[TINGLEFF]

Mexico (1920) Built: Nakskov Skibsværft, Nakskov, Denmark (Yard No. 1) Tonnage: 4700 dwt., 3013 gt. LOA: 300' Beam: 44' Draught: Diesel: 2 pc. 6-cyl Holeby 4-stroke engines. 1600 IHP. Twin-screw. Servi= ce speed 9.75 knots.

Mexico (Photograph: Poul Tingleff)

Motortanker. Crew: 29.

Sold to Norwegian owner C. Hannevig, Oslo 1935. Name remained unchanged. Sunk 6/3/41 at the mouth of River Thames after striking a mine.
[NAKSKOV85, TINGLEFF]

Cargo vessel with accomodation for 10 passengers in 5 cabins. 43 crew.

Commenced maiden voyage 29/3/20 from Copenhagen to Australia. Second voyage also went to Australia. Next voyages all went to the Far East. From 1921 to 1939, totally 37 voyages from Europe to far eastern ports were completed. On a few of these voyages, the vessel returned via the Pacific to ports on the US West Coast and back to Europe.

Seized 14/4/40 under passage from Aden to Colombo by HMS Hobart from the Australian navy. Subsequently under English flag. After 7 weeks at Colombo the vessel resumed her scheduled voyage to far eastern ports via Singapore for ports in China and Japan. She arrived Yokohama 27/7/40 for dry-docking. Left Japan in ballast for Canada. In New Westminster and Vancouver the vessel loaded general cargo for Glasgow and Liverpool. Loading in Vancouver was completed 24/11/40. The Panama Canal was passed 10/10/40 and she continued to Bermuda for joining a convoy across the Atlantic. Arrival at Glasgow was early November and the discharge lasted 5 weeks. In Glasgow the vessel was armoured and a deck gun was installed aft. In Liverpool, general cargo was loaded for South Africa and portugeese East Africa. Left Birkenhead 20/12/40. Passed Cape Town 24/01/41 and discharge was completed in February. The vessel was in Lorenzo Marques 24/08/41 loading Coffe and Tea for England. From Cape Town, which was passed 29/10/41 she continued alone to Freetown and joined a convoy to England. All cargo was discharged in Liverpool and subsequenly war material was loaded for the Persian Gulf. Cape Town was passed eastbound 08/02-1942 and westbound back to England 02/04/42. There are no details from next voyage apart from Cape Town being passed 04/11/42.

On the following voyage, which became Afrika's last, the vessel left Cape Town in ballast to Trinidad for order. 500 miles before reaching Trinidad, order was received to go to Charleston, USA. Here, however, the vessel was not expected and there was no cargo. After one day in Charleston, she left for Norfolk, Virginia. After one week in Norfolk, the vessel was ordered to go to New York and later, still in ballast, to Halifax, where a full cargo was loaded for England. This cargo was partly grain, and partly war materials amongst which, a considerable amount of explosives. Departure from Halifax was around 01/02-1943 and the vessel joined convoy SC-118 consisting of 61 merchant ships and 12 escort vessels. Afrika had 60 people onboard including a guncrew of 10: 20 Danes, 22 English, 5 Canadians, 1 Norwegian, 1 French and 1 American.

SC-118 turned out to be an ill-fated convoy.

A survivor from a british ship, torpedoed in another convoy HX-224 having left Halifax a few days earlier, had been picked-up by the German submarine U-632. He had revealed information about the large convoy now under way. Totally 21 German submarines gathered for the attack. From February 4th to 9th they managed to sink 13 merchant ships in convoy SC-118.

One of these ships was Afrika.

