- THOR SCHIFF 10
2)AUST
Photo www.sjohistorie.no
Built: 1920
Tonnage: 5,630/8,475 tons
Cargo: Army trucks and other war materials
Attacked by aircraft from THOR, then shelled by the Raider and finally sunk 03/04/42 by bombs placed on board by the Raider on pos. 20º 00”S 16º 00”W
40 Survivors taken as POW
This 5,630-ton unarmed Norwegian coal-burning freighter became the fourth ‘silent’ victim of Thor’s second cruise on April 3. She was scuttled with demolition charges.
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)
