Kantonella Memorial, Mid Yell

Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia

This memorial stone is erected in Mid Yell kirkyard in memory of nine young Norwegian refugees who did not manage to reach the freedom in Shetland.
They left Haugesund in the evening of February 20th, 1941, with the 28 foot long vessel M/B Kantonella. They were caught in a storm, and drifted for nearly a week in the North Sea.
Late February, two bodies drifted ashore in Mid Yell, and some wreckage of a small motor vessel was also found. About a week later, four more bodies were found.
All the bodies were buried at Mid Yell kirkyard. The bodies of three of the men were never found.
On the 17th of May 1980, the memorial stone was unveiled.

The text on the plaque reads in English: Erected on May 17th 1980 in memory of nine young men who escaped with the motor vessel Kantonella from Haugesund, Norway, on the 20th of February 1941. All lost their lives when the boat during a storm was wrecked on the shore of Mid Yell the night of the 27th of February 1941.

The stern tube of the Kantonella, and a photo of the wreck. In display at Sumburgh Airport

The Names of the men were: