Bark Ægir

The bark Ægir was mastered and owned by Christian K. Behrens in Bergen. Before starting in the trade of conveying emigrants across the Atlantic, he had studied German and American emigrant ships in New York. In that way he had achieved some knowledge on how the ships should be fitted to accommodate passengers on such a long voyage. The Ægir departed from Bergen with emigrants on Apr. 7th - 1837, carrying 84 passengers. Among them was the later well known pioneer Ole Rynning. The ship arrived at New York June 9th.

The crossing is known to have been smooth, but many of the farmers became seasick. The skilled captain worked as the ships medic, and cured them with oat soup. The passengers where cheerful and they arranged dancing on the deck. The captain had to stop the dancing because the deck was damaged from the iron fittings on the farmers shoes. On May 8th the ship had a collision with the British ship "Barletto" but the damage was minor, though the passengers got a scare. On May 17th they celebrated the Norwegian National day with dance and a good meal, they had all dressed in their best clothes.

THE ÆGIR PEOPLE - By Erling Viksund - Jaunuary 2005. This article by Erling Viksund was first published in "Vaksdal Historielags Årbok" 2004. This is the story about the pioneers who emigrated from Hordaland to Amerika on the Ægir in 1837, and the tragedy in the first settlements in Illinois.

Christian Behrens is known to have sailed with emigrants several times after this and he was known as a very good and skilled captain. [DNSH 554]