Kristiansund, Niels B¿ye

Skipper Niels Jacobsen B¿ye is my great, great grandfather. The family story is that he was lost at sea between 1866 and 1872 when his family emigrated to Chicago. At one time he took his then 8-year-old daughter, my great grandma, on a trip to Spain. So he might have been shipping klipfish from Kristiansund. I've searched the partially burned church records many, many times for a notation of his death but to no avail. I have all of the other information about him: born 1 Oct 1828 in ¯stre Moland, father Jacob B¿ye, mother Bertha Thorsdatter, confirmed 23 Apr 1843; m in Kristiansund to Johanna Marie Kolbensen Aug 1855; shows up in the 1865 census under Ole Kolbensen's family. I've looked for records of ships and their captains. I've found that they may only be accessible in person. If that's true, I'd be happy to hire someone knowledgeable to help me. But if there is another resource with online access, that would be wonderful. Would his death have been recorded in the church records? Is there a set of duplicate records somewhere that wasn't burned? Additionally, is there an archive of the history of Kristiansund during that period? My other great, great grandfather, Martin Christian Christensen, also in Kristiansund, was Niels' best friend. Martin brought both families to Chicago in 1872 where two of their children married. Thanks so much.