In the early morning February 7th 1943, the weather was rather bad. force 7 with hail and rain showers. Around 03:40 the vessel was hit by a torpedo in cargo hold no. 5 and went down about 8 minutes later. Nobody was injured by the torpedoing itself. The torpedo had been fired by the german submarine U-402 commanded by Kapitanleutnant Siegfried von Forster. The position was 55° 16' North, 26° 31' West. The poor weather made it very difficult to launch the life boats. One of the three life boats, which the crew managed to get into the water, capsized. 36 survivors were after a few hours picked-up by the two escort vessels HMS Migonette and HMS Campanula. 24 crewmembers including Afrika's master E. Broholm-Jensen were lost.

[B&W76, JOHANNESEN99, LLOYDS35, TINGLEFF]

[TINGLEFF]

[TINGLEFF]

4 masted schooner with wooden hull. Lost c. 1921.
[KERSHAW64B]

Sold to Italian owner, 1921. Converted to trawler & subsequently renamed Genepesca VI
[KERSHAW64B, NAKSKOV85]

Malaya (1921) Built: Burmeister & Wain (Yard No. 316) Tonnage: 13400 dwt., 8654 gt. LOA: 464.6' LBP: 445' Beam: 60.4' Draught from shelterdeck: 42' Diesel: 2 pc. 6-cyl. B&W 4-stroke engines type 6300-X. 4500 IHP. Twin-screw. Service speed 12 knots.

Malaya (Photograph: Poul Tingleff)

Malaya (Photograph: Poul Tingleff)

General cargo vessel. Crew: 43. Accomodation for 10 passengers in 5 cabins.

Operated mainly on the Far Eastern routes. 34 roundtrips on this route from 1921 to 1938.
Voyage no. 35 outbound went via the Panama Canal to Portland, Oregon and Seattle.Continued to Japan and Saigon. Returned to France.

Voyage no. 36 went from France to the US Pacific Coast and back to Copenhagen.

Voyage no. 37 on the Far Eastern route lasted from 1/12/38 to 16/6/39.

On the next voyage the vessel left Copenhagen on 2/7/39. Details from this voyage are not known, but Malaya was presumably back in Copenhagen during the first months of 1940. She was one of the vessels, which were placed at the disposal of the Danish authorities and was sent to South America to bring a cargo of grain back to Denmark. The vessel arrived Bahia Blanca 2/4/40 and had finished loading 9/4/40 (the day when the Germany started the occupation of Denmark). Malaya, however, remained in Bahia Blanca, possibly because she was arrested by the Argentinian government by German request. The captain received conflicting orders from various sources and decided to stay in port. In mid June, however, the vessel weighed anchors and left with a full cargo of 12,000 tons grain. The course was set for Freetown in West Africa from where the vessel joined convoy SL-39 on 9/7/40 destinated for England.

The vessel arrived England late July 1940. Came under English flag and was renamed Malaya II. She now made several voyages across the Atlantic with war materials and explosives.

Early June 1941 the vessel loaded another dangerous cargo. 49 persons were onboard: 31 Danish, 14 British and 4 Canadians. She left Halifax 16/6/41 in convoy HX-133. On June 24th at a position south of Greenland, the convoy was attacked by about 10 German submarines. A battle, which lasted 5 days was fought between escort vessls and submarines. 7 merchant ships and 2 submarines were sunk. Among the sunken vessels was Malaya II. In the early hours 27/6/41 the vessel was hit by a torpedo in no. 2 hold , containing dynamite. The torpedo was fired from U-564 under command by Kapitanleutnant Reinhard Shuren. Malaya II went down within a few minutes at the position 59° 56' North 30° 35' West. Only 5 Danish and 1 British crewmembers survived. They were picked-up by the Canadian escort vessel HMS Collingwood and later landed in Reykjavik.
[B&W76, JOHANNESEN99, LLOYDS35, ROBINSON, TINGLEFF]

Java (1921) Built: Nakskov Skibsværft (Yard No. 3) Tonnage: 13166 dwt., 5219 gt. ([KERSHAW64B]) has 8681 gt.) (later 8694 gt. ?) LOA: 445.8' Beam: 60.3' Draught: 31.1' Diesel:3400 HP, twin-screw, service speed 11.5 knots.

