Sailing with Death
The most recent book cover I did was a job that had a special meaning to me, since it was for a book written by my own late grandfather, Leif Vetlesen, and his friend Ingvald Wahl. They both sailed in the Norwegian merchant fleet during WW2, and this book documents the dramatic destinies of several young men who risked, and some who lost, their lives while shipping oil and other vital supplies to the the United Kingdom and other allied countries. The book also contains my grandfather’s personal account of his experiences at sea during the war.
The effort put in by the more than 30000 Norwegian war sailors was undoubtedly the most important Norwegian contribution to the victory over Nazi-Germany. Around 3600 of these young men never returned home.
More in Norwegian: Seilas med døden samler historiene fra bøkene Med døden i kjølvannet (1989) og Syv fortellinger fra Norges krig på havet (1993), samt utfyllende faktaartikler, mellom to permer og gir en grundig innsikt i krigen på havet fra norske krigsseileres perspektiv. Jeg vil komme med en varm, subjektiv anbefaling av denne boken til alle som har en interesse for norsk historie, og for det historiske grunnlaget for at Norge idag er et fritt demokrati.