Some of the passengers on the 1837 voyage arrived Gothenburg from Skien on the
PakettenIn 1854 the
ship Niord departed from Stavanger on Apr. 17th, heading for Quebec. The newspaper notice from Morgenbladet states that the ship Niord, mastered by Capt. Olsen of Arendal, departed from Stavanger on Monday [April 17th] for Quebec with 187 emigrants. (source host: Stavanger Amtstidene) Because the National Archives of Canada [NAC] did not start the archiving of passenger lists before 1865, and the Norwegian emigration records did not start before 1867, there is no surviving passenger list for this voyage in any of those archives.
Timeline to records. However, some of the names on the passenger list has been reconstructed from other sources.
Morgenbladet, April 27th, 1854
A Passenger’s Account from the Niord
Tønnes L. Fladestøel was among the Norwegian emigrants who left Stavanger aboard the Niord of Arendal on April 16 1854, under the command of Captain Olsen. During the Atlantic crossing, the captain appears initially to have made a favorable impression on the passengers. Shortly before reaching North America, several of them even signed a statement praising his conduct toward the emigrants. Fladestøel later wrote, however, that they had done so too soon. The source does not describe serious difficulties during the ocean crossing itself. The main complaints arose after arrival in Quebec, when the captain assisted the passengers in arranging their onward transportation to Chicago and Milwaukee. Two competing agents offered their services, but Captain Olsen strongly favored Hoelfeldt’s line. According to Fladestøel, the captain used both pressure and threats against passengers who preferred the alternative. The emigrants eventually followed his recommendation, but Fladestøel later complained that the inland journey did not correspond with the terms they had been promised. He therefore warned future emigrants not to place unquestioning trust in either transportation agents or the captains who helped arrange their onward journey. Fladestøel’s account is particularly interesting because it shows that a ship captain’s influence could extend beyond the Atlantic crossing itself. For newly arrived emigrants, the choice of an inland transportation company could be almost as important as the voyage across the ocean.
[Drammens Blad 1854.11.03]
Read more: After the Ocean Crossing: Norwegian Emigrants on Their Journey Inland
