker W | "probably total loss" | See text for Willy | |
| Delphinula | British | Tanker B | Portland / London | – |
| " | Tanker B | London | To HX 41 - did not sail Listed in HX 42 | |
| Manchester Progress | " | general | Manchester | – |
| Gujarat | " | steel - resin - lumber - special | Liverpool / Garston | – |
| Tilsington Court | " | grain | Liverpool | – |
| Uffington Court | " | grain | London | – |
| Belinda | Norwegian | Tanker W | Milford Haven / Avonmouth | Not included on A 1 form above |
| Hadleigh | British | grain | Hull | – |
| " | sulphur | Liverpool | – | |
| " | grain | Avonmouth | Listed in HX 41 | |
| San Emiliano | " | Tanker B | Milford Haven / Clyde | – |
| " | sugar | London | Listed in HX 41 | |
| Athelregent | " | Tanker - molasses | Hull / Degenham | Vice Commodore Vessel |
| Norwegian | Tanker B | Havre | Listed in HX 41 | |
| British | lumber | Belfast | Listed in HX 41 | |
| Kars | " | Tanker W | Liverpool / Manchester | – |
| Gypsum Queen | " | steel - lumber | Manchester / Birkenhead | – |
| Mount Kassion | Greek | grain | Falmouth / Liverpool | – |
| Graig | British | timber | Aberdeen | Stranded - See Notes |
| Fernbank | Norwegian | lumber | Portland / London | |
| Esturia | British | Tanker W | Southampton | From HX 39 |
| Touraine | French | Tanker W | Donges | – |
| Leopold L-D | " | general - special | Brest | – |
| British | steel - lumber | Newcastle | Listed in HX 41 | |
| Teiresias | " | general | Liverpool | – |
Notes:
The British Graig stranded near Egg Island, N.S. on May 5-1940 and broke in two.
Clairy was bombed by German aircraft 8-9 m off Bologne on May 21-1940, on fire, abandoned, sank next day ("The World's Merchant Fleets -1939", R.W. Jordan).
Convoy arrived rendezvous on May 16.
Ocean Escorts: HMS Esperance Bay, French S/M Ajax.
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):
Arabis - From 16/05/40 to 18/05/40
Enchantress - From 16/05/40 to 18/05/40
Esperance Bay - From 04/05/40 to 11/05/40
Saguenay - From 04/05/40 to 05/05/40
Skeena - From 04/05/40 to 05/05/40
(Ajax is not mentioned).
To the next HX convoy in my list HX 41
| 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 |
