Owner: A/S Bryde & Dahls Hvalfangerselskap A/S
Manager: A/S Thor Dahl, Sandefjord
Tonnage: 12 215 gt

Built by W. Doxford & Sons Ltd., Sunderland as San Nazario (Eagle Oil), launched June 9-1914 by H. W. Masters, delivered Sept. 5. Torpedoed and damaged on Oct. 15-1917 by U-53 - repaired. Purchased by Bryde & Dahls Hvalfangerselskap (A/S Thor Dahl), Sandefjord on July 23-1928, converted to whaleoil factory at Framnæs mek. Værksted and renamed Thorshammer. Further rebuilt in Rotterdam 1931/'32.

Captain: Einar Torp. Also, Hjalmar Braavold.

Related item on this website:
Norwegian Victims of Pinguin

Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.

Voyage Record From Apr.-1940 to July-1945:

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1940	Apr. 4	Rio	Trinidad	Apr. 17	Independent	See also Page 1
	Apr. 24	Trinidad	New Orleans	May 3	Independent	–
	May 13	New Orleans	Mobile	May 18	Independent	–
	June 11	Mobile	Montevideo	July 11	Independent	Via Caripito (Page 1)
	July 26	Montevideo	Halifax	Aug. 16	Independent	–
	Oct. 11	Halifax	Curacao	Oct. 20	Independent	–
	Oct. 21	Curacao	Montevideo	Nov. 10	Independent	–
	Nov. 13	Montevideo	Antarctic Whaling Grounds	–	Independent	See also narrative below & Page 1
1941	Apr. 27	South Georgia	Montevideo	May 4	Independent	–
	May 11	Montevideo	Trinidad	May 27	Independent	–
	May 27	Trinidad	Curacao	May 30	Independent	–
	June 1	Curacao	New Orleans	June 11	Independent	A. Hague says: Notional sailing date (Page 1 gives June 4).
	June 19	New Orleans	New York City	June 25	Independent	–
	June 26	New York City	Halifax	June 29	Independent	–
	Sept. 15	Halifax	St. John, N.B.	Sept. 17	Independent	–
	Sept. 26	St. John, N.B.	Halifax	Sept. 27	Independent	–
	Oct. 3	Halifax	New York City	Oct. 5	Independent	–
	Oct. 8	New York City	Aruba	Oct. 15	Independent	–
	Oct. 16	Aruba	Cristobal	Oct. 19	Independent	–
	Oct. 24	Balboa	Balboa	Jan. 16-1942	Independent	A. Hague says: Voyage data unknown (Page 1 suggests whaling grounds).
1942	Jan. 19	Cristobal	New Orleans	Jan. 25	Independent	–
	Apr. 21	New Orleans	Baytown	Apr. 25	Independent	–
	Apr. 26	Baytown	Cristobal	May 3	Independent	–
	May 5	Balboa	Talara	Sept. 2	Independent	A. Hague says: Probably via whaling grounds.
	Sept. 3	Talara	Balboa	Sept. 7	Independent	–
	Sept. 11	Balboa	Los Angeles	Sept. 24	Independent	Page 1 says: with 8 whalers.
	Sept. 25	Los Angeles	Tacoma	Oct. 1	Independent	–
1943	Jan. 5	Seattle	San Francisco	Jan. 8	Independent	–
	Jan. 12	San Francisco	Honolulu	–	Independent	–
	Jan. 30	Honolulu	Los Angeles	Febr. 18	Independent	Via San Francisco - See Page 2
	Febr. 20	Los Angeles	San Francisco	Febr. 21	Independent	–
	Febr. 23	San Francisco	Seattle	Febr. 26	Independent	–
	March 3*	Seattle	San Francisco	March 6	Independent	*Page 2 gives departure March 5 (error?).
	March 9	San Francisco	Seattle	March 12	Independent	–
	March 16	Seattle	San Francisco	March 19	Independent	–
	March 21	San Francisco	Honolulu	Apr. 1	Independent	A. Hague says: Notional sailing date (Page 2 gives March 22).
	Apr. 9	Honolulu	San Francisco	Apr. 17	Independent	–
	Apr. 22	San Francisco	Honolulu	May 3	Independent	–
	May 12	Honolulu	San Francisco	May 20	Independent	–
	May 27	San Francisco	Seattle	May 30	Independent	–
	June 8	Seattle	San Francisco	June 11	Independent	–
	July 5	San Francisco	Los Angeles	July 7	Independent	–
	July 20	Los Angeles	Callao	Oct. 5	Independent	A. Hague says: Voyage data unknown Page 2 says: with eight whalers (see also Thorgaut).
	Nov. 10	Whaling Grounds	Balboa	Nov. 18	Independent	–
	Nov. 19	Cristobal	New Orleans	Nov. 26	Independent	–
	Dec. 19	New Orleans	Cristobal	Dec. 25	Independent	–
	Dec. 26	Balboa	Talara	Dec. 30	Independent	See also Page 2 (left Talara Dec. 30? Error?)
1944	Jan. 30	Talara	South Georgia	Febr. 22	Independent	Page 2 says: and 8 whalers.
	Febr. 24	South Georgia	Valparaiso	Apr. 15	Independent	(8 whalers)
	Apr. 16	Valparaiso	Balboa	Apr. 27	Independent	–
	Apr. 28	Cristobal	Gitmo	May 2	ZG 66	Convoy available at ZG 66 (external link)
	As will be seen when following the link to Convoy ZG 66, several Norwegian whalers are included.
	May 4	Gitmo	Key West	May 6	GK 804	Convoy available at GK 804 (external link)
	May 6	Key West	Houston	May 10	KH 523	Convoy available at KH 523 (external link)
	May 24	Galveston Bar	Key West	May 28	HK 233	Convoy available at HK 233 (external link)
	May 28	Key West	–	–	KN 316	Detached June 2. Convoy available at KN 316 (external link)
	June 2	Detached from KN 316	Boston	June 4	Independent	–
	June 8	Boston	Halifax	June 10	BX 111	Convoy available at BX 111 (external link)
	Oct. 3	Halifax	Cape Cod Canal	Oct. 5	XB 128	Convoy available at XB 128 (external link)
	Oct. 5	Cape Cod Canal	New York City	Oct. 6	Independent	–
	Oct. 6	New York City	Aruba	Oct. 15	Independent	–
	Oct. 17	Aruba	New York City	Oct. 25	Independent	–
	Oct. 28	New York City	Houston	Nov. 5	Independent	–
	Nov. 6	Baytown	Cristobal	Nov. 13	Independent	–
	Nov. 15	Cristobal	Curacao	Nov. 18	Independent	–
	Nov. 20	Curacao	Cristobal	Nov. 24	Independent	–
	Nov. 28	Cristobal	Curacao	Dec. 1	Independent	–
	Dec. 3	Curacao	Cristobal	Dec. 5	Independent	–
	Dec. 8	Cristobal	Aruba	Dec. 10	Independent	–
	Dec. 12	Aruba	Cristobal	–	Independent	–
	Dec. 17	Cristobal	Aruba	Dec. 20	Independent	–
	Dec. 21	Aruba	New York City	Dec. 30	Independent	–
1945	Jan. 4	New York City	Curacao	Jan. 12	Independent	–
	Jan. 13	Curacao	Cristobal	Jan. 16	Independent	–
	Jan. 22	Cristobal	Aruba	Jan. 25	Independent	–
	Jan. 26	Aruba	Cristobal	Jan. 29	Independent	–
	Febr. 1	Cristobal	Curacao	Febr. 5	Independent	–
	Febr. 7	Curacao	Cristobal	Febr. 10	Independent	–
	Febr. 12	Cristobal	Curacao	Febr. 16	Independent	–
	Febr. 18	Curacao	New York City	Febr. 26	Independent	–
	March 4	New York City	Aruba	March 12	Independent	–
	March 14	Aruba	Cape Henry	March 21	Independent	–
	March 25	Cape Henry	Aruba	Apr. 1	Independent	–
	Apr. 3	Aruba	New York City	Apr. 11	Independent	–
	Apr. 14	New York City	Curacao	Apr. 23	Independent	–
	Apr. 25	Curacao	Cristobal	Apr. 28	Independent	–
	May 1	Cristobal	Aruba	May 4	Independent	–
	May 5	Aruba	Cristobal	May 8	Independent	–
	May 12	Cristobal	Aruba	May 14	Independent	–
	May 15	Aruba	Hampton Roads	May 23	Independent	–
	May 26	Hampton Roads	Curacao	June 2	Independent	–
	June 4	Curacao	New York City	June 12	Independent	–
	June 20	New York City	Clyde	July 4	Independent	Subsequent voyages: Page 3 & Page 4

