warsailors.com

Convoy HX 291 - warsailors.com

CONVOY HX 291
Departed New York on May 10-1944 and arrived Liverpool on May 27.
Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" gives 99 ships in this convoy.

Transcribed from several documents received from Tony Cooper - His source: Public Records Office, Kew.

Crossed out ships did not sail.

A 1 form is not available and, therefore, the station numbers are not known.

Please note that the sailing date for the ships Scorton through Thomas Bailey Aldrich is given as May 13, which makes me wonder if these ships joined from Sydney, C.B and/or Halifax(?). This suspicion is further reinforced by the fact that some of the ships listed as cancelled show up again in the Sydney portion of the next convoy, others in the Halifax portion of HX 294 - note also that Daniel Drake, listed in this batch of ships, had been cancelled from the Halifax portion of the previous convoy.

Ship

Nationality

Cargo

Destination

Remarks

Scorton

British

grain - general

Tyne

Dimitrios Inglessis

Greek

grain

Methil f. o. (London)

Anna N. Goulandris

"

flour - grain

Methil f. o. (London)

From HX 288
(Halifax portion)

Euthalia

"

flour - airplane wings

London

Fjordheim

Norwegian

general

Belfast f. o. (Swansea)

Ragnhild

"

pit props

Garston

(Ex Empire Carey)

Aert van der Neer

Dutch

none given

Methil f. o. (London)

Belgian Seaman

Belgian

steel - lumber

Methil f. o. (London)

Clan Macinnes

British

general

Leith

Oregon I*

Danish / MOWT 1940

flour

Hull

* I'm unsure of the identity of this ship, which is initially listed as Oregon in the Advance Sailing Telegram, and the "I" is added in by hand. The Danish Oregon came under British control in 1940 and was renamed Oregon I. However, the tonnage is given as 7706 gt in the AST, which fits with the French Orégon (the Danish Oregon being 4774 gt)

Condesa

British

general - refrig.

Cardiff

Gerassimos Vergottis

Greek

grain

Methil f. o. (London)

Acavus

British

Adm. special Navy fuel (tanker)

Clyde

Cornwall

"

general - refrig.

Mersey f. o.

Listed in HX 292
(Sydney, C.B. section)

Daniel Drake

American

grain - general

Avonmouth

From HX 290
(Halifax portion)

Dimitrios Chandris

Greek

grain - general

Mersey

John Mitchell

American

wood pulp

Mersey f. o.

Listed in HX 292
(Sydney, C.B. section)

John L. Manson

"

steel - lumber

Grimsby

Miralda

British

Adm. special Navy fuel
(tanker, MAC)

Clyde

Mount Kyllene

Greek

general

Avonmouth

Listed in HX 292
(Sydney, C.B. section)

Albert S. Burleson

American

general

Glasgow

Dolly Madison

"

general - explosives

Liverpool

Eliphalet Nott

"

general - explosives

Mersey f. o.

Listed in HX 292
(Sydney, C.B. section)

Frank Gilbreth

"

general

Glasgow

John Holmes

"

general - diesel oil

Mersey

Norse Lady

Norwegian

wood pulp

Glasgow

Listed in HX 294
(Halifax portion)

Picotee

British

steel - lumber

Methil f. o. (London)

Pleiades

American

general

Belfast / Loch Ewe for Iceland

Royal S. Copeland

"

none given

Belfast f. o.

Samfoyle

British

lumber - tanks - steel

Tyne

Sheridan

"

grain - general

Manchester

Listed in HX 294
(Halifax portion)

Sulphur Bluff

American

gas oil tanker

Belfast Dock

Tercero

Norwegian

general - explosives

Hull

Thomas Kearns

American

foodstuffs

Belfast f. o.

Winfield Scott

"

grain - general

Liverpool

William Black Yates

"

general - explosives

Sunderland

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

"

general - flour

Liverpool

As already mentioned further up in this table, the sailing date for all of the above ships is given as May 13, but there's no text to help me determine whether they originated in Sydney, C.B. or possibly Halifax.

The date for the rest of the ships (except for the 2 Newfoundland ships) starting with Samfinn is given as May 10-1944, with departure port New York.

Samfinn

British

general

Liverpool

From HX 290

Deborah Gannett

American

general

Hull

From HX 290

Anniston City

"

general

Liverpool

Moses Cleaveland

"

general

Liverpool / Manchester

From HX 290

British Governor

British

Adm.

Clyde

Empire Blessing

"

sugar

Inverness Firth(?) f. o.

Empire Granite

"

none given

Belfast Dock

Gitano

"

general

Manchester

Gypsum King

"

steel - lumber

Barry Dock

Hastings

"

none given

Belfast Dock

Iddesleigh

"

steel - lumber

Grangemouth

Lord Byron

"

sugar

Clyde

Northumberland

"

frozen

Liverpool

Seapool

"

sugar

Dundee

Samsturdy

"

general

Cardiff

From HX 290

Empire Curzon

"

sugar

Liverpool / Belfast f. o.

