William Henry Ellis

William Henry Ellis ble født 13. mai 1928 i Hull, Storbritannia.

Under den tyske okkupasjonen av Norge var det nesten umulig å rekruttere unge norske gutter til stillinger som messegutt og dekksgutt om bord norske skip. Og etter hvert som mannskapet om bord steg i gradene vokste behovet for å få inn folk til disse stillingene. Løsningen ble å ta inn utenlandske sjøfolk, og ofte unge gutter. Et av landene som var representert med nesten 2700 personer om bord norsk skip i 1943 var Storbritannia. En av de mange britene var Ellis.

Ellis mønstret på D/S Sneland I som messegutt i desember 1944. Den 7. mai 1945 var D/S Sneland I lastet med kull på vei fra Methill til Belfast, men ble truffet av en torpedo. Syv av mannskapet på 29 mistet livene sine bare timer før andre verdenskrigs slutt i Europa, inkludert 16 år gamle William Henry Ellis.

Et år etter sin død ble William Henry Ellis minnet av sin mor Violet Alice Ellis i Hull Daily Mail.

I boka De var også krigsseilere av Bjørn Tore Rosendahl kan du lese mer om utenlandske sjøfolk om bord norske skip under andre verdenskrig.

English:

War Sailor of the Month: William Henry Ellis.

William Henry Ellis was born on 13th of May 1928 in Hull, England.

During the German occupation of Norway from April 1940, it was nearly impossible to recruit young Norwegian boys for the beginner’s jobs on board ships. As the crew on board the different ships advanced to better ranks and positions, the need to find someone who could take on the starter positions rose. The solution was to welcome foreign seafarers on board the ships for these positions, and often young foreign boys who could be trained on board. One of the countries represented with nearly 2700 people on board Norwegian ships in 1943 was Great Britain. One of the many Britons was Ellis.  

Ellis was hired as a mess boy on board D/S Sneland I in December 1944. On May 7th, 1945 D/S Sneland I was loaded with coal going from Methil to Belfast but was hit by a torpedo. Seven of the 29 crewmembers on board lost their lives just hours before the second World War ended in Europe, including 16-year-old Ellis.

On the 7th of May 1946 William’s mother Violet Alice Ellis remembered her son on the Hull Daily Mail Roll of Honour.

You can read more about foregin seafarers on Norwegian ships during the second world war in the book Foreign Seafarers remembered: Foregin seamen killed in service of the Norwegian merchant fleet during Second World War, written by Bjørn Tore Rosendahl.