Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= USGenNet Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Milwaukee Journal Wednesday, November 27, 1940 Real Sailor Is Dead Here; Had No Use For Steamers CAPT. OLE HALVERSON died without a trace of fear, because he had faced death bravely so many times before. When the captain was buried Wed- nesday, the last entry was made in the record of a sailor who had sailed on windjammers for 40 years and weathered the worst blows of oceans and lakes. The captain was born in Norway and went to sea at 15. For four years he sailed on salt water. Even as a boy he was tested in a shipwreck. He clung to wreckage for hours until he was rescued by a passing steamer. Seven times CAPT. HALVORSON crossed the ocean in a sailing vessel. At times the waves were mountainous, but he always squeaked through. In 1885 the captain came to the United States and started his 40 year career on Great Lakes wind- jammers. Most of the time he commanded his own ships. He lost his first ship when he was only 21. A furious storm pounded the ship against a sand bar at Fox Point and sent her to the bottom, where she still lies today. The captain and his crew clung to wreckage all night, and a passing ship picked them up in the morning. Obtained Other Ships. The loss failed to daunt the captain. He started right up again and had many more ships before he re- tired. He owned and commanded the Libby Nau, the largest sailing ship which operated on Lake Michigan in the early years of the present century. The captain was not much of a hand at talking about himself, even to his wife. He was a man of great physical strength, but he was modest whenever his strength was mentioned. On one occasion, when several men were struggling vainly to set up a new mast, he waved them aside and swung it into position himself. Another time, he grabbed an obstreperous sailor and hurled him bodily up a 10 foot stairway onto the deck of his ship. The captain never told those stories. His wife learned them from others, because the captain's crews were proud to work for him. The captain never sailed a single day on a steam- boat. When sails went out entirely, he went out of the life of the sea. He never had much respect for the men that operate steamboats. They were not real sailors, he said. Came Here 28 Years Ago. The captain lived in Sheboygan until 28 years ago, when he came to Milwaukee. He worked 10 years for the Edward E. Gillen Co., marine contractors until he retired in 1933. The captain could never entirely quit the water. In recent years he often went down to the lake front and poked around. He seldom talked to anyone he saw there, just looked out to the lake and thought about the days that used to be. The captain was jolly and happy until the last, but his strength began waning two years ago. He died Sunday at 74, after an operation. Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon at the Voth & Anderson funeral home, 2427 W. National av., and burial was in Good Hope cemetery. Survivors are his wife, ANNA, with whom he lived at 761 N. 25th st.; a daughter, MRS. HENRY LEDIN, West Allis; a brother, PETER, of Chicago, and a sister, MATILDA, in Norway. ===========================================================================