Norwegian emigration, part 4
Although the Norwegian emigrant voyages to North America, as covered last week, were rife with misery, there were also pleasant and even celebratory experiences on board in the mid-to-late 1800s. When weather permitted, the passengers were usually up on deck for routine duties while there were might also be games and dancing. Some skippers allowed and maybe also encouraged all sorts of entertainment. Other ship captains forbid them. When the seas were too calm, the sailing captain of the Tegner thought dancing might bring favorable winds. So out came the fiddles for polkas, waltzes and Norwegian country dances,
The first few days of sailing were often pleasant, but the rolling and tossing on the high seas soon brought seasickness to those not accustomed to ocean travel. But when the weather allowed, there could be games, races, wrestling and dancing up on deck as well as routine cooking, cleaning and laundry.
Voyages often began in the spring, and the Norwegian national holiday of Syttende Mai (May 17) was celebrated at sea. “Out in the Atlantic, we had a jolly encounter one time,” said an old seaman on a cargo ship. “We had a couple of rounds of brandy, and the flag was hoisted, and then we see a big frigate ship sailin’ handsome on a northwest course. The Norwegian flag was flyin’, they was singin’ on board, and the skipper swung the wheel around so we come real near. And I’ll be jiggered if it wasn’t the frigate ship “Norway” that was… carryin’ emigrants to Quebec… There was a big jubilee goin’ on aboard, we could see they was walkin’ in a procession on the deck, a-wearin’ their national costumes… I’ll tell you our signal flags went up in a hurry, we shouted and roared hurrah, while all the emigrants come over to the rail of the Norway.”
The Storting (supreme legislature of Norway) took its time but eventually did seek to improve conditions on emigrant vessels. In 1845, it rejected a bill guaranteeing emigrant passengers a minimum amount of space on board as well as a number of other health regulations. Instead, it was the destination nations, the United States and Canada, that took the legislative lead in limiting the number of passengers. But Norwegian skippers were not often cooperative, since it was more profitable to crowd paying passengers on board. The number of overcrowded ships may have actually increased as the demand for space was growing. The death rate increased on Norwegian ships in the late 1850s.
In the early 1860s, Canadian authorities threatened to impound Norwegian ships that arrived with too many passengers, and they demanded that Norwegian authorities provide a medical examination of emigrants before they were allowed to board in Norway. This pressure led the Norwegian Ministry of the Interior to propose a bill in 1863 to regulate passenger traffic to other continents. This time, the law was adopted as the government of Norway finally assumed the obligation to protect vulnerable emigrants.
Only one part of a life-changing journey ended when emigrant ships docked in the cities of New York and Quebec. Before Ellis Island was opened in 1892, the first immigration department in New York (initiated in 1855) was Castle Garden at the end of Staten Island. Immigration doctors would board the ship to determine whether you appeared to be sufficiently healthy in body and sound in mind. If either was questioned, one might be sent to Ward Island in the East River for further examination.
Once on their own back on land, the immigrants were often vigorously approached by “runners” who might grab their baggage and promise to take the newcomers to a lodging house. However, some would spend the first night or few on the streets, sleeping under carts or whatever structural recess they could locate.
The perilous, unpredictable ocean voyage was just one portion of the emigration journey. Hopefully, this port-city interlude would be brief, since the intended destination – most often the agricultural land in the upper midwest – might be a thousand miles or more away. Arrangements had to be made for transportation over land or more water or both. That will be the subject next week.