The Dane Aboard HMS Erebus

On June 30th of 1845, when the ships were just off the coast of Greenland, Erebus’s assistant surgeon Harry Goodsir wrote to his brother John saying: “There are several Danes on board of us as seaman so having no difficulty with language.”

On July 6th, after the ships had arrived at the Whalefish Islands in Greenland, Erebus’s purser Charles Osmer wrote to his wife Elizabeth: “We were accompanied by one of our sailors (a Dane) who speaks their language…”

A day later, on July 7th, Sir John Franklin wrote to his friend John Richardson: “I had written to the Governor… His answer being in Danish I had to get it translated by one of my men.”

We know from the muster books that there were no Danish men on the expedition. In fact, according to the muster books, out of 129 men there were only two born outside of the British Isles: Charles Johnson from Nova Scotia, and Henry Lloyd from Norway. However, three different letters by three different men referenced one or more Danes aboard Erebus. Why?

In the footnotes of the excellent book May We Be Spared To Meet On Earth: Letters of the Lost Franklin Arctic Expedition it’s been suggested that this was possibly a reference Henry Lloyd, and that he’d been mistaken for Danish. Another option theorized was that, given these letters were written while the ship was on the coast of Greenland, perhaps there were Danish Greenlanders who came aboard temporarily to assist them. Both are quite reasonable assumptions to make.

Except that it turns out there was a Dane aboard the Erebus. His name was Wilhelm Theodor Clausen. He was also known by his anglicised alias, which is what’s listed in Erebus’s muster book: William Clossan.

(As an aside, I do think it's possible Goodsir may be confusing the Norwegian Henry Lloyd for Danish when he mentioned several Danes on board)

 

Wilhelm Theodor Clausen/William Clossan

William Clossan was an able seaman aboard HMS Erebus. I’ve seen his last name transcribed multiple ways: Closson, Clossen, etc. This was his first entry into service. According to the ship’s muster, he was born in “Shetland” (typically presumed to be Shetland, Scotland) around 1820.

I’ve recently been trying to acquire estate and probate records for all members of the expedition. As part of that process, I found his entry in the Death Duty Register in 1855, which gives information on the inheritance tax paid on a person’s estate.

William’s entry immediately stood out to me. It reveals that William Clossan was an alias, and his real name was Wilhelm Theodor Clausen. The administrator of his estate is listed as his sister, Christine Dorothea Clausen of Solvegade 420a in Copenhagen, Denmark. No other beneficiaries are mentioned.

Death Duty Register, The National Archives, IR 26. Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Administration, 1855, Folio 227.

We can also find this same information in the Seamen’s Effects Papers, which tracked applications from the next of kin for unpaid wages.

Excerpt from the Seamen’s Effects Papers. The National Archives, ADM 44.

The fact that he was Scottish, according to the muster book, but had a sister living in Denmark, and a Danish-sounding name, intrigued me. Of course, it was entirely possible that the muster was correct, and he was just born in Scotland to parents of Danish origin, but it was still something that I wanted to look into, so I did some digging. And the more I dug, the more clear it became that his family had no connection to Scotland at all.

Beginning in 1840, Denmark had a census every five years. The 1855 census, taken the same year as the above 1855 death duty register entry, shows Christine Dorothea Clausen at the same address: 420a Sølvgade in København.

1855 Danish census. Danishfamilysearch.com.

Translations for the column headers can be found on FamilySearch.org. Her status is given as “Ugift” (“Unmarried”), which is what we expect, given that the death duty register described her as a spinster. Her age is 43, putting her birth around 1812. Her birthplace is listed as Præstø, and her occupation is “Huusjomfru” (“Housemaid”). 

Note: Clausen seems to be the more typical spelling, though in some records their surname is spelled Claussen or Klausen.

Searching for a Christine Dorothea Clausen born in Præstø around 1812 yields a confirmation record. She was confirmed into the Lutheran church in 1827. The translated headings can again be found on Familysearch.org.

Confirmation of Christine Dorothea Clausen. 1827. Præstø parish, Præstø county, Denmark.

The first column is for her name and residence, though for whatever reason only the name was filled out. Her parents’ names are given as ​​Albrecht Claussen and Ane Kirstine Steen in the second column. 

Note: It seems quite common for the mothers to be listed by their maiden names in Danish records. 

Looking into her parents, we can see that they indeed had a son named Wilhelm Theodor Clausen. According to his baptism and confirmation records, he was born on 2 Nov 1819 in Præstø. 

Baptism of Wilhelm Theodor Clausen. 20 Jan 1820. Præstø parish, Præstø county, Denmark.

Once again, the translated headings for the above baptism and below confirmation can be found on Familysearch.org. 

Confirmation of Wilhelm Theodor Clausen. 1833. Præstø parish, Præstø county, Denmark.

