Norwegian Merchant ships

[KG]

At the outbreak of war in Norway on the 9th April 1940, more than 1000 Norwegian Merchant ships were at sea sailing in foreign waters. These ships were owned and operated by about 500 ship owners or shipping companies with a staff of over 6000 trained people. Practically all the offices were located in Norwegian ports, so the entire administrative apparatus stopped functioning immediately after the invasion on April 9th. By the evening of 12th April an insurance plan for Norwegian ships in neutral ports had been initiated with the British Government, and telegrams sent out from the Foreign Office to British consulates all over the world, asking them to inform Masters of Norwegian ships that Great Britain would fully cover the usual sea and war insurances, on the condition that they proceed to the nearest British or French port, without stopping at any other neutral port en route. The next day the Admiralty sent out the following message to all Norwegian ships at sea: "Your ship is held covered by the British Government against War and Marine risks on the values and conditions under which she is at present insured....As regards cargo the ship owner is similarly covered for his liability to the cargo owners" The telegram stated that the agreement had been reached with a Mr. Hysing Olsen representing Norwegian ship owners. On the 19th April offices were rented at 144 Leadenhall St. in London, a whole floor of about 500 square meters, practically fully furnished and with the option of renting another two floors. The location was ideal, right across from the main entrance to Lloyd's and next to the War Risks Insurance Office. The name “The Norwegian Shipping and Trade Mission” was adopted, shortened to “Nortraship” (Extracted from the "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland)



By the end of the war, according to Lloyd’s 351 ships of the Nortraship fleet had been lost by direct enemy action, resulting in the deaths of over 3,500 Merchant Seamen. These casualties were meticulously recorded by The National Archives of Norway and published in two volumes of Sjøforklaringer fra 2. Verdenskrig Vol. I & II. (Maritime Inquiries from WWII), which consists of direct copies of official reports from ship losses recorded at the Norwegian National Archives. The publications, which I donated to the CWGC last year, included the names of hundreds of serving British survivors and over 900 Merchant Seamen of foreign nationalities recorded as dead/missing, which includes the names of over 270 British Merchant Seamen killed. Just over 200 British Seamen named in the publications as being killed are recorded with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial in London, while a further 13 are buried ashore in official war graves. Started in 2009 I went about searching for extra information on the individual cases in the National Archives of Norway to find additional information asked for by the CWGC to prove, at my own expense, that those named in the two publications had been overlooked and prove they had died as a direct result of enemy action on board these Norwegian ships. It has taken me nearly seven years researching and correspondence between Norway and the CWGC and there is finally light at the end of the tunnel. As of July 2016 forty-two of these cases have been officially accepted by the Commission and the remaining sixteen are all under review by the CWGC and MCA at Cardiff. Lest we forget!!!

Billy McGee‎