Steamship Ticket - Contract for Passage - Norwegian Immigrant - 1913
Ludvig Gjønvik was a Norwegian Immigrant to the United States in June 1913 arriving in Boston on board the R.M.S. Laconia (I) as a passenger in Steerage - Third Class. This is the contract of passage that Ludvig purchased from Olaf H. Solem, the Agent for the Cunard Line in Trondheim, Norway.
CONTRACT
Between
THE CUNARD LINE
And the passenger listed below regarding transportation to
Rock Island, Ill.
Norwegian Immigrant, Ludvig Kristian Gjønvik from Trondheim Norway. Photo circa 1910
Ludvig Gjønvik 21.
I, OLAF H. SOLEM, agent in Trondhjem, hereby commit myself to transport the said person, by 3rd class or Steerage, from Trondhjem to the destination which is likewise specified herein, for the sum of 244.00 crowns, which I acknowledge I have received as full payment.
/s/ Olaf H. Solem
Trondhjem, 5 June 1913
Specifications - The passengers are to be transported below deck by a steamship that is sailing on 5 June 1913 from Trondhjem to Hull, from there by 3rd class railroad car to Liverpool, with the first ordinary train after customs inspection. From there they will be transported by Cunard Steam Ship Company Limited, Liverpool, owners of the Cunard steamships, on one of their steam-ships to New York or Boston. For the duration of the whole journey to New York or Boston and during the time they are delayed in any place whatsoever regardless of the cause, the passengers will be provided with suitable lodging and will receive good and properly cooked food, served thus:
- Breakfast and evening meal. Tea or coffee, sugar, fresh bread and butter, etc.
- Midday Meal. Alternately soup, meat, pork, fish, potatoes, bread, as well as pudding on Sundays.
Each person over 12 years old can take along free of charge 10 cubic feet of baggage on the steamship and 150 pounds on the train in America, half of that for children from 1 to 12 years. The emigrants will be met and transported further by the Company' s own employees in Hull, Liverpool, New York and Boston.
Should an emigrant's departure be prevented by illness, he will be allowed to leave with a steamship departing later, and should the police prevent his departure, his money will be returned or handed over to the police.
Without responsibility for the baggage that the passengers have in their own custody on the trip.
Presented Trondhjem Police Station, 5 June 1913. (Note 1)
For the Police Commissioner.
(illegible signature)
Cunard Line Agency in Trondheim, Norway. Photo courtesy of Børge Solem, Norge. Olaf H. Solem is pictured above on the left.
Børge Solem and I first corresponded in 2000, when I purchased some items for the Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives from him. It turned out that he was the great-grandson of Olaf H. Solem who had sold the steamship ticket to my grandfather in 1913. This would have been the office of the Cunard Steamship Line Trondhjem agency, The Cunard Steam Ship Co., Ltd. (Olaf H. Solem) located on Søndre Gate 26, Trondhjem, Norge.
Note 1: Norwegian Emigrants were required to register with the Police. See the Norwegian Emigration Law of 1867
Documents and Information on the R.M.S. Laconia (I) Available at the Archives
- 1911 R.M.S. Laconia (1) Ship History and Information
- 1912-08-06 R.M.S. Laconia Passenger List
- 1912 Brochure : The Cunard New Twin-Screw Steamers R.M.S. FRANCONIA and LACONIA includes many interior photographs
- 1913-06-05 Steerage Passenger Steamship Ticket - R.M.S. Laconia
- 1913-06-10 Inspection Card for Immigrants and Steerage Passengers - R.M.S. Laconia
- 1913-06-10 R.M.S. Laconia Passenger List
- 1913-06-19 Newspaper Account of the Arrival of the Laconia at Boston
- 1913-10-06 Private Party Menu - R.M.S. Laconia
- 1914-09-08 Breakfast Menu - R.M.S. Laconia
- 1914-09-08 Dinner Menu - R.M.S. Laconia.html
- 1918 First Hand Account of the Sinking of the R.M.S. Laconia
