This is how the travel letter began to Fern Alberta Blodgett, published on January 3, 1942, in the Canadian newspaper The Star Weekly. When Fern thanked yes, she knew that the responsibility for the others on board rested on her shoulders. It was she who had to stay again, whether the ship was bombed or torpedoed. Her mother and sister constantly asked her to come home to Canada. About to settle down. They wanted her home from the whimsical Atlantic. In the travel letter, Fern wrote: Fern was one of more than 60,000 Norwegian and foreign seafarers serving in the Norwegian fleet during World War II. Parts of a convoy photographed from a Norwegian ship on the Atlantic, September 9, 1943. Photo: Ole Friele Backer parts of a convoy photographed from a Norwegian ship on the Atlantic, September 9, 1943. Photo: Ole Friele Backer A dream of the sea was only 22 years old when she sailed out. – Only a “dridthy”, her daughter smiles, when news visits her in her childhood home in Farsund. Outside there are mild southern winter. Inside there is a guy in the fireplace and smoking hot coffee. Fern Sunde, named after her mother, sits at the dining room table and reads through articles, looks at pictures and books. Reminiscent of the mother. – There are magazines such as Life and Allers and newspapers from Canada. Everyone with articles about my mother, explains Sunde. Photo: Geir Ingar Egeland / news Photo: Geir Ingar Egeland / news – What I think is most interesting, is the travel letter Mom herself wrote for The Star Weekly, six months after she patterned. There, Fern reflects the blood gift over the dreams that had brought her out to the high seas, while the World War raged. Fern writes that as a youngster she often wanted her to be born as a boy: Of over 60,000 war sailors in the fleet, there were around 350 women. Ferry blood ghost as a young woman. Photo: Private Fern was among the first women to sign in the Norwegian fleet during the war. She was the very first female telegraphist in the western world. – She was a unique woman, says Simen Zernichow. He is a historian and works at the archive in Kristiansand. During the war, the archive was now used as headquarters for Gestapo. Now it is a center for peace and human rights. The archive also runs the War Sailing Register, where over 72,000 seafarers are now registered. Simen Zernichow, historian at the Archives in Kristiansand. Photo: Geir Ingar Egeland / news When the Germans marched into Norway on April 9, 1940, and the war was a fact, Norwegians out at sea were told by the government to sail to allied ports. Many thousands of civilians thus involuntarily became part of the war. In Canada, no civilian seafarers were called out. Still, many volunteered. In the Norwegian fleet there were just over 2,500 Canadians during the war. Fern was one of them. The road to M/S Mosdale As a young adult, Fern moved blood from the hometown of Regina to Toronto. She was new in town and didn’t know that many. She wanted to use all her spare time wisely, and decided to go to school in the evening. There were many courses to choose from, but Fern had read that now that it was war, there would be a great need for telegraphists. Fern sent applications to three different schools. Two of them replied that they had never had women on their courses – and they had no plans to start with it now. Eventually, the principal at the third school contacted. He had thought that now that it was war, perhaps women could prove to be useful as just telegraphists. Three nights a week, Fern met at an evening course to become a “Wireless Operator”. In 1941, after 1.5 years of education, she graduated and passed, as the second best in the class. She picked up the certificate and could finally be titled herself as a telegraphist. The certificate that proved that Fern Alberta Blodgett was now a telegraphist. Photo: Geir Ingar Egeland / news The day after the phone rang. It was the principal who hit the thread. – Miss blood ghost, you told me you wanted to go to sea as a telegraphist. “Was it a joke, or did you think it?” He asked. “I meant it,” replied Fern. – How quickly can you be ready for departure? The Norwegian ship M/S Mosdale was lying to the quay in Halifax and badly needed a telegraphist before the journey back to the UK. Women were not desired on British, American or Canadian ships. In the rules of Norwegian ships were not women mentioned at all, so it must be okay? Fern Blodgett had reached the childhood dream of the open sea. She had become a war sailor. M/S Mosdale. The picture is colored in recent times. Photo: Private primarily Telegraphist When the war broke out was the refrigeration ship M/S Mosdale on the way to Colombia to retrieve a load of bananas, intended for Oslo. The specially built refrigeration ship, which could make 15 knots at full load, was about 100 meters long and had a crew of 35 people. In addition, there was room for 12 passengers. When she finally boardes June 13, 1941, she is shown around by Captain Gerner Sunde. The radio room, her workplace, is located just off the bridge of the ship. There is the last stop on the tour. “This is life, Fern Blodgett,” muttered Fern to herself, while checking the equipment. Fern Blodgett aboard Mosdale during the war. Photo: Private ferry Blodgett aboard Mosdale during the war. Photo: Private Previously, women on ships were often employed in the “catering”, such as maids or on the gun. They cooked, changed bedding, served coffee and took the dishes. – There was also greater acceptance for that, says Thea Eriksen. She is a historian and also works at the archive in Kristiansand. – Then Fern comes and does a job in the past only done by men. Being a telegraphist was a pretty fierce