BY SAILSHIP TO AMERICA, about 1850

(Provided to 'Bergens Tidende' by an 80-year old man in Strandvik)
"We were at home with father, 9 grown brothers who for a couple of
winters had worked in the spring herring fishery, but it was not profitable.
The two oldest were to divide the farm, which supported 26 cows, but for the
rest of us it was to find something else to do.

For several years we had heard rumors about America and had a desire to try it out over there, but
father had little interest in that, and mother said absolutely no. But since the fishery had been as good as failed for several years, it was decided that in the spring of 1851, three of us would make the trip to America, to
try our luck there.

We were supplied with four new homespun suits, a dozen undershirts, just as
many work shirts and homespun underwear, two dozen stockings, three
coverlets and three new blankets - all per person. And in common, we
received 16 cured lamb thighs, 6 pounds of butter, 120 rounds of flatbread,
8 bushels of potatoes, 7 tins of sea biscuits bought in Bergen, 1 bushel of
peas, 4 cured hams, a half barrel of home-ground rye, 80 liters of homemade
ale, coffee, syrup and much more. When we got to Bergen were not allowed to
take a barrel of soured milk aboard. My brother Sjur became angry and said
to the captain that he wanted a reduction in the fare, for if he could not
bring a little milk for his porridge, then the ship should not expect full
payment, either.

After having said farewell to friends and family, and finally to mother, who
was beside herself because we were going so far, four of our brothers and
father transported us to Bergen on a neighbor's smack. We had to cross all
the way to Bukken, but later we got a good wind and got to Bergen after 4
day's sailing.

The America ship lay at the pier near Brunehorst Shipyard and was called
'Haakon Adelsten' It was a large brig. The captain's name was Simonsen and
was a kind and talkative man of 45 year's age. After we had been to the ship
owner and bought a ticket to Quebec, we were allowed to go aboard with our
chests, boxes and sacks.

The ticket cost us each 49 daler and 8 skilling. We were a bit unlucky when we were taking our baggage aboard, when the bottom of a chest broke and some lefser fell into the sea. However, we were able to dry them but they remained a little unsavory, but we used them as a thickener.

Aboard, places were fitted out. The berths are much as those that are still
found on 'Nordlandsjegter': there were two bunks, one above the other, with
a drawer under the lower one.

There was no proper table, but there were
benches fastened to the ship walls and these were used both to sit on and to
eat off. The chests were stacked up at one end of the space and the boxes or
caskets each passenger had in front of his bed. The married couples had
somewhat larger beds on the starboard side but the boys and girls lay
together, with their own beds, naturally. There were 120 passengers
altogether, of whom two girls from Voss lived aft with the captain. They
were likely acquainted with or related to him.

The crew was in the
forecastle, where there were three stoves, free for the use of the
passengers. We divided ourselves into teams and cooked by turn.
When we had been aboard for two days, the ship was ready to sail. Friends
and relatives said their last farewells, the 'Haakon Adelsten' raised anchor
and stood out in the fjord waiting for a light breeze, the 16th May, 11
o'clock in the morning.

After we passed Marstenen light house, the sea began to have its effect. A
woman from Lindaas was cooking rice porridge for her family, but had to
leave it. Her husband began to tease her because she could not manage this,
but he had not stirred very long - before he also had to run on deck. While
he was there, the rice burned in the pot and the smell of burnt rice went
all over the brig. The Mate came and suggested that we help one another a
little, or there would another problem. After, we always took our pots off,
if we had to leave.

On the afternoon of May 17th, a sail tore and we were becalmed for 24 hours.
My brother Hans and a Sogning climbed up and turned the sail on the
mainmast. When the Sogning came down, the Captain asked if he saw anything
of Norway. 'No, of Norway, I saw nothing, but at Bergen, I saw 'Kvarven'.
Thereupon he tapped a bowl of Sogn ale and treated the Captain and some
others of us. Hans also had to make the same gesture. Afterwards, they were
seen as the two most vigorous men aboard, but my brother Sjur undertook to
finger wrestle with both of them. When the Captain got us to finger wrestle
or turn somersaults, he thought it was humorous. The he laughed so his ample
belly shook and his friendly eyes almost closed.

The 19th May we got a near gale from the north and the single torn sail went
away. They had made a faulty reckoning and instead of entering the English
Channel, we were far north on England's coast. There, the wind dropped and
it was not until the 24th May that we entered the Channel. There we stayed
in the fog for more than a day and got nowhere, but then we got a good wind
and the 29th, in the evening, Europe disappeared from our view.

Several of us were up in the rigging and Hans and the Sogning were again at
the top. Things quieted during the night but the next day we met a southwest
storm that lasted for several days. There was a sad hubbub aboard in those
days for, of all the passengers, there were barely more than 5-6, that were
not seasick. Even the Sogning had to 'feed the crabs'. 'Bless me, fellows,
is this not awful,' he said and threw up just like the others. Hans and I
were tolerably well and Sjur continued to help the crew with the sails.

From that day the Sogning did not dare mock him, for now they saw 'who was fit,
when trouble came', said the Captain.
The 16th June again we had fog and this lasted one week. Sankt Hans we
celebrated by colliding with an iceberg that came drifting by. By then we
had gone many miles off course, and we had not been so lucky as to get a
northeast wind - so I did not know how things had gone.

The 13th June we had
seen a lighthouse of America, but during the night it blew up from the
northwest. The storm was so strong that all sails had to be struck and for
several days we were driven by only the rigging. The chest pile in the cabin
tumbled down, the women and children wept and complained so that it was
completely unpleasant.

The weather improved, however, and on the 4th July we
reached the St. Lawrence River, where we had to drop anchor because of
becalming and the strong current, we lay here for several days.

The
passengers had recovered somewhat and a woman from Voss was tending to her
pot where she was cooking some pork and peas for her husband, sister and
three half-grown girls. But this superb meal she got nothing of, since she
went into labor and in the flurry, her husband and sister forgot about the
pot.

Another cooking team came and the pot was dumped out by one of the
crew. The Captain had to be the midwife together with a woman from Hosanger.
The baby was very premature and stillborn. It was buried in seaman fashion
two days later.

On the 7th July we got a good wind and arrived in Quebec, Saturday evening
at 6, the 8th July - after about 8 weeks sailing.

-- How was it with regard to cleanliness aboard?
-- Oh, we were expected to wash every morning and take turns cleaning the
cabin.

The crew helped and were quick to command us. One day a woman from
Søndhordland became angry with the seamen and suggested that this ordering
about was terrible and that at home, where she came from, they only swept
the floor with a broom every Saturday, and they managed quite well.
-- How did things go after you got to Quebec?
-- We stopped there for a half a day, after we went on a little
steamboat - one of those paddle steamers - to Montreal.
-- You must have had access to get your food?
-- Yes but it was difficult to get to the food and it did not get much
better over the Great Lakes either, even though the steamer was a little
larger.

But on the railroad to Chicago we had a lunch pack in our
compartment - and then we also had fresh bread that we bought in Detroit,
with a little cured meat and a bottle of American ale."

This must be included on the page with the Des Moines History.

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