[CW] THE FEMALE TELEGRAPH OPERATOR FROM CANADA – A GIRL WITH "A MAN’S COURAGE"

[David J. J. Ring Jr.]

THE FEMALE TELEGRAPH OPERATOR FROM CANADA – A GIRL WITH "A MAN’S COURAGE"

 From Radio Officer Ivar Haug:
.
As a former telegraph operator, I see it as natural for me to honor all 
the female telegraph operators that once sailed the Seven Seas, both in 
war and in peace. And there's hardly a better example of this than Fern 
Sunde, the telegraph operator on "Happy MOSDALE." She was the first 
Canadian woman to hold a professional telegraph operator's degree, and 
the first female radio telegraph operator on a Norwegian merchant ship.

Fern Blodgett was born on July 6, 1918, in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. 
She grew up in the town of Coburg on Lake Ontario. When World War II 
broke out, she was working as a secretary at a life insurance company in 
Toronto. Eventually, a whole series of training camps were set up in 
Canada for airmen from across the British Commonwealth. Many telegraph 
operators had to be employed, and under strong doubt the authorities 
decided that an attempt should be made to educate women.

At a radio school in Toronto, six young ladies were to attend an evening 
class. Fern then decided to make an effort and signed up for the evening 
course in Toronto. However, it seemed that few ladies were interested, 
and only two showed up on the first evening of classes. One gave up 
after a week when she found it too difficult. Only one student continued 
on the course, Fern Blodgett, and she would not give up at all.

During the war it had become difficult to find enough crews for the 
allied ships, and several Canadians took up employment, some also on 
Norwegian ships. When she finished her radio course, Fern now hoped to 
get a job on a ship in the Atlantic trade. She now wanted to do 
something real in the war. She thought: Why shouldn't I risk my life, 
when millions of men do? Is a woman's life more precious than a man's?

On June 13, 1941, she received her certificate as a radio telegraph 
operator. She was the first woman in Canada to earn a telegraph 
operator's license, and is also described as "the Western world's first 
female ship radiotelegraphist".

While qualifying as a radio telegraph operator, the Norwegian ship M/S 
"Mosdale" belonging to Mosvold's shipping company was in port in 
Montreal in the absence of a radio telegraph operator.

The M/S "Mosdale was built for fruit shipping and had refrigeration 
equipment, and during the war was used to transport food supplies from 
North America to Britain. The ship was fast, had a chance to sail from 
German submarines, and therefore also sailed outside convoy.

Fern was given an exemption to take up employment on M/S "Mosdale". 
During World War II, she sailed 78 voyages across the Atlantic. There 
were three telegraph operators on board, as during the war there were 
telegraph operators on duty 24 hours a day. On M/S "Mosdale", Fern 
Blodgett was second telegraph operator from 14 June 1941 until 1943, 
when she was promoted first telegraph operator. Fern then became in 
charge of the radio station, and received subordinates in the positions 
of second and third telegraph operator.

Fern Blodgett is credited with being the first woman to report over the 
radio the position of an enemy submarine. Her work and efforts received 
great attention already during the war years, with articles in several 
newspapers and magazines.

Her story was also told in 1941 in "Communications from the Director of 
Shipping". M/S "Mosdale”’s captain was Gerner Sunde from Farsund, 
Norway, and the two were also married during the war.

After Fern had begun sailing as a telegraph operator, 21 Canadian and 
two American female telegraph operators followed her on Norwegian 
merchant ships during the war. In 1943 she was awarded the War Medal for 
her efforts. When she was presented with the medal by King Haakon in 
1943, she was the first female recipient of the award. The case received 
great international attention, and the Sunde couple were interviewed on 
the BBC, both in English and Norwegian.

Fern Blodgett Sunde sailed as first telegraph operator on M/S “Mosdale” 
until March 1946, when the ship docked in Norway. She then settled in 
Farsund and sailed a few trips until she went ashore for good in 1952. 
Fern Sunde died in 1991.

SOURCES: «Happy MOSDALE» a biography written by Eiliv Odde Hauge - J.W. 
Eides Publishers 1954 ⚓️
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