Skonnertbrigg Sleipner & Jakt Skjoldmøen - Bergen, Norway - Human Migration Monuments on Waymarking.com

The memorial consists of a bronze plaque on a rectangular stone background. Reliefs of the two ships are at the top of the bronze plaque with the following inscription (primarily in Norwegian) below:

"Herfra Direkte til Chicago Seilte Disse Skutene som Åpnet Europeisk Trafikk På Lakene.
Skonnertbrigg Sleipner 150 Register-Tonn Drog 23 Mai 1862 med Emigranter og Last.
Jakt Skjoldmøen 55 Registertonn med 6 Mann og Last 12 April 1863.
First Vessels Direct from Europe to Chicago.
Dette Minne Reist 1963."

[English Translation:]
These Vessels Sailed Direct to Chicago and Opened up European Oceanic Traffic.
Brigantine Sleipner 150 Registry Tons departed May 23, 1862 with Emigrants and Load.
Hunting Skjoldmøen 55 Register Tons with 6 Males and Load 12 April 1863.
First Vessels Direct from Europe to Chicago.
This Memorial Erected in 1963.

"After its first successful voyage to Chicago in 1862, the schooner/brig Sleipner at 150 tonnes was upgraded to a barque at 250 tonnes the following year. However, on May 23, 1862 Sleipner headed out Byfjorden from Bergen and arrived in Quebec on July 6. The vessel carried 200 barrels of fish including summer herring and brisling as well as other goods. However, the ship’s most valuable cargo were 108 emigrants from western and northern Norway, 40 of whom disembarked in Detroit on July 25th, their planned destination. At 1600 hours on the 2nd of august 1862, Sleipner was moored at Gailene railroad Dock as the first emigrant ship ever to go all the way to Chicago. All signal flags and the Norwegian flag were hoisted and the “Stars and Stripes” was flying from the foremast.

Chicago welcomed the ship with great festivities, booms of cannon and brass bands. Great throngs of people sang Norwegian and American national songs and the hurrahs would never end. Sleipner’s captain, Hans Jacob Waage, was chaired in triumph to a big public reception. Chicago’s notability was there to thank and praise the expedition for having liked Chicago to the great outside world via the waterways. And the ship owner in Bergen, Gottlieb Thomsen, received not only praise and honours for his far-seeing and daring initiative, but a tidy profit as well."

--Source (visit link)

Who placed it?: City of Bergen When was it placed?: 1963 Who is honored?: Te two ships, Skonnertbrigg Sleipner and Jakt Skjoldmøen, that carried emigrants and goods to North America Website about the Monument: [Web Link]

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