# Hektoria



## imnotasaint (Oct 5, 2008)

On 12 September 1942 my late father in law was torpedoed on the Hektoria. All the records I have found on the internet say that survivors were picked up by the Arvida, however, although he was very very reluctant to talk about the incident at all, he always said that he was picked up and then the ship that picked him up was torpedoed with very great loss of life. This makes me think that he may have been picked up by the Ottawa. Has anyone any idea if that could be the case? He ended up in St John's then down to Halifax, then across the Rockies by train to pick up a newly built Fort ship in Vancouver. Are there any survivors from the Hektoria out there? His name was Len Black and he had only been married on 16 august and at the time he did't know he would be having a son the following May! He was a ship's carpenter.


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Welcome aboard.
I've moved your post into it's own thread so that you get a better response.
Explore the ship and you may find some answers but I'm sure the crew will be able to help.
Enjoy the voyage.


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## BillH (Oct 10, 2007)

imnotasaint said:


> On 12 September 1942 my late father in law was torpedoed on the Hektoria. All the records I have found on the internet say that survivors were picked up by the Arvida, however, although he was very very reluctant to talk about the incident at all, he always said that he was picked up and then the ship that picked him up was torpedoed with very great loss of life. This makes me think that he may have been picked up by the Ottawa. Has anyone any idea if that could be the case? He ended up in St John's then down to Halifax, then across the Rockies by train to pick up a newly built Fort ship in Vancouver. Are there any survivors from the Hektoria out there? His name was Len Black and he had only been married on 16 august and at the time he did't know he would be having a son the following May! He was a ship's carpenter.


From my records I can provide the following.

HEKTORIA (Lloyd's war losses quote her as oil refinery) 13,797g.

In ballast in convoy No. ON127 Liverpool to New York with a crew of 77 plus 10 gunners.

At 23:14 on 11 September 1942, U 211 (commanded by Hauser) began her attack sequence subsequently firing a spread of torpedoes two of which hit HEKTORIA at 01:05 at position 48.55N., 33.38W. with the death of one crew. Another torpedo hit EMPIRE MOONBEAM but neither vessel sank at that time.

At 03:51 U 608 (Struckmeijer) fired torpedoes and finally sent both vessels under.

Unfortunately my sources do not mention what vessels carried out rescues of crew.

OTTOWA was torpedoed on 14th one strike 02:05 and another 02:15, both by U 91 (Walkerling) 47.55N 43.27W.

No mention of ARVIDA being attacked


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## imnotasaint (Oct 5, 2008)

Thanks, Bill H. The Hektoria was a whale factory ship, she had started off life as a liner (called the Mystic I think) and been bought by a whaling company before the war. Len had already been torpedeod once before, off the coast of Africa on a ship called the Empire Ability. After the war he went to work for Eagle Oil on their tankers until they merged with Shell and he was made redundantin the 1960's. Unfortunately his discharge book has gone missing, we got some info from the nat archives sent but the photocopies are very poor, have been trying to decipher the names of ships etc. Some are quite clear, e.g. San Ambrosio San Demetrio etc, other not so easy to work out.


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

According to Richard Woodman's "The Real Cruel Sea" 
"Captain Hewison and most of the crew of the _Empire Moonbeam_ were taken up by the _Arvida_, as were Gjersten and his crew from the _Hektoria_."
HMCS Arvida wasn't damaged in that convoy and went on to be part of the C4 escort group rescuing more in October. On November 4th she escorted _Stockport_, _Uncas_ and _Pessacas_ along with the damaged _Titus_ toward Iceland.


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## imnotasaint (Oct 5, 2008)

Sorry, the Hektoria wasn't formerly the Mystic, she was the Medic, a White Star Liner.


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Here's a picture as the MEDIC
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/139965/ppuser/8196


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## eddyw (Nov 6, 2007)

Hello Imnotasaint, (Trying to make sense of the story) - Could the incident of the rescue ship being torpedoed have been related to the loss of Empire Ability?
Empire Ability torpedoed 27 June 1941 by U69 (Metzler). Survivors picked up by MV Amerika, transferred to HMS Burdock and landed at Milford Haven.
MV Amerika torpedoed 22 April 1943 by U306 (von Trotha)- 86 lost out of 140.
Regards


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## imnotasaint (Oct 5, 2008)

Hi Eddie
Although what you suggest sounds possible given the lack of details after all this time, the story was definitely one of being torpedoed twice in one trip. I would expect that it was all a bit of a muddle at the time with people being picked up by whatever ship they could. I know that the whole experience of being torpedoed and picked up was traumatic for people, but he seems to have been extra specially traumatised by this incident which fits with the Ottawa sinking as by all accounts there was very great loss of life and they were in the water for 5 hours before being picked up. I expect we will never know the facts unless someone else from the incident who knew him is still around which seems very unlikely after all this time.


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## eddyw (Nov 6, 2007)

Hi, Imnotasaint,
Thanks for clarification. I can't find any reference to Ottawa having picked up survivors from Hektoria. All references I have been able to find indicate all survivors rescued by Arvida.
Ottawa apparently did pick up survivors from Empire Oil before being sunk.
see Http://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol02/tnm_2_2_1-27.pdf
None of Empire Oil survivors survived the second torpedoing. Survivors of Ottowa were picked up by Celandine and Arvida, so survivors of Hektoria would have been closely involved in the aftermath of the Ottawa tragedy.
There is a picture of rescued merchant sailors on board Arvida at St John's, dated 15 Sept 1942 see:
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/war_at_sea_torpedo_survivors.html
Best wishes


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## imnotasaint (Oct 5, 2008)

Thanks Eddie, reading the account in the Northern Mariner it is clear that there is no reference to the Ottawa picking up any survivors other than those from the Empire Oil. I am thinking that perhaps Len's account, which was after all told to my husband in the 1960's, probably when Len was drunk because that is the only time he ever talked about those things, has mixed up his experiences with those of other survivors from the same convoy. One other thing my husband remembers about the story was that he said when the rescue ship was torpedoed the only two survivors from his first ship were himself and the captain. This doesn't fit in with anything on record! There is an account by one of the survivors for the Empire Oil on the BBC website WW2 People's War - My War - Bob Bromley RN.


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