From 1853 the Christiania and Gothenburg route was maintained by the S/S Courier and the S/S Scandinavian. Later also a third ship, the S/S Jupiter was set in the service. From 1854 the route between Christiania, Christiansand and Hull was maintained by the Courier and the Scandinavian. In 1855 only the Courier was used on the route between Christiania and Hull, occasionally relieved by the Scandinavian or an other ship. To meet competition from a Norwegian steamship company, the Wilson Line established a route between Christiania and London, and a route between Christiania and Hamburg. These two routes were soon to be given up.

Before 1865, only a minority of the emigrants traveled via Britain. Most of the emigrants traveled on sailing ships going directly from Norwegian ports to New York or Quebec. In the years between 1865 and 1870 this gradually changed. The transatlantic steamship companies which operated out of British ports, took a larger percentage of the Norwegian emigrants every year. The main reason for this was the much better conditions on these ships, and the fact that they were much faster. Many people had suffered and died during the transatlantic crossing on the sailing ships. The sufferings and the risk of dying was much lower on the faster steamships. The passage fee on the steamships became lower each year, due to the competition between the different lines. There was a growing need for passenger transportation between Norway and Britain, as the number of emigrants travelling via Britain increased. The need for this transportation was met by the Wilson Line.

There should be no doubt that the Wilson Line has transported more Norwegian emigrants than any other shipping line from Norway. Some of the ships became legendary, and were a common sight in Norwegian ports. Along with the emigrants the ships brought all kinds of cargo, such as, fish, live cattle, timber and Pyrites. The ships often carried textiles and coal from Hull to Norway.

By 1867 the Wilson Line had a weekly service from Christiania (Oslo) to Hull calling at Christiansand, with departure from Christiania scheduled every Friday. The Wilson line soon extended their activity in Norway with a route between Hull and Bergen, calling at Stavanger. Departure from Bergen was scheduled every Saturday. In 1871 they opened a route to Trondheim departing once every fortnight, calling at Christiansund and Aalesund. Later the service was scheduled with a weekly departure from Trondheim, every Thursday. The company achieved almost a monopolistic position in the feeder service of emigrants between Norway and Britain. There was several attempts made by smaller Norwegian steamship companies to take over the feeder service from certain ports. The Wilson Line did not appreciate this competition and threatened to cease all of their Norwegian passenger service. This gave the transatlantic companies a scare, and they arranged for their passengers to travel on the Wilson Line ships. They knew that there was no other company that had the capacity to replace the Wilson Line.

The monopolistic position of the Wilson Line allowed it to operate the routes with a much poorer standard of passenger accommodation than it could have done if there had been any real competition. The complaints, from the emigrants about the steerage conditions onboard the ships were many in the early years. The first and second class accommodation is known to have been very good, and the ships often took tourists from England.

The number of emigrants leaving from Norway increased after 1865, when the civil war was brought to an end in the United States. This was the beginning of the mass emigration from Norway. This development is probably one of the reasons why a large number of transatlantic companies like the Allan Line, Cunard Line, American Line, National Line, Inman Line , Guion Line, Dominion Line, State Line and the White Star Line established agencies in Norway. Most of these companies where based in Britain and the great oceanliners sailed from ports like Liverpool, Glasgow and Southampton. These companies were dependent on the companies which ran the feeder services from European ports to Britain. The number of emigrants leaving from small harbors, all along the Norwegian coast, was not sufficient for them to run a service with the great oceanliners to these ports. Both the Allan Line and the Anchor Line had tried to run their own feeder service for a few years in the beginning of the mass emigration.

For general information about the Wilson Line and its ships I recommend:

"THE WILSON LINE OF HULL 1831 - 1981"
Arthur G. Credland and Michael Thompson,
Hutton Press 1994.