Convoy HX 49 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)
CONVOY HX 49 Cruising Order & Advance Sailing Telegram
| Convoy HX 49 Cruising Order Departed Halifax on June 9-1940 and arrived Liverpool on June 24 (Arnold Hague says 50 ships). | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transcribed from A 1 form received from Roger Griffiths (his source: Public Records Office, Kew). There are no ships listed in the 4th row. 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. Am=American, Norw=Norwegian, Sw=Swedish, Br=British, Fr=French, Gr=Greek, Pa=Panamanian, Du=Dutch, Est=Estonian, Ca=Canadian s=sunk, † = dead B = Bermuda portion | ||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 11 Endicott scrap - general Glasgow (Am / Br 1940) | 21 Randsfjord general Liverpoolwheat s - 3† (Norw) | 31 Eurybates steel - general Liverpool (Br) | 41 Tregenna steel Milford Haven for Swansea (Br) | 51 Hektoria fuel oil Milford Haven (Br) | 61 Appledore scrap iron Middlesbrough (Br) | 71 New Westminster City steel - lumber Hull (Br) | 81 Anglo Indian grain Hull (Br) | 91 Jean L-D. copper - zinc Brest (Fr) |
| 12 Thalia* lead - lumber Glasgow (Gr) | 22 Point Lobos* newsprint Liverpool (Pa) | 32Eurylochus steel - general Liverpool (Br) | 42 Sheaf Mount scrap iron Milford Haven for Swansea (Br) | 52 San Fernando fuel - crude oil Milford Haven s - 0† (Br) | 62 Luculuslub. oil London (Br) | 72 Stakesby lumber Dundee (Br) | 82 Campus pit props Tyne (Br) | 92 Ontariolite* crude oil Brest (Br) |
| 13 | 23 | 33 Tremoda grain Falmouth (Br) | 43 R. J. Cullen newsprint Falmouth (Ca) | 53 C. J. Barkdull crude oil Southampton (Pa) | 63 Mount Pelion wheat London (Gr) | 73 Nellie newsprint London (Gr) | 83 Harmonic lumber London (Br) | 93 Nevada horses - general Brest (Fr) |
| 14 | 24 | 34 | 44 | 54 | 64 | 74 | 84 | 94 |
| 15 B Glarona Adm. fuel Clyde (Norw) | 25 B Athellaird molasses Liverpool (Br) | 35 B Athelfoam molasses Garston (Br) | 45 B Collegian general Liverpool (Br) | 55 B Port Huon wool - refrig. Milford Haven (Br) | 65 B Eli Knudsen diesel oil Milford Haven s - 0† (Norw) | 75 B Regent Lion aviation spirits Milford Haven (Br) | 85 B Cromarty lumber - metal Falmouth (Br) | 95 B Barrdale scrap iron Grangemouth (Br) |
| 16 B Jhelum general Liverpool (Br) | 26 B Solarium benzine Liverpool (Br) | 36 B Torborg crude oil Manchester (Norw) | 46 B Confield sugar Holyhead (Br) | 56 B Strinda fuel oil Milford Haven (Norw) | 66 B Charles F. Meyer petrol Clyde (Br) | 76 B British Sincerity gas oil Clyde (Br) | 86 B Suderholm fuel oil Falmouth (Norw) | 96 B Moordrecht fuel oil Brest s - 25† (Du) |
| 17 | 27 | 37 B Director general Manchester (Br) | 47 B Gallia gas oil Milford Haven (Norw) | 57 B San Felipe iron - lumber Milford Haven (Am / Br 1940) | 67 B Cadillac gasoline - kerosine Avonmouth (Br) | 77 B |
87 B British Fidelity spirits - gas oil (Br) | 97 BOsmussaar dry pulp Downs (Est)* |
| Note that the Advance Sailing Telegram lists several ships as cancelled.* According to Arnold Hague, Osmussar (spelt w/one a) was Russian. He has also included the Norwegian Snar in this convoy (station 92), but not Ontariolite. Snar is not mentioned in the original documents for this convoy, but it does match up with a document showing her voyages for this period. Hague says Thalia became a straggler on June 11, while Point Lobos straggled on June 15. Hague's listing for HX 49 is available on the page naming ships in all HX convoys, and as will be seen, most of his station numbers differ from the above (he does not mention Moordrecht being sunk). |
| Advance Sailing Telegram Transcribed from several documents received from Tony Cooper - His source: Public Records Office, Kew. |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship | Nationality | Cargo | Destination | Remarks |
| Halifax section | ||||
| Mount Pelion | Greek | grain | London | From HX 48? |
| Point Lobos | Panamanian | paper | Liverpool | From HX 48(MoWT 1941 - Empire Wagtail) |
| Hektoria | British | Tanker B | Liverpool | From HX 48 |
| " | lumber | Glasgow | From HX 48 Listed in HX 50 | |
| Randsfjord | Norwegian | wheat - general | Liverpool | From HX 47 Sunk - Follow link to Randsfjord |
| Nellie | Greek | newsprint | London | From HX 47 |
| Panamanian | Tanker B | Southampton | From HX 47 (Bermuda portion) To HX 51 - did not sail ("to remain at Halifax until further order") | |
| Norwegian | Tanker W | Swansea | From HX 47 Listed in HX 50 | |
| Stakesby | British | lumber | Dundee | – |
| Sheaf Mount | " | scrap iron | Swansea | From HX 48 |
| Campus | " | pit props | Tyne | – |
| Ontariolite | " | Tanker B | Milford Haven f. o. (Aruba) | From HX 48 |
| Norwegian | sugar | St. Nazaire | Listed in HX 50 | |
