D/S Frode - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945 (original) (raw)

D/S Frode Updated Aug. 21-2011

Owner: Rederi-A/S Steinmann
Manager: Ottar Holter, Sarpsborg
Tonnage: 750 (697?) gt, 360 net, 1000 tdwt.
Call Sign: LDXQ

Built by Penn Et Bauduin, Dordrecht. Completed in Oct.-1917 by N.V. Scheepsbouwwerf 'De Merwede' v/h van Vliet Ef Co., Hardinxveld (131) for N.V. Scheepvaart Maats Hollandia, Rotterdam, Holland as Hollandia I. 180.3' x 28.2' x 12.1' T.3-cyl. Sold in 1922 to N.V. Adka (Wambersie Et Son, managers), Rotterdam. Sold in 1924 to A/S Garm (Alexander Prebensen, manager), Risør, Norway and renamed Frode. Sold in 1931 to Rederi A/S Steinmann (Ottar Holter, manager), Sarpsborg, Norway. (From a visitor to my website - his source: World Ship Society publication "Monroe Brothers")

Captain: Sigurd Martinessen

Related item on this website:
Warsailor Stories - Crew member Edward Driscoll's story.

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

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

Partial Voyage Record
From Febr.-1940 to June-1942:

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

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Errors may exist, and the record is incomplete.

For voyages made in between those discussed here, please see the documents received from the National Archives of Norway and Hague's Voyage Record above. Follow the convoy links provided for more details on them - other Norwegian ships also took part.

According to A. Hague, Frode sailed in Convoy HN 12 from Norway to the U.K. in the middle of Febr.-1940, but I'm not entirely convinced this was the Norwegian Frode, because there's a Swedish Frode listed as cancelled from the previous convoy, HN 11. Early in March, A. Hague has her in the U.K.-Norway Convoy ON 17, and towards the end of that month, she's mentioned in the original Advance Sailing Telegram for Convoy HN 22 from Norway to the U.K., in ballast for Tyne, however, it looks like this AST also contains ships in HN 23A, Frode being one of them. Note that she's also listed in Convoy HN 25 just a few days later, and I'm not sure that she could have been in both(?). Either way, she got out of Norway just before the Germans invaded on Apr. 9. According to Page 1, she had left Bergen on Apr. 7 and arrived Methil Roads on the 12th, which fits with HN 25. (Again, please note that there was also a Swedish and a Danish ship by this name, so I'm not sure the Frode mentioned in all these convoys was the Norwegian ship, as the Advance Sailing Telegrams are not available for all of them). Frode proceeded to Tyne 2 days later, subsequently making some voyages to France.

She was chartered on Apr. 21-1940 by the Ministry of Shipping, London (Monroe Brothers, Liverpool, managers). Charterers became the Ministry of War Transport in 1941.

Frode arrived Oban on fire in Jan.-1941, not war related as far as I can tell. Beached at Loshnell Bay until Aug.-1941 then towed to Greenock for repairs. Note that according to Page 2 of the archive documents, she was "lost" on Jan. 18-1941, then there's a handwritten note saying "refloating operation commenced 14/7/41". She's said to have arrived Ayr on Oct. 30 that year, later arriving Clyde from Ayr on May 4-1942. Page 3, Page 4 and Page 5 show later voyages.

Frode departed Newhaven in ballast in the afternoon of Apr. 11-1943 for Cowes for orders. Struck a mine and sank that same afternoon when between Littlehampton and Shoreham (50 45 48N 0 28 54W - time is given as 17:34 on Page 5). The hatches, lifeboats and rafts were blown away. The helmsman, Edvard Camyen Carlson was seen dead in the wheelhouse, 13 survivors had to jump overboard and cling to whatever debris they could find when the ship sank. 10 of them were rescued an hour later by a French gunboat and landed in Portsmouth where 9 were taken to a hospital, but the captain died on Apr. 12 and 2nd Engineer Rolf Bure died on Apr. 13. The other 3 survivors had been picked up by an RAF rescue boat and taken to Littlehampton.

The maritime hearings were held in London on Apr. 19-1943 with Able Seaman Nilsen, Able Seaman Olsen and Stoker Vetland appearing.

A visitor to my website has told me that "Shipwreck Index of the British Isles" states that the wreck has been dispersed by explosives, lies in shallow water and is popular with divers.

In the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren, Issue No. 1 for 1975 I came across a letter written by Edward Driscoll, one of Frode's survivors. He says they were taken to Royal Huslar Hospital in Portsmouth and adds that he was also on board Fjordheim when she was torpedoed. In this letter he is asking old shipmates to contact him. Mr. Driscoll has since been located alive and well in Wales by a visitor to my website - follow the link to Fjordheim for more details on this. He also sailed on 6 other Norwegian ships, namely Sola (? There was no Norwegian ship by this name; I believe this was Solør), Daghild, Bosphorus, Skotaas, California Express and Cetus. Note also that Edward has since sent me his WW II sea story, which I've added to my Warsailor Stories section; it includes some details on the sinking of Frode. If any of his old shipmates should see this and would like to get in touch, I'd be glad to pass on his contact information. My address has been provided at the bottom of this page.

With regard to the sinking of Frode, he says the following:
Everything went all right for a while until I joined the Norwegian coaster Frode in April 1944 (the year is probably a misprint here). We sailed from Shoreham, bound for the Bristol Channel. It was a nice, sunny Sunday morning and I went ashore to post a letter home before we sailed. I remember saying in the letter I would be home in a few days. When we were off the Isle of Wight - it was about five o'clock in the afternoon - I was leaning on the midships gunwale waiting for the Cook to dish out tea. The next thing I knew I was being stripped of my clothing on the deck of a French destroyer. I had been in the water for one and a half hours. The doctor of the destroyer had me carried below and put in a bunk. Other survivors from the Frode were also on the ship. They told me we had hit a mine and several had been killed. It was later said that the wake of a Dutch ship ahead of us had pushed the mine into the path of the Frode. Apparently, I had been blown clean out of the alleyway where I was standing into the sea, bouncing off the steel deckhead as I went.

The French destroyer was too big to bring us into port and so I had to transfer on a stretcher to a smaller British craft. When we got ashore, there were ambulances waiting to take us to the Royal Huslar Hospital. When we arrived at the entrance to the hospital, a nurse was handing out cigarettes to those in better condition than me. All I asked for was a drink of water, but was not allowed to have it. After I was examined, two hefty hospital attendants held my arms as I sat on the side of the bed and another put a large needle into my back. I was told later that this was to allow the air to escape, as the broken ribs on my left side had punctured my lung, causing a fifty percent collapse of the lung. I also had a bad graze on my back where I must have hit something when I was blown off the ship. There was also the imprint of the lay of a rope on my back. I can remember the doctor saying I also had what is known as an emphysema, a swelling of the lungs. This, he said, had probably kept me afloat for all that time I was unconscious. After a few weeks in hospital, I was sent home with my ribs strapped up and wearing a "utility" suit. I had a spell at home - not long - and then I was off back to sea again.

Crew List:

* There's a Joseph Gibbs listed on this page at the Commonwealth War Graves Comm. website whom I believe to be Frode's gunner. He's commemorated at Plymouth Naval Memorial.

Related external link:
Stavern Memorial commemorations - Some of the names are spelt a little differently at this memorial for seamen in Stavern, Norway (Norwegians only).

Back to Frode on the "Ships starting with F" 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. (ref. My Sources).