 | 
| 
| 
|
|  | |||
A Tribute to the Swedish American Line | ||||||||
| . | ||||||||
| . | ||||||||
| . | ||||||||
Carl-Otto Claesson
Childhood and World War
I Memories
By Göran C-O Claesson ©
In 1938, onboard the MS Gripsholm, Carl-Otto Claesson finished the typing of his memoirs from childhood and six years at elementary school to sea captain certificate. These memoirs and comments of them form the first two chapters of the book Från livbåt till flytande palats. When Carl-Otto was fifteen, working onboard the SS Nordic of Gothenburg, World War I entered his life. On the Easter Island the ship got passengers, 45 Englishmen and Frenchmen from two sailing ships, which had been sunk by a German auxiliary cruiser. He left the war when he was nineteen after having experienced how a torpedo or a mine sank three of his ships and he had saved his life in a lifeboat or on a life raft. His experiences gave him a life-long and keen interest in safety, which was shown many times in the Swedish American Line. These experiences also gave him examples of good and bad leadership.
S/s Adine — we are torpedoed The following is abbreviated excerpts from the section S/s Adine — vi torpederas och förmanas av ubåtskapten. The seamen in the forecastle, all sleeping with their clothes on, have been awakened at 3:45 in the morning by a violent explosion. ”The coffee pot and the stove overturned, the lamps went out and the ship was trembling. The explosion was a direct hit, no doubt about that. The Adine's journey down and a few breathtaking minutes for us had begun. For the people in the two forecastles it was a matter of life and death to get out. All sprang up from their bunks, and in a lump we went groping through the narrow gangway to the deck. Well in the open we speeded up considerably but we did not reach longer than to the No 2 hatch where we all tumbled over a wire which had been stretched across the deck. I hurt myself badly in falling against the deck. We felt palpably that the Adine was trembling in mortal dread. When I had got up I felt that the ship began leaning astern. The wire was stretched between the winch of the hatch and an anchor in order to stay it, a stock-anchor hanging out for pure indolence. The only one who retained his composure completely was the commander. He issued his orders as coolly as usual. He alone remained on the deck amidships when the boats were launched, and with calm voice he ordered that all should be counted. It turned out that the messroom boy of the officers was missing. The skipper then made a hasty search in the midship quarters, where the boy had his cabin, and found him. Though the boy was a bit giddy the skipper got him up on deck and after that down into the starboard lifeboat where I was too. The messroom boy, who was only 14 years old, sighed when he came down into the boat: ”No, now I have never seen the like. Is Adine sinking?” Thus the resolution of one man saved this young human life. The Adine, which sank rapidly with the stern while we launched the lifeboats, was evidently severely damaged right under the main mast. It fell overboard with a tremendous crash long before we managed to get clear from the side of the ship. We heard all the time how the water gushed into the hull. Loose parts made an alarming noise, the more the Adine sat down on the ”behind” In my boat there was a real shambles. A piece of plate had been blasted away from the ship's side and slung high in the air, finally landing in the lifeboat. The piece had knocked off all the oars and the mast, which were lying lashed down together midships in the boat, as well as two thwarts and various other gear, and therefore the word shambles maybe was too mild. When the stern was below in the water and the ship's body formed an approximate angel of 40 degrees with the surface of the water, the skipper called out a powerful ' set off'. He himself got down into the port lifeboat by in one of the tackles of this boat, first slinging himself out and then easing off. The last commander of the Adine was, as it ought to be, the last to thread the deck of the steamer.” The drama did not end here. The submarine surfaced, frightening the people in the lifeboats. The commander ordered the lifeboats along side. Carl-Otto continues: ”I was in the stem of our boat and handled the painter, and when I handed it to one of the German seamen, I was shaking in despair and fear of my life. The Germans showed a coarse and harsh manner, and their threatening canons and revolver muzzles were all aiming at us. We hardly dared to breath. The German seaman close to the stem of my boat asked me for some reason to keep still. Did he suspect that I had a hand grenade or other nuisance in my pocket? I got even more nervous, sat down on the stem half paralyzed and wished to myself both him and the submarine the way of all flesh.” Was it in that very moment Carl-Otto Claesson, at the age of 19, decided to withdraw from the war and his life as a seaman and to go home, starting his studies to become a sea captain? |
|
From Prisoners of War to War Brides The Drottningholm Turns Italian M/S Stockholm - A Capricious Beauty Serving under the Most Forcible Captain The Fourth Stripe off and on. From Roosevelt Hospital to a Building Site |
More than 100 web pages developed and maintained by Lars Hemingstam ©1998-2010
Email us
Regardless of which ship we sailed on or which year - the memories we share are the same!
|
|
||
| . | ||||||||
| . | ||||||||
| . |
Recommended Books |
|||||||
|
|||||||
Updated Sep 7, 2009 Waterline - Images from the Golden Age of Cruising John Graves
Örjan Slätte, ex Information Officer on the Gripsholm, recommends Waterline - Images from the Golden Age of Cruising by John Graves, published by the National Maritime Museum in London in 2004. It is based on photos by Marine Photo Service, which were acquired by the museum in 1996 The book features many photos from SAL cruises.