| " | lumber | Falmouth f. o. | To HX 50 - did not sail To HX 51 - did not sail To HX 52 - did not sail (Follow link to Pollux) | |
| Thalia | Greek | lead - lumber | Glasgow | See also HX 41 |
| Norwegian | pit props | Hull | To HX 50 - did not sail To HX 51 - did not sail To HX 52 - did not sail (Follow link to Ravnanger) | |
| New Westminster City | British | steel | Hull | – |
| Harmonic | " | lumber | London | – |
| Appledore | " | scrap iron | Middlesbrough | Vice Commodore |
| Endicott | American / MoWT 1940 | explosives - aircraft | Glasgow | Renamed Br. Empire Mermaid |
| Eurylochus | British | steel - general - aircraft | Liverpool | – |
| Eurybates | " | steel - general - explosives | Liverpool | Commodore Vessel |
| Luculus | " | Tanker B | Liverpool | – |
| Nevada | French | horses - general | Clyde | Later Br. Nevada II |
| Anglo Indian | British | grain | Hull | – |
| Jean L-D | French | copper - zinc | Mersey f. o. - "sailed w/Brest" | – |
| British | scrap iron | Newport | Listed in HX 50 | |
| Tregenna | " | steel | Swansea | – |
| " | steel - lumber | Glasgow | Listed in HX 50 | |
| C. J. Barkdull | Panamanian | Tanker B | Southampton | From HX 48 |
| " | Tanker | Southampton | To HX 51 - did not sail "to remain at Halifax until further order" | |
| Greek | lumber - steel | Southampton | Listed in HX 50 | |
| The following ships appear on a separate document, with no mention of which section they belong to - note, however, that some of these are listed on the A 1 form for the Bermuda portion, denoted with a B | ||||
| Tremoda | British | grain | Hull | – |
| Director | " | general | Manchester | B |
| R. J. Cullen | Canadian | newsprint | London | – |
| Collegian | British | general | Liverpool | B |
| San Fernando | British | Tanker B | Liverpool | Sunk - See Notes |
| Augvald | Norwegian | general | Belfast | B |
| Barrdale | British | scrap iron | Grangemouth | B |
| Joining from Bermuda - escorted by HMS Rajputana Sailed June 8 | ||||
| Port Huon | British | meat - wool | Cardiff | – |
| Torborg | Norwegian | Tanker B | Manchester | – |
| Panamanian | Tanker | Brest f. o. | To HX 50 - did not sail | |
| Jhelum | British | lumber - cotton | Manchester | – |
| Suderholm | Norwegian | Tanker B | Liverpool | – |
| Eli Knudsen | " | Tanker B | Swansea | Sunk - Follow link to Eli Knudsen |
| Glarona | " | Adm. tanker B | Clyde | – |
| Gallia | " | Tanker B | Southampton | – |
| British Sincerity | British | Tanker B | Clyde, to await orders | – |
| British Fidelity | " | Tanker B | Clyde, to await orders | – |
| Athellaird | " | Tanker - molasses | Liverpool | – |
| Athelfoam | " | Tanker - molasses | Garston | – |
| Moordrecht | Dutch | Tanker B | Corunna - "sailed w/Brest" | Sunk - See Notes |
| San Felipe | American / MoWT 1940 | pig iron - lumber | Cardiff | Renamed Br. Empire Gemsbuck |
| Osmussaar | Estonian | wood pulp | London - "sailed w/Downs" | – |
| Strinda | Norwegian | Tanker B | Clyde | – |
| Cromarty | British | lumber - metal | Plymouth - "sailed w/Falmouth" | – |
| Confield | " | sugar | Greenock | – |
| " | meat - cheese - wool | Liverpool | Listed in HX 50 | |
| Regent Lion | " | Tanker W | Avonmouth - "sailed w/Milford Haven" | – |
| Solarium | " | Tanker W | Liverpool | – |
| Swedish | Tanker B | Falmouth f. o. | To HX 50 - did not sail (does not show up again on this site until HX 79) | |
| Charles F. Meyer | British | Tanker W | Clyde, to await orders | – |
| Cadillac | " | Tanker W | Avonmouth | From HX 48 |
| Again, note that other ships also joined from Bermuda - see A 1 form above. |
Notes:
Commodore was in Eurybates (Call Sign LDI), Vice Commodore in Appledore (MAC), and Rear Commodore in Collegian.
Moordrecht, on a voyage from Port Arthur for Corunna and Pasajes with 10 200 tons of fuel oil, had left convoy for her destination and was sunk by U-48 on June 20-1940. She had a crew of 29, 25 of whom were killed.
San Fernando, on a voyage from Curacao for Liverpool with 13 500 tons crude oil and 4200 tons FFO was torpedoed by U-47 on June 21-1940. She had a crew of 49 - all saved. She was still afloat and in tow the following morning, but "tugs returned to port without vessel which had apparently sunk".
Eli Knudsen was torpedoed by U-32 on June 22, follow link for details, incl. complete crew list.
Randsfjord was sunk by U-30 on June 22, follow link - also incl. crew list.
Ocean escort:
HMS Ausonia.
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):
Assiniboine - From 09/06/40 to 10/06/40
Ausonia - From 10/06/40 to 20/06/40
Fowey - From 20/06/40 to 23/06/40
Saguenay - From 09/06/40 to 10/06/40
Sandwich - From 20/06/40 to 24/06/40
To the next HX convoy in my list HX 50
| 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 |