His baptismal record has several witnesses. According to a Danish genealogy forum, these translate to 1. Virgin Andrea (Virgin), 2. Dine Worm (Merchants), 3. Grønvold, Bønsdorf and Wolf. There was some question over the fourth line, which is either Dannebrogsmand Hagerup, or Overkrigscomissair Hagerup. Dannebrogsmand is apparently someone who has been awarded a decoration of the Order of the Dannebrog, and Overkrigscomissair is a chief official of the conscription service.

The Danish included their date of smallpox vaccination on confirmation records, and sometimes other records such as marriages. We can see Wilhelm Theodor Clausen was vaccinated on 21 Aug 1820.

In total, I can find six children of Albrecht and Ane Kirstine: Sophia (1807), Christine Dorothea (1812), Petra Claudine (1814), Daniel (1816), Wilhelm Theodor (1819), and Peter Christian (1821).

The first census after Wilhelm Theodor’s birth was in 1834. Wilhelm is living in Præstø with his parents, his siblings (excluding his two eldest sisters), and an uncle named Rasmus. Also present at the residence are a lodger and a servant.

1834 Danish census. Danishfamilysearch.com.

The last column listed a person’s title, occupation, or position in the family. Albrecht Clausen is the head of the family, and his occupation appears to be listed as skipper, which has the same meaning in both English and Danish. This occupation was also listed in his children’s baptism records. We can see Ane Kirstine’s relation is “Hans kone” (“his wife”). Wilhelm Theodor’s entry is “Hans søn” (“his son”).

The next census was in 1840, and this is the last census I’ve been able to find him in, given the one after that was in 1845, the same year the Franklin expedition set sail. 

He was not living with his family in 1840. His occupation appears to be sailor/seaman (“Sømand”). He’s residing in Copenhagen with several other sailors and a coxswain (“Styrmand”). 

1840 Danish census. Danish National Archives; Copenhagen, Denmark; 1840 Folketælling.

I'm unsure if he was sailing in the Royal Danish Navy or on a merchant ship.

I can find no evidence that Wilhelm Theodor Clausen or his family ever set foot in Scotland. So why was his birthplace listed as "Shetland" in the muster? Præstø happens to be on the island of Sjælland (anglicised to Zealand). According to Google, "Sj" is pronounced as “Sh” in Danish, meaning Sjælland sounds remarkably close to Shetland. My best guess is that he gave “Sjælland” as his birthplace, and it was either misheard or mistranscribed. 

Siblings of Wilhelm Theodor Clausen

I cannot speak Danish, so there was a language barrier that made researching this family somewhat difficult. The saving grace was that, unlike some other countries in the 1800s, Denmark was actually good at recording dates. While I can't read Danish, I can recognize if birth dates or smallpox vaccination dates match up across various records, and I was able to track some of the family this way.

His eldest sister, Sophia Clausen, was born on 14 Oct 1807. I wasn't able to find out much about her.

Christine Dorothea Clausen was born on 28 Mar 1812. As mentioned previously, she was in the 1855 census as a housemaid. She doesn't appear to have ever married. She likely died on 4 Mar 1881 in Copenhagen.

Petra Claudine Clausen was born on 8 Jun 1814. She was married on 23 Jul 1845 to Holger Rasmus Peterson. They moved to Sweden around 1848, but moved back sometime prior to her death in Copenhagen on 14 Jul 1879. They had one son.

Daniel Clausen was born on 26 Nov 1816. I have not been able to find him outside of the 1834 census.

Peter Christian Clausen was born on 14 Nov 1821. He was married to Henriette Sophie Bertha Knudsen on 28 April 1849. He likely died on 24 Aug 1885 in Værslev Sogn. They had three sons and one daughter. One of their sons, born in 1856, was named Wilhelm Theodor Clausen after his brother. There appears to be a paternal line stemming from Peter Christian; I was able to trace one of his sons who moved to America, thereby eliminating the language barrier. However, I've yet to be able to contact this family and confirm that the line I've found is correct, so I will leave any further genealogy information for another post after I'm able to verify more. 

 

A Note On Language

I cannot read Danish, let alone the Danish-style of Gothic handwriting used in the 1800s. Many genealogy sites have transcribed the information into the modern alphabet, which I then translated with Google Translate.

I have a general distrust of Google Translate, so I confirmed key details on a Danish genealogy forum.

In Conclusion

I'd started researching Wilhelm Theodor Clausen prior to reading May We Be Spared To Meet On Earth, and it was thrilling to encounter the letters referencing a Dane and to know that they were not errors; they were talking about him. 

I hope this clarity on his origins will lead to future research by others. I was limited by my lack of Danish, but there's so much more I'd be interested in knowing. Is there any record of his time sailing prior to the Franklin expedition? Given the relationship between Denmark and Greenland, did he ever journey there before the Franklin expedition? I hope that there's more to discover about him, and that someone is able to take that up.

A special thanks to the members of the Danske Slægtsforskeres Forum (Danish Genealogy Forum) for assistance in Danish translations. As well, thank you to Russell A. Potter, Regina Koellner, Peter Carney, and Mary Williamson, the editors of May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth: Letters of the Lost Franklin Arctic Expedition, where the quotes from Goodsir, Osmer, and Franklin were sourced.