Among the passengers were Søren Andersen and Dorthe Nilsdatter Tandberg. In a letter to his brother in law Søren Nilsen Tandberg March 10, 1858 Søren Andersen wrote this about the voyage: Now I will first give you an account of our journey. We sailed from Drammen on May 15 and came to Svelvik on the 17th and on the 18th we were at Ferder. We saw Lindesnes on the 20th. We sailed fast on the 23rd and 24th and then we saw Scotland at 9 o’clock and at 12 o’clock we sailed past an English lighthouse and out into the Atlantic. We had a good wind on the 25th through the 28th. The wind was stronger on the 29th and the 30th. We had a calm on the 31st and a gentle wind on June 1st. on the 2nd through the 6th we sailed fast and on the 7th we reefed sails and had a gale. On the 8th and 9th we had some head wind and a gale on the 10th. We tacked on the 11th and 12th and had a good wind on the 13th. We tacked again on the 14th and 15th and lay still on the 19th because we had no wind. We had a good wind on the 20th and 21st and then we were on the border of America. On the 22nd we had a gentle wind and a good wind on the 23rd. We tacked on the 34th and had a good wind on the 25th and 26th. On the 27th we went ashore five Norwegian miles from Quebec and there we had to wash ourselves and were inspected by the doctor, but all of us could continue on the ship and we came to Quebec on Sunday June 28. Thursday July 2 we went by railroad through many cities and came to Chicago on the 6th. On the morning of the 8th we came to the Mississippi River and went on board a steam boat and on the morning of the 9th we came to a town called Winona that is about six Norwegian miles from the place where we live and ten of us used horses and a wagon to get here and we arrived on Saturday evening July 11. See Fra Amerika til Norge II, 6.
Søren Andersen Tandberg's letter continues: And then we met a Norwegian man from Sigdal who invited us to his home. We must thank God that our journey here went so well for us in that we saw no danger and as for our health we were not even seasick. But when we came close to the American coast my daughter Anne Kristine got sick on June 6th and she died on the 17th. I do not know what illness she had. The mate on the ship was also doctor but he said he was not sure what her illness was but that he thought it was nerve fever and he tried many kinds of medicine. But this did not help and we had to leave her at sea near the American coast. A coffin was made on board and the captain laid on earth and used the same ritual as on land, but this was a difficult divorce for us. Except for this our voyage was but a pleasure trip for all of us.
I'm trying to find out what happened to a couple that I believe sailed on the Sjofna in 1856. (Topic: Åse Larsdatter Kjær and Christian Johannesen Bratsbergkleven) This at least gives me a possible route that they might have taken after arriving in Quebec. I had previously thought, that they may have traveled by boat through the Great Lakes to get to Chicago, before traveling west. Every little bit of information helps, when trying to piece together a puzzle.
Bark Sjofna from Drammen to Quebec 1857
Posted - 09/05/2009 : 16:38:53
