Gabriel Monsen - a 30 year old Norwegian fisherman, kissed his wife and children goodbye one morning, took his fishing boat out off the coast of Norway, and never returned. The year was 1890. It was said that he ran into an unexpected storm and drowned. That was the "truth" that we all knew for 135 years.
Fast forward 105 years, when my grandmother (his granddaughter) passed away. My grandfather, knowing I was interested in family history, gave me a box of things she'd saved, hoping I might find "something interesting" in it. What I found was a small brown wallet that had belonged to Gabriel's wife, Alfhilde. It contained some photos, a financial register, and a two-page letter handwritten in Norwegian with an official looking stamp at the end. Since I did not read Norwegian and didn't know anyone who did, I folded it back up and put it back in her wallet.
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| Alfhilde Monsen and daughter, ca 1885 |
Fast Forward 30 more years to the present. While going through a box of things, I found Alfhilde's wallet. I thought I remembered everything in it but decided to take another look anyway. I found the folded handwritten letter again and decided to see if I could find out what it was about. The only thing I could tell was that the official stamp was from a Consulate, and the year was 1890 - the same year Gabriel disappeared. Turns out this was an official document from the Royal Swedish and Norwegian Consulate in New York, and Alfhilde had kept this with her till her dying day.
What follows is the real story of Gabriel Monsen, at least the last day of his earthly life.
Turns out Gabriel was not a fisherman at all. He was a sailor. And he didn't have a small fishing boat, he was aboard the "Italia", powered by a steam engine. His job was "fyrbøder" - or stoker - and his duties were to stoke the fire to keep the steam engine running. The "Italia" had pulled into port at Bergen in early April 1890 and was to take a load of timber to the Bahamas. On the evening of April 11, as the ship approached Watling Island (now San Salvador Island) near its final destination, a fire sparked in the cargo area. The timber quickly burned despite the efforts of the crew to get the situation under control, and when it was determined that it was not possible to save the vessel nor the cargo, the decision was made to abandon ship and launch the lifeboats. Under the command of the 2nd mate, Gabriel and three other men jumped into a lifeboat which then entered the water. As they were about to start rowing away a large wave came and capsized the small vessel. The four men suddenly found themselves thrust into the cold, turbulent water. The remaining crew quickly entered the second lifeboat and immediately threw out lifebuoys to the drowning sailors. Every one of the 21 people on board survived the ordeal, with the exception of Gabriel Monsen. The last anyone saw of him he was being cast about by the raging, unrelenting waters of the Atlantic with no one able to help him.
It took 135 years, but now we know the truth.
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Photo of Alfhilde Monsen and daughter from personal collection
Other images created with Google Gemini for illustration purposes only
