The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1973, Page 14

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
HUMMER 1973
12
holi, Fridjon Fnidriksson and Baldvin
Helgason- The shipping contractor
was the Allan Line Steamship Com-
pany.
The renowned poet Stephan G.
Stephansson was a member of the
group on board but did not settle at
Rosseau. Skapti Arason, in an account
in “Landnamsaga” by Thorleif Jack-
son, names some of the members he
could recall when writing a summary
of happenings from 1850 to 1889,
these members being Fridjon and Arni
Fridriksson, Olafur Olafsson, Frid-
bjorn Bjornsson, Thorlakur Jonsson,
Baldvin Baldvinsson, Pall Johansson,
and Stephan G. Stephansson.
Let us try to enter into the atmos-
phere created by their feelings,
thoughts, hopes and suffering as re-
vealed by the following crude trans-
lations of comments found in Bjorn’s
letter: “As soon as the ship was well
on its way everyone had bedded down
but it was difficult for some” . . . “the
following morning many woke up sea-
sick” . . . “it was extremely windy” —
August 6 — same rough sea and all
are seasick except a few diehard
sailors” . . . August 7 — the women
and children are so seasick that their
bodies receive no nourishment . . .
stopped 4 hours at Hjaltland* . . . .
bought some medicine for the seasick
. . . August 12 — came to Aberdeen —
the horses were unloaded — seven of
them had already dropped dead — you
can imagine the air we were breath-
ing — when some of the horses died
from lack of air on the bottom deck.”
.........At Glasgow many people of
different nationalities came on board
• . . left Liverpool August 14 “to, in
God’s name, start the long ocean trip
over the broad Atlantic Ocean . . .
August 16 — breakfast was coffee and
a slice of bread — lunch was soup with
* Shetland Islands
meat and potatoes or beans — supper,
tea and a slice of bread with some
butter — some thought breakfast and
supper were not sufficient in content.
. . . Sermons were read on each deck
every Sunday • . . August 18 — trip
smoother, people generally healthier
but fog so thick one could not see . . .
August 21 — several icebergs around
the ship . . . August 22 — distant land
like shadows in the sun . . • An Eng-
lish baby died in the morning.
August 23 — some of the sick feeling
better — my wife and four other wo-
men were sick in bed all the way but
my children were not seasick after we
left England . . . August 24 — baby
belonging to the Jacksons passed away
. • . by 6:00 p.m. land was visible on
both sides • . . travelled up the St.
Lawrence at night .... August 25 —
arrived at Quebec and touched land
again! . . . were received well — men
and women ran iafter us offering fresh
milk for sale — goods were very ex-
pensive. . • Arrived at Toronto 8:00
a.m. August 27 . . . left August 29 —
reached Rosseau August 30- . . . If
you are contemplating coming to Can-
ada I advise you to contract with a
sailing company — preferably Allan
Lines. . . . When you go walking in
the cities in England go in groups,
not alone, and do not loiter or you
will fall foul of pickpockets . . ■ and in
other cities as well — and be sure to
have aboard a good interpreter —
preferably the one we had, Peter Ben-
esen, Liverpool, England . . .”
Hail to these (brave souls- They
deserve to be remembered and respect-
ed not only during the Centennial of
their coming to Canada but for all
time. Such self determination to suc-
ceed and prosper would be a welcome
injection into our modern and seem-
ingly sick society.