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jimborgestad
New on board
USA
2 Posts |
 Posted - 27/09/2001 : 09:35:27
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Please discuss the Norwegian compulsory service laws in effect circa 1903.
1. Were all Norske males subject to conscription? What type/length of service?
2. Did many potential "draftees" seek to avoid conscription by emigration?
3. Was it commonplace for Norske sailors in the early 1900s to "jump ship" in US ports and to change their names? What was the punishment for being caught?
4. What are the realistic prospects for finding the ship/US port of arrival of a 14 year old Norske "sailor" who might have "jumped ship" (and changed his last name upon arriving in the US)? He is not listed in the Ellis Island records under any identifiable name. Still, he did have a tatoo of the Statute of Liberty bearing the Norske and US flags.
Thanks, I await any comment.
jimborgestad |
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Borge
Veteran Moderator
Norway
1297 Posts |
Posted - 30/09/2001 : 15:59:13
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Hello Jim
I will try provide some information which might through some light on your topic:
1. Yes all Norske males were subject to conscription, if they did not have serious handicaps which made them unsuitable as soldiers.
2. I have no secure knowledge about that question, but it is very possible. For-instance, there was a great stepping up in the military activities in Norway in connection to the breaking up of the union with Sweden in 1905. There was a fear of a military attack from the Swedes, and great numbers were drafted for border patrol.
However, to emigrate (in the legal way) you had to sign up a contract with an emigration agent, representing a shipping company, and that contract had to be shown before the police and to be signed by the chief of police. All this according to the law of 1869, concerning the freight of emigrants to foreign parts of the world. To be given permission to emigrate, males between the age of 22 and 36 had to have permission from their military authorities (the unit to where they were enrolled). Males under the age of 22 had to have a permission from the quarter registrar (an official in charge of the annual enrollment).
This means that it would be difficult to escape by ordinary emigration. Now, this also has relevance for your 3rd question, as there were also kept military rolls dealing with all kinds of sailors. You could not sign on a ship in Norway to become a sailor without being enrolled in the navy conscription. So because of that we have in our archives the Maritime inscription - registers of seamen
4. It was not uncommon for Norwegian sailors to jump ship. However I do not have exact knowledge on how common it was, as there has not been conducted enough research in to this topic.
4. It is a quite good chance, as he would have been enrolled in the Maritime inscription - registers of seamen. These records gives information about these kinds of things. See my article about it:
http://www.NorwayHeritage.com/ships/sailors.htm
Having said that....14 years old, he was a very young sailor. commonly they would have to be confirmed before signing on as a sailor, and the common age for confirmation was 14 - 15.
Børge Solem
Edited by - borge |
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norwegian draft
