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Drottningholm and Gripsholm Utväxlingsresorna
The Exchange and Repatriation Voyages
During WWII
Summary Written by Lars Hemingstam
During World War II 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 warring nations. Many descendants of the passengers write in the guestbook or send emails, and are extremely grateful to the crew for their courage - sailing across the seas in wartime, on fully illuminated ships amidst mines and submarines. When working with this webpage, and sharing the touching stories of the passengers, I often feel as if I get to know them personally. Do you have information to share, or inquiries about
the Drottningholm's and Gripsholm's Please send us an email: salship@yahoo.com |
When resuming the regular Atlantic crossings in 1946, SAL published this advertisement.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Exchange Ship by Max Hill is sometimes available at amazon.com.
Udated July 9, 2011 Find Passenger Lists and Crew Lists on Ancestry.com You can find information about passengers and crew on the Gripsholm's two long repatriation voyages on Ancestry.com by entering Gripsholm and the year 1942 or 1943 in the search fields for passenger lists and immigration documents. The historical documents at ancestry.com can often show family members, occupations, |
SUMMARY
© Lars Hemingstam, 2005-2020
This is a work in progress. Additions, and revisions, will be made to the text.
Unfortunately, various souces give different dates for the same events.
Similarly, the number of passengers on each sailing, as well as the total number
of repatriated passengers, vary.
Drottningholm Read more about the ship here The U.S. State Department had learned that the Drottningholm was available for charter, and accepted on March 4, 1942, the offer that had been conveyed via the Swedish and Swiss Governments. The purpose of the charter was to exchange official personnel between the Axis powers and the American Republics.
The Drottningholm made two trips from New York to Lisbon and back. The first voyage from New York commenced on May 7, bound for Lisbon. The second sailing departed from New York on June 3. The Drottningholm's return voyage ended in NYC on June 30, 1942. However, she would come to serve much longer as an exchange ship, chartered by the British Government. Mr Donald Prager has contributed the following story about his voyage from Lisbon to Liverpool in August 1944, on board the Drottningholm, after four years of internment, of which two years in Vittel. (Translation follows). J'avais 12 ans lorsqu'après quatre années d'internement du fait de mes origines britanniques, j'étais rapatrié en Angleterre à bord du Drottningholm . Ce n'est que ce jour que je découvre le site du Drottningholm. Mon émotion est grande ! Cette "croisière" de la liberté restera gravée dans ma mémoire pour toujours. Le récit ci-après a trait à ce voyage à bord du Drottningholm et est extrait de mes souvenirs de guerre écrits en 2002 . En annexe, la photo d'une bouée miniature, cadeau du mécanicien de bord, dénommé Gustaf, précieux souvenir du Drottningholm. Autre photo: mon frère ainé et moi en 1942
(Translated from French) I was 12 when, after four years of internment because of my British roots, I was repatriated to England on the Drottningholm. It is only today that I discovered this site. My feelinga are overwhelming! This "cruise" to freedom remains etched in my memory forever. The story below relates to this journey aboard the Drottningholm and is taken from my memories of war written in 2002. ........ The Drottningholm is the name of our boat. It is a beautiful boat! It is Swedish. Large yellow cross on blue flags identifies her from afar and there is no risk of being torpedoed! Aboard the excitement is extreme: for many this will be the baptism of the sea. Where will they house all the people? Mom and Dad will have a cabin, Irene and Doris as well. What about us? Gail and I, are installed with the sailors, at the very front of the boat, where we tossed the most! Many thanks to Donald Prager for these memories! Read the story of a RAMC medical orderly returning home from a POW camp via Gothenburg. See a "March of Time" film cliip, showing Drottningholm arriving in US on June 1, 1942 with diplomatic officers leaving Axis nations. The link connects to the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive at US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Many thanks to Susan Pentlin for this tip. There is another film clip of the Drottningholm arriving in NY Harbor in 1940. The ship carried Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn (1880-1950), the Lubavitcher Rebbe, to freedom from war torn Europe. The film clip is from Lubavitch archives. (Link contributed by David Shatz.) Read more about the Drottningholm here:
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Udated Feb 21, 2020 A Letter From The Drottningholm, October 20, 1943 Claire Bates has contributed a letter from her father, Alan Burley, who was in a Prisoner of War Camp in Poland – Stalag XX1. He was repatriated on the Drottningholm. Click on the image below to read the full letter in PDF format.
