Født: Lyngdal - 04 april 1913
Bosted: Austad - Lyngdal kommune.
Død: 08 april 1942
Kaleb Korner Carlsen Høiland Seilte i alliert fart med M/S ”Chr. Knudsen”, som 8. april 1942 gikk ut fra New York og forsvant sporløs på vei til Cape Town.
Kildene forteller:
Krigsseilerregisteret skriver:April 1942:
M/S ”Chr. Knudsen” ble torpedert og senket 10. april 1942 av U-85. Avgikk New York 8/4 for Cape Town. Forsvant med en besetning på 33 personer.
www.uboat.net skriver:
On 8 April 1942 the unescorted M/S ”Chr. Knudsen” (Master Bjarne Sand) departed New York and went missing thereafter. She was very likely torpedoed and sunk on or around 10 April by the german, type VIIB u-boat U-85, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Eberhard Greger, which was herself lost only four days later.
Minnehallen i Stavern skriver:
M/S ”Chr. Knudsen” forsvant sporløst under en reise fra New York den 10 april 1942 bestemt for Cape Town lastet med stykkgods og nitrat. Ble trolig torpedert 10. april 1942 av den tyske, type VIIB ubåten U-85, med sjef Oberleutnant zur See Eberhard Greger, i farvannet utenfor Cape Hatteras. Noen melding fra skipet eller fra overlevende ble ikke gitt. Været var stormfullt i dette farvannet i dagene rundt senkningen. Men ikke så ille at gode skip skulle komme i havsnød av den grunn. Årsak til tausheten var utvilsomt at skipet ble utsatt for krigshandling, og at mannskapet ikke fikk tid til å gå i båtene, eller et redningsmidlene var så ramponert at stormen gjorde resten. U85 ble tre dager senere senket med alle mann av jageren Roper. Det kan være grunnen til at tysk ubåtledelse ikke mottok rapport om denne senkningen. 25 nordmenn og åtte utlendinger omkom.
De norske som omkom ombord på M/S ”Chr. Knudsen”:
Johannes Bjørnsen - Tømmermann, Nils Jensen - Tømmermann, Carsten Cristofer Værø - Lettmatros, Thor Wilhelm Ulstrup - Stuert, Karsten Oskar Sulebakk - Matros, Kåre Asbjørn Strøm - 2. Styrmann, Halvor Skjulestad - Båtsmann, Bjarne Sand - Skipsfører, Bjørgo Presthagen - Motormann, Valdemar Laurin Olsen - Smører, Johannes Olsen - 3. Styrmann, Fredrik Anton Olsen - Sjømann, ¨Thoralf Mikkelsen - Matros, Trygve Leonard Larsen - Maskinsjef, Johan Sverdrup L. Larsen - Smører, Walter Christian Hilt Kühnell - Kokk, Andreas Kornelius Kristiansen - Matros, Ernst Rolf Kristiansen - Matr/skytter, Kaleb Korner C. Høiland - Maskinist, Alfred B. Hansen - Sjømann, Nils Petter Gjærum - Tømmermann, Ingeman Kristian Fredriksen - Maskinist, Olav Espe - 3. Maskinist, Einar Einertsen - Elektriker, Trygve Kristian Berg - 1. Styrmann, Ivar Baugerød - Motormann, Martin Aspelund - Sjømann.
www.warsailors.com skriver:
M/S ”Chr. Knudsen” departed New York again alone on Apr. 8-1942 for Cape Town with general cargo and Nitrate. Assumed torpedoed and sunk on or around April 10, possibly by U-85 (Greger). This U-boat was in turn sunk with all her men by USS Roper on April 14, which is one of the reasons why there has been such uncertainty over the loss of M/S ”Chr. Knudsen”. This was the first U-boat that did not return safely from Operation Paukenschlag. In my Norwegian guestbook there's a message from Wolfang Klaue, dated July 18-2001, translated to Norwegian on request. At that time Klaue, together with an American friend, was about to write the story of U 85. (He was born in Greger's hometown, Lieberose, Greger being his father's neighbour). They wanted to tell the story from 3 sides, that of the U-boat, that of the victims of this boat's attacks and that of the crew of the American destroyer Roper, which sank U-85. The message was posted in an effort to find relatives of the victims of Chr. Knudsen, and/or former employees of the Borgestad company in Porsgrunn. In Sept.-2002, Wolfang Klaue contacted me again to let me know about an article that appeared in the Norwegian Newspaper "Aftenposten" on Sept. 20, showing the fruits of his investigations. The article states, among other things, that the mayor of Lieberose, Kerstin Michelchen has given Borgestad's an official apology for the sinking of M/S ”Chr. Knudsen”, and that shipowner Christen Knutsen personally travelled to Lieberose to meet the mayor. Christen Knutsen says this was not the first time that Captain Bjarne Sand had his ship sunk from under him by a German U-boat - the first time was near Nantucket on Oct. 8-1916, and on that occasion he got a "receipt" from the U-boat commander confirming that he had sunk the ship (also a Gunnar Knudsen vessel, also named Chr. Knudsen - see "Other ships by this name" at the end of this page). This is now hanging on the wall of the shipping company's office in Porsgrunn.
Våre falne skriver:Sønn av Kristian Carlsen Høiland f.1871 og Kristiane Tobine Pedersen f.1871. Utdannet som maskinist i Tyskland og England. Seilte under krigen i alliert fart med M/S ”Chr. Knudsen” som gikk fra New York 8 april 1942 og forsvant sporløst på reise Cape Town.
Kilder: Krigsseilerregisteret, www.uboat.net,Minnehallen i Stavern, www.warsailor.com og Våre Falne
Flåtetilhørighet
Tilhørte Uteflåten.
Registernummer London: 1951
Registernummer New York: 26060