M/T Belinda - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945 (original) (raw)

M/T Belinda Updated March 17-2011

Owner: Rederi A/S Mascot
Manager: Arthur H. Mathiesen, Oslo
Tonnage: 8325 gt, 12 700 tdwt.
Call Sign: LKAG.

Built by Götaverken A/B, Gothenburg, Sweden in 1939.

Captain: Lorentz Christensen

Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6

Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.

Voyage Record
From Sept.-1939 to March-1945:

(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database).

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each (where the "Convoy" column is left blank, it means convoy is not known).

Errors may exist, and some voyages are missing.

For information on voyages made in between those mentioned here, please see the documents received from the National Archives of Norway and A. Hague's Voyage Record above. Follow the convoy links provided for more details on them; some also include the Commodore's narrative and/or other reports and several Norwegian ships took part.

Belinda is listed as sailing in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HXF 14 at the end of Dec.-1939. Her destination is given as Liverpool, and she was the only Norwegian ship in the convoy. HXF 14, which had left Halifax on Dec. 27, arrived Liverpool on Jan. 8-1940. Later that month we find her in Convoy OB 75, which left Liverpool on Jan. 19 and joined up with Convoy OA 75 on Jan. 21, the combined convoy forming the Gibraltar bound Convoy OG 15, which arrived there on the 27th - ref. link provided within the Voyage Record. Belinda was bound for Abadan, where she arrived on Febr. 16, according to A. Hague. She headed back to the U.K. with Convoy HG 22 from Gibraltar on March 12, bound for Manchester, station 64, receiving praise from the Commodore for good signalling (follow the link to my page about HG 22 - the Norwegian Teneriffa is also listed). At the end of that month, Belinda is listed, along with Buesten, in Convoy OB 119, departing Liverpool on March 29, dispersed Apr 1. Belinda's destination is given as Curacao, station 42 - according to Page 1 of the archive documents, she arrived Trinidad on Apr. 15, having sailed from Stanlow on March 28 (in the meantime, war had broken out in Norway on Apr. 9).

On May 4, she joined Convoy HX 40 from Halifax and arrived Avonmouth on May 17. With destination Corpus Christi, she was scheduled for Convoy OB 154 (external link), departing Liverpool on May 24, but she did not sail. A. Hague has instead included her in Convoy OA 155, which sailed from Southend on May 26 and joined up with Convoy OB 155 on May 29, the combined convoy forming the Gibraltar bound Convoy OG 31, which arrived Gibraltar on June 3. However, her destination was still Corpus Christi, so she left this convoy around May 31 to proceed to that destination, where she arrived independently on June 15 (she had started out from Plymouth on May 27 - see Page 1). OG 31 (and OG 15 mentioned above) will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section, but for now, the ships sailing in them are named on my page listing ships in all OG convoys

She was scheduled for the Bermuda portion of Convoy HX 54 on June 28 (see also Janna). It'll be noticed, when following the link to my page about this convoy, that there's a note in the Advance Sailing Telegram saying "To Halifax to await orders". Going back to Page 1, we see that she left Bermuda that same day and arrived Halifax July 1, joining Convoy HX 59 from there on the 19th, cargo of gasolene for Clyde, station 52; she arrived Glasgow on Aug. 4. The archive document shows a long stay at Clyde and in Cardiff later on. She's subsequently listed in Convoy OB 259, which originated in Liverpool on Dec. 14 and dispersed on the 17th. Her destination is given as Abadan / Cape; she arrived Capetown on Jan. 10-1941, having started out from Milford Haven on Dec. 13 - again, see the external link in the table above for the names of other ships in this convoy; Dalfonn, Erviken (returned), Helgøy, Hørda, Idefjord, Leiesten, Taranger and Thorshavet are among them (another section of the same website also mentions Høyanger, but it looks like she sailed in the next convoy instead). En route, on Dec. 29, Belinda had rescued the crew of 29 from D/S Risanger, the last Norwegian ship to be torpedoed in the Atlantic in 1940 (Dec. 27 - follow the link for details), and landed them in Capetown.

