A journey on the S/S Tasso from Christiansund to Hull in 1880
Ingeborg Olsdatter Øye - Dordi Glærum Skuggervik, Utvandringshistorie fra Nordmøre
This is the account of Ingeborg Olsdatter Øye's journey on the S/S Tasso in 1880. Parts of Ingeborg Olsdatter Øye's diary has been printed in Dordi Glærum Skuggervik's book: "Utvandringshistorie fra Nordmøre" - ISBN 02-991394-0-6
April 19th, 1880. Kristiansund 28th April. On Board the "Tasso" April 30, dinner time. On board the "Tasso" in the morning of May 1st May 2nd. Sunday onboard the "Tasso" I have had fun for a while now, I have been sitting down discussing different issues with a young boy. Almost everyone aboard are very cleaver, so good company is not hard to find. Yesterday we had a long meeting up on deck and then a long discussion about love. It has been quite amusing at times. - If only I knew that my parents were not suffering. I know they will be thinking about me now. "Tasso" is not as bad as I once thought, and if it had not been so crowded it wouldn't have been bad. The food is also better than what I had expected, yes it is irreproachable. For breakfast we get black cafe which is very bad, a biscuit with butter and a slice of bread. For dinner we get a dish of meat, which is very good. For supper we get a biscuit and a cup of tea, which is good, without cream.
Liverpool May 4th 1880, at the dinner table
"This will be the last time I write in my little diary here at my home. Tomorrow 8 days, I will go to Kristiansund. Thursday 29th S/S Tasso will arrive from Trondheim. I am walking as in a dream now, I have taken farewell on many places to person after person for the last time......
The steamship Tasso will after what the agent says arrive at 1 o'clock tonight. We have to be ready for the arrival. It is impossible to get any sleep now in these waiting hours. I will try to use the time while I wait to write in my diary. The weather out at sea is not good. The "Pacific" which departed this morning, had to turn and come back to Kristiansund this evening. It will be a hard journey before reaching England. But the dear hope.....holds my courage up. So let it in Goods name go! ........
Now we have had a taste of what it is like to bo out on the sea; and the ugly sickness has hosted most of the emigrants aboard. We departed Kristiansund at 5 o'clock this morning. The weather was all ready stormy when we left Kristiansund, and it has not become any better since. There is about 400 emigrants aboard the ship. It is a terrible mess since most of them are sick. I was a little sick crossing the "Hustadviken", but now I am quite well. I was happy to meat an other emigrant that could speak the English language, we started to talk and that kept my courage up while I was feeling very sick. I think the ship now will call at Aalesund. It is so much strange to se here on the ship. If I can keep from being sick the rest of the time, I think the journey will go fine. The worst is the bad sleeping accommodations we have, so full and crowded as it is too. But thank Good I have courage, as I am traveling to meet "my" Peder.
We are now out on the North Sea, so we can not see land in any direction. The ship crew says that we will have good weather, but despite of that the ship is rolling about on the waves of the North Sea. Since dinnertime yesterday I have been free from sea sickness, and yesterday I had a "grown" supper. My sleeping accommodations were good, as there were 5 of us who slept on the deck with some blankets over us, as the bedrooms were overcrowded. It was quite fun, and though I did not sleep tight, it was a good night's sleep. Yesterday evening at 9 we left the Norwegian coast. Today it is quite busy up on deck, some are washing them selves, others are writing, in other words they are doing all kinds of different things.
Last night I had a fairly good sleeping place, as good as one can expect on journeys like this, and which you can expect in a room overcrowded by women, men and children. I got up in the morning to get a little something to eat, namely a slice of bread and some biscuits which we receive in the morning with a cup of bad black cafe, but this made me ill, I tried to sit down in the room in front, but I had to go up on deck to be sick. I stayed up on deck after this. Here aft on the deck it is best to sit. Many of the passengers are not leaving their beds now. A Sunday morning like this they have newer experienced before many says. It is not very pleasant to day either. The wind is blowing cold and strong, and the seas washes over the deck at times. This is the third day on board since we left Kristiansund. It was said earlier that we would reach England today; but due to the strong head wind it will probably not be before tonight or tomorrow that we will arrive to Hull.
Yesterday morning at 3 o'clock we approached Hull. In the evening, Sunday the 2nd we already started to get the sight of the lighthouse. It was a splendid sight, when we came up on deck in the morning, and could see Hull for our eyes. The town is a great sight, but not very beautiful after my opinion. The huge stone buildings are blackened by the smoke and dust from coal which is in the air. But huge and beautiful were all the ships we could see in the harbor.