Notes:

As will be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Thorshammer was on her way from Rio de Janeiro to Trinidad when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940.

Thanks to the quick reaction from Globe VIII, Pol VII and Thorarinn, Thorshammer was warned of danger and escaped capture by Pinguin on Jan. 14-1941. Please continue to my page Norwegian Victims of Pinguin for a detailed account on Thorshammer's escape that day (go to Those who escaped capture).

Her 1941 and 1942 voyages are also shown on Page 1, while Page 2 lists her 1943 and some 1944 voyages. The rest can be found on Page 3. According to the Memorial for Seamen in Stavern, Norway (see link at the end of this page), she lost a crew member that year. Electrician Hans Trønnes is listed as having died on Nov. 22.-1944 following an accident on board. From the archive document, we learn that Thorshammer was on her way from Curacao to Cristobal on that date. This document also has most of her 1945 voyages, and as can be seen, she got to go home to Norway already in July-1945, and again in the spring of 1946 (Page 4).

It'll be noticed, when going to the various archive documents, that she occasionally had long stays in port.

POST WAR:

Refitted by Framnæs mek. Værksted(?) in 1948, and Harland & Wolff in Liverpool (as per 1949 report). Sold on Sept. 6-1962 to SPA Cantieri Navali, Genoa, Italy for breaking up.

Related external links:
Queen of Bermuda - The Norwegian whaling fleet is mentioned in Part Five.

Stavern Memorial commemoration - Electrician Hans Trønnes is commemorated.

Thorshammer - This site has a lot of information on this ship's history (including names of captains through the years), as well as several pictures. The site also gives the reasons for her long stays in port (Norwegian text).

Back to Thorshammer on the "Ships starting with T" page.

Other ships by this name: Thor Dahl later had two ships by this name, one M/T, built 1963, sold 1968 (Theodora), the other T/T - built 1969. The Clydebuilt Ships website has some details on the 1963 Thorshammer, as does this site, which also has the 1969 Thorshammer - all links are external.