Seeking info from relatives of Olaus Martin Edvard Johannessen (spelt with the 2 n’s and 2 s’s), seaman, from Tromsø, Norway. Born March 24-1884. Married in 1907 in Tromsø to Bergitte Estine Angel. 5 children. Worked as a coal miner at Svalbard, but went to England in September-October 1941 (this info. thanks to Siri).

Lost when Norwegian tanker O.A. KNUDSEN was sunk by U-508 under Ulrich Heyse on 19 Feb. 1942 50 miles East of Hole-in-the Wall lighthouse, Abaco Island, NE Providence Channel, Bahamas. Seaman Olaus Johanessen, then 58, was injured, landed in Abaco, but died in the Cornwall 3 lumber camp NE of Sandy Point (in 2009 I spent 4 days in the bush looking for his grave).

Does anyone know his family or history/story? Siri kindly wrote "was working in the coal mines at the Arctic island of Svalbard at the time of the Allied raid there, and went to England from there after the raid... ..he’s on Page 519 of biographies for H-K, the first one on that page..."

Surely someone must want to know where he is buried and honor him. He is the only (so far as I've researched) verifiable merchant seaman victim to 85 Italian and German submarine attacks on roughly 150 ships in the area East of Florida and North of the Antilles 1942-44. I would especially appreciate a photo graph of him for my research on this extraordinary tale, avail. at www.uboatsbahamas.com. Manga tack.

Eric Troels Wiberg 1 203 856 9677 NY USA