M/T John Knudsen

EXTRACT DECKLOG M/S JOHN KNUDSEN 2/6-1940 - 2/7-1941

14/6 Tolon. Crew Trouble.

27/8 Oran. Protest delivered against ships detention.

31/8 Oran. Received in writing advice that part of eng. is to be taken ashore preventing use of eng.

3/9 Oran. Navy authorities onboard and removed 2 pieces of starting pipe for each motor and eng. made useless. This order is given by the Military Authorities.

4/9 Receipt for eng. port taken ashore given to 1st eng.

5/9 Oran. 1700 the slipwiere aft broke and seizeng on hawser. Ship turned slowly in chains down on a trawler laying by the quay but fenders put out and no damaged sustained by either ship.

17/3 Mers. el Kabir A.B.O. Johan Kristiansen dead after a fall.

11/4 French ship M/S Monica driften donw on M/T John Knudsen and our ship sustained damages. For further particulars see page 72. The French ship and owners made responsible.

5/5 Received advise from ships agent that Admiralty had appointed Veritas surveyor to inspect damages caused by French ship and that the French ship accepted responsibility.

6/5 Survey of damages.

10/5 Received advise that French Admirality would rep. damages caused by the French ship before our ship redelivered to owners.

12/6 Crew asked if they would sail under French flag eventually other foreign flag if ship seizes by the French Authorities. All declined.

26/6 Propeller for motorboat taken ashore.

27/6 Capt. received letter from the French Navy Authorities that ship was seized by the French Authorities and that crew must be ready to leave ship by 1400.

1400 crew left ship and French crew came onboard.

28/6 Protest against ships sezure delivered Admiralty.

29/6 Mer el Kebir. Ship shifted to Oran.

2/7 According instruction from Nortraships representative in Algiers the Master will deliver a seaprotest to Commercial Trebunal Oran and renew the protest forwarded to Admiraly 20th June.

8/7-44

L.T.

Utdrag av brev 13. juli 1943 fra Nortraship v. T. Kjeldaas:

Kaptein Nielsen opplyser at M/T "BATAVIA" ble senket av franskmennene den 9. november 1942 ved innløpet til Port Elyautey for om mulig å forhindre de Alliertes invasjon. Så snart de Allierte hadde overtatt stedet begynte man å forsøke å heve båten. Redningsforsøket ble imidlertid oppgitt den 28 mai 1943. Kaptein Nielsen opplyser at han hadde tilsynet med båten hele tiden. Han forlot Nord-Afrika over Casablanca den 30 mai 1943.

Brev 2. august 1944 fra V. F. Lindhard til Hysing-Olsen:

I have learned that the loss of a considerable number of our vessels which were in enemy hands in the Mediterranean has been definitely established. In respect of these vessels the question of obatining from M.O.W.T. the right to repurchase the ships if recovered does therefore not arise.

I give below the fresh information and for the sake of completeness include the losses already previously reported:

Vessels detained Italy June 1940:

mt "BRARERA" (total loss collected): Sunk by aircraft 22/7/41 off Lampedusa

ss "LIV" (tot. loss collected): Sunk by aircraft at Porto Torres 18/4/43

mt "THORSHEIMER" (tot. loss collected): Sunk by aircraft 21/2/43 off Marsala

Vessels detained French Ports June 1940:

ms "BATAVIA" ("Ste Madeleine") (tot. loss collected): Scuttled at Port Lyautey harbour entrance about 8/11/42. Salvage impossible.

ss "BROTT" (Ste Monique"): Scuttled at Bizerte Bay May 1943.

ss "FAVOR" ("Ste Rosaline"): Sunk by surface craft 18/1/43 off Sardinia.

ms "GRAN" ("Ste Odette"): Sunk by submarine 28/12/42, north west of Marittimo.

ss "KARI" ("Ste Colette"): Sunk by submarine 16/10/43 east of Naxos.

ss "ORIA" ("Ste Julienne") (tot. loss collected): Wrecked and sunk aftger submarine attach previous 24/3/44 in Aegean.

ss "PATRIA" ("St Christophe"): Sunk by aircraft 13/7/43 at Messina.

mt "PRES. HERRENSCHMIDT": Scuttled at Naples September 1943.

ss "RINGULV" ("Ste Marthe"): Sunk by submarine 14/6/43 in Straits of Messina.

ss "SKOTFOSS" ("Ste Lucille"): Sunk by aircraft 6/4/43 at Trapani.

ss "TANA" ("Ste Simone"): Sunk by aircraft 24 (or 25) /5/43 pm in port Olbia (Sardinia).

ss "VIGOR" ("Ste Marcelle") (tot. oss collected): Sunk by submarine 14/3/42.

This leaves only the following vessels detained at French ports to be accounted for:

ss "HADRIAN": Reported at Piraeus 11/9/43.

mt "JASPIS": Repairing Aker mek. Verkst. early Feb. 1944.

mt "JOHN KNUDSEN": Reported at Piraeus Mar. 1944 damaged by torpedo.

mt "LANGANGER": Reported vicinity Marseilles Spring 1944.

mt "REGINE": In port Genoa 15/12/42.

The above information has been obtained privately and should be treated as strictly confidential.