Post by Catsmate on May 30, 2020 11:53:16 GMT
The Curious Disappearance of the Hans Hedtof
When we think of 'unsinkable' ships being sunk by icebergs the most common vessel to come to mind is the RMS Titanic.
But forty-seven years later another ship disappeared under the Arctic waters, the last known fatal casualty of an iceberg collision.
The MS1 Hans Hedtoft was a Danish liner, built at Frederikshavn and launched in 1958 and designed for year-round operations in the Arctic waters around Greenland. For this reason the ship had an armoured bow and stern, a double bottom and internal watertight compartments. However the hull plating was riveted rather than welded, a feature then becoming obsolescent and one that contributed to the loss of the RMS Titanic in 1912.
Curiously though nominally a civilian vessel the Hans Hedtoft was armed: during contruction the design was modified to carry with three 40mm Bofors L60 anti-aircraft guns. Test fired during the ship's trials in late 1958 the weapons were dismounted from the desk but carried on her last voyage in an armoury along with machine-guns and small arms.
The ship was equipped with RADAR and also carried radio navigation instruments. There were excess lifeboats, all equipped with radio.
On 01JAN1959 commanded by Captain Ludwig Rasmussen the Hans Hedtoft sailed from Copenhagen on her maiden voyage to Julianehaab (now Qaqortoq) in Greenland. Despite the January weather the trip was successful and rather uneventful. She visited other settlements on Greenland (Nuuk, Sisimiut and Maniitsoq) before returning to Julianehaab to load cargo for the return tip.
On 29JAN1959 the return journey began, with 95 people (40 crew and 55 passengers) and a cargo of frozen fish on board.
Also on board were more than three tonnes of boxed papers, archives of the history and genealogy of of Greenland.
The next day, the weather had turned bad; poor visibility and gale force winds. At about 13:452 about 55km south of Cape Farewell (Kap Farvel in Danish) Hans Hedtoft collided with an iceberg.
A distress call was sent, by radio operator Carl Dejligbjerg, at 13:56 giving the ship's position as 59°30′N 43°00′W and stating that she'd struck an iceberg. The call was answered by the an American Coast Guard cutter, the USCGC Campbell, and two West German trawlers(one named the Johannes Krüss). However the weather had worsened, aircraft were grounded, and no ships could come to the Hans Hedtoft's aid.
Less than an hour later another message was sent, stating that the engine room was flooded and generators were off-line. At 15:12 it was announced that the ship was sinking. A final SOS message was sent at 17:41 stating the ship was slowly sinking and requesting urgent and immediate assistance.
Reaching the scene on 31JAN the Campbell reported that weather conditions were the worst ever seen; there was no sign of Hans Hedtoft, her passengers or boats. After seven days of searching the operation was called off without any remains being found.
The only trace of the Hans Hedtoft ever found was a single life-ring that washed ashore at Cape Farewell (at the southern tip of Greenland) about three months after the sinking. Nor has the wreck ever been located, despite three attempts (in 2004, 2009 and 2019) to find it; however the water in the area averages 1,700m deep.
The crates of documents lost with the Hans Hedtoft included historical documents and parish registers from all over Greenland, which were to be deposited in the National Archives in Denmark; their loss was a serious blow to Greenlandic genealogy.
Game use.
An odd little incident with a number of possibilities for gaming.
1. Classically a TARDIS or other time travel device could deposit the PCs on the ship just before it's loss. Are they aware of events to come? How will they react? Do they save the passenger and crew? Where do they end up?
2. Why was the Hans Hedtoft armed? Officially it was because she was intended to act as a patrol ship in the water off Greenland, part of the Danish sovereignty efforts that continues today with the Sirius Patrol.
The weapons were to have been removed when she returned to Denmark as they'd caused a political controversy.
3. Why has no trace of the Hans Hedtoft ever been found? Was it destroyed by some alien force? Or transported elsewhere or elsewhen? Why did the weather change so dramatically in the thirty or so hours after she left Julianehaab3?
4. Was the disappearance linked to the construction of the US base at Camp Century? Or the spate of UFO incidents in 1959? There was the sighting by Robert Dickerson of an object over Redmond in September and the USAF scrambling armed interceptors to investigate. Plus a number of sightings in Canada.
Or the mysterious deaths of nine Russians in the Dyatlov Pass incident.
5. Why didn't the crew abandon ship and take to the Arctic rated lifeboats? OK the weather was utterly terrible but surely someone would have tried it? No boats or identifiable wreckage was ever found.
6. Remember the Johannes Krüss? The German trawler that picked up the Hans Hedtoft's radio messages and searched for survivors and wreckage? She was lost in the same area eight years later. She departed Bremerhaven on 21FEB1967, reported her position as 38°W and 300 miles East of Farewell on 28FEB. She then disappeared, just like the Hans Hedtoft
and in the same area4....
7. And finally, what was in the cargo of "frozen fish" that someone might want to ensure never made it to Denmark? Or did the parish records hold secrets that needed to be permanently lost?
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
1. Motor Ship, i.e.propelled by diesel engines.
2. All times are local for Greenland, two hours behind GMT.
3. The mundane explanation being that it was January in the North Atlantic.
4. The mundane explanation of this being related to the Beaufort force ten winds, heavy seas and temperatures of -25°C.
When we think of 'unsinkable' ships being sunk by icebergs the most common vessel to come to mind is the RMS Titanic.
But forty-seven years later another ship disappeared under the Arctic waters, the last known fatal casualty of an iceberg collision.
