Strickland Carrier Serial No: VR750

[Mike Cecil]

Plushy,

In Middle East images, you will be looking for a carrier with a registration of AIF-T-16594 on the front track guard - usually the right side - and rear, not '750'.

Once returned to Australia, it would have been renumbered with the hull number, the hull number having been applied to carriers as the registration number from late 1941 onwards, with most changed over in 1942.

So in images taken in Australia, you will be looking for '750' as the registration on the hull sides & rear.

Clear as mud!

MV Talabot made two trips to the Middle East with vehicles aboard. Your carrier was one of 30 on the second trip.

Mike

[Plushy]

Hi Mike and Darrin,
Thanks for the tips for what too look for in photos during my search . I have managed to find the Convoy numbers and dates for the Thermopylae and the Talabot and the Port of unloading which was Haifa in Palestine/Israel on the 22/12/41 .The Talabot then Left Haifa on the 1/1/42 on its way to Fremantle .

So to narrow the search i just need to look for Carrier images from Palestine and the Syria Lebanon region in Early 1942 .

Looks like i might have my work cut out for me ,still its all part of the fun .

James.

[Mike Cecil]

Plushy,

Interesting info about MV Talabot and the delivery into Haifa.

As an aside from the main theme of this thread, it must have been a quick trip to Fremantle and back (no record of carrying Aust equipment on the return trip to the Middle East), as the ship joined convoy MW10 (Alex to Malta) on 20 March 42 carrying military stores and food. It reached Malta, only to be lost to enemy aircraft at No.6 Berth, Grand Harbour at Malta on March 26. Some equipment was salvaged from the half-sunken wreck, the upper decks being above the water line. It received plenty of attention from the enemy thereafter, being repeatedly bombed during air raids.

I suppose it was better the enemy wasted their bombs on the wreck rather than finding some other more valuable target.

Mike

[Plushy]

Mike,
A very quick trip Talabot arrived in Fremantle on the 24/1/42 and Left again for Haifa on the 31/1/42 arriving in Haifa 23/2/42 then to Alexandria 3/3 for its final Journey . Attached is the 2nd Part of the Log book with Arrival and Departure dates .

I Found a web page which shows all the Norwegian Merchant ships involved in WW2 and also shows quite a few of the ship logs but nothing of Cargo manifests .

James.

[Darrin Wright]

Interesting departure dates for the ship and the BGC cargo.

Along my research travels, I read somewhere (may be the Vic Archives) that hull VR731 was delivered to the Army approx 1st or 2nd week of Dec 1941.

I would assume that hull VR750 would be about the same delivery time ;therefore, it must have been taken on charge and loaded for the middle east straight away.

[Plushy]

According to the AWM Carrier book Thermopylae sailed on the 22/11/41 according to the ships book it Sailed on the 22/11/41 .

With the Talabot the sailing date ship log vs AWM carrier book is 16/11 vs the 17/11 so not sure if the shipping date in the carrier book is the loading date or sailing date . .

Darrin that maybe still correct as during my search last night i found photos of Carriers Embarking at the Port of Suez so guessing its possible a few were taken off there as the Talabot docked there on the 12/12/41 but didn`t sail again until the 13/12 .

I Assume the Carriers and Trucks may have been shipped stowed on the deck making removal and loading easiest ?

[Mike Cecil]

Plushy - James,

The dates given and sometimes the places, can vary from the AWM books. Usually the place of loading matches the place of issue, but not in all cases. Some vehicles shown as 'M' for example, were actually driven to Sydney and loaded there, (so should be an 'S' in the books). Same with the dates, which can vary up to a couple of days from the listed date of sailing in the ships log, so are more likely to be the issue date, ie the date sent for loading, than the actual date of sailing, but there are many where the dates in the AWM books match the sailing date, too.

Bottom line: don't take the dates as gospel, but being approximately right - certainly the entries are correct in terms of ship name and hence voyage number, but are 'a-round-about' in terms of dates.

Another classic example is the WW1 troop embarkation rolls: in some instances, troops from different units are listed as embarking on the same day but in different ports, others are listed in a certain port, but the unit war diary shows the ship loading them in a different port. In one instance, the ship reported as the transport wasn't even in Australian waters when it was supposedly loading troops! It transhipped the troops from the actual transport in Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

Same with the unloading: just because Haifa was the last port of call does not mean the carriers and other vehicles aboard Talabot were offloaded there. From other data I have, it appears the AIF ME Base was normally supplied through the Port of Suez, so would seem a more likely off-loading point, but you may have unearthed some piece of information that indicates otherwise for the [I]Talabot[I] shipment?

Mike