In 1850 the ship Sophie departed from Trondheim c. 25th October with 106 passengers headed for the gold-fields in California. The ship had been bought in partnership by the emigrants from owners in Hamburg. The intention was to sail for San Francisco, but the ship never reached that destination. At Christmas the ship was off Madeira, and they all had "julegråt" (Christmas-porridge). On January 20th they reached Rio de Janeiro, where they were going to get fresh provisions. The situation was to become quite difficult for the passengers, as the Captain refused to continue the voyage. He claimed the ship was not fitted to proceed, and had it inspected. The result was that the ship was condemned, and had to bed sold. The price they could get for the ship was not much, much lower than what they had paid. The lengthy stay in Rio, and the loss of the ship and invested capital was devastating.



A land-company in Brazil, Schrøder &Co. gave them an offer to become colonists in Brazil, and 74 of the emigrants accepted the offer. They took land in the province of Santa Catharina. By 1854 only a small part of the colonists were still living in Santa Catharina, a minister visiting in 1854 mentioned only 9 colonists by name. There were quite many deaths among the colonists, and a number of them had died from typhoid fever and dysentery. The unhealthy weather and the hardships had made driven most of the colonists to abandon the colony. Those of the passengers on the Sophie who had not become colonists, had either returned to Norway, or managed to get to California on their own.