The MS1 Hans Hedtoft was a Danish liner, built at Frederikshavn and launched in 1958 and designed for year-round operations in the Arctic waters around Greenland. For this reason the ship had an armoured bow and stern, a double bottom and internal watertight compartments. However the hull plating was riveted rather than welded, a feature then becoming obsolescent and one that contributed to the loss of the RMS Titanic in 1912.
Curiously though nominally a civilian vessel the Hans Hedtoft was armed: during contruction the design was modified to carry with three 40mm Bofors L60 anti-aircraft guns. Test fired during the ship's trials in late 1958 the weapons were dismounted from the desk but carried on her last voyage in an armoury along with machine-guns and small arms.
The ship was equipped with RADAR and also carried radio navigation instruments. There were excess lifeboats, all equipped with radio.
- In fact the Hans Hedtoft carried nine lifeboats; three were metal hulled, enclosed, craft designed for rough conditions and capable of holding 35 people each. There were two twenty person lifeboats and four inflatable rudder rafts. All has automatic distress beacons and the larger boats has voice and code radio tranceivers as well.
On 01JAN1959 commanded by Captain Ludwig Rasmussen the Hans Hedtoft sailed from Copenhagen on her maiden voyage to Julianehaab (now Qaqortoq) in Greenland. Despite the January weather the trip was successful and rather uneventful. She visited other settlements on Greenland (Nuuk, Sisimiut and Maniitsoq) before returning to Julianehaab to load cargo for the return tip.
On 29JAN1959 the return journey began, with 95 people (40 crew and 55 passengers) and a cargo of frozen fish on board.
Also on board were more than three tonnes of boxed papers, archives of the history and genealogy of of Greenland.
The next day, the weather had turned bad; poor visibility and gale force winds. At about 13:452 about 55km south of Cape Farewell (Kap Farvel in Danish) Hans Hedtoft collided with an iceberg.
A distress call was sent, by radio operator Carl Dejligbjerg, at 13:56 giving the ship's position as 59°30′N 43°00′W and stating that she'd struck an iceberg. The call was answered by the an American Coast Guard cutter, the USCGC Campbell, and two West German trawlers(one named the Johannes Krüss). However the weather had worsened, aircraft were grounded, and no ships could come to the Hans Hedtoft's aid.
Less than an hour later another message was sent, stating that the engine room was flooded and generators were off-line. At 15:12 it was announced that the ship was sinking. A final SOS message was sent at 17:41 stating the ship was slowly sinking and requesting urgent and immediate assistance.
Reaching the scene on 31JAN the Campbell reported that weather conditions were the worst ever seen; there was no sign of Hans Hedtoft, her passengers or boats. After seven days of searching the operation was called off without any remains being found.
The only trace of the Hans Hedtoft ever found was a single life-ring that washed ashore at Cape Farewell (at the southern tip of Greenland) about three months after the sinking. Nor has the wreck ever been located, despite three attempts (in 2004, 2009 and 2019) to find it; however the water in the area averages 1,700m deep.
The crates of documents lost with the Hans Hedtoft included historical documents and parish registers from all over Greenland, which were to be deposited in the National Archives in Denmark; their loss was a serious blow to Greenlandic genealogy.
Game use.
An odd little incident with a number of possibilities for gaming.
1. Classically a TARDIS or other time travel device could deposit the PCs on the ship just before it's loss. Are they aware of events to come? How will they react? Do they save the passenger and crew? Where do they end up?
2. Why was the Hans Hedtoft armed? Officially it was because she was intended to act as a patrol ship in the water off Greenland, part of the Danish sovereignty efforts that continues today with the Sirius Patrol.
- That is another fascinating opportunity for scenarios in the Greenlandic ice, searching for crashed alien (or human) space craft, artefacts buried under the ice or Things Man Was Not Meant To Know.
The weapons were to have been removed when she returned to Denmark as they'd caused a political controversy.
3. Why has no trace of the Hans Hedtoft ever been found? Was it destroyed by some alien force? Or transported elsewhere or elsewhen? Why did the weather change so dramatically in the thirty or so hours after she left Julianehaab3?
4. Was the disappearance linked to the construction of the US base at Camp Century? Or the spate of UFO incidents in 1959? There was the sighting by Robert Dickerson of an object over Redmond in September and the USAF scrambling armed interceptors to investigate. Plus a number of sightings in Canada.
Or the mysterious deaths of nine Russians in the Dyatlov Pass incident.
5. Why didn't the crew abandon ship and take to the Arctic rated lifeboats? OK the weather was utterly terrible but surely someone would have tried it? No boats or identifiable wreckage was ever found.
6. Remember the Johannes Krüss? The German trawler that picked up the Hans Hedtoft's radio messages and searched for survivors and wreckage? She was lost in the same area eight years later. She departed Bremerhaven on 21FEB1967, reported her position as 38°W and 300 miles East of Farewell on 28FEB. She then disappeared, just like the Hans Hedtoft
and in the same area4....
7. And finally, what was in the cargo of "frozen fish" that someone might want to ensure never made it to Denmark? Or did the parish records hold secrets that needed to be permanently lost?
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
1. Motor Ship, i.e.propelled by diesel engines.
2. All times are local for Greenland, two hours behind GMT.
3. The mundane explanation being that it was January in the North Atlantic.
4. The mundane explanation of this being related to the Beaufort force ten winds, heavy seas and temperatures of -25°C.