Sjøfartsannotasjonsrulle
Sjøfartshovedrulle
Styrmansrulle
Kapteinsrulle

As Norway had compulsory enlistment to the navy. All sailors were naturally interesting subjects for the navy. The government needed to keep records of all sailors, so that they could be drafted for the navy in case of war. The district registrator of seamen would keep records of all the sailors belonging in his district. This arrangement lasted till 1911, when a civilian office of registration and mustering took over. These registers have now become our most valuable source for finding information about Norwegian sailors. After 1911 a new kind of record were kept, called "Sjømannsregister".

It was quite common for Norwegian sailors to start their career by going out to sea at the age of 15 - 16. These youngsters would be registered in special records called the Sjøfartsannotasjonsruller" (Annotasjons-Rulle). When becoming (halvbefaren) "ordinary seaman", after one year in foreign waters, or at the age of 22, they would be transferred to the "Sjøfartshovedrulle".

The "Sjøfartshovedrulle" is a most valuable record, as there was noted information about the personal history and career of the sailors. You will find name, residence, date of birth (and death), date of sailors patent issue, dates of advancement in rank as from "ordinary sailor" to "able seaman" (fuldbefaren or matros), to "mate" to "1st mate" etc.) Note that when someone advanced from seaman to mate, they would be transferred to a new record specially for mates, called "Styrmansrulle". There are also special records for Captains called "Kapteinsrulle".

The records contain information about every engagement, destinations, name of ships, length of each journey and so on. To say it simple - in these records one will find a detailed description of the persons career as a sailor and merchant marine officer. You will also find notes about sailors that abandoned (jumped ship) their ship in foreign ports or about deaths. Some times one will find that a sailor is noted as leaving on a ship bound for a foreign port, then there will be no notice for several years, before the ship returns to the home port again. In such cases it is possible to reconstruct the voyage by checking the maritime intelligence column in the local newspapers. Telegrams and rumors about the whereabouts of the ships were printed regularly.

The images shows an example of the Hovedsjøfartsrulle of Trondheim. Johan Richard Solem was my gggrandfather. Lets take a look at the above scan first.

1st column gives the Roll (Hovedrulle) patent number
2nd column (Oppholdssted) gives the residence
3rd column (Om halbefaren eller helbefaren) if ordinary or able seaman
4th column (Mandskabets navn) the name of the sailor
5th column (Født naar og hvor) born when and where
6th column (Om indført i Udskrivningsrulle, Rode-No) this is a reference to a transfer to another roll
7th column (Patentens dato) Date of patent
8th column (Overgang fra Annotasjon-Rullen, opnaaet Frihed for Værnepligt naar og Hvorfor) Reference to the transfer from the Annotasjons-rulle (youngsters record), and information about immunity from service.
9th column (Meldingsliste eller Mønstrings Journal No.) reference to another military inspection list

Scan below
("Udgået i Søfart") departed to sea

10th column (Dato) Date of departure
11th column (Skipper) Name of the master or captain
12th column (Skib) Name of the ship
13th column (Com.-Læster) burden of ship
14th column (Fra) From where departed
15th column (Til) Destination

(Afgaaet) Departed

16th column (Dato) Date departed
17th column (Hvor) Where

(I Mønstret Fart. Maaneder) Months in service

18th column (udenrigs) abroad
19th column (indenrigs) domestic
20th column (Anmærkning.) Remarks

Quite a number of Norwegian sailors abandoned their ships to become immigrants. They will not be listed in the Norwegian emigration records, or on any passenger list, so these records can often be valuable as a second choice, after searching passengers lists without any luck. The records are most detailed between 1860 and 1911.

To find people in these sources you need to know where they lived, as there were separate records for the different districts. The records are now kept by the National Archives, or "Statsarkiv" also "Riksarkiv". There are several "Statsarkivs", holding records from their respective districts. Only a small part of the records has been micro-filmed. To do research in these records, you will in most cases have to go to Norway, or get someone in Norway do the search for you. The records are not easy to work with, and it can be time consuming as there are usually no indexes of names, and names were entered in the books as the sailors appeared at the office to register. How ever the records them selves are cataloged by the respective archives keeping them. Usually they will send you a copy of the pages in the catalog covering the kind records you ask for. It is often necessary to order the records in advance, so if you just show up at the archives without ordering at least a week in advance to be sure, do not expect to be able to access the records.