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Gripsholm The Gripsholm was chartered to the US State Department during World War II, from 1942 to 1946, as an exchange and repatriation ship, under the protection of the Red Cross, hence the term "mercy ship".
"M. S. Gripsholm is painted white with the name of the vessel, "We all like her. She is a happy ship.
The Gripsholm sailed with flooding lights across the seas. She must have been a magic sight on the dark waters. The venture was managed by American Export Lines, which was founded in 1936. Fredric T Schneider in New York has written: My uncle distinctly articulated to me his recollection of the ship being lit up in white lights. The result was that any other blacked out ship within miles and not protected by the Gripsholm's neutrality was perfectly silhouetted and an easy target for submarines. My uncle said you could see every ship making top speed to scurry away as fast as possible from the Gripsholm's bright lights."
Another source, blogger Musafir, has this to say about Bill Lichtman: It is not hard to see why American Export Lines was chosen to administer the voyages. The crew was Swedish. Sigfrid Ericsson was Commander on the first two voyages, to be succeeded by Gunnar Nordensson, who had served as Chief Officer until then. Gunnar Nordensson was later to become the Captain of the Stockholm.
The Gripsholm's Swedish crew were regarded as members of the US Merchant Marine. In January 1950, Mr Malte Johansson, from my mother's home town Söderhamn, Sweden, was awarded the "US Merchant Marine Victory Medal", as an acknowledgement for active duty in the US Merchant Marine on the Gripsholm during WWII, from 1942 to 1944. Of course, other members of the crew were also awarded medals.
The Gripsholm's crew were no spring chickens. They had sailed in the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean before. The map above, from the Lindblad collection, shows the route of the Gripsholm's Winter Cruise in 1934. During World War II, the Gripsholm made 12 round trips to various parts of the world and carried 27,712 passengers. The crew was initially signed up for six months, SAL had an order for one voyage, but it would take two years before they were back in Goteborg for a short visit. See film clips of the Gripsholm and Drottningholm arriving in New York during WWII here. Among the ports she visited during WWII, were: The Gripsholm also carried mail and food packages to prisoners of war. One American prisoner recognized his father's razor, sent from home by parents to their son in the prison camp. What a wonderful gift! One voyage from New York to Mormugao took 44 days, the return was estimated at 41 days. So, Gripsholm was out to sea for nearly 3 months, for just one of the trips. The passengers were POW's, diplomats, journalists, nurses, missionaries and merchants, e.g. "oil people", and crew members of U.S. merchant ships, who had been left behind in Asia.
The Gripsholm's service during the exchange voyages was the same as during Atlantic crossings prior to the war, with three classes for passengers. The bars and lounges were open as usual. The photo above was shot after the war. The U.S. Merchant Marine ribbon bars on Mr Karlholm's jacket show that he served on the Gripsholm during WWII. Read about Captain Torkel Tistrand, who served on the Gripsholm during WWII. Read about Sune Edersvärd, Chief Radio Operator during WWII. Read about Rune Dahlstrand, Barber on the Gripsholm during WWII. |
Gripsholm's first exchange voyage in 1942
View unique photos from the exchange voyage. On the first voyage Gripsholm departed from from New York on June 18, 1942, with 1,083 Japanese nationals on board, bound for Japan. They were mostly diplomats and their families, but also some Japanese businessmen, journalists, who were in the U.S. when war was declared. Some were American relatives of Japanese deportees, who didn't wish to go to Japan, but wouldn't abandon their husbands or fathers. Some of the young passengers on the ship were students, and later those intellectuals would become influential leaders in Japan's post war society.
