Asbjorn Pedersen

Asbjorn Pedersen was born in 1921 in Porsgrunn, Telemark, Norway. He was the son of Cornelius and Mathilda Pedersen. Asbjorn became a merchant marine at the age of 16.  He settled in America when Norway was occpied by the Germans in 1940. In 1944 Asbjorn married in Los Angeles, California and is survived by a daughter.

The Midnight Sun left New Bedford on November 10, 1962, and disappeared in a storm on November 14 as she headed home to New Bedford from the fishing grounds. Late Wednesday and Thursday a storm packing  winds of more than 90 miles an hour whipped seas into 50-foot waves as it ripped across Georges Bank. Local fishermen considered the storm to have been one of the worst of the century. Last radio contact was reported between 2 and 3 p.m. on Wednesday.  The Midnight Sun was reported overdue when she failed to return to port along with the other vessels she had been fishing with. The Coast Guard conducted a seven-day, 63,000-square-mile search for the vessel but found no wreckage.