Translated by Olaf Kringhaug http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~maggiebakke/ulvestad.html The Emigrant ship Valkyrien. In a near sinking in the North Sea the night of April 28 and 29, 1873. By Teacher C. K. Fjærestad. Part 1 Since there are 48 years between 'The Sloop', that took the first emigrants by sailing ship from Stavanger to New York, and the Valkyrien which took the last on a sailing ship from Bergen to Quebec, with 53 and 303 passengers aboard respectively, so it is important for the family that now exists, and that to come, to learn something about the Valkyrien's history. Also to learn how this, the last of that type transportation that went over the ocean, as much as the first. Following urging by a friend, I must give a short summary from my diary of the dangers that both the North Sea and Atlantic taught us to see through sorrow and joy and it was He who says, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth' that came and saved us from death every time, for which many of us yet have not ceased to thank Him. The Valkyrien as far as is known to me was the last sailship to bring emigrants from Norway to America. But the Valkyrien's story and how God and strangers helped us in our need on our passage is not so easy to describe without being suspected and judged by some who might be tempted to think that it is self-praise and that I set myself above others and not have written more about the other passengers. But among the passengers there was, however, one who clearly knew more about how things went than the others and to prevent the idea that it was not him, I will carefully exclude everything that brought him respect even though it would have been an interesting chapter to hear he freed the captives and how he made every offence aboard settled in the best manner. His last act in Norway was to help in getting money for the release of a fellow passenger, J. R. from Bergen. He had been arrested by lawyer Hægstad for attempting to escape paying a mortgage of fifty 'daler'. At 10 o'clock of the last evening he came out of prison and came aboard the Valkyrien where his family was and which without the Captain's permission delayed the ship's departure for four hours after it had raised anchor. And to show that it is not a false assertion that the passenger who got the prisoner out of the prison was more informed about everything aboard than we others below decks, the dangers the Valkyrien met time and time again cannot be depicted in such an abbreviated form as this without me bringing him into the story as a sort of fill and against my will and until the reader wishes to know his right name, I will call him Pat.* The 4 year old bark, Valkyrien, whose Captain was Andreas Møller from Grimstad, and whose First Officer was Christian Krøger from Arendal, took aboard 303 emigrants and departed Bergen 1 o'clock in the afternoon of Friday the 25th April 1873. Pat, who for several years had been an agent for the Emigrant Office in Bergen, still has a letter of the 5th February 1873 he received from the Company in which they informed him that two ships would be equipped for emigrant transport that year and that the price by sailship would be 32 speciedaler for adults from Bergen to Austin, Minn. and by steamship 52 speciedaler 12 skilling and through the sailship company they could also redeem the ticket with a number of English steamship lines. But since there were not more than 303 that could sail that year from Norway by sailship it was necessary to send the 30 who could not get space on the 'Valkyrien' by steamship which was cheaper than to send another ship with only another 30 emigrants to Quebec. The Company had hired a small steamship to tow us out to Marsteinen, 50 kilometers accompanied by the Emigrant Office's leading gentlemen, Joachim, Meier Monsen and Schrøder leading us there and then returned with the steamship. Even though manna did not rain upon us when we left Bergen, we did, in honour of Norway, have a good parting meal with peas, grits and boiled pork. But as soon as the Valkyrien came out on the North Sea and plunged into the deep wave troughs and was washed over the prow by the waves, the good food that had been eaten decided that it would not come along.. Not even as far as Norway's cliffs! And whenever the North Sea was not as deep at any place as it had been before, the peas and pork flew overboard everywhere and there was much moaning. As soon as we had come aboard the ship, there were some who became aware that there were some among us who had longer fingers than they should, and the first day after we had left Bergen it was reported to the Captain that some of the passengers had lost one thing or another even though they had been under double lock in the provisions compartment. The officers had the key and only opened the compartment once a day so the passengers could the food they needed for the next day while in the compartment under guard, but people could also open other people's chests in which there was butter, bread, meat and many other things. A bit before these reports were made to the Captain, First Officer Christen Krøger had in some way found out that among the passengers there was a non-commissioned officer* who had been a policeman and had guarded 89 prisoners at Bergenhus fortress and he told Captain Møller immediately. When Captain Møller learned this he sent Krøger after the man who they imagined was a relative of "Jack of all Trades" and to bring him to the captain's cabin. He asked what it was about and why he should go there? Well, it was just that the Captain wished to request that he take over the position of commandant of the passengers below decks, keep the key for the provisions compartment and as a quartermaster open it once every 24 hours so the passengers could supply themselves as well as issue the statutory wood and water to each family. And of the 80 male adults, who according to the ship's law, should help the sailors wash the decks and empty the ashes from the stoves, he would order 6 men to that duty every morning at 6 A.M. Also he would sell the passengers all sorts of foodstuffs they needed, that the Captain could provide from his supply, and keep an account of this until they came ashore. Although the man who was to answer the Captain on this question seemed to know a bit about giving orders and arresting and taking care of prisoners and similarly how to sell all sorts of goods, he was not at all prepared to answer the question immediately since he had not had more time off than two days in twelve and a half years. To refuse so kind a man as Captain Miller what he now requested was impossible for a man who had been a soldier under two kings. The first we knew that we had gotten a new quartermaster was when on Monday morning, the 28th of April, he opened the hatch cover on the tweendeck, he told us he was appointed as commandant below decks. Not everyone thought well of this since all his orders seemed to cause more fear than we wished to endure. Whether it was that a number were happy that they now had their property in the compartment in more secure hands with a soldier as guard or for other reasons will be unsaid, but most showed happiness that day, but it did not last long. It soon became apparent that after happiness comes sorrow since happiness and sorrow always alternate. *Fjærestad himself. OK