Empire Razorbill

"

steel - lumber

Methil f. o. (London)

From HX 289

Empire Rival

"

sugar

Hull

Fort La Have

"

steel - timber

Manchester

Laguna

"

sugar

Liverpool

Martaban

"

sugar

London

San Casto

"

Adm.

Belfast f. o. (Dublin)

Empire Advocate

"

general

Methil f. o. (London)

Velox

Norwegian

bauxite

Garston

Maliakos

Greek

lumber

Ellesmere Port

Stirlingville

Norwegian

general

Manchester

Para

"

general - sugar

Greenock

Høyanger

"

general

Liverpool

Delftdijk

Dutch

general

Glasgow

Norfalk

Norwegian

sugar

London

Villanger

"

general

Glasgow

Ovula

Dutch

Adm.

Milford Haven f. o. (Southampton)

Heranger

Norwegian

general

Liverpool

O. B. Sørensen

"

none given

Clyde

Vav

"

none given

Clyde

Minerva

"

general

Glasgow

Salawati

Dutch

general

Liverpool / Glasgow

Wildwood

American

general

Manchester

Henry M. Robert

"

general

Liverpool

Alanson B. Houghton

"

general

Manchester

Richard S. Ewell

"

general

Hull

Howard T. Ricketts

"

general

Manchester

Edward A. Filene

"

general

Manchester

George Gershwin

"

general

Liverpool

David B. Henderson

"

general

Dundee

Ben A. Ruffin

"

general

Manchester

Kentuckian

"

general

Mersey f. o.

Listed in HX 292

James Schureman

"

general

Mersey f. o.

Listed in HX 292

Henry H. Richardson

"

general

Mersey f. o.

Listed in HX 292

William Sturgis

"

general

Cardiff

Simon Newcomb

"

general

Clyde f. o.

Listed in HX 292

Fort Orange

"

general

Belfast f. o.

Bering

"

general

Belfast f. o.

William Wilkins

"

general

Leith

John Drake Sloat

"

general

Clyde f. o.

Listed in HX 292

Charles J. Folger

"

general

Glasgow

John Gallup

"

general

Mersey f. o.

James A. Wetmore

"

general

Clyde f. o.

Listed in HX 292

Robert W. Pomeroy

British(?)

general

Mersey f. o.

William James

American

general

Manchester

Isaac S. Hopkins

"

general

Mersey f. o.

Listed in HX 292

Nishmaha

"

general

Sunderland

Charles J. Finger

"

general

Londonderry / Liverpool

Henry Clay

"

general

Loch Ewe / Cardiff

James G. Birney

"

general

Barry Roads f. o.

Listed in HX 292

Sidney Lanier

"

general

Glasgow

Zane Grey

"

general

Manchester

Atlantic

Panamanian

general

Liverpool

Delnorte

American

general

Newport

James M. Wayne

"

general

Tyne

Harry A. Garfield

"

general

Tyne

Duncan U. Fletcher

"

general

Tyne

Francis E. Willard

"

general

Tyne

David Thompson

"

general

Liverpool / Glasgow

Alexander Ramsey

"

general

Liverpool

Empire Viscount

British

molasses

Humber (Saltend)

Marpessa

Dutch

Tanker B

London (Shellhaven)

Dettifoss

Icelandic

general - mail - passengers

Loch Ewe for Iceland

R. Ney McNeely

American

general

Belfast f. o.

Joining from N. F.

Meanticut

American

general

Glasgow / Garston

West Nilus

"

general

Liverpool

From SC 157

Notes:
Commodore, Captain F. H. Taylor, R.N. was in Northumberland, Vice Commodore was Captain R. G. Bruusgaard, R. Nor. N. in Høyanger.

The Rescue Vessel Gothland was also with this convoy. She was on her 13th voyage as such, having started this voyage from Clyde on Apr. 20-1944 with the westbound Covnoy ON 233, to Halifax May 6, then returned to Clyde with Convoy HX 291, May 12-May 26. ("Convoy Rescue Ships 1940-1945", Arnold Hague).

Commodore's notes are not available - escorts not known.

All the Norwegian ships in this convoy are discussed on this website - use alphabet index below to find them.

Related external links:
Liberty Ships - The vast majority of the ships listed as American in the table above were Liberty ships. This website lists them alphabetically. (The Advance Sailing Telegrams do not always spell the names correctly, and I always check the spelling of each and every Liberty Ship against what is found on this site before I upload a convoy). As will be seen, some of the Liberty Ships sailing in Convoy HX 291 had just been delivered the previous month.
List of Liberty Ships by Hull No. - Includes info on the men and women for whom the ships were named (from Wikipedia).

Empire Ships - Also listed in alphabetical order. The site also has a section listing the "Sam"-ships, and other Liberty ships, some of which came under the British flag.

Back to Convoy Index

To the next HX convoy in my list HX 292