The Secretary of the Navy
Navy Department
Washington, D.C.
American Embassy,a
London, England
March 12, 1943.
DEAR ELLSBERG:
Receipt of the enclosed letter from Sir Henry V. Markham of the Board of Admiralty, delighted me so much that I am sending it along to you with this note. Of course, a copy will go forward to the Navy Department for inclusion in your record.
The British indicate that you have done a perfectly splendid job and your aid to them constitutes a major contribution to the Allied war effort.
It is a real joy to add a “well done” to this expression of gratitude of the Board of Admiralty. I wish for you a most speedy return to good health, both for the personal happiness of you and yours, and also because of the great value of your work to the service.
Best wishes.
Keep cheerful.
Sincerely,
HAROLD R. STARK.
Captain Edward Ellsberg, U.S.N.R.,
c/o Navy Department,
Washington, D.C.
BOARD OF ADMIRALTY
London,
9 March, 1943.
ADMIRAL H. R. STARK,
Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in Europe.
DEAR ADMIRAL:
I write to let you know that the Board have had before them reports from the late Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean, of the outstanding services to the Royal Navy of Captain Edward Ellsberg, U.S.N.R., at Massawa.
At Massawa Captain Ellsberg by great skill and unflagging energy raised the two Italian Floating Docks in spite of considerable weight of opinion that this was impossible. He also salvaged a number of sunken ships and a 90 ton floating crane, which Salvage Contractors had failed to float.
By the time he left Massawa to take up an important appointment in North Africa, the harbours and the Naval Repair Base had been fully restored to use with the exception of one berth on which he was working at the time of departure. Three of H.M. Cruisers had been partially docked and repaired there under his directions, at the worst time of the year and at a period when it was impossible to deal with them elsewhere in the Near East owing to enemy activities.
Most of this work was done under the most trying climatic conditions, and without his zeal, energy, and constant direction, which were an inspiration to his salvage crews, these excellent contributions to the Allied cause could never have been realized.
This Officer’s enthusiasm and drive, apart from their material result, have had an excellent effect on Allied relations.
Captain Ellsberg’s knowledge and enterprise have been of the greatest value to the Royal Navy, and it is with regret that we learn that he has had temporarily to relinquish his duties on account of ill health. May I ask you to be so good as to convey to him an expression of the gratitude of the Board of Admiralty?
Believe me,
Yours very truly,
H. V. MARKHAM.
Admiral H. R. Stark,
Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in Europe.
[There have been omitted from the above letter certain commendatory statements relative to services in North Africa, which are not .pertinent to Massawa.]
Upon recommendation by the War Department, the following award of the LEGION OF MERIT, then newly authorized as a decoration, was made in the spring of 1943:
THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
Washington
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the LEGION OF MERIT to
CAPTAIN EDWARD ELLSBERG
United States Naval Reserve
for service set forth in the following CITATION:
“For exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service to the Government of the United States in the establishment of a Massawa Naval Base, Eritrea, from January 8, 1942 to April 5, 1943. Working with tireless energy at a task considered in some respects as hopeless of accomplishment, Captain Ellsberg achieved remarkably successful results in the salvaging and repair of vital naval equipment. Having rehabilitated the Massawa Naval Base shops, he made possible extensive drydocking operations for the benefit of all types of Allied shipping.”
For the President,
FRANK KNOX,
Secretary of the Navy.
THE END
Image Gallery
“Captain Brown and I, looking very contented after taking a fall out of both the ocean and the Nazis.” Ellsberg (right) in Massawa uniform, July 3, 1942.
The forecastle of a scuttled Axis ship in Massawa harbor.
Captain Ellsberg surveys a scuttled Axis wreck before beginning salvage, February 18, 1943.
Seven ships scuttled by the Axis to block the entrance to the South Harbor.
Eritrean natives boarding a drydock for repair work in Massawa.
The large Italian drydock, the first wreck salvaged in Massawa, fully afloat again.
The salvage tug Intent, thirteen thousand miles out of Port Arthur, Texas, alongside a wreck.
The scuttled Nazi vessel SS Liebenfels.
The HMS Dido, a damaged British cruiser, entering a drydock in Massawa. This was the first warship to be drydocked there. August 19, 1942.
Pumping out a sunken ship, Massawa, 1942.
The salvaged Italian liner Tripolitania coming into port under tow, and passing the salvaged Italian freighter Gera, under repair in the drydock.
A scuttled floating derrick after salvage, afloat on pontoons.
Ellsberg (left) and Doc Kimble in Massawa, 1942.
A submarine mine intended as a booby trap for divers being hoisted out of the scuttled Brenta before they commenced salvage operations.
Captain Edward Ellsberg in Massawa uniform.
Scuttled ships in Massawa harbor.
Italian prisoners of war and Eritrean laborers on drydock repairs.
Sheiks in charge of native workmen in Massawa, with salvaged drydocks and ships in the background, February 18, 1943.
Diver Ervin Johnson coming up from a scuttled floating derrick.
A booby trap mine being hauled out of the Brenta.
Scuttled ships in Massawa harbor.
A salvaged Italian drydock with the SS Tripolitania alongside.
The tugboat Intent alongside the SS Liebenfels.
The American flag flying above the Nazi flag on the salvaged SS Fraunfels as it came into port on October 4, 1942. This photo was sent to Ellsberg’s wife, Lucy, with a birthday letter.
Ellsberg in Massawa, 1942.
Ellsberg’s birthday letter to his wife, Lucy, November 22, 1942.
Captain Ellsberg in Cairo, July, 1942.
About the Author
Edward Ellsberg (1891–1983) graduated first in his class from the United States Naval Academy in 1914. After he did a stint aboard the USS Texas, the navy sent Ellsberg to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for postgraduate training in naval architecture. In 1925, he played a key role in the salvage of the sunken submarine USS S-51 and became the first naval officer to qualify as a deep-sea diver. Ellsberg later received the Distinguished Service Medal for his innovations and hard work.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
Copyright © 1946 by Edward E. Pollard and Ann P. Heilakka
Cover design by Barbara Brown
Cover photo by Fred Boon
ISBN: 978-1-4804-9376-6
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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Under the Red Sea Sun Page 58