Convoy HX 47 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)
CONVOY HX 47 Cruising Order & Advance Sailing Telegram
| Convoy HX 47 Cruising Order Departed Halifax on June 1 (2?)-1940 and arrived Liverpool on the 17th (Arnold Hague says 57 ships). | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transcribed from A 1 form received from Roger Griffiths (his source: Public Records Office, Kew). The convoy form gives departure date as June 1, while A. Hague says June 2. Details on ships sunk and casualties have been added with the help of: "The Allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague "Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two", Jürgen Rohwer "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939". R. W. Jordan. "Lloyd's War Losses", Vol. I. Br=British, Fi=Finnish, Norw=Norwegian, Sw=Swedish, Gr=Greek, Pa=Panmanian, Du=Dutch, Ca=Canadian B = the ship joined from Bermuda s = sunk, † = dead | ||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 11Kenbane Head general Belfast (Br) | 21 Clydebank steal - coke Manchester (Br) | 31 Comedian cotton - lumber Manchester (Br) | 41 Pacific Pioneer general Liverpool (Br) | 51 Boston City general Swansea (Br) | 61 Saimaa general London (Fi) | 71 Beaverhill general London (Br) | 81 Nailsea Manor grain Leith (Br) | 91 Argos Hill steel - general London (Br) |
| 12Blairspey steel - timber Glasgow (Br) | 22Georgios G general Liverpool (Gr) | 32Randsfjord wheat - general Liverpool (Norw) | 42Harborough grain Manchester (Br) | 52 Dornoch wheat Avonmouth (Br) | 62 Hartbridge wheat London (Br) | 72Aegeon aluminum - pulp London(Gr) | 82 Germanic grain Hull (Br) | 92 British Prince general London (Br) |
| 13 Hellen scrap iron Glasgow (Norw) | 23Anna Mazaraki grain Liverpool(Gr) | 33 Andreas wheat Liverpool(Gr) | 43 Masunda iron ore Newport (Br) | 53 Balmoralwood wheat Milford Haven for Barry s - 0† (Br) | 63 Cairnvalona general Newcastle (Br) | 73 Askeladden pit props Sunderland (Norw) | 83 Southgate steel - timber Southampton (Br) | 93 |
| 14 B Diplomat general Liverpool (Br) | 24 B Temple Inn sugar Holyhead (Br) | 34 B Northumberland general Mersey (Br) | 44 B Regent Panther petrol Milford Haven (Br) | 54 B Salacia lumber Liverpool (Br) | 64 B F. J. Wolfe crude oil Southampton(Br) | 74 B Vinemoor wheat - lumber Hull (Br) | 84 B Octavian wood pulp London (Norw) | 94 B Capsa crude oil Paulliac (Br) |
| 15 B Høyanger pulp - lumber Liverpool (Norw) | 25 B British Faith benzine Milford Haven (Br) | 35 B Italia gasoline Milford Haven s - 19† (Norw) | 45 B British Captain gasoline Milford Haven (Br) | 55 B Saturnus motor spirits Milford Haven (Sw) | 65 B San Adolfo Admiralty fuel Devonport (Br) | 75 B Theodoros Coumantaros sugar Downs (Gr) | 85 B Storanger fuel oil Brest (Norw) | 95 |
| 16 |
26 B Ulysses general Liverpool(Du) | 36 B El Aleto crude oil Liverpool (Br) | 46 B Egda gasoline East-West (Norw) | 56 B Elax Southern fuel East-West (Br) | 66 B Thiarafuel - lub. oil East-West (Br) | 76Beaverbrae London (Br) | 86 | 96 |
| 17 | 27 Manchester Citizen general Manchester (Br) | 37 Ashby grain Milford Haven for Barry (Br) | 47 Ferncastle fuel oil Falmouth (Norw) | 57 Briarwood pit props Tyne (Br) | 67 Erik Boye grain Falmouth s - 0† (Ca **) | 77 |
87 Georgios Potamianos general Bordeaux (Gr) | 97 Annavore general - copper St. Nazaire (Norw) |
| 18 | 28 | 38 | 48 | 58 | 68 | 78 | 88 Loke* (Norw) | 98 |