The Gripsholm also picked up 417 Japanese passengers in Rio de Janeiro, among them the Japanese Embassy staff. The embassy's picture of the Emperor was covered by cloth when it was carried on board, and all the Japanese passengers kneeled and bowed before it. No one was allowed to go ashore in Rio. There was Brazilian military on the pier with machine guns. Gripsholm was anchored in the harbor, and was only allowed to dock for a short while for embarkation. Mac Palmer writes in our guestbook:
The Japanese passengers disembarked from the Gripsholm and embarked a Japanese ship bow to bow, while the western nationals walked on another gangway, stern to stern. The procedure took place on the 24th, during 4 hours. The majority were not military personnel, but civilians, who had been interned. One American journalist, normally weighing 160 lbs, weighed 64 lbs when he was carried on board. The 1,500 western nationals had to wait on Gripsholm's deck while the cabins were cleaned. There were buffets prepared on the decks, and many passengers kneeled and prayed when they saw the food, while the Swedish crew wept. Ms. Carmen Puente Prieto of Mexico City, Mexico, has contributed an interesting and lovely story about her mother and grandmother, who left Shanghai in June 1942, and boarded the Gripsholm at Lorenco Marques. Gripsholm sailed on July 28, with 1,510 passengers on board. Among the them were 15 American newspapermen, 125 Catholic priests and nuns, and 100 children, many born abroad, never having seen their homeland. Read about a meeting of Free Masons on board the Gripsholm on August 8, 1942, posted on the website of the lodge Star in the East No. 640 S.C. Yokohama, Japan. Mr J Gary Dunn writes:
All in all, the passengers spent two months at sea during their voyage from Asia to USA, but were able to go ashore in Lorenco Marques, and later in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 10. Some of the passengers were mentally ill after captivity, and decades later, one Swedish crew member said he still could not forget their terrifying screams from the cabin area. After having returned to New York, on August 25, there was a long waiting period before the next voyage. Gripsholm was laid up in Yonkers for over nine months. The Swedish crew members were given American Coast Guard passes, and received the same benefits on leave as American servicemen.
Rich Turnwald, a member of LinersList, has contributed the following information:
Exchange Ship by Max Hill is available at amazon.com. Max Hill's niece, Edie Pickens of Las Vegas, NV, has contributed memories
of her uncle
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Gripsholm's second exchange voyage in 1943
The exchange liner GRIPSHOLM, carrying 1330 Japanese civilians to be exchanged for 1500 Western Hemisphere nationals interned in the Orient, sailed from New York yesterday, September 2, 1943. The liner will call at Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, and Montevideo, Uruguay, to pick up additional Japanese civilians, and arrive at the port of exchange - Mormugao, Portugese India - about October 15, The Japanese exchange liner TEIA MARU, with 1500 Americans, Canadians and other Western Hemisphere nationals aboard, will arrive at Mormugao at the same time, and the two groups will be exchanged.The GRIPSHOLM is also carrying American and Canadian Red Cross supplies, consisting of medicines, concentrated foods, vitamins, and blood plasma, which are intended for distribution to American and Western Hemisphere nationals in Japanese controlled territories. This picture shows the loading of those supplies on the GRIPSHOLM in New York Harbor. Exchange liner With the gold and blue colors of Sweden painted on her sides, the former luxury liner GRIPSHOLM is loaded at her pier in New York harbor. With the word "Diplomat" lettered prominently on her side, the liner will travel without convoy under safe conduct arrangeents with all the belligerent governments. At night, she will be brilliantly lighted to show her identity as a diplomatic vessel. This is the second mission the GRIPSHOLM has undertaken since she was chartered from the Swedish American Line by the United States Government in 1942 to be used as an exchange vessel. ____________ The Gripsholm picked up Japanese passengers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and in Montevideo, Uruguay, (Sept 23). She crossed the Atlantic, and entered Port Elizabeth in darkness at night, through mined waters, to bunker fresh water and food. On the trip to Mormugao, one Japanese deportee jumped overboard, and the Gripsholm set out lifeboats to find him. It was infernally hot, and the sea was full of sharks. The passenger was not found. When the exchage was to be made at Mormugao, there was a a lot of commotion among the officials of different nationalities on shore, because there was a passenger missing, and the exchange of prisoners was halted. Finally one American offered to return to captivity, and the exchange could be made. What an unselfish sacrifice!
