{"id":8007,"date":"2023-01-11T13:02:54","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T11:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/?p=8007"},"modified":"2023-01-11T13:03:28","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T11:03:28","slug":"norways-long-coast-meant-that-a-number-of-men-had-their-livelihood-at-sea-did-your-forefather-go-to-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/norways-long-coast-meant-that-a-number-of-men-had-their-livelihood-at-sea-did-your-forefather-go-to-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Did your forefather go to sea?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Norway’s long coast meant that a number of men had their livelihood at sea. Many of us have ancestors among these. The civilian and military crew at sea have been registered by various bodies over the years. This overview shows where we can find information about these.<\/p>\n

A (muster) roll<\/strong> is the list of members of a military unit, often including their rank and the dates they joined or left. <\/div><\/div>I readily admit that the seamen’s records can be a bit confusing and difficult to use. This is an attempt to give an introduction to what we can expect to find and how to find it. Please follow me to the end of the article where I give a suggestion as to how to most easily approach these records.<\/em><\/p>\n

Following this link, we find all the naval records collected in the Digital Archives;\u00a0Seamen’s rolls and military rolls<\/a>. Here we will have to go into the “geography” heading and filter our search to the area in question (See below).<\/p>\n

Brief history<\/h6>\n

From 1703, rolls were kept over the male portion of the population available for military service<\/strong>. The enrollment records give an overview of the male part of the population and indicate the year of birth and place of birth.\u00a0 Parts of this material are scanned and posted on the Digital Archives.<\/p>\n

Before 1814, it was a joint Danish-Norwegian navy. The main base was located in Copenhagegiveere the majority of the fleet was stationed. Most records pertaining to the navy are in Danish military archives.<\/p>\n

From 1860 all seafarers in foreign trade were registered in maritime rolls (registers). First-time boys were introduced to the “Young seamen roll – annotation roll”.<\/a> In some of these rolls, the records are alphabetized by first name. The number behind their name is their certificate number (Patent nummer). These are recorded in ascending order.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Some of the rolls are recorded based on certificate number (Patent nummer) only. All the records are, as far as I can tell, recorded in chronological order.<\/p>\n

When the men had sailed in foreign trade for 12 months after age 15, they were defined as “half-sailed” and transferred to the “Main roll”.<\/a> Like the “Young seamen roll” some of these records are oranized by name while some by certificate number in ascending order.<\/p>\n

For the rolls with no name index, we will have to browse until we come to the most likely years for our ancestor to have gone to sea. Many went to sea as soon as they were confirmed about 5 year of age.<\/p>\n

In the rolls are entered the ships the sailor had sailed on as well as when he mustered on and off. It was also noted what kind of position he had on board. In this way, the maritime rolls provide a picture of each sailor’s history of navigation.<\/p>\n

Many of the rolls are scanned and located on the Digital Archive . Of them, the rolls completed before 1930 are freely available online. In some cases, newer rolls are available.<\/p>\n

There are also specific records for those who sailed as\u00a0Captain or First Officer: Skipper and mate roll<\/a> and for those who sailed as Engineer or Stoker\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Finding the correct records<\/h6>\n

\"Sj\u00f8mannsarkiv\"I have above given you some links to records on the Digital Archive. I will however, strongly encourage you to explore all the records yourself.\u00a0 My reason for this is that there seems to be records from different timeframes registered under different headings.<\/p>\n

In order for us to zoom in on the most relevant hits, we need to use the “geography” and “Period” filters in the “Find source” feature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h6>\n
Filtering the search<\/h6>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here I have searched the “Older roll” and are using the “Geography” filter to look for records from Hordaland county. By the small numbers behind the names, we can see what parishes that are represented in these records.<\/p>\n

We can see that most of the parishes are represented in 68 records under the “Older roll” heading. Etne parish are represented in 18 records, while Eidfjord and Evanger parishes are not represented in the records covered under the heading “Older roll”.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some of the older records are written in hand-drawn forms. These can be very hard both to navigate and to read.<\/p>\n

I will come back with a follow up article where I look at the records that are written in preprinted book.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hope this article is helpful. Please comment below if you have any questions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Before you start focusing on Norwegian sources, you may need to do a bit of work in your native country. Here are some resources that may be useful for you. 1. 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Referring to my article Did your forefather go to sea?\u00a0 I have now made a Cheat sheet to help if you wish to delve into these records. You can access this cheat sheet (and other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Norwegian Sources"","block_context":{"text":"Norwegian Sources","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/category\/norwegian-genealogy\/norwegian-sources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Seilskuter-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C732&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Seilskuter-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C732&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Seilskuter-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C732&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Seilskuter-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C732&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Seilskuter-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C732&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8178,"url":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/friday-finds-week-11-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":8007,"position":3},"title":"Friday finds: Week 11- 2020","author":"Martin Roe Eidhammer","date":"March 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are some of the websites I have visited this week. It's a bit sad to start with this article about the Coronavirus, but in times like these measures have to be taken. Note that the information and the precautions may change on short notice. If you are planning a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life in general......"","block_context":{"text":"Life in general......","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/category\/life-in-general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Friday-Finds-6.jpg?fit=560%2C315&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Friday-Finds-6.jpg?fit=560%2C315&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Friday-Finds-6.jpg?fit=560%2C315&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7623,"url":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/introduction-to-norwegian-probate-records\/","url_meta":{"origin":8007,"position":4},"title":"Introduction to Norwegian probate records","author":"Martin Roe Eidhammer","date":"April 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Probate records can be a treasure trove of information. Here is the first of two articles about this source.I have been a little reluctant to write about the probate records as they can be hard to find and equally hard to read. However, I decided that it is time to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Norwegian Sources"","block_context":{"text":"Norwegian Sources","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/category\/norwegian-genealogy\/norwegian-sources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Erik_Werenskiold_-_Bondebegravelse_Nasjonalmuseet.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Erik_Werenskiold_-_Bondebegravelse_Nasjonalmuseet.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Erik_Werenskiold_-_Bondebegravelse_Nasjonalmuseet.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Erik_Werenskiold_-_Bondebegravelse_Nasjonalmuseet.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10969,"url":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/archives-portal-europe-a-gateway-to-europes-archives\/","url_meta":{"origin":8007,"position":5},"title":"Archives Portal Europe \u2014 A Practical Gateway to Europe\u2019s Archives","author":"Martin Roe Eidhammer","date":"March 6, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"If you\u2019ve ever tried to research outside one single country, you know how quickly things become complicated. Different archive systems, languages, and catalog structures. And sometimes, different historical borders altogether. That\u2019s where Archives Portal Europe becomes genuinely useful. Archives Portal Europe. A gateway to Europe's Archives offers access to a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genealogy (general)"","block_context":{"text":"Genealogy (general)","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/category\/genealogy-general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Old-ledger.jpg?fit=685%2C457&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Old-ledger.jpg?fit=685%2C457&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Old-ledger.jpg?fit=685%2C457&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8007"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8549,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8007\/revisions\/8549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}