Dromonde Hussin

[stephanie mullin]

SHIPS NAME AND SERVICE RECORD

Full Name

Dromonde Hussin

Discharge Book Number

R186984

Department

deck

Your Rank/Rating

AB

Which Ships were you on and When

ASHWORTH 17/12/37-15/8/39
MARY SLESSOR 06/09/39-10/9/39
RIVER LUGAT 13/9/39-21/11/39
WARKWORTH 28/12/39-05/03/40
GLENWOOD 19/4/40-02/9/40
HARPAGUS 16/11/40-04/03/41
EMPIRE STORM 27/3/41 -29/5/41
EMPIRE HOWARD 10/2/42 -16/4/42
HARPAGUS 23/11/42 25/11/42
EMPIRE SNOW 28/12/43 -24/3/43
CARLTON 28/10/47 -5/4/48
REUBEN SNOW 5/ - 5/48 -26/6/48
MIDDLESEX TRADER 08/7/48-13/11/48

Notes:

Also on SS Sherwood,
Mr Therm,
Perworth,
Rogate,
Empire Frome,
Queensland,
Pinewood,
Catford,
Yokefleet,
Wimbledon,
Birdwood,
Chelwood,
Capital,
Windsor,
Murdoch,
Mitcham,
Blackwall Point,
Walcrete,
Sir David II,
yorkshire coast,
Minster,
Sir Alexander Kennedy,
Wandsworth,
Helmwood London,
Hudson River,
Henzee,
Firelight,
Iberian Coast,
Heyshot

[Captain Kong]

Good Sea Service there and all those War years, Lucky to survive that.
Cheers
Brian

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Stephanie.
I take it that Dromonde may have been you Dad? If so you should be very proud of him, to have gone through that conflict and survive was no mean feat, God bless them all on this the 75 anniversary of the end.
Des

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[Ivan Cloherty]

My father sailed on the 'Empire Frome' in 1952, you mentioned your father had also sailed on it but didn't say what period. My father was in the MN prior to 1939, but whilst on leave joined the Army on 3rd September 1939, was at Dunkirk, 1941 he was back in the MN as was asked to return because so many experienced MN personnel lost, Served his time with Sir Reardon Smiths 1927 -31, but marrying young decided after a couple of trips on the bridge he could earn more money as a Bosun, a position he kept until leaving the sea, apart from 3/m on a couple of trips during WWII. He was also on Special Ops during D-Day, but like most never talked about it, even to me a fellow seafarer. All these things you find out later in life, although both being at sea, our paths never crossed at sea, and also rarely at home, and with my sister being in the RAF my mother must have thought she was running a B & B for occasional visitors!

[j.sabourn]

#4 It takes a good woman to marry a seafarer Ivan , I spent very little time at home. , and was partially that absence that my conscience cut in and went offshore to spend more time at home. But even then due to type of vessels finished up on was not suitable.. My last 11 years at sea was the most normal and conducive to married life and had to come to Australia to get that. Cheers JS
As regards the list of ships D.H. Is looking for those ending in worth would be RS Dalgliesh, I was on a later version of the Warkworth. Those ending in wood I suspect were John I Jacobs who in those days were mostly tankers .
JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

John, nearly all France Fenwicks ships names also ended in wood, Cornwood, Wellswood, a lot of them had Canadian connections as traded a lot with Newfoundland and/or Vancouver, so Belwood may also have been FF.

[j.sabourn]

The Pinewood was definitely France Fenwick as was built at Hawthorne Leslie’s.. so most probably all are as you say..it was just a guess that some may of been JIJ. Cheers JS

[John Aikenhead]

Hi Stephanie;
Yes he sure was lucky to survive all that time at sea during the war, he must have been through a lot of bad times.

I see that he was on the 1st HARPAGUS 16/11/40-04/03/41 and then the 2nd HARPAGUS 23/11/42 25/11/42.
My uncle Alexander (Alexandra) Aikenhead was on the 1st Harpagus when she was torpedoed in N.Atlantic on May 20 1941, he was a Fireman Trimmer aged 20yrs and sadly went down with the ship. So going by the dates it looks like my Uncle Alex was probably on the trip right after your father signed off, I was born 1942 in South Shields and received the middle name Alexander in memory of him so is why I have a big interest in his short life.

