Pvt Anders Mortensen
(1918 - n.a. )
Profile
Anders Mortensen was one of the Danish merchant sailors whose lives at sea were interrupted by the German invasion in April 1940. For a period, Mortensen went ashore and joined the Norwegian Air Forces in Canada, but he returned to the sea in 1942 and remained there until the end of the war.
Anders Mortensen was born on 16 September 1918 in Birkelse, Denmark, the son of farmer Morten Andersen Mortensen and Sigrid Mortensen (née Nielsen).[1]
Merchant Seaman
Mortensen was engaged as apprentice onboard the SS Herta Mærsk in Frederikshavn on 2 November 1939. It was the vessel’s maiden voyage.[2] On 9 April 1940—the day of the German invasion of Denmark—Herta Mærsk was in the Atlantic on its way to Boston. Contrary to the instructions from the Danish authorities to sail for neutral harbours, the crew chose to continue for the United States. Herta Mærsk arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, on 16 April 1940. The vessel was laid up and Mortensen and the other crew members signed off. She was taken over by the United States War Shipping Administration on 31 March 1941 and returned to the sea as SS Montrose, but ran ashore in Tunulliarfik Fjord in July 1942 on a return trip with cryolite from Greenland.[3]
Mortensen had to find employment elsewhere. On 27 July 1940, he was engaged onboard the Norwegian MS Herma. He signed off from this ship following arrival at New York on 3 August 1940.[4] In New York he was signed on another Norwegian ship, the SS Marpesia. For the following months the vessel sailed between mainly Sydney, Nova Scotia, Lewisport, Newfoundland, and Montreal, Quebec, before returning to New York just before Christmas.[5]
It seems likely that Mortensen learned about the Norwegian Air Forces setting up a training camp while onboard the Marpesia. We do not know. In any case, soon after leaving the vessel, he knocked on the door in camp Little Norway in Toronto.
Air Force Chauffeur
Mortensen volunteered for service in the Royal Norwegian Air Force (N.322) in Little Norway, Toronto, in late December 1940 or very early January 1941.[6]
Mortensen participated in the initial training course in Little Norway from 10 to 31 January 1941. Carl Erik Randløv participated in the same course. The for following day he was transferred to the Station Department as driver.[7]
In February 1941, he was among the ground crew selected to be part of the first Norwegian fighter squadron to be set up in the United Kingdom.[8] He was trade tested according to RAF standards on late April 1941. He was categorized as General Duties (Armourer) and aircraftman.[9]
The following months he served as a chauffeur in the Transportation Departement, but he was not very good at it.
322 Mortensen has been employed in the Transportation Department as a chauffeur for several months. He has during this time proved himself to be unfit for this kind of work through having been in several collisions as well as having been accused by the Local Police of reckless driving. Furthermore he has had certain difficulties in carrying out his orders in so far as he on very many occasions has been unable to locate the address given or in some other way misunderstood our instructions.[10]
In addition to the poor performance as a chauffeur, it was also believed that he did not tolerate the sight of blood. This was believed to make him unfit for overseas service.[11]
He was transferred from the Transportation Department to the Couse Mobile Repair Shop in the camp. He applied for a position in the Police Departement in the Air Force, but this application was rejected.[12] Furthermore, despite being recommended for the promotion, he was not promoted to corporal in May 1941.[13]
At this point there are no further information on his service.
Returning to the Sea
Mortensen returned to the sea in 1942. He was engaged onboard the MS Amerika—formerly of the Danish East Asia Company, but now under British Administration—in Glasgow, Scotland, on 23 April 1942. Amerika was held up in Clyde delayed by repairs and was not completed before 4 August 1942. The vessel then sailed for New York arriving on 21 August 1942.[14]
He was engaged onboard a number of different merchant ships until the end of the war. On 29 September 1942, he was a member of the Danish crew put in charge of the MS Peter Hurll (formerly Baltisch-Amerikanische Petroleum Import Gmbh) and, on 29 May 1943, he was engaged onboard the SS War Admiral (former SS E.M. Dalgas before take over by the United States War Shipping Administration) in New Orleans. He signed off in mid-1944.[15]
Mortensen remained at sea after the war.
Endnotes
[1] DNA: Parish register, Aaby Sogn.
[2] Ancestry: Massachusetts, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1963.
[3] Juul, L. Rundt om M/S Montrose ex Herta Mærsk. Marstal Søfartsmuseum, 28(2018), p. 100-108.
[4] Ancestry: Massachusetts, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1963.
[5] D/S Marpesia, Warlailors, https://www.warsailors.com/singleships/marpesia.html (accessed on 2 July 2023).
[6] Carl Erik Randløv (N.344) is known to have enlisted in RNAF on 4 January 1941. Mortensen’s service number (N.322) indicates that he enlisted days before Randløv.
[7] NNA: Forsvaret, Flyvåpnenes treningsleir 1940-1945, RA/RAFA-3974/V/L0041\: Ekspedisjonskontoret. 9. Gjenoppbygning av Norge/10. Utdannelse, undervisning., 1940-1945.
[8] NNA: Forsvaret, Flyvåpnenes treningsleir 1940-1945, V/L0037\: Ekspedisjonskontoret. 7. Organisasjon/8. Personellsaker., 1940-1945.
[9] NNA: Forsvaret, Flyvåpnenes treningsleir 1940-1945, RA/RAFA-3974/V/L0042\: Ekspedisjonskontoret. 10. Utdannelse, undervisning., 1940-1945.
[10] NNA: Forsvaret, Flyvåpnenes treningsleir 1940-1945, V/L0046: Ekspedisjonskontoret. Personellsaker E - N., 1940-1945.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] NNA: Forsvaret, Flyvåpnenes treningsleir 1940-1945, V/L0038: Ekspedisjonskontoret. 8. Personellkontoret, 1940-1945.
[14] NA: BT 389/1/211.
[15] Ancestry: New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., Passenger Lists, 1813-1963.