With Norway’s long history of sailing, fishing, and boatbuilding, it is only natural that many thousands of Norwegian immigrants made their living in maritime occupations. From New York harbor to the Great Lakes to Puget Sound, NorwegianAmericans played a large role in maritime economies of coastal communities.
Two stories in particular illustrate the tremendous success that some immigrants had in finding good fortune on American waters.
Captain William Johnson
Captain William Johnson was born near Arendal, Norway, in 1836. By the age of 14, he was a cabin boy sailing the Baltic, Mediterranean, and North Seas. He immigrated to Chicago in 1855 and immediately was employed by George Steele, who owned a number of vessels. Steele became attached to Johnson and Johnson made his home with his employer for seven years. By 1860 Johnson had purchased several boats himself and carried grain and lumber through the Great Lakes. In 1870 he built the schooner Lena Johnson and later the schooners Clara, Olga, Alice, and William O. Goodman. He married Miss Eline Theodora Shoemaker in 1872 in Chicago, who was also born in Norway. They had
five children. Johnson built a fine residence for his family on Hoyne Avenue, Chicago, near Wicker Park, and invested in other real estate. He died in 1902 and was at that time considered the wealthiest Norwegian in Chicago.1
Thea Foss
Thea and Andrew Foss courted each other in Norway, immigrated separately, and were married in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1881. Seeking a more temperate climate, in 1889, the Foss family moved west to the new city of Tacoma, Washington. As a carpenter, Andrew found a paying job farther inland, leaving Thea to care for her young children. According to the story, Thea purchased a rowboat from a disgruntled fisherman for $5, and sold it a few days later for $15. By the time her husband returned, she had made more money buying and selling boats than he had earned in daily wages. They recognized the opportunity before them in serving the needs of the growing harbor community: renting boats, providing ferry services, and eventually starting the first tugboat company to serve Tacoma harbor.
Thea and Andrew Foss. Cortesy of Foss Maritime Company. Used with permission.
The fleet soon grew to over 200 boats and, by 1904, the company included 10 launches, its own shipyard, a 60passenger boat, and a rescue craft to help disabled vessels. Thea died in 1927, one day short of her seventieth birthday. Her family’s company continued to thrive and she herself became the inspiration for the fictional character “Tugboat Annie.” Foss Maritime Company remains the largest active fleet of tugs on the West Coast.2
More typical stories are those of men who spent years working on Norwegian vessels, but found they could earn a much higher wage on American ships. Many men who began their sailing careers in Norway in the 1860s and 1870s earned the equivalent of three dollars a month, compared to an average of two dollars a day on American ships during the same period. Sailing vessels remained active and prominent in the Great Lakes well into the twentieth century, inviting many Norwegian-born immigrants to apply their sailing expertise to new American waters. Knut Gjerset, in his survey of Norwegians involved in Great Lakes shipping, points out that sailing the Great Lakes had the added appeal of shorter distances than ocean voyages and, therefore, afforded the opportunity to maintain a more routine home life. He quotes Captain Harry Gresholdt of Manitowoc:
In sailing on the ocean as Norwegian seamen we had to sign an agreement to stay with the vessel for two years. If it happened that during this time the vessel made our home port, we would get a chance to see
our folks, but if it sailed in other waters we would not return home for two years. . . . As I desired to find a place where I could enjoy home life, I decided to go to America. I came to Manitowoc, where I built me a home and began to sail on the lakes. 3
Other immigrants arrived with skills that could move between maritime industries and land-based applications, such as carpentry. The ability to build wooden boats required a high level of woodworking knowledge. If an immigrant boat builder found there was no work available in the shipyards, he could hire himself out as a house carpenter instead. As sailing ships gave way to steamships, carpenters were joined by mechanics and engineers with the range of skills and experience needed in maritime industries.
In active ports like New York, the full-time harbor workers and the itinerant Norwegian sailors created a hub of Norwegian-American community that grew and diversified well into the twentieth century. Lodging, meals, Seamen’s Missions, social activities, and other services could all be found within the Norwegian-American community.
Maritime industries continue in the twenty-first century and Norwegian immigrants still bring their shipping and fishing experience to the United States. Kaare Ness immigrated to the United States in 1955, moved to Seattle in 1968, and started fishing for Alaskan king crab. Ness and his partner, Chuck Bundrant, founded Trident Seafoods with one boat, but eventually their fleet grew to 40 vessels and theirs became largest fishing company in the United States.4
Endnotes
1 See Knut Gjerset, Norwegians on the Great Lakes (Northfield, Minnesota: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1928), pp. 53-54. See also J. B. Mansfield, History of the Great Lakes, Vol. 2 (Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1899), transcribed on <www. linkstothepast.com/marine/captainsJ.php>
2 See Mike Stork, Foss Maritime Company (Arcadia Publishing, 2007), pp. 9-14. The story of Thea Foss can also be seen in the documentary film Finding Thea, a 2006 LUNA production by Lucy Ostrander and Nancy Bourne Haley. For more information, see the Foss Maritime Company website, <www.foss.com/about_ history.html>.
3 Norwegians on the Great Lakes, pp. 4-5.
4 Otto von Münchow, “Norwegian American: Kaare Ness” Norway. com Magazine, Winter 2008, 46.