In Febr.-1941 she can be found in Convoy SL 65, which left Freetown on Febr. 10 and arrived Liverpool on March 8. Belinda proceeded to Manchester, with arrival March 9 (Page 1). I've linked directly to A. Hague's listing for this convoy in the table above; the Norwegian Belita, Bur, Fernlane, Morgenen, Polartank and Senta are also included. Together with Evanger, Havsten, Malmanger and Strinda, Belinda now joined Convoy OB 298, which left Liverpool on March 16 and dispersed on the 20th, Belinda arriving Curacao independently on Apr. 4, proceeding to Halifax a few days later. From there, she joined Convoy HX 121 on Apr. 16, bound for Clyde, station 84 - see also the Commodore's report (Caledonia and others were sunk, follow the links for details).

In May she shows up, with destination Curacao, in Convoy OB 322, originating in Liverpool on May 12, dispersed May 20, Belinda arriving Curacao on May 31 (again, see the external link provided in the table above - other Norwegian ships in this convoy were Bollsta, Idefjord, Lista and Solitaire). Belinda proceeded to Bermuda a few days later, and with gasoline for Mersey, she joined the Bermuda portion of Convoy HX 132 on June 8, arriving Liverpool June 28 (Page 1), subsequently joining Convoy OB 344 in order to head to New York (convoy left Liverpool on July 7, dispersed on the 16th - link in Voyage Record; Laurits Swenson, Sama and Samuel Bakke are also listed). Belinda arrived New York on July 19, returning to the U.K. the following month in Convoy HX 143 from Halifax, together with the Norwegian Thorshavn, Mosli, Andrea Brøvig, Katy, Ravnefjell, Carmelfjell, Salamis, Primero, Benwood and Petter. This convoy left Halifax on Aug. 5 and arrived Liverpool on the 20th. Her voyages in this period are shown on Page 2.

After unloading her cargo she turned right around and went back across the Atlantic on Aug. 30 with Convoy ON 11 (station 43), again bound for New York, with arrival there on Sept. 15 (the convoy having been dispersed on the 11th), heading back to the U.K. a week later with Convoy HX 151 from Halifax, along with the Norwegian Sama (in station 85), San Andres (105), Meline (43), Morgenen (93), Dagrun (54), Thorshøvdi (53), Sophocles, Tigre (44), Hardanger (94), Leiv Eiriksson (24) and Laurits Swenson. This convoy left Halifax on Sept. 22 and arrived Liverpool on Oct. 7. On Oct. 14, some of these ships, including Belinda, headed in the other direction again with Convoy ON 26, Belinda sailing in station 23, bound for New York, where she arrived on Nov. 1, the convoy having been dispersed on Oct. 29. With a cargo of benzine, she went back to the U.K. with Convoy HX 160 later that month (from Halifax Nov. 15, to Liverpool Nov. 30 - Montbretia is named among the escorts), and her last Trans-Atlantic voyage that year was made in the westbound Convoy ON 44* (departed Liverpool on Dec. 7, dispersed on the 15th). Belinda arrived "off New York" on Dec. 26, then proceeded to Houston - see Page 2. Other Norwegian ships in this convoy were Anna Knudsen, Garonne, Montevideo and Toledo. The Panamanian Norvik is also listed (Norwegian managers and, therefore, included on this website under the N's), and Montbretia is again named among the escorts, as is Rose - see ON convoy escorts.

On Jan. 20-1942, she joined the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 171, for which Acanthus served as escort for a while, as did Rose. Belinda returned with Convoy ON 67*, which left Liverpool on Febr. 14; Eidanger, Finnanger and Sama (and others) were sunk - follow the links for details. The Norwegian Glittre, Hamlet, Idefjord, Nueva Andalucia, Skandinavia, Strinda and Thorhild are also listed. Belinda is said to have been bound for the West Indies on that occasion - from Page 2, we learn that she arrived Texas City on March 10, proceeding to Halifax on the 13th in order to join Convoy HX 182 back to the U.K. on March 27. Acanthus and Rose were again among the escorts for a while, as were Eglantine, Kos XX and Potentilla. Belinda arrived Liverpool, via Belfast Lough, on Apr. 11, and in May that year she's listed in the westbound Convoy ON 92, which lost several ships - follow the link for more info. Her destination is given as Corpus Christi; going back to the archive document mentioned above, we see that she arrived New York on May 23, proceeding to Hampton Roads the next day, then on to Port Arthur, where she arrived on June 9.

