John Nordlander was born in 1894 in Härnösand, Västernorrland County, Sweden, to a family of seafarers, and was educated there as a Sea captain. Initially serving in the Swedish Navy and onboard international sailing ships, John Nordlander was first educated as a First Officer in Härnösand and then as a Sea Captain at the :sv:Navigationsskolan i Göteborg|Marine Officer's School of Gothenburg. Nordlander died in 1961 in Gothenburg and was buried there at Östra kyrkogården.
Captain John Nordlander was commissioned by the Swedish American Line in 1920 and subsequently served as naval officer on all its ships on transatlantic cruises as well as in other directions, including the West Indies. The ships under the command of Captain John Nordlander included the following:
Besides the war activities, towards the end of his career he was also in charge of multiple dramatic rescue missions. Among these were the 1950 incident of the Norwegian ship Crown Prince Olav when she suddenly caught fire outside the coast of Halland, located along the west coast of Sweden. Despite no sight due to heavy fog, with only help of the radar system, Captain John Nordlander managed to fetch and tow the deteriorating vessel and its 120 passengers safely back to the nearest port. Furthermore, in 1955 the British 7 000 tons heavy Argobeam also caught fire in the sea outside Ireland, rescued by Captain Nordlander.
World War II
Captain John Nordlander's service eventually stretched the tumultuous years of World War II.
Following the outbreak of World War II,, commanded by Captain John Nordlander, was seized at New York City and placed under the American flag and purchased by the United States government. The United States Lines were appointed agents by the War Shipping Administration to run the ship as a troop transport, renamed it to USAT John Ericsson after the Swedish-American inventor John Ericsson, and appointed American Captain John W. Anderson as her Commander. She left New York at the end of January 1942 in a convoy with a full complement of 6,000 U.S. soldiers for Australia and Noumea, with the ultimate mission to garrisonthe island of New Caledonia. After her returning to the Atlantic, USAT John Ericsson resumed her mission. By the close of the war she had safely transported some 300,000 troops under Allied supervision to various theaters of war, despite frequent attacks by enemy submarines and aircraft.
Allied prisoner exchanges and rescue missions
Subsequent to the acquisition of his former vessel, Captain John Nordlander was appointed Commander of 1942–1948, carrying out multiple prisoner transport missions, totalling thousands of displaced victims and prisoners of war, notably in collaboration with the Red Cross. Under signs such as "Freigeleit - Protected, Drottningholm Sweden", she turned out to be one of the few ships that sailed hostile waters with all lights shining at night. During 1942, SS Drottningholm was sporting signs on its sides displaying "Diplomat - Drottningholm Sverige" when transporting disabled prisoners of war, victims of Nazi concentration camps as well as diplomats from Liverpool, United Kingdom, to North America. In September 1944 she was deployed by the Red Cross to transport prisoners of war and civilians being repatriated from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom via Sweden. Another voyage in April 1945 docked in Liverpool that included 212 ex-interned Channel Islanders. One of the voyages is indicated to have safely relocated 1,362 individuals at once.
In popular culture
In tribute to the vessel under Nordlander's command, a short illustrated movie, The S.S. Drottningholm, was produced by Molly DeVries about her ancestors, the Jewish-American concert pianist Walter Hautzig and writer Esther Hautzig. The two belonged to and met among the thousands of passengers on rescue missions onboard SS Drottningholm, and later got married.
Medal of Merit of the Red Cross in Sweden, conferred by King Gustaf V for his "humanitarian efforts during SS Drottningholm's transports during wartime"
, a short illustrated movie by Molly DeVries about Jewish-American concert pianist Walter Hautzig and writer Esther Hautzig, who met at a rescue mission onboard SS Drottningholm and later eventually married