The Harpagus was enroute from Baltimore and joined convoy HX-126 at Halifax before starting out for the U.K. She was designated as rescue ship and had picked up all survivors from the vessel Norman Monarch which had been torpedoed earlier, Harpagus had almost caught back up with the convoy when she was hit with two torpedoes, from reports she was apparently first struck by a torpedo from U-94 and damaged and then a second torpedo fired by U-109. There was large loss of life (58) as she also had the crew of Norman Monarch onboard as well as some passengers, the survivors from Harpagus including the Master James Valentine Stewart were picked up by HMS Burnham and landed in Iceland.

The 2nd Harpagus did not have great luck either, built as a replacement at Sunderland in 1942 she was at the landings at Arromanches and was blown in half by a mine. The Aft half with the engine room was towed back to the Tyne, in 1946 a new forebody was built and joined together to make a full vessel and then renamed Treworlas for Hain Shipping Co for further trading.

Harpagus
British Steam merchant
We don't have a picture of this vessel at this time.

Name Harpagus
Type: Steam merchant
Tonnage 5,173 tons
Completed 1940 - Bartram & Sons Ltd, South Dock, Sunderland
Owner J. & C. Harrison Ltd, London
Homeport London
Date of attack 20 May 1941 Nationality: British

Fate Sunk by U-109 (Hans-Georg Fischer)
Position 56° 47'N, 40° 55'W - Grid AJ 3256
Complement 98 (58 dead and 40 survivors).
Convoy HX-126 (straggler)
Route Baltimore - Halifax - Barry Roads
Cargo 8250 tons of grain
History

Notes on event
At 04.58 hours on 20 May 1941 the Norman Monarch in station #91 of convoy HX-126 was torpedoed and sunk by U-94 (Kuppisch). The Harpagus (Master James Valentine Stewart) in station #93 was the designed rescue ship for the column and dropped back to rescue survivors. After picking up the whole complement of 48 men, she set course to regain convoy.

At 23.20 hours on 20 May 1941 the Harpagus, having almost regained position, was struck by two torpedoes from U-109 in the starboard side and sank very quickly about 250 miles south-southeast of Cape Farewell. 25 crew members, four gunners, three passengers and 26 survivors were lost. The master, 17 crew members and 22 survivors were picked up by HMS Burnham (H 82) (Cdr J. Bostock) and landed at Reykjavik.

(Above information is derived from the websites Uboat.net and wrecksite.eu)

Note; I have been searching for many years for a photo of the 1st Harpagus Official No: 167421 lost in 1941 but have not been successful.
Would appreciate any information on where I might be able to obtain such a photo if any should exist.

Best Wishes to all members;
John Alexander Aikenhead
Ontario Canada

[Keith Tindell]

Hi John, my first trip to sea 1957 was on the Treworlas, ex Harpagus to Botwood New Foundland. I was unaware of her history until much later in life, kt

[stephanie mullin]

Sorry for taking so long to reply John. My dad was on the Harpagus 16/11/40 to 4/3/41 as a gunlayer. From your account he changed ships just in time, but sailed on SS Empire Storm from 27/3/41 to 29/5.41 when it was sunk by a submarine while outward bound 6 days out of Halifax Nova Scotia. This is an excerpt from his application for war pension On leaving Montreal convoy was attacked by Wolf packs U boats which had gathered after Bismark had sank HMS Hood. At noon on 29th May 1941 U boat attacked and we were torpedoed midships. Just one lifeboat and a raft which broke free as the ship sank after 2nd torpedo. 3 men were killed, 45 survivors. I was ordered on to the raft to strip it of water and provisions but a swell hit the raft which sinking and I was adrift for hours before being picked up again. After being adrift in lifeboat for three days, we were picked up by SS Marita, a Norwegian very small ship. Therefore there was little first aid or medical attention. Five days later we were landed in St Johns, Newfoundland. The injured men were put in Holy Rosary Hospital and I was kept in suffering from nervous exposure and hypothermia.
If you look on Google and put Harpagus ship and go to images, there is a picture there from 1930 for a tyne built ship. My dad was also born in South Shields.