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SHIP'S MASTER LOST
MS Leda
The Panama Transport Company tanker Leda met with a fate thai overtook many Allied ships in 1942. On November 3 of that year, while in a convoy bound from Caripito to New York, the Leda was torpedoed and set on fire when she was about 120 miles northwest of Trinidad. The vessel had a capacity load of fuel oil. She was manned by a merchant crew of forty officers and men and carried eight U. S. Navy gunners.
Fourth Ship Victim in Eleven Hours
In a running attack which started when the convoy was about 90 miles northwest of Trinidad, the Leda was the fourth victim within eleven hours. All hands managed to leave the ship. but the master. Captain Jens P. Michelsen, was so seriously injured that he died aboard the patrol craft which rescued the crew from the lifeboats and a life raft.
The Leda sank on November 5 while being towed by a U. S. naval vessel.
Second Male Einar C. P. Blume's report told the story of the submarine attack on convoy TAG-18 (Trinidad-Aruba-Guantanamo Convoy No. 18);
"The Leda had a crew of several nationalities, mostly Danisli, numbering 40 officers and men, and she carried 8 U. S. Navy gunners. We sailed from Caripito early in the morning of November 1 and later stopped at Guiria to complete our loading. The vessel was armed with a 4-inch gun aft and four 30-caliber Lewis machine guns - two forward, one on each side of the bridge; and two aft, one on the port and one on the starboard side.
"We arrived at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, about noon on November 1.
"About 9 a.m. on November 2 we left our rendezvous off Port-of-Spain in a convoy with U. S. Navy escorts. In accordance with Navy orders given to Captain Michelsen, we proceeded in a northwesterly direction. The weather was fine and dear and the sea smooth.
Twenty-two in Convoy
"The Leda was almost the last ship of the convoy to leave the rendezvous and it was not until nearly 9 p.m. that we caught up with the other vessels and took our assigned position at the head of column
No. I. In all, there were about twenty-two ships in the convoy. The weather continued fine and clear; there was no moon, but the sky was bright with star-light.
"About 8:30 p.m., November 2, before we reached our position in the convoy and when we were at a point about 90 miles off Trinidad, the British (ex Danish) flag freighter Chr. ]. Kampmann, one of the last ships in the convoy, was hit by two torpedoes. She sank within a few minutes.
"The convoy proceeded in orderly fashion and all vessels were entirely blacked out.
"We were making a speed of about 8 knots when, just as the moon appeared on the horizon, the Norwegian tanker Thorshavet, stationed at about the middle of the formation, was torpedoed twice in quick succession and fell astern. We did not see this ship sink. Later, in Curacao, her chief officer told us thai the Thorshavet was still afloat when he last saw her.
"After this second torpedoing, the convoy still proceeded in an orderly manner on the same course and speed. At about 6:30 a.m., November 3, an American nag ore carrier in the convoy was hit. I was off watch at the time and do not know whether this vessel sank.
"Leda" Hit Twice
"About 6:35 a.m., November 3, the Leda was torpedoed twice, in quick succession, on the starboard side amidships, when we were about 120 miles north-west of Trinidad. I was asleep in my quarters on the starboard side amidships. Captain Michelsen was on the bridge with Chief Officer Arnold H. J. Hansen;
Able Seaman Odd Bjune was at the wheel. There were two lookouts, one on the foc'sle head and one atop the bridge. On duty in the engineroom was Fourth Engineer Jens Christensen.
Commander of Rescue Vessel an Esso Man
"When the first torpedo exploded I was struck on the head either by debris or by a table, which lay adjacent to my sleeping couch. I was in a dazed condition and could remember nothing until some time later, when I regained consciousness aboard the American patrol vessel PC 495."
The commanding officer of the PC 495 was Lieutenant Charles W. Frey, LJSNR (now a Jersey Company employee). In an interview for this history he related the following eye-witness story:
"The Lt'da was the first ship in the first column and the PC 495 was patrolling to jxm of the two leading vessels of the column. After a tough night I had gone Ix-low at about 5 a.m.
"At about 6:30 the officer of the deck called me and said, 'Captain, I think they have just hit another one.' At the same time he sounded the general alarm. I went up to the bridge and saw the torpedoed ship, an ore carrier, several columns to starlward of the Leda, in the first line of the convoy. She started to settle by the stern and drifted back toward the rear of the column. It wa.s broad daylight. The sun had been up an hour.
Spectacular Sight
"Just as all hands got on deck, there was another explosion and a huge flash of flame ap(>eared over the Leda. The flame was followed by a column of smoke that rose about 1,000 feet into tlie air and then settled down, covering the torpedoed and burning tanker.
