Census records for the year 2000 revealed that more than 9,000 people in Hawaii have Norwegian roots. How did it all begin? We must digress a short while to note the story of Captain Christian L'Orange, born in Fredrikshald. He married Caroline Faye, daughter of merchant Hans Peter Faye. After their wedding in Stromso Church, Christian and his wife Caro (as she was called) sailed for the islands of Hawaii in 1877. Caroline's uncle, Valdemar Knudsen, had already settled in Hawaii. Caroline's cousin, Anton Faye, also sailed with them to Kauai. Knudsen, Faye and L'Orange got involved in the operation of a sugar plantation on Kauai. In 1878 L'Orange suggested to the Hawaiian Bureau of Immigration that he could bring Scandinavian workers to the sugar plantations. In 1876 the Reciprocity Treaty between Hawaii and the USA had given the Hawaiian Kingdom the right to sell raw sugar to the US without paying duty, resulting in a great increase in Hawaiian sugar production. On July 20, 1880, the Hawaiian Bureau of Immigration authorized L'Orange to sail to Norway to find at least 400 capable adult farm laborers who wanted to work on the sugar plantations. Christian L'Orange arrived in Drammen in the summer of 1880. He advertised for laborers over 20 years old, to be paid at the rate of 9 dollars per month, for a three year contract, with free board and free lodgings. The cost of traveling to Hawaii? For the emigrants there was free passage and board. Norway was in the midst of a depression at that time, and many men had difficulty finding work. Most of the applicants were artisans and skilled industrial workers, very few were from the desired target group, farm laborers. Most of the applicants were young married couples between 20 and 30 years of age. Captain L'Orange had a draft of the contract in Norwegian for the passengers to sign before boarding. The bark "Beta" was provisioned to sail from Drammen. Food taken included bread, crackers, and flour, a few live hogs, and 50 plus chickens. The bark "Beta" eventually reached the island of Hawaii on February 14, 1881, then continued onward to the island of Maui which it reached about February 15, 1881. Most of the passengers were set ashore at Maalaea Bay on Maui. A second bark, the "Musca," also set sail to Hawaii, and reached Honolulu on May 13, 1881. The voyagers on this trip were plagued by bad provisions. Stale water was held in old, dirty casks. Meat cooked in this water was made unhealthy. Fifteen persons died on this trip, including eleven children. Castle and Cooke representatives who boarded the trip when it arrived in Honolulu found starving passengers. Castle and Cooke, after founding out how horrendous the voyage had been, wanted to disperse the Norwegian settlers as much as possbile (to prevent them from causing a disturbance). Many Norwegians had their 3 year contracts paid for by other employers or individuals, to free them from the obligation of working on the sugar plantations. This was partly because the passengers from the bark "Beta" who had arrived earlier had created a disturbance with their complaints. Castle and Cooke wanted to avoid a recurrence of this scene. --- Source: Forgotten Norwegians in Hawaii, from a Life in Slavery to Life in a Vatican Paradise, written by Torbjorn Gripsland published by emgirantforlaget 2004 (www.emigrantforlaget.no) English translation by Kristin Leigh Greipsland
Norwegian sloop Restaurationen brought emigrants to America in 1825 
Norwegian ships at Gulfport, Mississippi in 1912 