| * Loke has been added by hand into station 88, underneath Georgios Potamianos, and I'm wondering if Loke, in fact, replaced Point Lobos in station 77(?). ** Erik Boye was originally Danish, but had been taken over by the Canadian government earlier that spring. Arnold Hague has also included the British Zurichmoor in this convoy, cargo of timber and steel, station 16; this ship is not mentioned on the original A 1 form, but is included on the AST below. He says she became a straggler on June 6, as did Balmoralwood, while Theodoros Coumantaros straggled on June 11. Hague's listing for HX 47 is available on the page naming ships in all HX convoys. Randsfjord returned to port - according to A. Hague, she was involved in a collision with the Greek Georgios Potamianos (this seems a bit strange; as can be seen, these 2 ships had stations far away from each other, or perhaps it happened while the convoy was forming up?). Randsfjord and Point Lobos are not mentioned in the Advance Sailing Telegram below (however, Point Lobos is listed as cancelled in the AST for HX 48). They both sailed in HX 49 |
| Advance Sailing Telegram Transcribed from several documents received from Tony Cooper - His source: Public Records Office, Kew. |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship | Nationality | Cargo | Destination | Remarks |
| Halifax section | ||||
| Aegeon | Greek | aluminium - paper | London | From HX 46 |
| Panamanian | Tanker B | Southampton | From HX 46 To HX 48 - did not sail Listed in HX 49 | |
| " | Tanker B | Southampton | From HX 46 To HX 48 - returned to port To HX 50 - did not sail To HX 51 - did not sail ("to remain at Halifax until further orders") | |
| Annavore | Norwegian | copper - machinery | St. Nazaire | From HX 46 |
| Argos Hill | British | copper - steel - general | London | From HX 46 |
| Panamanian | Tanker W | Southampton | From HX 46 Listed in HX 48 | |
| Cairnvalona | British | general | Newcastle | From HX 46 Vice Commodore |
| Greek | none given | London | From HX 46 Listed in HX 49 | |
| Anna Mazaraki | " | grain | Liverpool | From HX 46 |
| Boston City | British | general | Swansea | From HX 46 |
| Germanic | " | grain | Manchester | From HX 46 |
| " | pit props | Tyne | From HX 46 See * in Notes | |
| Askeladden | Norwegian | pit props | Portland / Sunderland | From HX 46 |
| Pacific Pioneer | British | general | Liverpool | From HX 46 Commodore Vessel |
| Dornoch | " | grain | Avonmouth | – |
| Georgios Potamianos | Greek | steel - copper | Bordeaux | – |
| Harborough | British | grain | Hull | |
| Norwegian | Tanker W | Milford Haven f. o. | To HX 49 - did not sail Listed in HX 50 | |
| British | none given | Hull | To HX 48 - did not sail* | |
| * Nailsea Moor is, in fact, listed as having sailed in HX 44. | ||||
| Hellen | Norwegian | scrap iron | Ardrossan | – |
| Nailsea Manor | British | grain | Leith | – |
| Andreas | Greek | grain | Liverpool | – |
| Georgios G | " | general | Liverpool | – |
| Blairspey | British | steel - lumber | Glasgow | – |
| British Prince | " | general | London | – |
| Hartbridge | " | grain | Portland / London | – |
| Masunda | " | ore | Newport | – |
| " | steel | Manchester | Listed in HX 48 | |
| Southgate | " | steel | Southampton | – |
| Norwegian | wood pulp | London | Listed in HX 48 | |
| Clydebank | British | steel - scrap iron | Swansea | – |
| Kenbane Head | " | general | Dublin | – |
| Manchester Citizen | " | general | Manchester | – |
| " | scrap iron | Swansea | To HX 48 - did not sail Listed in HX 49 | |
| Ashby | " | grain | Avonmouth | – |
| The following ships appear on a separate document - note that 2 of these are listed on the A 1 form for the Bermuda portion, others on the form for the Halifax portion. I've denoted the Bermuda ships with a B | ||||
| Zurichmoor | British | timber - steel | Cardiff | From HX 48 not on A 1 form for HX 47 |
| Ulysses | Dutch | general | Manchester | B |
| Comedian | British | cotton - lumber | Manchester | – |
| Egda | Norwegian | Tanker W | Avonmouth | B |
| Ferncastle | " | Tanker B | Avonmouth | – |
