Julius Roluff

A letter from a father on "Feer" (Föhr, a Frisian island in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany) to his son in America. (from Julius Roluffs to his son Cornelius):

I received your letter the day before yesterday. Many thanks. You are anxious to know more about the numerous trips I have made as a seaman, the lands I have visited and the various harbors from which we have departed and returned to. I shall give you in this letter a short biography of my years at sea.

I was confirmed in the year 1871 in a class of 8 boys and 8 girls in the church of St. Laurentii here on our island. Of this group four of each, six are still living. Most of the boys, myself included, elected to become seamen. Captain T. Ketels, Söleraanj, procured positions for us.

I started my career as a "deck boy" on a sailing ship which sailed from Copenhagen to Greenland. We delivered confections and wine to Greenland and returned with whale oil, goose-down, and smoked salmon. During the winter months I stayed home.

In spring I went to Hamburg where I was able to get a position as an apprentice on a vessel scheduled for China. Our cargo consisted of small goods. In China we received a load of gunpowder with which we sailed to Hong Cong.

Leaving Hong Cong we sailed up and down the coast of China and other parts of the Far East to Singapore, Suratan, Borneo. On each trip we carried approximately 1000 dark-skinned laborers. These laborers, whom we took from port to port, were given jobs in towns along the coast. On board they were feeding themselves with rice, which we purchased for them at various ports. Finally we were able to procure a large shipment of rice at Saigon, with which we sailed back to Bremen, Germany. This trip from debarkation in Hamburg to the port of embarkation took 18 months.

In the fall I was given a position as a "Second Mate" on the "Messina". With this ship we made trips to the Mediterranean and returned to Hamburg every four weeks. The ports we entered were numerous: Barcelona, Genoa, Naples, Palermo, Lisbon, Tangier, Malaga, and many smaller ports along the African coast. *(The "Messina" and The "Wieland" probably were steamships. Editor.) After this I was assigned to the vessel "Hersel" with which we sailed from Hamburg to Yokohama, Japan, a journey that took 215 days. - We left Yokohama with a load of small goods for Manila. From there we sailed to Florida, where we picked up a load of sugar for Now York. - In New York we received a cargo consisting of petroleum in barrels. With this we sailed Singapore, Penang, and Rangoon, where we loaded the ship with rice. This we transported to Dunkirk, France. In all I spent over three years on board ship. Upon this, my longest journey, I sailed as "First Mate" on the "Swahili" to Sansibar with small goods from Hamburg and back, a one year long voyage.

My next position was on an oil vessel, again as "First Mate".

Our assignment was to transport petroleum to Philadelphia, U.S.A. This assignment I did not like at all.

Upon return I signed up for a position as "First Mate" on an English ship out of Cornwall. We carried iron railroad tracks to the West Coast of North America, around Cape Horn, and returned with a load of saltpeter to Dunkirk, France

My last long voyage I made with the "Mathilde" which sailed out of Hamburg and headed for Saranilla, Boranguilla with roof tiles, and from there to Laguna for lumber. Upon our departure from Laguna we encountered extremely heavy seas and lost control of our ship. Everyone had given us up for "lost at sea", but then help came in the form of an American ship which rescued us and brought us to shore.

Shortly after this I signed up with a Norwegian steamship which was destined for New York with a cargo of lumber. From there I returned to Hamburg on the steamship "Geneva". I returned to our island for a brief rest during which time cholera broke out in Hamburg. During my stay on the island I was offered a position as Postmaster in Olersem (Oldsum), which I accepted. In summary, I have spent 23 years at sea and 34 years as Postmaster from which position I retired 10 years ago. My travels at sea have taken me, more or less, to all parts of the world with the exception of Australia and Russia.

We are all in a good state of health here, and I hope you can say the same about you and your family. Further news from the Frisian Islands you can read in the news papers which I am going to mail to your brother Riewert.

*Note of the editor: Translated and mailed to us for publication by Mathilde Duell, Roluffs, granddaughter of Julius.