First European Ship Direct To Chicago – Summer 1986
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The Great Lakes… 84% of the continent’s fresh water… a different story in every drop.
By Carl A. Norberg
Brig SLEIPNER midst of sailing for Chicago after departing from Norway in May of 1862. Image from the booklet The First 100 years: 1864-1984.
To Gotlieb Thompson, ship owner in Bergen, Norway, a voyage to Chicago was an irresistible dream. In the spring of 1862, as the ice was receding from the western fjords, he prepared his 700-ton sailing vessel, Sleipner, for the trip. She was fast and able, large enough to carry both passengers and freight. Her captain was Hans Jacob Waage, 28, from Haugesund, who,. like most Norwegian sailing men of the day, went to sea at 14, as did my father. Her mate, who ran the everyday operations of the ship, was A. Hardler, also a seaman from boyhood.
Ship owner Thompson signed 108 western Norway farmers as immigrants to midwest America, where land was abundant, and a full cargo of Norway’s finest herring from the spring catch. With confidence she set sail for Chicago on May 22, 1862, the first direct voyage from Europe.
Accommodations aboard were crowded but sufficient. The weather was moderate and the prayers of those aboard were strong and determined. The Sleipner logged an excellent passage and six weeks later she passed the headlands of Newfoundland and made her way to the docks of Quebec on July 6th. Here she prepared for the passage through the Welland Canal, where horses replaced sail power in tight quarters. As the vessel sailed into Lake Erie, a child was born.
On July 26th, forty of her passengers disembarked at Detroit and the voyage continued through Lakes Huron and Michigan. Off Waukegan, 30 miles north of Chicago, the tug Monitor succeeded in finding the Sleipner and took her in tow for a tumultous greeting in Chicago. Cannons roared and whistles screamed as a large segment of the population made for the Galena Railroad wharf where the visiting ship docked, two-and-a-half months out of Bergen, Norway.
The day of arrival was on a Sunday and just about every citizen of the small city of Chicago lined both banks of the river. Dr. Christian Gerhard Paoli, of Norway, welcomed the immigrants in the Norwegian tongue. Both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Times of August, 3, 1862, devoted an entire column (in the midst of Civil War news) about the memorable event. The ship’s passengers melted away as they departed for new homes on farms in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. The cargo of fat herring was consigned to the importers, Swanoe and Synnestvedt, who promptly supplied a return cargo. An important, unexpected development was the appearance of some passengers for Norway.
In the years ‘63, ‘64, and ‘65, with a new bark rig, the Sleipner transported over 500 immigrants from Norway, and a surprising number eastbound. The Sleipner returned home each year with new oil lamps, and oil for them, as well as grain, hides, and other midwestern specialities, departing in August so as to be home for Christmas. She was known as the First America Line. In 1865, she also sailed to Cuba with dried codfish and in 1870, she was lost with all hands on a voyage from Odessa, Russia, and Constantinople to Bergen.
Norway continued in steamship days with the comfortable Fjell Line vessels direct to Chicago until the 1920’s.
The Skjoldmoen
Another daring voyage from Bergen to Chicago was enacted in 1863 when the small cargo sloop Skjoldmoen nearly surpassed the early Viking ship adventure by sailing westward to the new world. This time the goal was to deliver for profit a hold full of fish to midwestern U.S.A. Only 60’ long, of 55 tons, she was smaller than many yachts, but beamy to withstand the fierce westerly gales that beat upon her hull and rigging. Captain Rathye Harmens Wisenberg was honored for this epic voyage of 1863 with a beautiful model exhibited in the Bergen Sea Museum in honor of the ship Skjoldmoen.
On April 12th she sailed from Norway. It was a very early voyage westward for such a small vessel and she met heavy weather and icebergs for weeks, steered on the open deck with a tiller, manned by a crew of six and a dog. As many as 30 icebergs were counted on a single day before she reached Quebec on June 10, 1863. The rest was easy, delivering her cargo to the Chicago docks on July 10th. Two thousand inhabitants turned out to welcome the ship, many to receive word from “home.” Again the trading company of Swanoe and Synnestvedt handled the cargo and loaded her hold with American goods: flour, bacon, ham, Virginia tobacco, petroleum for the new lamps of Norway, hides for shoes, and the like.
Her return voyage was to the Norwegian capitol, Oslo, on October 4, 1863. It was then “home for Christmas” for the little Skjoldmoen before the inlets froze solid.
Copy of an engraving of the Norwegian sloop SKJOLDMEN crossing the Atlantic, in1863. Image courtesy of House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College.
Although the Skjoldmoen made no more North Atlantic voyages, she continued to sail coastwise at least through 1923. We are sure she ended her days resting quietly in some secluded bay on the shores of Bergensfjord where I just might have seen her while exploring in 1927.
Chicago to Liverpool
The Chicago schooner Dean Richmond opened the British Isles trade in 1856. She showed the immense profit to be made in this run. Built by Quayle and Martin at Cleveland, costing $19,000, she loaded 14,000 bushels of wheat in Chicago and Milwaukee at $.30 a bushel and 77 days later, she safely arrived at Liverpool, England, where the vessel was sold for $27,000 and the wheat at $.68 a bushel. The Richmond was owned by Thomas Richmond of the Chicago Board of Trade and captained by D.C. Pierce, she made Quebec in 41 days and across to Liverpool in 36 days. This vessel was a two-masted rig of 375 tons, equipped with a cloud of canvas and ably sailed.
Liverpool to Chicago
Not to be outsailed or outtraded by midwest Americans, the British immediately sent off the Brigantine, Madeira Pet, 123 tons net, on July 14, 1857, with a cargo for Chicago. Her arrival was greeted with bands playing, Hail Columbia!, God Save the King!, and Yankee Doodle as she made her way to the dock at Dearborn Park. Her records show 40 days Liverpool to Montreal, 45 days more to Chicago. Her cargo was: iron bars, glass, hardware, steel earthenware, pig iron, and paint, all consigned to J. H. Birch and Co. Her return cargo was corn, wheat, hides, and barrel staves. Records show she took on a Great Lakes pilot from Kingston, Ontario to Chicago. The Madeira Pet carried four seamen and a cook besides the captain.
Sources
Norsk Pionerferder Til Laken – 1963
Norsk Sjofartsmuseum – Oslo – Photo Telescope, October 1959
Bergit Norberg – Translations
Chicago Tribune Chicago Times
Axe1 Anderson – Translations
Bergen Sjofartsmuseum – Photo
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