1941

Hank Salisbury joins the Department of Transport

with assistance from a Nazi

(As told to Ernie Brown on 12 August 2004)

Hank Salisbury was in the Merchant Marine in [1941] and was on board a Norwegian ship travelling from Liverpool to Canada. It was a fast ship and they travelled alone without a convoy. They ran into troubles and drifted for some 40 days at sea, the captain refused to send an SOS as it could have been picked up and they would have been topedoed. By chance they eventually came close to Bermuda and they were able to radio for help and took refuge in Bermuda. Once repaired they moved on the Galvaston, Texas – the US then being neutral.

At some time during this process, Hank had received a letter advising that he had a job with the Canadian Department of Transport. The ship’s captain had no trouble releasing him, but the US authorities insisted that any ship that came into the US had to have the same ships complement leaving as it had when it arrived. Hank was told that he would be long gone across the Canadian border before he was missed, but he needed to have his papers signed by the Norwegian Consul. Norway by this time had been occupied by the Germans.

Hanks papers were authorized by the consulate – signed by a Nazi!

Submitted by John Gilbert

28 November 2011