Brig Wilhelm Tell, A. B. Bull

The brig Wilhelm Tell was built by Blummer & Tschudy on their ship yard at Vallø Saltverk. They had constructed a new slip for the building, and there were a great many people who came to see the launching on the 25th of April 1851. The newspapers also wrote about the event. The Wilhelm Tell was built for A. Bull of of Tønsberg.

When she was launched she was flying the Swiss flag from the mast beside the Norwegian union flag from the deck. This was in honor of her Swiss builders staying at the ship yard, and of course she was named after the well known Swiss hero "Wilhelm Tell". The newspaper reported that the Swiss contingent at Vallø was very surprised and moved about this nice guest. The picture below must have been painted in connection with launching in 1851, and we can clearly see the Swiss flag flying from the main mast for the occasion.

The first year we have recorded her of sailing with emigrants was in 1853, when she departed from Christiania on May 2nd, and arrived at Quebec on June 21st. She was mastered by Capt. Bull. 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.

In 1861 she departed from Christiania June 10th and arrived at the quarantine station at Grosse Île on July 23rd. She was released on July 24th and proceeded to Quebec. She sailed in ballast, and was carrying 5 cabin and 140 steerage passengers. There had been 3 deaths on the voyage. She was mastered by Captain E. Christophersen and had a crew of 10.