Please note that the book's edition at Amazon.co.uk may not have the Kungsholm on the cover. Örjan Slätte, Informationsofficer på Gripsholm, rekommenderar boken Waterline - Images from the Golden Ages of Cruising. Boken är utgiven år 2004 av National Maritime Museum i London som 1996 förvärvat Marine Photo Service (MPS) samlingar. Redan omslagsbilden föreställer Kungsholm 1953 med två vattenskidåkande ynglingar i fronten. MPS fanns i många rederier och där finns många mycket bra foton från SAL:s kryssningar. Våra fotografer var mycket yrkesskickliga med konstnärlig talang. Man kan förmoda att de tidvis kände för att fotografera annat än leende, välklädda pax med cocktailglas i hand. Fina miljöer från fartygens "omvärld". |
Updated July7, 2008 MERCY SHIPS
During World War 2 the Drottningholm and the Gripsholm were used as repatriation ships and made 33 voyages to exchange prisoners of war, diplomats, women and children, between the warfaring nations. David Miller has written a book about the exchange and repatriation voyages,with an emphasis on the British experience. It is loaded with facts about these voyages of mercy. Read more about all the exchange and repatriation sailings during WWII here. |
||||||
| Recommended Books | |||
|
|
M/S Kungsholms inredning Första M/S Kungsholm, Amerikalinjens stora passagerarfartyg, byggdes på 1920-talet. Det gick mellan Göteborg och New York. Arkitekten Carl Bergsten fick uppdraget att hålla i den påkostade inredningen som skulle visa för världen vad svenska konstnärer kunde åstadkomma. Under andra världskriget togs fartyget i beslag av amerikanarna för att användas i trupptransporten till Europa. Inredningen revs då ner och förstördes. Anne-Marie Ericsson har letat i arkiv och museer efter beskrivningar, ritningar och gamla fotografier för att försöka rekonstruera denna makalösa uppvisning i svensk inredningskonst. |
Amerikabåtarna Christer Winberg, professor i historia vid Göteborgs universitet, har skrivit en bok om SAL som bygger på bevarat samtida material från Svenska Amerika Linien på Landsarkivet och Sjöfartsmuseet i Göteborg. Det omfattar exempelvis reserapporter, minnesberättelser och personligt färgade reseskildringar. Författaren har också samlat in eget material genom intervjuer med f.d. anställda.
|
Andrea Dorias undergång I Andrea Dorias undergång berättar Britt-Marie Mattsson den fascinerande berättelsen om kollisionen, den heroiska räddningsaktionen och det rättsliga efterspelet till den mycket uppmärksammade olyckan - sin tids Titanic. Mattssons far var vid tiden för olyckan informationschef vid Svenska Amerika Linien. Britt-Marie Mattsson har träffat flera av de överlevande och intervjuat dem för denna bok. Hon har bland annat talat med vittnen som ger information som kan kasta nytt ljus över vad som egentligen orsakade den fruktansvärda kollisionen. Boken är rikligt illustrerad i svartvitt. |
A book about the Kungsholm of 1953. |
Journalist Per Fält has recommended |
"Såna" på Amerikabåtarna SAL har skildrats i böcker, dokumentär-filmer, journalfilmer och tidningsartiklar. Oftast är det glamouren som uppmärk-sammats men en grupp har alltid saknats i beskrivningarna: homosexuella män. Såna på Amerikabåtarna är en välskriven, lättläst och underhållande studie av en värld som gått i glömska. | |
De Flytande Palatsen From the very inception of the line in 1915, the ships of the Line attracted much attention on both sidesof the Atlantic. Not only did they represent the bonds between the old country and the new, they also represented new concepts in service, decor, and furnishings as well as in art and handicraft. Published in 1987. This book can be found on Amazon.
|
Huset Broström Huset Broström för tankarna till Forsythesagan och Onedinlinjen. Inget svenskt företag har upplevt så stor dramatik som just Broströms. Detta är den dramtiska berättelsen "inifrån Huset", om det som skedde i det som syntes ske. Utgiven 1980. | ||
Out of the Fog is an American edition of a Swedish book by Algot Mattsson, who was the information officer for SAL, the owner of Stockholm, the ship that collided with Andrea Doria in 1956. The book describes the collision from the perspectives of both ships as well as the heroic rescue of hundreds. Testimony given at the hearing is also included as is a legal opinion by the American editors, one of whom was directly involved with the case. |
Detta är en berättelse om den dramatiska färden över Atlanten, från de hårda och riskfyllda överfarten med små lastskutor i mitten av 1800-talet, till lyxresorna med Amerikalinjens sista skepp. Utgiven 1982 | ||