A few days later, on June 12-1942, Belinda helped rescue survivors from the American tanker Cities Service Toledo in the Gulf of Mexico, together with the American tanker Gulfking and the Panamanian steamer San Antonio. According to Page 3, Belinda had left Port Arthur the day before. Cities Service Toledo (on a voyage to Portland, Maine with a cargo of 84 000 barrels of crude oil) had been torpedoed that same day by U-158, 20 miles east of Trinity Shoals Gas Buoy, 29 02N, 91 59W - the external website that I've linked to at the end of this page has more on this attack. 11 of her complement of 36 as well as 4 of the 9 gunners died in the flames (Robert Cressman, "The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navyin World War II" - see link to "Hyperwar" at the end of this page). Belinda is said to have landed 17 survivors at the Naval Base at Burwood, Louisiana - according to the archive document she arrived New Orleans on June 12.

On July 6, she's listed among the ships in Convoy HX 197 from Halifax, but returned to port, then joined the next convoy on July 12, HX 198. The following month she's listed as bound for Halifax in Convoy ON 119*, originating in Liverpool on Aug. 5 (Belinda sailed from Milford Haven that day), arriving New York on the 20th. This convoy also had other Norwegian ships, namely Scebeli, Sir James Clark Ross, Trondheim and Tungsha. As already mentioned, Belinda accompanied this convoy as far as Halifax only, where she arrived on Aug. 18, subsequently joining Convoy HA 4 from there the next day (together with Britamsea, Evita, Norholm, Norlys, Norvik and Stiklestad) in order to travel to Curacao, with arrival Aug. 28. With Baalbek, Brajara, Britamsea and Kronprinsessen, she later joined Convoy GAT 1, and arrived Trinidad on Sept. 7 (see the links provided in the above table). For info on her subsequent voyages, please go back to Page 3 and the above record.

At the end of that year she sailed in Convoy HX 218 from New York, bound for Avonmouth - she had 2 passengers on board on this voyage. This convoy left New York on Dec. 5-1942 and arrived Liverpool on Dec. 21, but Belinda stopped at Belfast Lough before continuing to her destination, arriving Avonmouth on Dec. 23, later proceeding to Newport, where she had quite a long stay (Page 3).

In Jan.-1943 we find her going in the opposite direction with Convoy ON 162, which arrived New York on Febr. 11. She returned to the U.K. with Convoy HX 227*, which left New York on Febr. 18 and arrived Liverpool on March 6; Belinda stopped at Clyde on the 5th. Named among the ships in this convoy (in addition to the escorting Acanthus and Eglantine - see HX convoy escorts) are B. P. Newton, Ferncourt, Haakon Hauan, Kaldfonn, Mosli, Norholm, Pan Aruba, Polartank (in collison - returned), Skaraas, Stiklestad, Strinda and Thorshov. Just a few days later Belinda is listed as bound for New York in Convoy ON 172*, together with Fjordaas, Laurits Swenson (Commodore Vessel) and Thorshøvdi. The convoy originated in Liverpool on March 9 and arrived New York on March 27. Belinda proceeded to Philadelphia, with arrival March 28, heading back to New York 2 days later (Page 3). Already on Apr. 1, Arnold Hague has her returning to the U.K. with Convoy HX 232*, along with California Express, Heranger, Skandinavia, Thorhild, Thorshøvdi, Tigre, Tungsha and Ørnefjell. This convoy arrived Liverpool on Apr. 16; Belinda stopped at Belfast Lough that day, before continuing to Avonmouth, where she arrived on Apr. 17/18.

She shows up in another westbound convoy later that month, namely ON 180*, which originated in Liverpool on Apr. 24 and arrived New York on May 14. According to Page 4, Belinda arrived Philadelphia that day, having started out from Milford Haven on Apr. 23. She had again been in the company of several other Norwegian ships: California Express, Norsktank, Norsol, Reinholt (Commodore Vessel), Skandinavia, Skjelbred, Thorhild and Velma. We now find her in station 133 of Convoy HX 240, departing New York City on May 19, arriving Liverpool on June 4. A few days later she joined Convoy ON 188*, which left Liverpool on June 10 and arrived New York on the 26th, and included the Norwegian Abraham Lincoln (Commodore Vessel), Bajamar, Bañaderos, Duala, Evita, G. C. Brøvig, Gylfe, Kaia Knudsen, Kaldfonn, Montevideo, Mosdale, Skandinavia, Strinda, Thorhild, Vav and Velma. Some of these ships, including Belinda, headed back to the U.K. already on June 30 with Convoy HX 246. As will be seen when following the link, Acanthus, Potentilla and Rose are listed among the escorts. Belinda's destination is given as Bromborough on the original convoy document, and she had station 34. She arrived Liverpool on July 14.

She's now listed as bound for New York in Convoy ON 194*, together with Anna Odland, Brimanger, Dagrun, Fernmoor, G. C. Brøvig, Germa, Heimvard, Kaia Knudsen, Lista, Morgenen, Noreg, Norheim and Skandinavia. This convoy left Liverpool on July 24 and arrived New York on Aug. 7, again with Acanthus, Potentilla and Rose among the escorts (see ON convoy escorts). On Aug. 14, Belinda headed back to the U.K. with Convoy HX 252, in which the Norwegian Santos was lost following a collision. See also the Commodore's narrative, his collision reports, as well as these reports. Belinda had station 112, cargo of aviation fuel for Heysham, where she arrived, via Belfast Lough, Aug. 31.

The following month, she joined Convoy OS 55/KMS 27, voyaging from Milford to Freetown with diesel oil in station 103 of the convoy, which originated in Liverpool on Sept. 17-1943 and split up on the 28th, the OS portion, in which Belinda sailed, arriving Freetown on Oct 8 (the KMS portion arrived Gibraltar Sept. 29). Audun, Kong Haakon VII and Mathilda are also listed - ref. links provided within the Voyage Record. Arnold Hague later has Belinda in Convoy SL 140, which left Freetown on Nov. 12, met up with Convoy MKS 31 (from Gibraltar) on the 24th, the combined convoy arriving Liverpool on Dec. 7. Belinda, however, was not present in the combined convoy; according to Page 4, she arrived Casablanca on Nov. 24, and from there, she proceeded to Baltimore in Convoy GUS 22 on Nov. 29, arriving Baltimore on Dec. 18 (reamining there for several weeks). Follow the external links provided for more information. (The KMS and MKS convoys will also be added to my own site, in the meantime, see ships in all KMS convoys and ships in all MKS convoys).

From the U.S., Belinda headed back to Casablanca again on Febr. 3-1944 with Convoy UGS 32, then appears (with Ragnhild) in Convoy OS 68, which arrived Freetown on March 5, having started out in Liverpool on Febr. 12 as the combined Convoy OS 68/KMS 42, which had split up on the 23rd (KMS portion arrived Gibraltar Febr. 25), but Belinda had joined from Casablanca, and was not present in the combined convoy from the U.K. From Freetown, she now made voyages to Takoradi, Accra and Lagos (see Page 4 and Hague's Voyage Record), then on to Trinidad and New York (see Page 5, with convoy information in Voyage Record) and on Apr. 27 we find her, with destination Manchester, in the New York-U.K. Convoy HX 289. According to A. Hague, she had a cargo of vap. oil and petrol, and also carried aircraft on this voyage, sailing in station 134. See also this Guestbook message (it appears Belinda had a sick patient who was transferred to the Rescue Ship Aboyne, later to Port Colborne).

A visitor to my website has told me that Belinda struck a mine east of Falmouth on June 6/7-1944, receiving damages in the pumproom (no casualties). This is also mentioned in a personal story which I've added to the Norwegian version of my "Warsailor Stories" section. *The story is told by Peder Kristoffer Langeland who had joined the ship in New York in Aug.-1943. According to him they were en route from Aruba or Curacao via New York for Portsmouth at the time, and was used to replenish the escorts on the way. He adds they had arrived outside Portsmouth together with 3 Liberty ships early in the morning of June 6 and in the chaos due to the Normandy invasion she activated the mine - he confirms that nobody was injured. He says Belinda subsequently went into Portsmouth to unload her cargo of gasoline (probably for the invasion forces?) before going to Swansea for inspection and repairs (June 14). She's said to have left Swansea for Southampton in Convoy EBM 2 on June 24 (but see ** below), and Peder Langeland says they went from there to Gibraltar and Casablanca, then Nigeria to pick up palm oil for Baltimore. Having discharged at Baltimore she went to a yard in order to be fitted out to carry misc. vehicles on an extra deck, and with such on board they went to Liverpool. While there, a representative for the Norwegian Government came on board to tell them that they had all been awarded Krigsmedaljen.

