Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Christian Hadberg Jessen
In memory of:
Ordinary Seaman Christian Hadberg Jessen
July 7, 1942
Barents Sea
Military Service
21
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Hartlebury (London, England) (163443)
Additional Information
January 1, 1921
Sonder Vilstrup, Denmark
Son of Jes Peder Alfred Jessen and Anna Marie Hadberg of Denmark.
On 7 July 1942, the Hartlebury sailed from Sunderland, England, then Reykjavik, Iceland, to northern Russia with convoy PQ-17. At 6:35 pm and 6:37 pm, she was torpedoed by U-335. At 6.45 pm, she received her coup de grâce and sank by the bow in 10 minutes 17 miles (27 km) from the Britwin lighthouse, Novaya Zemlia in the Barents Sea, position 72°30'N/52°00'E. Six sailors were killed in the first attack. Of her crew of 58 men, 38 lost their lives. The survivors were picked up by a Soviet surveillance vessel and transferred to the British corvette HMS La Malouine (K45), which landed them in Archangel, Russia, on 25 July.
Commemorated on Page 161 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.
Burial Information
HALIFAX MEMORIAL
Nova Scotia, Canada
Panel 21.
The HALIFAX MEMORIAL in Nova Scotia's capital, erected in Point Pleasant Park, is one of the few tangible reminders of the men who died at sea. Twenty-four ships were lost by the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War and nearly 2,000 members of the RCN lost their lives. This Memorial was erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and was unveiled in November 1967 with naval ceremony by H.P. MacKeen, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, in the presence of R. Teillet, then Minister of Veterans Affairs. The monument is a great granite Cross of Sacrifice over 12 metres high, clearly visible to all ships approaching Halifax. The cross is mounted on a large podium bearing 23 bronze panels upon which are inscribed the names of over 3,000 Canadian men and women who were buried at sea. The dedicatory inscription, in French and English, reads as follows:
1918-1945
IN THE HONOUR OF
THE MEN AND WOMEN
OF THE NAVY
ARMY AND MERCHANT NAVY
OF CANADA
WHOSE NAMES
ARE INSCRIBED HERE
THEIR GRAVES ARE UNKNOWN
BUT THEIR MEMORY
SHALL ENDURE.
On June 19, 2003, the Government of Canada designated September 3rd of each year as a day to acknowledge the contribution of Merchant Navy Veterans.
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