Java

Java (Photograph: A Duncan)

Sold to Japanese breakers 1958 - scrapped Yokosuka 12/6/58.
[KERSHAW64B, LLOYDS35, LLOYDS51, NAKSKOV85, ROBINSON]

København (1921) Built: Ramage & Ferguson, Leith Tonnage: 3965 (3901?) gt. (5200 dwt.) LOA: 435' Diesel: Burmeister & Wain 4,125 l. diesel engine developing 500 bhp.

Model of København in Danish Maritime Museum (Photograph: Jess Christensen)

København

In 1913, EAC ordered a large sailing vessel for use in the Australian grain trade. Although the hull was completed by 1915, no further work was done due to WWI. In 1918, the vessel was requisitioned by the Admiralty, named Black Dragon and eventually towed to Gibraltar where she was used as a coaling hulk for many years.

København was ordered by EAC after the war to replace the original vessel (the same drawings were used). The vessel was also intended for the Australian grain trade but also carried cadets/apprentices training for careers in the Danish Merchant Marine (which makes København possibly the largest `sail training' vessel built in U.K.?) København was a 5 masted steel-hulled auxiliary barque fitted with radio. As might be expected, she was registered in København.

A brief report on a `typical' docking: Arrived Thevenard (Australia) 16/1/27, departed 15/2/27. Berthed on North side. Outward cargo, 4,161 tons bagged wheat. Master Capt H K Christensen, pilot P M MacIntosh.

After making ten voyages, she disappeared some time after Dec 12 1928 in Southern Ocean with crew of 15 plus 45 cadets. She departed from River Plate on passage from Montevideo to Melbourne on 12/12/28. Her last radio message received 21/12/28 was `Alls well.", after which she disappeared.

Several vessels conducted a search over a wide area. In particular, the Danish tanker Mexico was chartered to serch eastbound from the River Plate and the Australian interstate steamer Junee tp search westbound from Australia. Their search commenced 2/7/29 - seven months after København sailed on the last voyage, and lasted for three months. The search included islands of the Southern Ocean and parts of the west coast of Australia, but no trace of crew or vessel was ever found.

Posted misssing at Loyds 1/1/30.
[CHRISTENSEN, STEVENSON, TREWARTHA, WOODMAN97]

A Selection of photographs of København supplied by Sue Trewartha from the Historical Photograph Collection of the District Council of Ceduna, Australia. Used with permission for display purposes only.

		Figure head and front of København 1927 - Photo taken by Perc Lange.
		Photo taken from the sea at jetty 1927 Photo from Ceduna National Trust. Photo was taken from Pinky Point looking south to Thevenard jetty. Quite likely to be Greek fishing boats in foreground as there is a strong Greek fishing community here.
		København at jetty, train other ship fly fox. Photo supplied by Mr Bob Trewartha, taken coming up the jetty looking west. See other ship, train, people and Kobenhavn on the right.
		København tied to jetty 1927 - Photo supplied by Mr Bob Trewartha, shows the Kobenhavn attached by rope to the Thevenard jetty.

		Photo supplied by Mr Geoff Lowe, taken from the end of the jetty, looking eastwards and shows the København on the left and another ship on the right. The train is loaded with bagged wheat. The towers are the flying fox used to transport plaster made from locally mined gypsum from the factory on shore to the ships. Half way down the København, it looks like it might be a rope sling perhaps used to sling the bags aboard.
		Painting signed Captain København 1927 - Photo given to the providor, Mr Vin Irwin, whose daughter Helene Bourne, gave me the photo. Personally signed by the Captain.
		Front of ship - This photo supplied by Geoff Lowe, shows the front of the ship taken from the end of the jetty looking back to the shore, eastwards. Note the anchor and perhaps the rope sling along the side.
		Sailors and locals on board København - Photo by Perc Lange.