"It was a spectacular sight. We were within 500 yards of the Leda and thought we would never see the vessel after that, but as the rest of the convoy moved on and the smoke cleared away, we saw that the Leda was still afloat. We made an intensive patrol of our sector and then received word to drop aft and pick up survivors."
Fourth Engineer Christensen stated in his rejxnt:
"When the first torpedo was felt, I immediately stopped the engines, in accordance with standing instructions from the captain."
The following account of the torpedoing was submitted bv Chief Mate Hansen:
"A huge sheet of flame shot up four or five hundred feet into (lie air and there were fires about the bridge deck. I believe that the torpedoes contained incendiary elements.
"Captain Michclscn and I were standing on the starboard wing of the bridge when the Leda was hit. The captain seemed to be badly hurt and I thought his left leg was broken; this was confirmed by the U. S. Navy pharmacist's mate aboard the PC 495, who subsequently gave me a report of the extent of the captain's injuries."
Besides Captain Michelscn, four other members of the Leda's crew were injured: Chief Mate Hansen, Second Male Blume, Third Male Emil Petersen, and Steward Peter Nielscn. They were given medical attention at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Willemstad, N. W. I.
To continue Chief Mate Hansen's report:
"At no time during the voyage did we actually sight a submarine, but Chief Boatswain's Mate Henry P. Fuller, in charge of the U. S. Navy gun crew, re-ixmed shortly before 8:30 on the night of November 2 that lie observed (lie wakes of two torpedoes going past our stern.
"After the second lorjK-do struck, I found Captain Michelscn lying on the starboard wing of (lie bridge and carried Ilim on my back to the port side. where Chief Engineer Laurits Sorensen and two other crew members helped me take (lie captain down the stairway and place him in lifelx)at No. 2."
Second Male Blume slated that after the vessel was torpedoed he remembered very little, but obtained the following information from his shipmates:
"I was told that when the torpedoes struck. No. I starboard lifeboat was smashed to pieces. As a result of flying debris and the violent concussion. Captain Michehrn and Chief Male Hansen were seriously wounded. Captain Michelsen died aboard the patrol Boat on November 4.
"I also learned that the three remaining lifeboats were successfully launched and boarded by all hands and that we were in the boats about 15 minutes before being picked up by the PC 495, commanded by Lieutenant Charles W. Frey, USNR. Third Mate Petersen and Steward Nielsen were rescued from a life raft."
Able Seaman Niels 0. Nielsen related (in '1944, when he was a third mate) his experience on the Leda in an interview for this history:
"When the torpedoes exploded, amidships on the starboard side, I was at work on the engineroom skylight. The two torpedoes hit almost together, blasting one large hole. The ship caught fire and the flames rose to a height of several hundred feet.
"The men on the U. S. Navy patrol boat which later rescued us thought that all hands on the Leda were lost. They were astonished when they saw the burning tanker's entire crew in lifeboats and on rafis.
"Some of the oil on the water caught fire and this accounted for some of the burns received by members of the crew and Navy gunners."
To continue Lieutenant Frey's account:
"When the PC 495 picked up the survivors of the Leda we found that a number of them were severely burned. One of our men. Richard Richards, pharmacist's mate, second class, worked on these people for about forty hours straight. On my recommendation he was promoted to pharmacist's mate, first class, for his excellent and untiring work with the Leda survivors.
"While we were rescuing the crew of the Leda, the convoy got ahead of us. We caught up with the formation later that morning and resumed our escort duty thai night and until the early afternoon of the next day.
Fine Tributes to Master
"Among the crew members of the Leda, the two most seriously injured were Captain Michelsen and Chief Mate Hansen. We made them as comfortable as we could in our small wardroom. When Captain Michelsen died and we covered him with a blanket, I said to the male, "The captain is dead. Would you like to be moved somewhere else?' 'No,' he replied, "I have sailed with Captain Michelsen for eight years ;>nd I'll stay with him a little longer.'
"I have never seen a shipmaster who was better liked by his men than Captain Michelsen. When it became known that he had died, every single member of his crew asked permission to enter the wardroom and pay his respects.
"At about 1 p.m. on November \ we left the convoy and went into Willemstad, where we tied up at 5 p.m. alongside a YMS at the pier. It took about 45 minutes to put the Leda's merchant crew and armed guard ashore, turn them over to the Navy, and get in contact with the Company's agent. As soon as * possible the PC 495 got under way and rejoined the convoy.
"That same evening of November 4, a number of tankers came out of Aruba to join us. As they were approaching the formation, two, or maybe three, were torpedoed and sunk. I saw two ships on fire. No survivors were found.
"Between Trinidad and Guanianamo, convoy TAG-18, including the tankers from Aruba, lost seven or eight ships out of about thirty. Every officer and man on board the escorts and in the merchant ships' armed guards was awarded a battle star on his American Theater ribbon.