task, with an incredible amount of responsibility. I think there were several who doubted her, says Eriksen. Being a sailor in the 40s was seen as very masculine. The culture on board was also shaped by it, says Eriksen. There were tough roofs on the ships. – Getting a woman into this – it is clear that it created, says the historian. One of the crew on the deck of Mosdale, Christmas Eve 1942. Photo: Private Simen Zernichow agrees: – She helped challenge the gender roles and the strict hierarchy who had been on the ships for many years. Fern herself had reflected on the dilemmas she stood in as a woman and telegraphist. When ships were to be evacuated, it was women and children first. At the same time, the telegraphist, or the “spark” as they were called, should be left at last. It was their responsibility to communicate with ships nearby. On the way to Mosdale, Fern made a choice: Fern Blodgett photographed in the radio room at M/S Mosdale. Photo: Private ferry Blodgett photographed in the radio room at M/S Mosdale. Photo: Private royal visit masculine environment despite; Fern felt she was well received by the new colleagues at Mosdale. “The crew is a super bunch. They welcomed me as one of their own, and have never lost patience with my land crab awareness. ” The first one she greeted when she came on board was the captain. Daughter Fern Sunde shows pictures of her parents. -She had imagined that he was going to be an older man with a beard, but then he was a pretty nice 29-year-old, she says. She thinks her mother got the sense of the young captain pretty quickly. She also thinks it was mutual. Gerner Sunde and Fern Blodgett Sunde in July 1943. Photo: Private – he had not envisioned a young, newly graduated woman, so he probably quickly “struck” he too. So “Struck” became Gerner Sunde, that he went down his knee on his first Christmas day in 1941 and asked if Fern would spend the rest of his life with him. Fern said yes. They married half a year later. The honeymoon was another crossing from Canada to the UK. Fern Blodgett Sunde and Gerner Sunde photographed together sometime in the 40s. Photo: Private Mosdale was the only of six Norwegian fruit ships that were not lowered during the war. 10 per cent of the war sailors in the Norwegian fleet were killed at sea. 40 percent of ships sank to the bottom of the sea. In all, the Mosdale Atlantic crossed 96 times during the war. Fern was on 78 of the trips. Travel to MS Mosdale during the war, based on Nortraship Logs. Graphics: news / news Such achievements belonged to the rarities. In his 51st crossing in July 1943, Mosdale therefore received fashionable visits. King Haakon hands the war medal to Fern Blodgett Sunde July 30, 1943. For his efforts at sea, Fern gets a medal from the king. So does Gerner Sunde. He also receives St. Olav’s medal with Ekegren. In news’s archive you find sound from when Fern gets the medal: And Gerner Sunde also talks about life at sea: – It sat in her for the rest of her life – she was tough. She must have been, says Fern Sunde, while she flips through pictures of her mother. Still, the war was brutal – even for her. Especially emergency messages from other ships made a strong impression. Newspaper clippings and a ship bag Fern must have attached to the belt at all times. In it was ID papers, in case the ship was lowered. Photo: Geir Ingar Egeland / news M / S Mosdale returns to Norway in 1946. They are met with cheer when they sail into the Oslo Fjord. Not for everything they have lived for king and fatherland, but for the load of bananas, which finally arrived, 6 years after the crossing to Columbia. Fern and Gerner Sunde patterns of Mosdale and moves to Farsund, his home. Here they build their house their oldest daughter now lives in. Fern Sunde and the sister did not know much about the mother’s years at sea when they were young. In adulthood, the daughter believes that the mother regarded the chapter as a war sailor as ended. She had done a job – now the work was over. – But I also think that she experienced so much awful, that she simply had to push it away. Away with the bad memories, forward with the positive and bright sides of life. What she had experienced followed her for the rest of her life, says Fern. Fern Sunde ahead of the childhood home in Farsund. Photo: Geir Ingar Egeland / NRKfern Sunde ahead of the childhood home in Farsund. Photo: Geir Ingar Egeland / news daughter says that she remembers her mother as a lady with a lot of good mood. She was well -liked in town and had several girlfriends. – At home she was also in a good mood, but she wasn’t always as healthy. She had a lot of back pain and neck, and was very tired. She struggled with her health too, like so many other war sailors. Fern Blodgett Sunde died in September 1991, 73 years old. On the day of liberation, a statue Fern Sunde was unveiled in Farsund. Present were representatives of the Norwegian, Canadian and British Navy. Photo: Geir Ingar Egeland / news The statue is a twin of the statue “Make Waves” which was erected in Ferns Hometown Cobourg in Canada in 2020. Fern Blodgett Sunde, surrounded by colleagues at M / S Mosdale. Photo: Private over 20 women should follow in Ferns footsteps during the war, and work as a telegraphists in the Norwegian fleet. The daughter, Fern Sunde, thinks her mother was a pioneer woman. – She didn’t understand why a women’s life should be worth more than that of a man. Why shouldn’t the women be able to do the same job? Below you can watch a video from news school about the Norwegian war sailors: Read or see more about 2. World War II? This is a bunch of news’s articles and series about World War II:
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