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orm overland
Starting member
Norway
22 Posts |
 Posted - 02/04/2009 : 13:15:50
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Since there is not much information on this voyage you may be interested in the account of one of the passengers, Christopher Jacobson (as he eventually wrote his name) from Ullensaker in Akershus. His letter dated July 18, 1854 is in Fra Amerika til Norge, I, 98. The following is a translation of part of his long letter:
We sailed from Kragerø on April 8 at 8 o’clock in the morning and the emigrants’ last farewell with Norway was a series of cannon salutes and loud cheers. We sailed rapidly across the North Sea, where nothing happened that is worth noting. On Maundy Thursday and Good Friday we sailed past England, so it was Easter when we entered the great ocean. Nothing much happened here either; we had some serious gales a few times but for the most part we had a good constant wind. We had a fiddler onboard and since the weather was so nice all the time we could dance when we wanted to, because when there are 226 passengers there are always some who want to dance. On the Day of Prayer we came to the Newfoundland Bank about 200 miles from Quebec. Here we were met by many large icebergs, yes so large that in all of Ullensaker there is no one who has so large a house. No sooner had we passed these than we came to a mass of smaller pieces of ice. We had to lie there for 8 days because we could not sail through the ice and it was terribly cold. But luckily the weather was calm; had we then had a gale our ship would have been crushed in the ice. Several hundreds of ships were also gathered there. Finally we were free from the ice and now we sailed rapidly up the river where we had a beautiful landscape to look at on both sides. On the morning of Ascension Day, at five thirty, we anchored at a wharf in Quebec. Our voyage lasted 6 weeks and 3 days and was now over. Three had died and two were born onboard. I do not find it necessary to tell you about all that can be disagreeable on an emigrant ship, about how the women argue about a place near the smokestack etc. |
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bark Inga from Kragerø 1854