Car ferry.
[NAKSKOV85]

Bintang (1922) Built: Nakskov Skibsværft, Nakskov, Denmark (Yard No. 4) Tonnage: 3401 dwt., 2779 gt. LbP: 285' Beam: 44' Draught from shelterdeck: 28' Diesel:2 pc. 6-cyl. B&W 4-stroke engines type 6125-X. 1500 IHK. Twin sc= rew. Service speed 9.0 knots.

Bintang on sea trials (Photograph: Poul Tingleff)

Crew: 40. Accomodation for 6 passengers in 3 cabins. General cargo vessel built for operation in the Far East area.

The vessel left the shipyard in Nakskov 27/5/22 and loaded in Copenhagen and other European loading ports for Straits and Bangkok. Arrived Bangkok 28/7/22 and after completing discharge, Bintang was engaged in a local service mainly between Bangkok and Hong Kong / Swatow. The cargo was generally rice to Hong Kong and general cargo to Bangkok on the return voyage. Furthermore the vessel took a number of deck passengers in both directions. The call at Swatow was mainly for the passenger service.

The vessel continued this service until the mid thirties, after which she for a period was engaged in transporting rice from Saigon. Bintang made two voyages with rice to Senegal, where peanuts were loaded for France. On the return voyage salt was loaded for Japan. In 1939 the vessel made one voyage to Europe and returned with gypsum from Cyprus.

In September 1939 Bintang was chartered by the Government of Thailand for a transport of gasoline from USA. For the outbound voyage, the vessel loaded jute for Cuba and tea for New York. From New York the voyage contined to New Orleans, where a full cargo of 90,000 cans of gasoline was loaded. Departure from New Orleans was 30/3/40. The Panama Canal was passed 6/4/40. A few days later, news of the German occupation of Denmark were received over the radio. Since Thailand in those days was not considered safe for a Danish vessel due to the risk of an embargo, the course was altered for Hong Kong, where the vessel arrived in the early days of May 1940 and was subsequently seized by the British authorities. The English flag was hoisted onboard 31/5/40. The danish officers as well as the Chinese crew accepted to continue with the vessel under the new conditions. After the Thai government had guaranteed that no difficulties would arise by calling at Bangkok, the vessel continued from Hong Kong to the port of destination, where the gasoline was discharged. Following an order from the british Ministry of Shipping, the vessel now loaded for Singapore. Departure from Bangkok was 19/ 6/40 and the discharge in Singapore was completed 29/7/40. After a one month dry-docking for necessary repairs, the vessel made another voyage with rice from Bangkok to Singapore and Port Swettenham.

On 30/8/40 the vessel was handed over to British India Steam Navigation Co. and was operated in the relatively peaceful Indian Ocean between Rangoon and Singapore.

Mid 1941, Bintang was sent to the Eastern Mediterranean and was one of the 30 - 40 ships, which kept the supply lines open for the British Desert Army. In October 1941 a large allied offensive in North Africa started. From the east Montgomery's forces broke through the German lines and advanced towards Tunis. The merchant vessels were to ensure the supplies needed to drive the Germans out of North Africa. Eventually a regular convoy service was operated along the coast from Alexandria to Trobruk, Benghazi and other ports towards the west as the allies moved forward.

Bintang arrived Alexandria 31/1/42 after such a voyage. Here the vessel loaded gasoline in cans for Tobruk and joined a convoy, which departed 20/2/42. On Sunday 22/2/42 at 09:30 hrs. Bintang was attacked by a German plane dropping four bombs of which three hit the ship at the no. 2 hold, on the bridge and in the engine room respectively. A violent fire broke out and the vessel began sinking at a position about 75 nautical miles east of Tobruk (31° 50' N, 26° 01' E). 12 people onboard including the ship's master lost their lives. 28 survivors of which many were injured, were picked up by a corvette from the escort and brought to hospitals in Tobruk and Alexandria.
[JOHANNESEN99, KERSHAW64B, LLOYDS35, NAKSKOV85, TINGLEFF]

