Built by: Odense Staalskibsvaerft, Odense    Completed: 1931

Manager: Christian Haaland, Haugesund

Tonnage: 8087 grt, 4807 nett, 12,350 dwt

Length: 461.7 feet

Beam: 60.3 feet

Draught: 34.4 feet

Machinery: 2 x 6 cylinder diesel engines, 2 shafts

Speed: 11 knots

In Admiralty Service (Royal Fleet Auxiliary) from 1940

The ship was torpedoed by U 87 (Oberleuitenant zur See Jachim Berger) 180 miles South of Cape Race in position 45º 46’ N  54º 18’ W, at 03:59 hrs on 17 January 1942, after losing contact with convoy ON.52 in thick fog South of Greenland, on passage from Reykjavik to New York in ballast.

The first torpedo hit the ship on the Port side, and the ship tried to escape the attack, despite being badly damaged she continued in a zig-zag pattern for the next four hours, until she was hit by another two torpedoes.  As the crew abandoned ship, they came under intense shelling from the U boat.

The crew managed to launch four boats, but two had been damaged in the attack, later the crew of two of the lifeboats managed to transfer to the motorboat, during the transfer the Captain and two crew men fell overboard, the Captain was picked up, but the other two crew members were lost.

Of the crew of 34 Norwegian, 4 British, 1 Danish and 1 Swedish seamen, 21 lost their lives.

The Chief Officer Harald Hansen was awarded the Kings Commendation for Brave Conduct and the Lloyds War Medal for Bravery at Sea – both awards were ungazetted