John Nordlander

John Leonard Nordlander (1894-1961) was a Swedish Sea Captain and Commander commissioned by the shipping line Swedish American Line,[1] crossing the Atlantic Ocean 532 times.[2]

John Nordlander

RVO, RDO, SGM
Captain John Nordlander
onboard MS Kungsholm (1954)
(Swedish Television)
Born1894
Härnösand, Sweden
Died1961
Gothenburg, Sweden
Nationality Sweden
OccupationSea Captain
EmployerSwedish American Line
Swedish Navy
OrganizationRed Cross

At the time of World War II, while serving as Commander of SS Drottningholm, Captain John Nordlander was responsible for rescuing thousands of victims of war uniquely through hostile waters in collaboration with the Red Cross and effectively with the Allied powers, with approval of the Swedish royal family.

Biography

John Nordlander was born in 1894 in Härnösand, Västernorrland County, Sweden, to a family of seafarers, and was educated there as a Sea captain.

Initially serving in the Swedish Navy and onboard international sailing ships, John Nordlander was first educated as a First Officer in Härnösand and then as a Sea Captain at the Marine Officer's School of Gothenburg.[3]

Nordlander died in 1961 in Gothenburg and was buried there at Östra kyrkogården.[4]

Swedish American Line
Greta Garbo and Mauritz Stiller on board SS Drottningholm in 1925 en route to the United States.
MS Kungsholm in painting (1928) by Alexander Kircher (1867–1939).
SS Drottningholm (1922).
MS Stockholm (1952).
MS Kungsholm (1952).

Captain John Nordlander was commissioned by the Swedish American Line in 1920 and subsequently served as naval officer on all its ships on transatlantic cruises as well as in other directions, including the West Indies. The ships under the command of Captain John Nordlander included the following:[5]

Besides the war activities, towards the end of his career he was also in charge of multiple dramatic rescue missions. Among these were the 1950 incident of the Norwegian ship Crown Prince Olav when she suddenly caught fire outside the coast of Halland, located along the west coast of Sweden. Despite no sight due to heavy fog, with only help of the radar system, Captain John Nordlander managed to fetch and tow the deteriorating vessel and its 120 passengers safely back to the nearest port.[7] Furthermore, in 1955 the British 7 000 tons heavy Argobeam also caught fire in the sea outside Ireland, rescued by Captain Nordlander.

World War II

Captain John Nordlander's service eventually stretched the tumultuous years of World War II.

American vessel requisition in New York

Following the outbreak of World War II, MS Kungsholm, commanded by Captain John Nordlander, was seized at New York City and placed under the American flag and purchased by the United States government.

The United States Lines were appointed agents by the War Shipping Administration to run the ship as a troop transport, renamed it to USAT John Ericsson after the Swedish-American inventor John Ericsson (1803–1889), and appointed American Captain John W. Anderson as her Commander. She left New York at the end of January 1942 in a convoy with a full complement of 6,000 U.S. soldiers for Australia and Noumea, with the ultimate mission to garrison the island of New Caledonia. After her returning to the Atlantic, USAT John Ericsson resumed her mission. By the close of the war she had safely transported some 300,000 troops under Allied supervision to various theaters of war, despite frequent attacks by enemy submarines and aircraft.

Allied prisoner exchanges and rescue missions
Stigbergskajen quay in Gothenburg, Sweden, where the steamers of the Swedish American Line moored under Swedish and American flags, and the port terminal "The American Shed" (1944).

Subsequent to the acquisition of his former vessel, Captain John Nordlander was appointed Commander of SS Drottningholm 1942–1948, carrying out multiple prisoner transport missions, totalling thousands of displaced victims and prisoners of war, notably in collaboration with the Red Cross. Under signs such as "Freigeleit - Protected, Drottningholm Sweden", she turned out to be one of the few ships that sailed hostile waters with all lights shining at night.

During 1942, SS Drottningholm was sporting signs on its sides displaying "Diplomat - Drottningholm Sverige" when transporting disabled prisoners of war, victims of Nazi concentration camps as well as diplomats from Liverpool, United Kingdom, to North America.

In September 1944 she was deployed by the Red Cross to transport prisoners of war and civilians being repatriated from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom via Sweden.

Another voyage in April 1945 docked in Liverpool that included 212 ex-interned Channel Islanders.[8]:172–9 One of the voyages is indicated to have safely relocated 1,362 individuals at once.[9]

Probably for security reasons, we do not take the most direct route, but skirt around the west of Ireland. Liverpool is in the morning mist. From afar we hear the sirens of the boats that welcome. A huge crowd and happy jostling on the quay. The harbor is decorated with banners and flags. Emotions run high among the passengers. Then finally, when we drop anchor, a military band welcomed us by playing "God Save the King" and popular tunes.

— Mr Donald Prager about his voyage from Lisbon to Liverpool in August 1944, onboard SS Drottningholm[10]

We were a day or two aboard this vessel glorying in our new found freedom. Bands were sent down to the quayside to play for us and generally we were made very much at ease. The Crown Princess came aboard and moved amongst us. [...] We left the Swedish harbour to the strains of both our national anthems and set course for home. Guided through the Skaggerak, then into the North Sea with only water between us and Britain. A few days more and we were within our own territorial waters. Then Leith and the pipe band to welcome us. We were home!

— Alistair Crawford Cameron MacRitchie, Medical Orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps[11]

In tribute to the vessel under Nordlander's command, a short illustrated movie, The S.S. Drottningholm (2014), was produced by Molly DeVries about her ancestors, the Jewish-American concert pianist Walter Hautzig and writer Esther Hautzig. The two belonged to and met among the thousands of passengers on rescue missions onboard SS Drottningholm, and later got married.[12]

Distinctions

References
  1. "Vestkusten 3 December 1953 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  2. Vestkusten, Number 23, 8 June 1961
  3. Dagens Nyheter, 18 May 1961, p. 28
  4. AB, Eniac Data. "Sök gravsatt på SvenskaGravar.se". www.svenskagravar.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  5. http://sal.hagmanstorp.com/befalhavare_sal.htm ; Landsarkivet i Göteborg
  6. "Vestkusten 27 November 1952 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  7. Aftonbladet, 20 December 1959, p. 6
  8. Harris, Roger E. Islanders deported part 1. ISBN 978-0902633636.
  9. "March of Time -- outtakes -- Ship launching at Swedish harbor; Red Cross ships with POWs - Collections Search - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". collections.ushmm.org. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  10. http://www.salship.se/mercy.php
  11. http://www.salship.se/MacRitchie.php
  12. Molly DeVries (2014-01-02), The S.S. Drottningholm, retrieved 2019-06-11
  13. "239 (Sveriges statskalender / 1955)". runeberg.org (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  14. "239 (Sveriges statskalender / 1955)". runeberg.org (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  15. "Vestkusten 8 June 1961 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  16. Dagens Nyheter 17 July 1956
  17. "Vestkusten 5 February 1948 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  18. "Vestkusten 5 February 1948 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  19. Dagens Nyheter 16 December 1955
  20. "Vestkusten 5 February 1948 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-11.

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