Several hundred Americans and Canadians, including a number from Hong Kong, walked from the Teia Maru on to the Gripsholm. It did occur that passengers (those not disabled) from both sides cooperated in carrying light cargo and luggage from one ship to the other. Read about Laurits V. Larsen who was a passenger on this voyage. |
The Gripsholm docked in Jersey City, across the river from New York, on December 1, 1943. The New York Times wrote in an editorial in December, 1943: "The Gripsholm completed her second round voyage on the day set for it. She has a right to be proud of herself. On the east and west voyage she shares only with her Japanese counterpart, the Teia Maru, the freedom of the seas, though she has to advertise her diplomatic immunity extensively on her exterior. She has lain for considerable times under the Jersey shore. We all like her. She is a happy ship. No other has brought home so many rejoicing passengers." |
A Story of US Passengers' Lives as Internees in Asia
Mrs Marjorie Sayre, originally from Wellfleet, Massachusetts, now living in Florida,
has sent the story of her relatives, who were repatriated on the Gripsholm.
Updated Feb 11, 2011 Anonymous Letter on Gripsholm Stationary
I just found your wonderful website, and thought I would share this story with you. My Uncle was a prisoner of the Japanese in Manila during WWII. At some point, (Sept -43, is noted in the letter, LH) someone wrote my Grandparents a letter on writing paper from the Gripsholm, (so I assume this person was a passenger) The letter was written to let my Grandparents know that their son was safe-but this letter was written anonymously out of fear that harm would come to my Uncle if the Japanese found out that the letter had been written and by whom. My Grandparents were also advised to not tell anyone else about the letter out of concern for my Uncle's safety. |
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Updated Sep 14, 2009 Film Clip: The Gripsholm arriving in New York in 1943 This clip from Youtube shows the Gripsholm arriving in New York City in 1943, with American citizens from the Far East, among them former internees of Santo Tomas Internment Camp.
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George and Gertrude Wilder, American missionaries in China, were repatriated on the Gripsholm in 1943. Gertrude Wilder painted a number of watercolor sketches of the ports visited along the way. Their grandson, Donald Wilder Menzi, has provided a narrative and combined the paintings in a video.In addition, George Wilder, was an amatuer ornithologist, and wrote a memoir of the voyage with an emphasis on the various birds seen along the way. His friend, Howard Galt, also wrote a memoir of the voyage. Visit the web site here: http://d.menzi.org
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A Story of American Passengers' Lives as Internees in Asia
Mrs Marjorie Sayre, originally from Wellfleet, Massachusetts, now living in Florida,
has sent the story of her relatives, who were repatriated on the Gripsholm.
The following exchange voyages After the two long voyages in 1942 and 1943, the Gripsholm made several shorter voyages, carrying German repatriates and POW's from America to be exchanged in Lisbon, Goteborg and Mediterranean ports. The German POW's were submarine crews and other navy crews who had been captured by the US Armed Forces. There were also German internees, as described by Steven Fox in his book excerpt. In 1945, the Gripsholm made a longer voyage to Port Said and Bombay, through the Suez Canal. The Gripsholm made three voyages in 1944, four in 1945, and three in 1946, before returning to regular transatlantic crossings and cruises. Also among the passengers on the Gripsholm was the Kungsholm crew, which had been stranded in New York City, just after the proclamation of war, when Kungsholm was bought by the US Government, and renamed John Ericsson.
