In 1866 the bark Sirius departed from Bergen Apr. 27th, and arrived at Quebec June 11th. She sailed in ballast, and was carrying 235 steerage passengers. Two passengers died of senile debility on the voyage, it was Knud Thorsen Markegaard age 74, and Ollong Stengrimsdatter age 74 (see the article about the crossing for other info). When the ship arrived at the quarantine station at
Grosse Île, two children were sick with diarrhoea. The ship was so filthy that it was detained
in quarantine till cleaned. The Sirius was mastered by
Capt. E. O. Knudsen and had a crew of 16. Her burden was 195 Norwegian Commercial lasts.
The voyage of the Sirius - 1866 - These accounts from the voyage of the Sirius from Bergen to Quenbec in 1866, are reprinted with the kind permission of the Valdres Samband. They were first published in "Budstikken", December 1980, and "Budstikken" December 1981. There were were references to the voyage in the "Valdres Samband 1899-1974", drawn from an earlier record in 1914 in the magazine "Samband". The accounts were made available by Mrs. Harold J. Thompson of Brainerd, Minnesota. The second mate, Axel Smith's account was provided by the Norwegian Maritime Museum in Oslo (Norsk Sjøfartsmuseum).