"Our escort commander's destroyer was delayed in sailing. He joined us a day and a half later. When we arrived at Guanianamo he was asked if he had any trouble finding the convoy. 'No,' he said, 'I just followed the wreckage from one point to another'."
The War Shipping Administration was informed by the Navy Department that the Leda, after being damaged by enemy action, "sank, while in tow, in Latitude ll°12^ North, Longitude 62° W West."
Memorial Services
Funeral services for Captain Michelsen were held at Willemstad on November 5. All members of the crew able to attend were present. On December 5, 1942, memorial services for the late master of the Leda, who was interred at Willemstad, were held in the chapel of the Seamen's Church Institute, New York. In attendance were about 100 Danish seamen and officers, including 22 former crew members of the Leda.
On November 21, 1942, seventeen of the crew, with Second Mate Blume in charge, arrived at Miami from Barranquilla by plane. They reached New York on the 24th. The second group, nineteen men in charge of Chief Engineer Sorensen, were flown to Miami on November 24 and arrived in New York on the 26th.
Three-of the injured crew members, Chief Mate Hansen, Third Mate Petersen, and Steward Nielsen, were detained at Willemstad until better able 10 travel. They reached New York on November 30, December 6, and December 15, respectively.
The MS Leda was built in 1925 by Howaldiswerke A.G., at KieI-NeumuhIen, Gerniany. She was a sister ship of the Penelope and similar to the Thalia, Am-Petco, and Calliope.
A twin-screw vessel of 12,915 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 27 feet, 3 inches, she had an overall length of 489 feet, 1 inch, a length between perpendiculars of 469 feet, 7 inches, a moulded breadth of 63 feel, and a depth moulded of 35 feet, 6 inches. Her cargo carrying capacity was • 102,266 barrels and she had an assigned pumping rate of 4.000 barrels an hour.
Her Diesel engines developed 3,000 brake horsepower and gave her a classification certified speed of 10.5 knots.
At the outbreak of hostilities in Europe the Leda, manned by a German crew, was engaged in loading crude oil at Caripito. She then went to Guiria and topped off her cargo to the amount of 83,887 barrels.
In 1940, on 10 voyages, the Leda, manned by Danes, delivered 849.086 barrels of cargo. Her first load of the year, 89,558 barrels of naphtha distillate, was taken from Caripito to Aruba. Then followed the vessel's first wartime Atlantic crossing, from Cartagena to Le Havre, via Halifax. She arrived at the French port on March 5 and returned on April 24, after loading 91,460 barrels of Iraq crude at Tripoli, Lebanon. On May 4 the Leda took departure from Le Havre and sailed 10 Aruba. The rest of the year she picked up her cargoes at Caribbean and South American ports.
On August 15, 1941, another change of personnel was made when a U. S. crew took over from the Danish. The Leda sailed with an American crew until April 1, 1942, when she was again manned by Danes, under the command of Captain Michelsen.
During the latter part of 1941 the vessel made a trip to Cape Town with 79,328 barrels of Maroil, returning to Caripito on December 22 in lime to deliver a full load of Diesel oil to Aruba before the end of the year.
On January 9, 1942, (lie Leda arrived in New York from Aruba with 82,752 barrels of fuel oil. For the next nine months -she loaded cargoes of crude and fuel oils at Caribbean and South American ports and took them to New York. Aruba, San Juan, Mayaguez, Buenos Aires, Trinidad. Recife, Sanios, and Rio dc Janeiro. It was on her third trip of the year to New York that she was torpedoed and sunk.
The wartime transportation record of (he Leda was in summary as follows:
The American wartime masters of the Leda were Captains Cyril E. Eden. Ernest C. Kelson, Felix W. Kretchmer, Gustavc A. Eklund. Daniel H. Larsen. and Patrick S. Mahony.
The American officers in charge of her engineroom during the same period were Chief Engineers Harold J. Meek, Harry L. Hovland, Victor C. Gage, and Ervin C. Haatvedt.
The Leda's Danish wartime masters were Poul Kildegaard and Jens P. Michelsen. Serving with them were Chief Engineers Svenning Hegna, Christian H. Hansen. and Laurits Sorenscn.
Captain Jens P. Michelsen joined the Company on February 6, 1941, and had continuous service as master until November 4, 1942, when he died as a result of the torpedoing of the Leda. He was in command of the Thalia when she was sunk by enemy action on February 23, 1942.
Chief Engineer Laurits Sorensen joined the Company on May 26, 1939, as a second assistant engineer. He became chief engineer on November 8, 1941.
Merchant Crew Lost on the "Leda"— November 3. 1942
Merchant Crew Survivors of the "Leda"
U. S. Navy Armed Guard Survivors of the "Leda" November 3, 1942
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