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(My mother's name was Åse Holm)

M/T Grepa
Leif Eriksen, Bergen. 15000 tdw. Built at Framnes mek. verksted, Sandefjord, delivered Oct.-1952. Pictured here in Rotterdam after a collision in the early 50's, when my mother was on board as a galley maid. I visited the ship in Rotterdam in ca. 1953, not long after the collision, I believe she had just been in drydock at the time.

From 1963 Grepa sailed as Gibson Island of Panama. Broken up in Spain in 1969.


Looking for:


Camilla, Åse, and Bill Quinlan from Quinsland, Australia at Zillertal, Hamburg. Does anyone know Camilla? She was a galley maid on Grepa and Ganja. My mother and Bill are also on the right, on board the M/S Ganja. (Where is he now?)

M/S Ganja
Leif Eriksen, Bergen. 12 500 tdw. Built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St.Nazaire, delivered Dec.?-1956 (I cannot get this to fit, as I believe I was on board in the summer of 1956). I visited several times, the first time I flew to Hamburg to meet the ship, then we sailed to Norfolk, Virginia (summer '56, I was 7 years old). My mother was the galleymaid at that time, later paid off to go to Radio School in Kristiansand, then re-joined the ship as radio operator.

Here's a Guestbook message from someone who was on board at the same time.

If I have the right ship Ganja sailed as Punta Lobos of Panama from 1973. Registered in Uruguay from 1980. Kuna I of Panama 1983.

Here I am in my mom's radio station Jan.-1960.




M/S Mogen
I/S Mogen (Simonsen & Astrup), Oslo. Bulkcarrier, 22340 tdw. Built by Sir James Laing, Sunderland, delivered July-1961. I visited in the summer of 1964, my mother was the radio officer on board then. I had travelled by train from Sarpsborg, Norway to Hamburg to meet up with the ship, then we voyaged to Montreal, Canada later to Gdynia, Poland. What an experience for a 15 year old!



This picture of a painting of Mogen was received from Einar Michelsen, who served on her in the early 1960's (played the accordion). He says he purchased the painting in Hamburg, painted by a former member of the "Tysklandsbrigaden". (If anyone remembers Einar and would like to get in touch, I have his E-mail address. Here's what he looked like in those days. I can be reached through:


Two friends from Mogen, what happened to you? (Kjell Andresen on the right, the fellow on the left was named Kåre). And where is Dag Lande? (Found him, Oct.-2003!). The picture in the middle shows me as I looked then - does anybody remember me?

Picture on the right shows M/S Mogen officers and wives, my mother Åse and I are in the front left - at Zillertal, Hamburg. The captain's name was Inselseth and his wife was from Denmark, the couple on the right in the middle of the picture, the captain wearing a hat. They had their 3 children on board with them, Therese and Randi, and a baby boy, I often babysat. (Found them, all going strong - Nov.-2003!!). Please get in touch if you know anybody who sailed on Mogen. I've lost contact. The steward, in the top row, visited us several times in Sarpsborg later on, but we lost touch - he was from Rjukan.

What I didn't know at that time is that the captain sailed on M/T Sydhav, D/T Norfjell, M/T G. C. Brøvig, and D/T Marathon during the war, and was later awarded Krigsmedaljen, Deltagermedaljen and Haakon VII's 70-årsmedalje, all of which are described on this page. It looks like he got particularly lucky with Sydhav, which he paid off in Jan.-1942; the ship was torpedoed early in March that same year. A few weeks after having paid off, he was trained to be a gunner at Dumbarton, Scotland, and served in that capacity for the rest of the war.

In addition to Dag Lande, the Inselseth family and Einar Michelsen, I've also been contacted by another crew member, Edwin A. Petersen. He sent me these pictures from 1965:

Elisabeth (saloon girl, married Edwin), Kåre, and ?
Kåre, Gudmund Karlsen, the boatswain, Edwin, and "Texas"
(See Guestbook Message).
The boatswain, Edwin, Jon, "Texas"

(I've also received a Guestbook message from someone who served on Mogen in 1962, Walter Greenwood).



Received from L.M Bjørkelund, Norway


Received from Ø. H. Johansen, Norway, whose father served on her.

M/S Nordland
Vesterålens Dampskipsselskap. 16000 tdw. Built at Kaldnes mek. verksted, Tønsberg, delivered sept-1958. My mother was on board ca. 1965. I made lots of friends here, get in touch if you're one of them! Here are some of us on the beach outside Algiers.

My mother, the 'sparks' was Åse Holm, but met her new husband, Arne Nilsen on this ship. They later gave me a little brother, Thomas.

Nordland sailed as God Trader of Cyprus from 1972, then Greek Malessina from 1975. According to a message in my Norwegian guestbook, she also sailed under the name Delta Flag.

My father's ships can be found under Odd's Ships

For WW II ships, go to Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

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