Captain Andrew Clausen

Captain Andrew Clausen, the courteous and gentlemanly master of the passenger steamer Hunter, plying between Duluth and Ashland, on the south shore of Lake Superior, is a native of the land of the hardy Norseman. Born in Egersund, Norway, on May 10, 1859, he is a son of Claus Tollefsen and Maria (Anderson) Clausen, both natives of Norway. Fotland was the name of the farm his father tilled and which he made very productive, and the family were in good circumstances. Andrew attended the public schools until he reached the age of fourteen years, but his desire to become a sailor terminated his school days abruptly, as he shipped in the brig Vergeland, and sailed away. On the return of this brig to her home port, he stopped ashore for awhile, engaged in a yarn-spinning factory.

In 1878 he returned to his seafaring life, shipped out of his home port in the brig Nidelven, bound up on the Baltic Sea for Hernesand, the northern cape of Sweden, the voyage occupying nine months. He then joined the brig Egero, as seaman, and remained with her until the spring of 1880, when he shipped in the bark Ebenezer, plying between London and Archangel, in the White Sea and other Russian ports. His next berth was in the schooner Iris, in the coal trade between the Frith of Forth and Roskildi, Denmark, making three round trips in her, after which he carried coal to Egersund, his home port. Taking advantage of this visit, Captain Clausen attended a navigation school in Stavanger, and mastered that science before the breaking up of the ice the next year, and shipped as second mate in the bark Brilliant, bound for Savannah, Ga., in ballast, where she loaded Georgian pine and returned to Queenstown; the cargo was assigned to Bremerhaven, Germany, but while in the North Sea between Goodwin sands and the Gaelopor light-ship, the bark was overtaken by a hurricane and had her rigging cut away, completely dismantling her. The crew were rescued the next morning by a Belgian fishing smack and landed at Ostend, whence they were returned home by the Norwegian consul. He was appointed second mate of the bark Stapnes, plying in the lumber trade between the Baltic Sea and London, going occasionally to Sunderland, England. The following year he was promoted to the office of mate, acquitting himself commendably. Thus encouraged, Captain Clausen left home and went to Liverpool, and in a short time was appointed mate in the bark Labora, in which he remained two years, trading between Liverpool and Cardiff, to North and South American ports and the West Indies. Leaving this bark, he returned to his home in Egersund and purchased a third interest in the schooner Traffic. He fitted her out, and sailed her in the coal traded between ports in Scotland and Denmark, but finding business dull he returned to Egersund and disposed of his interest in the vessel.

On June 2, 1887, Captain Clausen left home and again took passage on the steamer City of Rome for the United States, going directly to Hanley Fall, Minn., where he engaged in farming, and during the winter months running a well-drilling machine, which he had chartered. On May 10, 1889, he went to Duluth and entered the employ of the A. Booth Packing Company, as wheelsman in the passenger steamer H.R. Dixon, retaining that berth four years. In the meantime he sent for his family, who came direct to Duluth. In February, 1893, he applied for and received American license, and was appointed master of the tug F.R. Anderson, operating at Bayfield, Wis. In the spring of 1894 he was appointed mate of the steamer H.R. Dixon, plying between Duluth and Port Arthur, remaining in her two seasons, and in 1896 he was promoted to the command of the steamer Hunter, which he has sailed successfully to this date, taking no account of wind and weather, making daily trips between Duluth and Ashland, during the summer, and three trips a week during the spring and fall months. He is a member of the American Association of Masters and Pilots of Steam Vessels.

On February 28, 1882, Captain Clausen was wedded to Miss Johanna Gurine Endresen, of Egersund, Norway. The children born to this union are: Celia Maria and Emerlie, both attending the public schools. The family homestead is at 215 S. Nineteenth avenue East, Duluth, Minnesota.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.