In the years 1940-45, several thousand sailors sailed for the Norwegian fleet - and were the largest Norwegian contribution to the Allied victory during the Second World War. Until now, many of these sailors have remained nameless, but now the War Sailors Register has mapped who they were - and shows, among other things, that the number of women and foreign citizens is higher than previously thought.
On Friday, September 24, the Norwegian Center for War Sailor History will mark the completion of a systematic registration of the Norwegian and foreign war sailors who sailed in Nortraship 1940-1945.
- However, we will continue to document the history of the war sailors and are also working on registering the many thousands who sailed in the Navy and the Home Fleet during the Second World War. But now we have reached our goal with Nortraship," says Simen Zernichow, historian with day-to-day responsibility for the War Sailors Register.
The register was established in 2016 and currently contains a total of 68,125 seafarers. The sources used are mainly approximately one million documents at the National Archives and crew lists from approximately 500 maritime declarations.
- "This is definitely a milestone in the documentation of the history of the war sailors," says Bjørn Tore Rosendahl, historian and head of the Norwegian Centre for War Sailor History. "It gives us a better understanding of who the war sailors really were. At the same time, it is an important recognition of the war sailors and their families - and it also gives Norwegian and international historians a new and unique tool for further work on this part of Norwegian history," says Rosendahl.
Many foreign seafarers
30,000 Norwegian seamen sailed in the Norwegian offshore fleet, Nortraship, in the years 1940-45. By far the largest number of these came from the «whaling county» of Vestfold, as well as Hordaland and Rogaland. In addition, about the same number of foreign nationals sailed in the offshore fleet.
- This is a surprisingly high figure. The foreigners were on board the Norwegian ships for a shorter time, so they accounted for no more than 25 percent at most. At the beginning of the war, the Chinese were the largest group, but as the war progressed, the British were by far the largest non-Norwegian nationality. "We have registered more than 13,000 Britons who sailed for Norway, including hundreds of young teenage boys as young as 14," says Rosendahl.
More women than previously thought
The documentation work shows that there were considerably more women sailing in Nortraship than previously assumed. A total of 350 women are registered, 126 of them Norwegian. The county with the most women sailing was Oslo. Most of the foreign women were from the USA, but there were also many women from the UK, Iceland and Canada.
- "The US and the UK didn't want women on board their merchant ships during the war, so Norwegian ships became an opportunity for women from these countries who wanted to make a contribution," says Rosendahl.
About the War Sailor Register
War sailor register is run by the Norwegian Center for War Sailor History at the ARKIVET Peace and Human Rights Center in collaboration with the Lillesand Seamen's Association, other seamen's associations and volunteers. Samlerhuset Norge, the Hans Herman Horn Foundation and other supporters contributed to the establishment of the register, while the Ministry of Education and Research currently finances its operation.
