Here is another story an earlier voyage my father made in ww2.My sources amongst others are mainly the National Archives,U-Boat net,Arnold Hague Convoy Web and various items i inherited after my fathers early death in 60s.
The accounts starts in SWANSEA in early sept.1941.The ship was the BRYNYMOR and my father was 1st radio officer.The BRYNYMOR had arrived on convoy HX145 from HALIFAX N.S. and had discharged her cargo of 7000 tons of steel and scrap metal.On the 11th sept she made the short passage to Barry where she took on board a cargo of coal.The BRYNYMOR sailed to MILFORD HAVEN arriving on the 25th sept 1941. Leaving the Haven she met up with convoy ON21 south of the Smalls Lighthouse.0N21 had left Liverpool on the 28th sept.The convoy was made up of 34 merchants with 15 escorts in company and it set course for the dispersal area 750 miles west of Lands End.The BRYNYMOR parted company and set of across the South Atlantic on her own making for PERNAMBUCO BRAZIL.She arrived there on the 28th oct. and after discharging her cargo she sailed into the Carribean to dock in TRINIDAD on the 22nd nov.
The BRYNYMOR sailed the next day to CRISTOBAL PANAMA and entered the canal to arrive at BALBOA on the Pacific end of the canal on the 29th nov.Now in the Pacific Ocean she sailed down the S.American coast to arrive at IQUIQUE CHILE on the 8th dec.
Her cargo this time was to be Nitrates of Soda(Saltpetr) used in making explosives.By the 16th dec. the BRYNYMOR was underway retracing her course through the canal to CRISTOBAL and the S.Atlantic again.Her course now was north up the coast of the U.S.A. and after a short stop anchored in HAMPTON ROADS VIRGINIA she arrived in HALIFAX N.S. on the 11 jan.1942.There was a long wait in HALIFAX where vast fleets of merchant ship awaited a convoy allocation,but on the 30th jan she sailed on convoy SC67(slow convoy).SC67 was made up of 28 merchant ships with 13 escorts.In the first 2days 5 ships returned to HALIFAX for a variety of reasons-engine-steering problems or shifted cargo.
On the night of the 11th FEB. 1942 the convoy was attacked by U-Boats of the small Wolf Pack SCHLEI,one U-Boat the U-136 commanded by Heinrich Zimmerman eluded the ■■■■■■ screen and torpedoed the Norwegian merchant ship the HEINA and the Canadian Flower Class Corvette the SPIKENARD.Both ships sank and the HEINAs crew where all picked up.Meanwhile the escorts where desparately chasing of U-Boats and had not realised the SPIKENARD was missing.After repeated un-answered radio calls some escorts fell back to search in the dark and amongst heavy seas.They found only 8 survivors out of over 90 Canadian crew members of the tragic SPIKENARD.The convoy sailed on un-molested and on the 14th feb 1942 the BRYNYMOR parted company with the convoy in BELFAST LOUGH where she joined convoy BB138,a small 12 ship and one ■■■■■■ convoy bound for MILFORD HAVEN arriving
the next day and went on to dock in NEWPORT on the 20TH FEB.1942.The voyage had taken over 140 days and had covered over 14500 miles at an average speed of 8 to 10 knots P.H.,not taking into acount the winter crossing of the N.ATLANTIC where heavily lladen old ships struggled to make a headway speed of 2 or 3 knots in the winter storms.But the BRYNYMOR and my father WILLIAM (BILL WHITFIELD) came through it all.My father left the BRYNMOR in Newport to join the CRAGPOOL a few days later.The BRYNYMOR sailed again in March and on the 11th march 1942 was sunk near Bishops Rock after a collision with the EMPIRE HAWKSBILL,a sad end for the old girl.
Hello
My Grandfather JAMES DAVIDSON was Chief Officer (First Mate) on the Brynymor from March 1940 until the ship sank after collision with the Empire Hawksbill (14 March 1942 from my records.) My family told the story of him leaving on that trip and being back on the doorstep a day later with only the clothes he stood up in. He died in 1983, but obviously would have known your father. We have very little information about his time on that ship, but I include his Seaman’s Card, issued after his original was lost in the sinking (all hands survived by the way, and the wreck has been charted and is dived to.) By the way, the ship was only built in 1936.
