The Johannes Rød was built in 1866 by the Rød brothers at their own shipyard at Dalen in Tjøme. Burden was 212 Norwegian Commercial lasts. She was owned by the Rød brothers of Tjøme. The Johannes Rød sailed with emigrants in 1867 and in 1868. The ship was abandoned at sea in May 1889. In 1867 she departed from Christiania Apr. 29th, and arrived at Quebec May 31st. According to the passenger list she was carrying 276 passengers.

We have a voyage account from the crossing in 1867. It was told in a letter written by Gunder Iversen Engsveen to friends in Norway. The letter is dated Scandinavia, Wisconsin, July 21st 1867. Below is a translation of a part of the letter. The original letter was transcribed by Orm Øverland and Steinar Kjærheim in their book "Fra Norge til Amerika, Norske utvandrerbrev 1858 - 1868".

The ship left Christiania on the 26th of April, and was towed out on the Christianiafjord by a steamship. They sailed out to "Svinelegeret" where they anchored. They stayed there until Monday the 29th when the wind was favorable and the ship set sails. By the evening many of the passengers had become ill with seasickness.

"Chrestine" was sick and was in bed till May 26th. It was seasickness, and there were many that vomited every day. I had never believed that I would see people so ill from seasickness, they can hardly not take inn anything else than water. Then the sea was calmer and the passengers got on their feet again, but in the beginning they were quite week, but they all recovered. On the 9th of May we had very favorable wind, and sailed a distance of 78 miles in 24 hours, 1 "sea-mile" is 1500 Alen [ 1 Alen = 2 feet ], and on Sunday the 12th of May it was calm. In the morning we prayed and in the evening we had a dance to music. In the evening the wind became stronger, and by next morning it had increased to storm, and the seas washed over the deck. Later that day it became calmer again. On the 14th of May a boy was born, it went well, and the boy was given the name "Johannes Rød". On the 17th of May we had storm, which lasted through the night, I don't think there were anyone who slept. Almost all of the sails had been taken in, and we had to hold on to our beds. In the morning it calmed down again. On the 20th of May an infant of 6 moths died [Johan Laersen - 6 months old, died May 20th - son of Laers Jacobsen age 42, and Marie Haagensdatter age 36. They were from Westerdalen, and had five other children, Jacob 11, Haakon 10, Marit 6, Maria 5, and Guren 2. They were accompanied by Ole Haagensen 36 ...Marie's brother?]. It was from lille Erdalen, it was buried the next day. On Thursday the 23rd of May a man of 70 years died, his name was Paal Kalstadkleiven [Paul Olsen], he came from Gausdal. He was buried the next day. On the 25th of may we passed by an island that was 30 sea-miles long, it was not inhabited by humans but there were allot of wild animals living there. The name of the island was "Anticosti". The same day we sighted the American main land, the first thing we saw looked like the snow covered mountains in Norway. On the 27th a boy was born, it died the same day and was buried [Guldbrand Olsen - born May 25th, died May 26th]. On the 31st we anchored at the quarantine place, and a doctor came on board to inspect us, and there was no decease on the ship,we were all healthy. The same evening we arrived Quebec, and we were inspected again."

On June the 4th the captain invited all the passengers to a glass of punch, and the next day at 9 o'clock in the evening they left Quebec by train. They arrived Detroit on the 8th. they traveled on a steamboat and then by train again. That day a child died on the train, it was delivered on the first station the train stopped. On the 19th they arrived in Chicago. In 1868 the Johannes Rød arrived at Callao May 7th. Little is know about this voyage at present.