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

D/S Skrim Updated July 1-2012

To Skrim on the "Ships starting with S" page.

This was received from John McCreadie, who has also posted this message to my Guestbook, naming other Norwegian seamen (the gravestones are at Cardonald Cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland).
Checking with "Våre falne", a series of 4 books naming Norwegians who died during the war, I find that Engineeer

Johan Hermann Selvik died at a hospital in Glasgow on the date given. He's said to have been on board Skrim previously (but must have left the ship before she was sunk), and is also commemorated at the Stavern Memorial - ref. link at the end of this page.
For information on Karl Kristiansen, please see Idefjord.

Owner: Rederi A/S Skrim
Manager: Einar Lange, Oslo
Tonnage: 1902 gt, 3140 tdwt
Signal Letters: LCGR

Built by Lindholmens Verkstad A/B, Gothenburg, Sweden in 1917. Previous names: Viken until 1919, Textil until 1922, Dagali until 1935.
According to Uboat.net (external page), she was completed in October 1917 as Viken for Förnyade Ångfartygs-A/B Viking (G. Carlsson), Gothenburg. Renamed Textil in 1920 for R. Gohle. Renamed Dagali in 1922 for John P. Pedersen & Søn, Oslo. Renamed Skrim in 1935 for Rederi A/S Skrim (Einar Lange), Oslo. (See also this external page).

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

Voyage Record
From Febr.-1940 to Dec.-1940:

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

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Errors do exist, and some voyages are missing.

A French visitor to my website has told me that Skrim sailed from Casablanca on Febr. 26-1940 in convoy 70 KS under French escort. At Le Verdon March 3. Sailed from Le Verdon on Apr. 15 (6 days after the German invasion of Norway) in convoy 49 XS under French escort (Norwegian Brott is also listed). At Casablanca Apr. 21 (? note that according to the archive document, she arrived Dunkirk on Apr. 20, leaving again for Dakar Apr. 23, with arrival Apr. 29, from Dakar to Bathurst Apr. 29/30, then back to Dakar and on to Casablanca, arriving there May 19). Sailed from Casablanca on May 21-1940 in convoy 99 KS under French escort, arrived Le Verdon May 27 (Dagfred is also included). All these convoys are available via the external links provided in the Voyage Record. From Verdon, Skrim proceeded to Bordeaux and from there to Liverpool on June 6, arriving Liverpool on the 9th, continuing to Garston, where she arrived June 10.

Together with the Norwegian Austvard, Benjamin Franklin, Hellen, Ingerfem, Margrethe Bakke and Senta she's listed, with destination Southend, in Convoy OB 178, which left Liverpool on July 3-1940. Going back to the archive document, we learn that she arrived Southampton on July 7, having started out from Garston on July 3. At the end of that month, she made a voyage from Methil Roads to Sydney, C.B., where she arrived Aug. 12 - I have no convoy information for this voyage (it's not included in A. Hague's record). Having made voyages to Newcastle, N.B. and Nelson, N.B., she returned to Sydney, C.B., heading back to the U.K. again on Aug. 25 in the slow Convoy SC 2, in which the Norwegian Gro and others were sunk; follow the links for more info. Skrim had a cargo of lumber for Ipswich - she arrived Belfast Lough on Sept. 10; her arrival Ipswich is not given on the archive document. It'll be noticed that she later spent quite a long time in Grangemouth, where she had arrived from Leith on Oct. 7; departure is given as Nov. 15, when she proceeded to Methil Roads and Aberdeen, arriving the latter on Nov. 21.

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

Skrim departed Aberdeen on Nov. 25, Oban on Dec. 1-1940, bound for Sydney, C.B. On Dec. 4 the convoy (OB-252*) was split up in bad weather and Skrim was never heard from again.Elg's captain reported having heard an explosion during the night, and also saw a light, but the bad weather prevented him from observing anything further. Later findings have indicated that Skrim wastorpedoed by U-43 (Lüth) and sunk on Dec. 6, in about 53N 21W. Another torpedo had been fired a few minutes earlier, but missed.

* Convoy OB 252 had originated in Liverpool on Nov. 30, and in addition to Elg already mentioned, it also included the Norwegian Andrea Brøvig, Brisk, Havørn, Malmanger, Profit and Solhavn. Again, see the link provided within the table above. The Dutch Farmsum and the British Empire Jaguar from this convoy were also sunk - ref. external link at the end of this page. (According to A. Hague, the British Silverpine was also lost, but not from U-boat attack).

Crew List - No survivors:
Henry Eriksen had previously survived the loss of Eli.

Related external links:
Ships hit from convoy OB 252 - Farmsum and Empire Jaguar, mentioned in my narrative, are included.

Stavern Memorial commemorations - 21 Norwegians are commemorated at this memorial for seamen in Stavern, Norway. Unfortunately, as will be seen when clicking on the link to Skrim, the names are no longer listed (the website was recently redesigned), so the only way to find them is to enter each name in the search field for "Personer". In addition to the Norwegians named above, there's a Fritz Larsen and a Johan Hermann Selvik. According to "Våre falne", Mess Boy Fritz Larsen had served on Skrim until he drowned at Albert Dock, Leith during the blackout on Oct. 18-1940. I'm not sure if this date is correct (unless he had paid off by then?); according to the archive document, Skrim had left Leith for Grangemouth on Oct. 7. Engineeer Johan Hermann Selvik, who had previously served on Skrim, died at a hospital in Glasgow in Jan.-1941 (see the gravestone picture at the top of this page). There's also an Ingvald Johan P. Brakssæt commemorated; he might be identical to Ingvald Pedersen in my list.

Back to Skrim on the "Ships starting with S" page.

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