Hi Simon.

and many thanks for the details on the weather. It is much more than I have gotten from the Swedish historical data.

And thanks for checking the KTB. That it not mention details about the fate of the crew was not unusual, I gather.

We are on the same page about what presumably happened, but many lifeboats in the North Sea DID survive after sinkings and crews got saved. I think the question must be put about the ship, and more to the point about its lifeboat. Hammar II was not a regular on North Sea routes, being very small. She was built för the inland Lake Vänern and for the Swedish canals, albeit competently and strongly built, by a reputable builder. She was purchased for this trip by a newly founded company, and available tonnage was scarce, as in all countries. Hence, a ship that for all practical purposes was a canal ship - with the life saving devices of such a ship - was sent to Hull for coal in the midst of a world war with well-known attacks on merchant ships.

The captain's body was identified by an freemason insignia, and by an amulett with his wife's portrait. It is not out of the question that other corpses from Hammar II were indeed washed ashore, somewhere along the coasts of Sweden and Denmark or maybe even Norway, but crew members did not commonly have that kind of insignia.


Kind regards


Jan