16.1.41

HX-98 To Glasgow

The Dorelian had arrived in Halifax on 20th December but she did not hang around. On 22nd the Dorelian joined convoy HX-98 and moved round to Sydney arriving 29th December.

So Alister spent New Year 1941 in Sydney Nova Scotia. The Scotts love New Year so the venue sounds promising. He was still only 16 but maybe it was a good party, but I cannot imagine anyone though 1941 would be a good year.

HX-98 sailed on 2nd January 1941 and the Dorelian reached the Clyde on 16th January. No ships in the convoy were attacked.

In fact January 1941 was good for the HX convoys. After HX-98 the next seven HX convoys got through safely until HX-106 was hit on 13th February. Maybe the weather was helping.  But the U-boats were not the only hazard. During January two HX ships sunk due to weather and one struck a British mine. A number of ships were allocated to slow convoys and six ships were sunk in SC-19 on 29/30th January 1941.


View Convoy HX-98 in a larger map

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