Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Wednesday 20 February 1946, page 2


NORWEGIAN SHIP MASTER NARRATES WAR ORDEALS

How a cargo of 3700 tons of phosphate loaded at Christmas Island and destined for Australia went to the bottom on a Jap torpedo striking the Norwegian ship Eidsvold, was narrated by Captain S. Fridvold, master of the Norwegian motor vessel Skagerak, now loading sugar for a southern port. Christmas Island, explained Captain Fridvold, is 250 miles south of Java and the Eidsvold had put in there with the intention of lifting 7800 tons of phosphate for this country. When she had loaded 3700 tons, she was ordered from the wharf to the roadstead and while there was attacked and sunk, breaking in two before she finally rested on the sea bed.

Skagerak, sister ship to the Eids-, vold is owned by Olaf Diltlev—Simon-sen junior, of Oslo, Norway. She is now loading 8000 tons of sugar. Skagerak has been on the Austra-lian coast for some years, plying be-tween this land and the Middle East and Mediterranean. She has even been used as a troop carrier on oc-casions, but mostly she was laden with supplies and war materials. Torpedoing of the Eidsvold took place in January, 1942. The Jap under water missile struck amidships and almost bisected the vessel immediately. As It was, the fore and aft sections were only held together by the super-structure, the whole body of the ship having been cut in two by the force of the explosion. The ship was abandoned at 6.15 p.m. and it was noticed, as darkness fell, that Eidsvold was still afloat, having drifted a little. Next morn-ing, after the whole complement of 35 had been landed on Christmas Is-land, it was observed that Eidsvold had settled on the sea bed in six fathoms of water, having subsided keel on, but with a certain list. The aft portion was about 70 yards from the fore. The bridge then was clear of water. For 16 days, Captain Fridvold and his crew lived on Christmas Island, where they were billeted out with the residents. During this time they re-ceived every possible kindness from

the English folk settled on the lsland. At the end of that period they were told that a ship would shortly arrive for them and were told to be in readi-ness by 6 am. one day. Waiting on the wharf for the ves-sel they found that their transport from Christmas Island was the British cruiser Durban and in this they were moved to Batavia, where they experienced Jap bombing dill They were waiting in Batavia when Singapore fell on February 15, 1942 Five days later the crew of the Eidsvold embarked on the Burns Philp steamer Marella for Sydney. The New South Wales capital was not reached until March 21, 1942. When they were proceeding across the Indian Ocean they met Skagerak and recognised the vessel, though at the time Cap-tain Fridvold was not aware that she was to be his next ship. On the voyage to Australia, calls were made at Fremantle and Mel-bourne. Under instructions from the Con-sul-General for Norway in Sydney, Captain Fridvold took charge of Skagerak on July 1, 1942, and he has since been engaged in much work in convoys. On many occasions, he said other ships in the convoy had been attacked, but Skagerak came through the Pacific war unscathed. The vessel while in convoy had been anchored off Townsville, but the present is her first visit to the port, Captain Fridvold concluded.