Nils Økland

This article is about the Esperantist. For the musician, see Nils Økland (musician).

Nils Andreas Økland (born 10 June 1882, Valestrand, Norway) was a Norwegian Esperantist and teacher in Stord (Hordaland), Norway.^[1] His father Matthias Larsen Økland (b. 1844) was also a school teacher and a church chorister; his mother was Signi Nilsdatter (b. 1853) from Eidsvåg.^[2] Having learned Esperanto indirectly through his friend Haldor Midthus by 1904, he served as president on the executive council of Stord's Norwegian Esperanto League branch.

Brief biography

Born in 1882, Økland was confirmed in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1896; the parish priest made particular note of his "knowledge, diligence and conduct with distinction."^[3] By 1900 he was a student at a Stord teachers training college.^[4]

Beginning in the spring of 1904, Økland taught Esperanto courses at the Bethania Waisenhus in Stavanger.^[5] Under the direction of the Stavanger parish priest, the Bethania complex, housing about 150 orphans in three asylum buildings and a further 20 to 30 young offenders in a separate youth detention center on Lindø, operated a printing shop producing newspapers, religious tracts and books.^[6]

In the early period of the movement's growth he propagated the planned language among his colleagues and through newspaper and magazine articles. In 1910 and 1912 he taught adult Esperanto courses in Haugesund, and in 1932 he taught a children's Esperanto course in Stord. He was also Stord's county mayor (ordførar) from 1932 to 1934.^[7]

Shetland Bus

With Theodor S. Økland, Nils Økland fled Nazi-occupied Norway, departing on October 13, 1941 on a two-day voyage across the North Sea to Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, together with 16 other Norwegians, as part of the organized Shetland Bus evacuation of Resistance fighters. His brother Gregorius F. Økland left the same day for the Shetlands in his own boat, the M/B Silden. The Kristian Stein group, led by Ole Alfred Olsen, had stolen a well boat, the M/B Nora I, a Hardanger cutter registered in Herdla, to help Dagfin Vassenden and Alf Grung Johnsen, two Bergen residents who had fled to Hernar to escape a Gestapo manhunt.^[8]

Wartime merchant convoys

During World War II Økland was one of 39 sailors aboard M/T Daghild, an oil tanker that had been built in Copenhagen in 1927. Captained by Olaf K. Egidius, the vessel had been chartered to Standard Oil of New Jersey.^[9] Refitted in Halifax, Nova Scotia with an aft gun and four fixed machine guns,^[9] the Daghild set out September 10, 1941 as part of a naval merchant convoy from Halifax to Liverpool to resupply Great Britain during the Battle of the Atlantic (1939–1945).^[10]

Økland joined the crew of the Daghild in Britain as one of three gunners,^[9] and the vessel made a further trans-Atlantic supply run as part of a convoy in April 1942. On a return convoy from Loch Ewe (September 2, 1942) and Liverpool to New York six merchant ships and the escort vessel HMCS Ottawa were sunk by U-boats, and on September 12 the Daghild was one of six other ships damaged by torpedo fire^[11] from Capt. Lt. Otto von Bülow's U-404.^[12]

After an attempted conversion to aircraft carrier, the Daghild sailed with another resupply convoy but her new deck with aircraft, barges and landing craft made her unstable and difficult to manoeuvre, and the Daghild was forced to return to port in St. John's, Newfoundland.^[9] Departing again for Great Britain, she was torpedoed again during the night before February 7, 1943 by Capt. Lt. Siegfried Freiherr von Forstner's U-402.^[12] The Daghild sent three SOS messages, but after all 39 aboard including Økland had evacuated to three lifeboats, a further torpedo sank the vessel. All the sailors were rescued by the Free French corvette Greenock, with the rescued sailors continuing to Glasgow.^[9]

Øklandhuset

During his time as the schoolteacher in Haugesund, Økland had had a simple house built just west of the school.^[13] After World War II that house, still known as Øklandhuset ("Økland's house") was owned by Sofie Håland, who lived on the main floor and rented out the other two floors to Agnes Vikshåland, a seamstress. She kept her sewing studio in the attic and also operated a store in the basement.^[13]

Notes

1. ^ Hordaland's Sveio/Valestrand Parish register records the birth on 10 June 1882 and baptism on 25 June 1882 of Nils Andreas Økland to Kirkesanger M.(atthias) L.(arsen) Økland (b. 1844) and Signi Nilsdatter (b. 1853), living at Ulveraker. One of the godparents was Nils Larsen Økland.
2. ^ Hordaland's Sveio/Valestrand Parish register records the wedding on 3 July 1872 of "Gårdmann, Lærer" Matthias Larsen Økland, 28, son of Gårdmann Lars Nilsen Økland, to Signi Nilsdatter from Eidsvaag, 20, daughter of Gårdmand Nils Kristoffersen, Eidsvaag.
3. ^ Hordaland's Sveio/Valestrand Parish register records the confirmation on 20 September 1896 of Nils Andreas Mathiassen Økland, born 10 June 1882 at Ulveraker (Økland), baptised 25 June 1882; parents Kirkesanger Mathias Larssen Økland and wife Signy Nilsdatter; vaccinated against smallpox on 5 July 1983; knowledge, diligence and conduct with distinction.
4. ^ Nils Økland (born 1882, in Valestrand) is listed in the 1900 census for the Stord District of Hordaland, as an unmarried "solitary lodger" and student of the Stord teachers training college. He was one of six such students renting lodgings from Ole Ingebrigtsen Rommetveit (b. 1825 in Tysnæs) and his wife Anna Jakobsdatter (b. 1836 in Tysnæs).
5. ^ Esperanto-Nytt, Norsk Esperanto-Forbund, January 2004 (Norwegian)
6. ^ Bøye Strøm, Topografisk-Statistisk beskrivelse over Stavanger Amt", Kristiania (Oslo), 1888, pp. 119-120
7. ^ [1] Utdrag arkivkatalog Stord 1838-1965 in Interkommunalt arkiv Hordaland (Norwegian)
8. ^ Boats escaping from Norway, World War II
9. ^ ^{a b c d e} M/T Daghild, Norwegian Merchant Fleet, 1939-1945
10. ^ Convoy HX-149
11. ^ Convoy ON 127
12. ^ ^{a b} List of all U-boat Commanders
13. ^ ^{a b} Fra Nærbutikk til Supermarked (From Neighbourhood Store to Supermarket (Norwegian), a history of stores in Torvastad, ca.1900-1997

Persondata
Name	Oekland, Nils
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	10 June 1882
Place of birth	Sveio, Norway
Date of death
Place of death