M/S Rio Verde - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945 (original) (raw)

M/S Rio Verde Updated Nov. 19-2010

Owner: A/S Sobral
Manager: Øivind Lorentzen, Oslo
Tonnage: 3223 gt

Built by Fried Krupp Germaniawerft AG, Kiel, Germany in 1924. Previous names: Therese Horn until 1934, Shoreham until 1937.

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 Aug.-1941 to July-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 that convoy is not known).

Errors may exist, and as can be seen, several 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 further details; several Norwegian ships took part.

As will be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Rio Verde was on her way from Pernambuco/Las Palmas to Casablanca when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940. Her 1941 voyages also start on this document and continue on Page 2. It'll be noticed, that she had quite a long stay in Boston that fall, before proceeding to Halifax, then on to Sydney, C.B. and according to Arnold Hague, she subsequently joined the slow, eastbound North Atlantic Convoy SC 45*, which departed Sydney, C.B. on Sept. 18 and arrived Liverpool Oct. 4. Rio Verde, carrying a general cargo, sailed in station 123 and stopped at Belfast Lough on Oct. 3/4, later continuing to Bristol, where she arrived Oct. 10. The Norwegian Bjerka, Libra (from Iceland), Nea, Orania, Snar, Solhavn, Trolla and Varanger are also listed. Later that month, Rio Verde joined Convoy OS 10, originating in Liverpool on Oct. 25, arriving Freetown on Nov. 18 (station 23) - ref. external link provided within the Voyage record above. Other Norwegian ships taking part were Fana, San Andres and Somerville. In fact, Rio Verde and Fana are said to have collided on this voyage, causing Fana to have to return to port.

Rio Verde went in the other direction again at the beginning of the new year, sailing in station 63 of Convoy SL 97, which departed Freetown on Jan. 4-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 24th (Page 3 gives her arrival as Jan. 26). Gausdal also took part - again, ref. link in the table above.

The following month she's listed in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 68*, which left Liverpool on Febr. 19 and dispersed on March 9. Aun, Carrier, Danio, Evanger (Commodore Vessel), Ingertre and Tyr (sunk - follow the link for more details) are also named in this convoy. According to the archive document, Rio Verde arrived Baltimore on March 13, and on March 30 she headed back to the U.K. with Convoy SC 77 from Halifax. Her destination is given as Manchester, where she arrived Apr. 18, general cargo. Together with Aun, Bjørkhaug, Borgholm, Heimgar, Lido, Lisbeth (returned), Nea, Norjerv, Norvarg, Selbo, Snar, Suderøy, Velox and Ørnefjell, she now went back across the Atlantic with Convoy ON 90*, which departed Liverpool on Apr. 28 and arrived Halifax on May 15, but Rio Verde continued to New York, where she arrived on May 18. On June 26 we find her in the slow Convoy SC 89 from Sydney, C.B., general cargo for Garston, arriving there on July 11 (Page 3), heading back to New York at the beginning of the following month with Convoy ON 118* (departure Liverpool Aug. 1, dispersed Aug. 20), along with Dux, Evanger (Commodore Vessel), Nea, Norvarg, Spero and Tore Jarl. Rio Verde arrived New York on Aug. 21, proceeding to Baltimore a couple of days later.

She later joined Convoy SC 100 (departure Halifax Sept. 12-1942), and rescued some of the survivors from Empire Hartebeeste, which had been torpedoed on Sept. 20, the Norwegian Norhauk rescuing the other survivors (follow the links for details - see also the external link at the end of this page). Rio Verde arrived Eastham on Sept. 29, Manchester the next day (again, see Page 3). A month later, she's listed in Convoy ON 142*, departing Liverpool Oct. 30, arriving New York Nov. 21. This convoy also had several other Norwegian ships, namely Bestik (returned), Carmelfjell, Fjordheim, Jenny, Kirsten B (from Halifax), Norvarg, Primo (from Halifax), Sevilla (also from Halifax), Solitaire, Temeraire and Vinland. Arnold Hague now has her returning with the slow Convoy SC 113*, which left New York on Dec. 12-1942 and arrived Liverpool on Jan. 2-1943 and also included Askot (Halifax to St. John's only), Hallanger, Henrik Ibsen, Kirsten B (for St. John's), Lisbeth, Norvarg, O. B. Sørensen, Ruth I and Titanian. Rio Verde's voyages in this period are shown on Page 4.

At the beginning of Febr.-1943 she joined the westbound Convoy ON 165, which lost several ships; follow the link for more details, Acanthus and Eglantine are named among the escorts. Rio Verde reported boiler trouble, eventually broke down and fell out of the convoy - see Commodore's narrative for ON 165. She arrived New York City on Febr. 28, having sailed from Loch on Febr. 2. This was her last Trans-Atlantic convoy voyage.

The rest of her voyages are listed on Page 4, Page 5 and Page 6 (it'll be noticed that she occasionally had long stays in port). Convoy information for some of these can be found in A. Hague's Voyage Record above.

* The ON convoys will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course, with more information on each; in the meantime, the ships sailing in them (and escorts) are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys. Note also that the entire SC series will eventually be updated and completed, including the already existing convoys (some have already been updated); see ships in all SC convoys.