Memoir of a Norwegian Seafarer At Sea: 1861-1900

Norwegian Captain Terje Andersen sailed around the globe in the mid- to late-1800s, among the last generation to pilot wooden ships powered by the wind. Braving wars, deadly storms, scurvy, unscrupulous merchants and South American revolutionaries, Andersen and his crew carried saltpeter from Iquique, salt to Oslo, coal from Newcastle, wool to Liverpool, and much more -- part of an evolving global trade network in the early days of the Industrial Revolution. Andersen explored diverse cultures at a time when few people traveled the globe, recording his keen observations in places like the American South soon after the abolition of slavery, the tiny volcanic island where Napoleon was exiled, Haiti, South Africa, Indonesia and other far-flung locales. In his first-hand account, Andersen provides meticulous records of the daily life of a sailor; documents the geography and weather that shaped their fate; and reflects sometimes humorously, sometimes broodingly on his own existence as a Norwegian man of the sea.

This is a lightly edited English translation of Andersen's own writings, along with contextual material from Norwegian experts, of interest to anyone fascinated by maritime history, the legacy of shipping in Norway – "Europe's first seafaring nation" – or simply a thoughtful man's reflections on his life and the wide world around him.

These are the edited and translated writings of 19th-century Norwegian Captain Terje Andersen, a true man of the sea and keen observer of the world he traveled by wooden sailing ship.

Andersen grew up in the small seaside village of Narestø, which at that time had the country's largest fleet of sailing ships. He knew from a young age he wanted to be a sailor – enchanted by the idea of "white sails and a wide horizon," from a family of born seafarers. After becoming dreadfully sea-sick on his maiden voyage as a teenager on the barque Albatros in 1861, Andersen quickly learned the maritime trade and became a captain by age 23.

For decades he sailed around the world under the Norwegian flag, carrying commodities like iron ore, coal, wool, wheat, corn, minerals, chemicals, petroleum and more between ports in Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and North America. In the course of his journeys, Andersen documented his insights on wide-ranging topics that shaped his daily life, from the nuances of ships, ocean currents, coastlines and storms to the personalities and cultures of the crewmen, merchants, harbormasters and locals he encountered.

Terje Andersen kept a journal during his sailing career in six notebooks that he purchased in a bookstore in Rangoon. These 490 handwritten pages would form the basis for his memoir, which he started in 1900 upon his retirement from sailing, writing from his home in Narestø with a view of the sea.

Eventually this manuscript was edited and published in Norway in 1999, titled En gammel Sjømands Erindringer, by community organizations in Andersen's hometown: the Narestø Vel and the Flosta Historical Society. The English translation was launched in 2016 by Andersen's descendants.

In 1902, Terje Andersen had written a Foreword to his memoir, in which he said he hoped: "that colleagues will appreciate some of the narrator's experiences, and that the depictions incidentally could give outsiders a fleeting glimpse of the life of a seafarer and his struggle for existence."