Mrs Flo Clucas has contributed this card from Swedish Princess Sibylla,
Professor Emeritus Susan Pentlin, has edited The Diary of Mary Berg, a republication of the diary of a woman who had been in the Warzaw Ghetto and later interned at the Vittel Internment Camp in France, has provided the following information: "The Gripsholm arrived from Lisbon on March 15, 1944 in New Jersey City, New Jersey with 662 passengers. 35 or 36 of the passengers were wounded U. S. soldiers. There were also American and Latin American officials aboard, Red Cross workers, journalists and American citizens, many of them came from Poland, some directly from concentration camps, others from internment camps such as Vittel."
In an article from 1991, Mary Berg's Warsaw Ghetto: A Diary,
Susan Pentlin has written: Stephen Fox has informed us of the story about Seven Sisters of Mary of the Presentation interned at Vittel, France during World War II. They also returned safely to the USA on the Gripsholm in March 1944. On one of the voyages, the Gripsholm also carried concentration camp victims from Bergen-Belsen. Vandy Vandervort has contributed the documents below from her aunt's arrival on the Gripsholm on March 15, 1944. Dorothea (Dodo) Clark Vandervort Richie was a member of the U.S. diplomatic corps in Germany.
REUNITED-Miss Dorothy Vandervort, center, a secretary in the American Embassy at Vichy, who was interned by Germany for 15 months, arrived in Denver yesterday for a reunion with relatives. She is shown with a nephew, Gerald C. Vandervort, and a sister-in-law, Mrs. Edwin Vandervort of Climax, Colo. Note: In the picture was my Aunt (Dorothy) my brother (Gerald) and my mom (Gayle A. Vandervort). My brother died about 3 months later. That was the last picture taken of him. My mom got the news photographer to isolate his image and make a nice print of it. I was born about year and half later. So I never knew my brother. |
Updated Feb 11, 2011 1945 From Bombay Heather Waters Bedford of Canada has contributed six pages of her father's autobiography, describing the family's voyage from Bombay in August 1945. "My Dad was Moir A J Waters, my Mum was Margaret Waters, my brother JIm was age 4 and me 4 months old, when I boarded the ship and 5 months when I reached New York Dad was in Bombay for four weeks before my mother, brother and I joined him. Those pages are interesting, how Dad went frequently to the American Express office hoping to get passage home, but I am sending you just the actual trip... My parents, brother and I left Bombay India in the first part of July 1945 and sailed to New York City landing there Aug 3, 1945. My Dad has written details of our voyage in an autobiography and I could find the exact date. (According to my notes, the ship left Bombay on June 21, 1945. LH) My parents were United Church of Canada missionaries and had been in India since February of 1940. My brother was born there in 1941 and I was born Feb 28th, 1945. During the first part of the journey there was lifeboat drill daily and my mother was to bring a life jacket for me - a four month old - and use it as a floating devise if the ship went down. We were some time before we were out into the Atlantic and they stopped worrying about sunken mines. Such trying times. My Dad was Moir A J Waters, my Mum, Margaret Waters, my brother JIm age 4 and me 4 months old when I boarded the ship and 5 months when I reached New York. I admire all my parents did to get us to Canada - we arrived by train into Toronto Ontario Aug 4th." Read the intriguing story from Mr Waters' autobiography here. |
Updated Aug 28, 2016 Mr Luther Strasen writes: My parents were Lutheran missionaries in India since 1922 and returned to America on the Gripsholm for another furlough with my brother and me. I was eleven years old but well remember the voyage. Leaving Bombay, the seas were heavy and many of the passengers were seasick. With the signage on the sides of the ship and the decks, well lit at night, any Japanese warships could not mistake its neutrality. The weather brightened before entering the Red Sea and the rest of the voyage was calm. We were not allowed off the ship at the two stops at Port Said and Piraeus. Our first accomodations were on a lower deck with four bunk beds, no porthole, and restroom and showerroom down the hallway. When we reached Greece, my father asked for a better cabin and we were given a room that looked out to an upper deck - lovely it was! Greek refugees were boarded at Piraeus and they were given the lower cabins. My friend Norman and I one day went to a lower deck, found the entrance to the foremast and climbed up to the crow's nest. The sailor on duty smiled and allowed us to stay awhile. There were many missionary families on board and worship services and entertainment for the children abounded. We sat at a designated table with the same food steward throughout. The food was tasty. It certainly did not feel there was war going on, though one American sailor told me that if the Japanese would stop the ship for inspection, he would be put on a lifeboat and executed away from the ship. After seeing Gibralter and then crossing the Atlantic, the sight of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor was very special. After we docked on August 3, 1945, soon afterwards the first atom bomb was dropped and the war came to an end. |
Post War Services
Updated March 27, 2011 In the autumn of 1945 my mother, two sisters and I departed New York City aboard the Gripsholm en route to Egypt to join our father who had gone over just before VE Day. Upon arrival in Naples the Gripsholm developed mechanical problems, so we continued on to Port Said aboard the troopship U.S.S. Gen. Meigs.
