My great grandfather, Carl Andersen, started his career as a junior seaman just after his confirmation at age 15. Born in 1856, Carl needed a livelihood because he was the youngest son and would not inherit land. His first voyage out of his hometown of Grimstad was in 1871. In the past, some men in the Andersen family owned or sailed on ships. His father, Anders Kittelsen, had been a ship’s carpenter, and Carl eventually became one, too. He remained a mariner for the next 40 years. Before he retired, he worked as a carpenter at the Nixon Shipyard in Elizabethport, New Jersey, where he got to know and work with John Holland, the inventor of the submarine. 
A Norwegian historian, Gunnar Molden, is researching the La Louisiane and offered to supply me with more information about Carl, the ship, and its fate. On September 7, 2025 he wrote: “Dear Karen, La Louisiane of Arendal was wrecked in the vicinity of Frying Pan Shoals, near Wilmington, North Carolina, in August 1881. The crew were taken on board another ship and all of them survived. Before this happened, the ship had been in Southampton for a period, because it had to be repaired. (My note: In 1881 the English census noted Carl Andersen was 2nd Mate on the vessel, La Louisiane out of Southampton, England. He was 25 years old.)
The British Trade Journal, October 1, 1881, Page 650, “Monthly Summary of Shipping Casualties (From Lloyd’s) stated: “The Norwegian ship La Louisiane, from Pensacola to Liverpool, with lumber, encountered a hurricane August 26 and was abandoned waterlogged, and with masts cut away and breaking up. She has since driven ashore near Wilmington and become a total wreck.”
“The name of the captain of the ship was Kittelsen,” Mr. Molden added, “So he may be a relative of Carl Andersen.”
I am grateful to historian Gunnar Molden of Arendal, Norway, for the information about Carl Andersen’s experience on the La Louisiane and especially for sending the photo of the ship. 