* Please note that some of the information in P. Langeland's story does not quite fit in with the details found in her Voyage Record. It looks like he remembers the sequence and time frame of her voyages wrong; she had been to Baltimore, Casablanca, Lagos and Liverpool earlier that year. Going back to Page 4 and the Voyage Record above, it'll also be noticed that she had spent quite a long time in Baltimore, from Dec. 18-1943 to Jan. 29-1944, which would fit in with what P. Langeland says about going to a yard (though at a different time). See also Page 5, which shows that she remained in Swansea for a long time. As mentioned, she had arrived there for inspection and repairs on June 14, departure is given as July 31, when she proceeded to Belfast Lough, where she arrived Aug. 1.

** This convoy designation and date seem a bit off - Convoy EBM 2 (external link) left Clyde on June 2-1944. Belinda is not mentioned, but the listing is incomplete. (Going back to Page 5, we see that she did leave Swansea for Southampton in this time period, but this was around the time she struck the mine, and she anchored off Cowes on June 7).

From Belfast Lough, where she had arrived on Aug. 1 (as mentioned), she joined the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 247*, which originated in Liverpool on Aug. 2 and arrived New York on the 15th, and included the Norwegian Brasil, Fosna, Heranger, Høegh Scout, Slemmestad, Spinanger, Vanja and Vinga.

For information on the rest of her 1944 voyages, please go back to Page 5. Convoy information for some of these can be found in the Voyage Record.

Together with Egda, Fernmoor, Fosna and Gefion,Belinda had arrived the U.K. on March 15-1945 with a cargo of aviation fuel in station 62 of Convoy HX 341* (Escort Oiler), which had left New York City on Febr. 28, and she had subsequently made voyages to Cherbourg, Scheldt and Antwerp - see Page 6. On March 28, when 5 naut. miles off Zeebrügge, she again struck a mine, with no casualties; most of the crew who had been working on the foreship where the explosion occurred had just gone down for their meal. She had left her anchorage in Antwerp in ballast for New York on March 27, anchoring up in the channel overnight. Proceeded to Terneuzen the following day to await a convoy, leaving in convoy that same day and struck the mine that afternoon (A. Hague has included her in Convoy ATM 107 - see link in the table above). The explosion was powerful and she initially listed heavily to starboard, starting to sink by the foreship, so the engine was stopped and 3 lifeboats launched from the port side with 4-5 men in each boat, but after a while she straightened up again and those who had taken to the boats reboarded and her engine was restarted. She was considerably damaged but managed to continue at her own power (with 2 of the lifeboats in tow) with the intention of trying to reach Flushing, escorted by a corvette. A tug later arrived from Flushing to assist, and after a while one of the Admiralty's salvage vessels also came to, at which time it was decided to continue up the Schelde River to Terneuzen where she arrived at her own power late that evening to await further orders. The next day she departed with a new pilot on board for Siberia Dock, Antwerp, escorted by the salvage vessel, arriving the same afternoon, March 29.

On board at the time of the explosion, among others, were: Captain Christensen, 1st Mate Ole J. Tønnesen, Able Seaman Arthur Johnsen, Able Seaman Karnot Pettersen, 1st Engineer Arthur H. Larsen and 4th Engineer Håkon Kristiansen. She also had some British gunners at the time, and a Belgian pilot was still on board.

Maritime hearings were held in Antwerp on March 30-1945 with all of the men named above appearing, except Able Seaman Pettersen.

Page 6 also shows some of her 1946 voyages - it looks like she got to go home to Norway in Febr.-1946, but arrival there is not given.

* The ON convoys will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course, along with further details on each. In the meantime, the ships sailing in them (and escorts) are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys. The entire HX series will also be updated and completed (including the already existing convoys), but for now, please see ships in all HX convoys.

More information on all the Norwegian ships mentioned on this page can be found via the alphabet index below, or go to the Master Ship Index.

Related external links:OB and OA convoys - Listed according to date sailed. The site also has the SL and HG convoys in chronological order, as well as several others.

The attack on Cities Service Toledo

Hyperwar - Linked to 1942 (Robert Cressman's book mentioned in the narrative above). Scroll down to June 12.

Back to Belinda on the "Ships starting with B" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum), and misc. others for cross checking info. - ref My sources.