The steel steamship Svinta was launched from the Ablasserdam yard of N V Werf De Noord (Yard No 113) in 1916. She measured 236.9′ x 36.6′ x 15.7′ and her tonnage was 1267 gross tons, 764 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by Ablasserdamche Scheepswerf and Maschinefabriek delivering 127 nominal horse power. She was ordered for the A/S D/S Svinta company by the company’s owner William Hansen of Bergen.
Extract of Lloyd’s Register 1939
Steamship Svinta at anchor
On 11th February 1940 Svinta joined convoy HN10B off Norway heading for the UK loaded with a full cargo of wood pulp. The convoy reached Methil on 13th February and dispersed to various UK ports. Svinta continued to her destination of Preston where she off loaded her cargo and was reloaded with coal and coke for a return voyage to Norway. A few weeks later Svinta departed on her return trip and safely reached Kirkwall where she joined fourteen other ships assembling to join the large convoy ON21 heading for Norway. ON21 had assembled in the Firth of Forth earlier and had departed for Norway on 19th March. As the convoy steamed north it was attacked by two German Heinkel bombers with one ship hit by an incendiary but with only minor damage the convoy continued north in tact. On 20th March the fifteen ships assembled in Kirkwall Bay set out intending to join the convoy east of Orkney. The German bombers attacks continued with six Heinkels commencing an attack on the ships heading out of Kirkwall. Three of the Germans were chased off by two British Skua aircraft assigned to protect the convoy but the remaining Heinkels pressed on their attack and around 7:15pm dropped 15 – 20 bombs hitting three ships including Svinta.
Svinta post visit from the Luftwaffe.
At this point the records become confused with various versions of the events that followed. It appears that Svinta was taken in tow by the tug St Mellion intent on taking her back to Kirkwall for repair but she was to sink en route. Whether the loss was due to the damage incurred in the air attack or possibly to an attack from a U-boat or perhaps a subsequent explosion when she hit a German mine (all these versions appear in different sources that describe her loss) is unclear. Even the U-boat version is not clear from the German U-boat records. Some sources quote U-22 as the attacking submarine but she was elsewhere at the time. Other sources indicate U-57 fired the final coup de grace (she was certainly in the area at the time as she sank SS Daghestan nine miles east of Copinsay on 20th March but doesn‘t appear to claim the sinking of Svinta in the German records). A final theory suggested that the explosion that was reported en route to Kirkwall (if this actually occurred) was the result of a delayed ignition of one of the German aircraft bombs. The most plausible version would appear to be that she continued to fill after she was taken on tow and was abandoned en route to Kirkwall. In any case, what is certain is that Svinta sank with no loss of life at some point after the air attack.
The wreck of the Svinta lies in position 58° 56.855’N, 002° 33.188’W oriented 033/213 degrees in 61 metres with a least clearance of 57 metres. The wreck, with the cargo of coal clearly visible, sits upright and mostly in tact. Her identity was confirmed in 2008 when divers recovered the maker’ s plate from the wreck.