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 Vernon T. Hands
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My memories of the trip are a bit hazy, but I remember being excited about John Borrego of Guthrie, Oklahoma has sent us the following information about his parents, who crossed the Atlantic in November, 1945: "My parents met aboard the Gripsholm in November of 1945, as they traveled to Italy to take up posts in the US Embassy in Rome. My father, Edward C. Borrego, had served in the Mediterranean theater with AFHQ Petroleum Section, and was "lent" by his employers, the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, to the State Department to serve as Petroleum Attache in the Rome embassy. My mother, Maryanne Mohrbacher, had worked in Washington for the State Department, and was eagerly looking forward to her first foreign posting in Rome. Among the other passengers was Episcopal Bishop John Larned, who was going to Europe to re-establish American Episcopal congregations. He later officiated at their wedding at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Rome." |
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1946
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After the war, in 1946, eight ocean liners served in the Atlantic. Among these were the Drottningholm, the Gripsholm, the Norwegian American Lines' Stavangerfjord, and on October 16, the Queen Elizabeth sailed from Southampton on her maiden voyage, after having served in the war as a troop transport ship. Solon E. Paul has shared the following story: I (age 14) was a passenger on the Gripsholm January 1, 1946 to January 20, 1946 from Salonika, Greece to New York. We sailed from Salonika to Naples, Marsailes and in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the ship’s engine caught fire. No one knew of the fire and we were told to proceed topside for passport documentation. I forgot my passport, so I took the elevator down and when the door opened I saw an officer come out of a nearby door and flames poured out of the opening. He grabbed me and put me back in the elevator as I was crying. When I reached topside I began screaming that the ship was on fire. People thought I was crazy, however, the captain got on the PA system and told the passengers of the fire and that there was no danger and everything was under control. Needless to say, it took twenty (20) days to get to New York. On February 6, 1946, Gripsholm sailed from the USA to Europe, carrying several hundred deportees from American prisons, among them Lucky Luciano, to Naples and Greece. These passengers carried plenty of cash, and organized gambling on board, resulting in knife fights after accusations of cheating. |
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Links Read more about Gripsholm as a repatriation ship on these personal home pages: |
| James E. McEldowney's family, traveling to India in 1946. |
| Lt. Robert M Janson, returning from Europe in 1944. |
| Gwen Dew, reporter, returning from Asia in 1942. |
| Radzia, American prisoner in Nazi-Occcupied Poland returning from Europe in 1945. |
| Lt Walter R. O'Sullivan, returning home in 1945. |
The China National Aviation Corporation CNAC There are several stories of people who were interned by the Japanese during WW II. Some of these people came home on the Gripsholm. Tom has started a small page listing those who came home on the Gripsholm: http://www.cnac.org/emilscott/gripsholm01.htm |
View photos from the WW2 Repatriation Voyages > >
More than 250 web pages developed and maintained by Lars Hemingstam ©1998-2023
Hasse Gustafsson and Tommy Stark have interviewed crew members and contributed many of the stories.
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