SHIPS HIT NORWAY 39 - NORWEGIAN SHIPS CARGO LOST
4)AUST (RAIDER THOR)
Photo www.sjohistorie.no
Built: 1920
Tonnage: 5,630 / 8,475 tons
Cargo: Army trucks and other war materials
Route: New York - St. Lucia - Pernambuco - Capetown
Sunk 03 APR 42 by raider Thor on pos. 20º 00'S 16º 00'W
Loaded with 360 tons of coal taken at St. Thomas, SS Aust left port on 14 March 1942 bound for Capetown. During the voyage, Captain Christoffer Tufton learned that the ship was burning too much coal and decided to change course for a stop at Recife, Pernambuco where she arrived on 27 March. Having departed the following day, SS Aust was spotted by Thor's Arado seaplane which cut her wireless aerials with its trailing hook to prevent any distress message. All crew of forty was rescued and the ship was sunk by demolitions charges placed on board on 03/04/42 on pos. 20º 00”S 16º 00”W
40 Survivors taken as POW
0 Dead
On 28 Nov 1942, German blockade runner Ramses was intercepted in Indian Ocean by by Australian Cruiser HMAS Adelaide and Dutch Cruiser HNLMS Jacob Van Heeskerck. Ramses was trying to made for a German port since 1939 when she was sent to Japan. Ramses carried vital raw materials German badly needed rubber. Among her crew were 10 Norwegians POW's captured by Raider Thor. Ramses was sunk by gunfire from both cruisers and by scuttling charges set by her crew some 700 miles South of Cocos Island. The ship went to the bottom with her Captain, Johannes Falke, one officer charged with scuttling arrangements and the Wireless Officer. Out of 89 survivors the ten crewmembers from SS Aust were released upon their arrival in Australia.
MV Ramses – Blockade Runner - Naval Historical Society of Australia (navyhistory.org.au)