Ex Fox II. Rigged as 3 masted schooner with auxiliary steam power. Sold to Gronlands Styrelse and renamed Gustav Holm, 1929. Out of register 1959.
[KERSHAW64B]

Lost, 1945.
[TINGLEFF]

Lost, 1939.
[TINGLEFF]

Danmark (1925) Built: Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen (Yard No. 337) Tonnage: 8391 gt. 12350 dwt. LOA: Beam: Draught: Diesel: twin-screw

Danmark

Torpedoed and sunk by gunfire, 30/7/42, position 07° 00' N, 24° 19' W.
[JOHANNESEN99, KERSHAW64B, LLOYDS35]

[TINGLEFF]

Lalandia (1927) Built: Nakskov Skibsværft (Yard No. 29, delivered 2/4/27) Tonnage: 7291 dwt., 5146 gt., (4913 gt.?) LOA: 405' (123.51 m.) (LBP 390' ?) Beam: 16.23 m. Draught: 8.53 m. Passengers: 30 Diesel:3750 HP, twin screw, Service speed: 12.25 knots.

Lalandia (Photograph: A Duncan)

Lalandia	Lalandia	Lalandia

Cargo/passenger vessel. Named after Danish island of Lolland (b/place of EAC founder, Captain H.N. Andersen.

Operated on the service between South East Asia (mainly Bangkok) and Europe. Laid up in Denmark during the war. After the ward used by the United Maritime Authority and returned to EAC in 1946. Initially used between Europe and Australia (two round trips), then returned to the East Asia service. Sold for scrapping in Hong Kong in August, 1961.
[LEFLEMING59, LLOYDS35, LLOYDS51, NAKSKOV85, TOFTE]

Meonia (1927) Built: Nakskov Skibsværft (Yard No. 30, delivered 3/11/27) Tonnage: 3260 nt., 5267 gt., 7310 dwt. LOA: 419'0", (127.70 m.) (LBP: 405' ?) Beam: 54'5" (16.54 m.) Draught: 24'10 (8.53 m.) Diesel: 3750 HP, twin-screw, service speed: 13 knots	Meonia	Meonia
Meonia (Photograph: A Duncan)

Cargo/passenger vessel: 48 passengers.

Latin for the Danish island of Møn. Meonia operated on the Europe - S.E. Asia (mainly Bangkok) service. Captured by the French during WWII and renamed Sainte Edith. Returned to EAC in September, 1945, resuming the name of Meonia. Chartered to the French government for six months. returned to Europe - S.E. Asia service. Sold for scrapping in Hong Kong in December, 1961.
[LEFLEMING59, LLOYDS35, LLOYDS51, MAPPLEBECK, NAKSKOV85, TOFTE]

Saimese registered steam tug based at Bangkok. Sold 1959.
[KERSHAW64B, LLOYDS35]

Alsia (1929) Built: Nakskov Skibsværft, Nakskov, Denmark (Yard No. 36) Tonnage: 5812 gt., 8100 dwt. LBP: 425' LOA: Beam: 57' Draught: 24' 7" Depth from shelterdeck: 36' Diesel:6700 IHP / 5000 BHP. 2 pc. B&W 4-stroke reversible cross head engines type 7630-S nos. 1521 & 1522 each connected to a fixed propeller. Service speed 14 knots.

Alsia

Alsia on fire (Photograph: Poul Tingleff)

Passenger/cargo motorship. Crew: 59. Accomodation for 38 passengers.

Operated on the route between Europe and Straits/Bangkok.

Homeward bound on voyage no. 27, the vessel was lost in a fire, which broke out in the engine room May 9th, 1939 about 20 nautical miles south of the Barberyn Lighthouse on Ceylon. Passengers and crew went into the life boats and were picked-up by Canton (P&O) and HMS Grashopper (British Navy). The vessel drifted aground west of the city of Galle where it burned completely out.
[KERSHAW64B, LLOYDS35, NAKSKOV85, TINGLEFF]