Part of the Acorn Archive

Hearts of Oak

 

 

 

Athel Line Ships

 

Athelviking

1 ship of this name

 

ATHELVIKING

GSN  20044176 

ON  162387

8,875 grt; 5215 nrt; 12,950 dwt.

471ft 5ins x 62ft 6ins x 27ft 3ins

Call Sign : LFRK

2 x 6cyl. 709 nhp Oil Engine by J. G. Kincaid & Co. Ltd., Greenock

Twin screw, 10½ knots.

Built 1926 by Furness SB. Co, Haverton Hill-on-Tees ( Yard Nr 86 )

as the JAVA for A/S J. Ludwig Mowinckels Rederi, Bergen, Norway.

1933 Purchased by United Molasses Co renamed ATHELVIKING.

1940 Transferred to Athel Line Ltd., London, UK

She had a wartime complement of fifty-one men under the command of Captain Egerton G. B. Martin. Her Chief Radio Officer was forty-eight year old W. E. Mitchell, who held a second class Certificate of Proficiency in Radio, and his two assistants, with special wartime certificates, were A G. Stark as second, and A. Whatley as third.

1945  14th January : Torpedoed and sunk by U-1232, as Convoy BX141 was entering harbour in single column, on voyage from Fort Lauderdale, Port Everglades and Boston to Halifax and U.K, with molasses and landing craft on deck.  Four men lost, 47 survivors.

 

1945  14th January :  At 1035, U-1232 attacked Convoy BX-141 east of Halifax, sank SS BRITISH FREEDOM and badly damaged the US Liberty ship SS MARTIN VAN BUREN six minutes later. The U-boat then sank SS ATHELVIKING and missed HMCS ETTRICK. The two tankers were sunk in position 44.28N  063.28W, 4 miles South of Sambro Island. Later in the action, HMCS ETTRICK, while conducting an attack, ran over the conning tower of U-1232, which was forced to depart for home badly damaged. The master & three crewmembers from SS ATHELVIKING were lost. 39 crewmembers & eight gunners were picked up by HMC ML-102 and landed at Halifax.  15th January :  HMCS FUNDY and COMOX, both Fundy-class minesweepers, rescued survivors from the three ships torpedoed in Convoy BX-141 by U-1232.

 

The men who died 14th January 1945

 

CARLSSON, Chief Steward, ERIC GUSTAV, Age 55.

King's Commendation for Brave Conduct.

Husband of Ada Carlsson, of Moreton Cheshire.

 

MARTIN, Master, EGERTON GABRIEL BAYNES, O B E, Age 52.

Son of Dr. John Michael H. Martin and T. Edith Martin.

Husband of Annie Cameron Martin, of Cardonald, Glasgow.

Three times awarded King's Commendation for Brave Conduct.

 

INCE, Chief Officer, GEOFFREY, Age 40.

Son of John and Laura Ince.

Husband of Dorothy S. Ince, of Wallasey, Cheshire.

 

MacHALE, Boatswain, BERTRAM JOSEPH, Age 33.

Son of Dr. Patrick J. MacHale and Julia M. MacHale.

 

 

Athelviking

Bibliothek fur Zeitgeschichte, Stuttgart
Collection Raul Maya (Montevideo)

http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/bfz/marine/index.htm

 

Athelviking

 

Athelviking

 

Raymond Forward