| Balmoralwood | British | wheat | Liverpool | From HX 46 Sunk - See Notes |
| Briarwood | " | pit props | Tyne | – |
| Saimaa | Finnish | general | London | From HX 46 |
| Erik Boye | Danish / Ca. Govt. 1940 | grain | Sharpness | Sunk - See Notes & Italia |
| Beaverhill | British | general | London | – |
| Beaverbrae | " | general | London | From HX 48 |
| Loke | Norwegian | copper | Bordeaux | From HX 48 |
| Joining from Bermuda - Sailed May 31 There's a note on the document saying "24 hours late" Not sure if this means the Bermuda section was late for the rendezvous - or it could mean that the entire convoy was late in sailing, which would account for the conflicting departure dates; see A 1 form above | ||||
| Norwegian | Tanker B | Milford Haven f. o. | From HX 46 To HX 48 - did not sail Listed in HX 51 | |
| Octavian | " | wood pulp | Portland / Sheerness | – |
| Theodoros Coumantaros | Greek | sugar | London | – |
| Diplomat | British | steel - lumber | Liverpool | – |
| Capsa | " | Tanker B | Brest | – |
| British Captain | " | Tanker W | Manchester | – |
| F. J. Wolfe | " | Tanker B | Southampton | – |
| Italia | Norwegian | Tanker W | Manchester | Sunk - follow link to Italia |
| Storanger | " | Tanker B | Brest | – |
| Vinemoor | British | wheat - lumber | Manchester | – |
| Northumberland | " | refrig. - general - explosives | Liverpool | – |
| Thiara | " | Tanker B | Portland / London | – |
| British Faith | " | Tanker W | Avonmouth | – |
| Panamanian | Tanker | Southampton | To HX 49 - did not sail To HX 51 - did not sail ("to remain at Halifax until further order" | |
| Regent Panther | British | Tanker W | Milford Haven | – |
| Høyanger | Norwegian | wood pulp - lumber | Mersey f. o. | – |
| Salacia | British | lumber - aircraft | Liverpool | – |
| El Aleto | " | Tanker B | Mersey | From HX 45 |
| Elax | " | Tanker B | Portland / London | – |
| Temple Inn | " | sugar | Liverpool | – |
| San Adolfo | " | Adm. tanker B | Devonport | – |
| Saturnus | Swedish | Tanker W | Holyhead f. o. | – |
| British | Tanker B | London | Listed in HX 48 | |
| Again, note that Egda and Ulysses also joined from Bermuda - see A 1 form above. |
Notes:
Commodore was in Pacific Pioneer, Vice Commodore in Cairnvalona, and Rear Commodore in Salacia (joining from Bermuda). The Bermuda portion was escorted by HMS Ascania.
Balmoralwood, on a voyage from Sorel for Falmouth with 8730 tons of wheat and 4 aircraft, became a straggler and was torpedoed and damaged by U-47 on June 14; later sank. She had a crew of 40 and 1 gunner; there were no casualties. See also my page about Altair.
Erik Boye, on a voyage from Quebec for Sharpness with 3568 tons of wheat, was sunk by U-38 on June 15 - she had a crew of 22, all of whom survived. See external links below, as well as my page about Italia.
The Norwegian Italia was also sunk by U-38 on June 15 - follow the link for more information on these events.
* As can be seen, Albuera is crossed out from the Advance Sailing Telegram - according to "Lloyd's War Losses", Vol I, whe was en route from Chatham, N.B. for Tyne with 4800 tons of pit props when she on June 24-1940 was sunk by an E-boat. She had a crew of 35, including 2 gunners - 7 were killed. "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939" adds that the E-boat was S 36, which sank her with a torpedo, 2 miles southwest of Lydd Light Float.
The convoy arrived rendezvous on June 13.
Ocean Escort: HMS Esperance Bay.
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):
Acadia - From 02/06/40 to 03/06/40
Esperance Bay - From 02/06/40 to 15/06/40
Fowey - From 14/06/40 to 17/06/40
Saguenay - From 02/06/40 to 03/06/40
Sandwich - From 14/06/40 to 17/06/40
To the next HX convoy in my list HX 48
| 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 |
