The wife of a seamen, depicted on the paintings of the 19th century, is standing on the sea side sad and distressed. Next time she sees the husband in a year or two. Maybe never. She is responsible for taking care of the house and the kids alone. I wrote this story to the newspaper Raumalainen, published on 17.07.2019.

Every third man in Rauma was a sailor around the middle of the 19th century. In 1830 Rauma seamen got the right to sail further away from the shores of Finland, on open seas all around the world.  Sailors received new duties at faraway ports and their ships did not return home for years.

The sailor’s wife received a third or half of the man’s wage through the seamen’s house. Not bad! But that was not enough to feed the family. Women had to rent out rooms in order to make extra money. They would take care of the sick, the orphans and the old people and be paid by the seamen’s house (just as if the men on sea would pay their wives, but the money goes to a caretaker). If women had no house of their own, they would have to work as maids and live in the employer’s house (under constant supervision, losing their independence). Most of the women from 1750s to 1840s were engaged in bobbin lace making for extra revenue.

The other men in the family, the grandfathers and the brothers, helped them. Sometimes a grandma would live in the next room, as you can see in Kirsti’s house museum.

One fifth of the seamen earned so well that they could buy the real estate from that income. Only house owners were allowed to practice farming and rent fields from the city. It was a good side income. The owners of the Kirsti’s house kept cattle from 1755 until 1947.

The salary and working conditions of Finnish sailors were not good. No wonder they escaped the ship for a better life in America or for a better paid job on American or English ships. Some got sick on faraway journeys and had to be left at the hospital in South Africa or other remote countries, with no opportunity to return.

According to Jari Lybeck’s dissertation, 270 seamen from Rauma escaped from the ship in 1840-1870 (that is 30 years). The same happened on the other Finnish ships and every third seamen from Turku would desert the ship! The masters would then have to find new personnel in order to continue sailing.

What did the seamen eat on long journeys during the times they had no refrigerators? Pea soup and porridge. Porridge and pea soup. Stomach pains, yes. Weak health from the lack of vitamin C as well. When they reached the land, they would buy meat, fruit, alcohol, tobacco and coffee. It was only after the 1850s that they had any money. And the young boys, of course, went for an “adventure”. Married men wanted the same, but they were afraid the rumors would reach their families at home. They were all from the same town.

Have you seen the porcelain dogs on the windows in the old Rauma? The dogs look in the house if the man is home. According to a rumor these were given to the seamen as gifts by the most expensive prostitutes at English ports.

But only a third of the divorces were a result of a woman’s misbehavior. Only? Or too many? I wonder where these extra men arrived to the small town to comfort lonely women, if at some point Rauma had 1000 seamen (sounds like all boys aged 10+ and men were on the sea).

A woman filed for a divorce if a man had deserted the ship for a better life and there was no sign of him for a year. Usually she waited longer, even 10-20 years. A single woman with kids was not a nice status those days. Some did a crime to feed the family. A seamen’s house supported those deserted wives to some extent, but not forever. If she got pregnant, she filed for a divorce. She could keep his belongings, as he was the initial cause of their divorce (not her extramarital relationship). She had to be quick, as he could still decide to return and she would be the only sinful.

It was not only the status of a married woman, the independence from a master and the financial security that lead women to such a lonely marriage. It might as well been love. Why else would anyone walk all the way from Rauma to Turku harbor (100 kilometers!) to meet a husband. It took them days to get there. They helped carry the things home. Gifts? Stockings? Perfumes? No.  All she got from a well-travelled man was a self-made ship in a bottle. Most important was that he came back alive. The captain’s wife might have got a scarf.

Nowadays not only the seamen leave homes and families. Several positions require a trip from time to time. But our spouses come home more often. We have the electricity, washing machines, television, hot water. Food is available at the store; there is no need to grow the potatoes and keep cattle. Children’s diapers go into garbage, not the laundry. Rauma is no longer a city of single mothers.

Enjoy your family summer holiday and why not visit the Rauma museums together. The sailor’s house museum Kirsti is open on summer time only (Tue-Sun 10-17). Rauma Maritime Museum is open every day in summer (from 11-17). On other times it is only on Saturdays. The wealthy shipowner’s Gabriel Granlund house museum Marela is open every day except Mondays.

Article by Kairi Rintanen (just like all the others in this blog)

Marela shows the life and lifestyle of a wealthy shipowner and his family at the turn of the 1900s, the golden age of seafaring in Rauma.

The shipowner Gabriel Granlund II started off at sea at age 9. He didn’t go to school, but he knew foreign languages. His English skills, for example, were used at the peace negotiations of the Crimean War in 1855, when British ships tried to bomb Rauma.

He founded the family quite late. He was 57, when he married a 20 years younger Kristina. They had 3 sons, one of whom died in a sailing accident at an early age.

Gabriel was a rich, but stingy man. When he died in 1901, his grown-up sons and the wife started wide renovations of the house and built a summer residence Villa Tallbo (now a fancy restaurant). They went bankrupt soon. Not only because of wasting the money, but also due to the more competitive steam ships. None of their belongings can be seen at the museum, but thanks to the precise bankruptcy list, similar things have been found there.

Marela

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Rauma’s town council has been in several buildings before the people of Rauma built this baroque style stone house in 1776. It is similar to one in Porvoo.

The 18th century town halls in Rauma and Porvoo are the only ones in Finland which have remained in their original form. Rauma’s building is the second oldest stone building in Rauma after the Church of the Holy Cross (1512).

In 1776 Rauma was a town of 1500 people, half of whom were working age people. Each was required to bring grey stones for the construction of the building.

The town council moved away from the second floor into a new building in 1902 and the police department moved out of the first floor in 1930ies. Rauma museum occupies the whole building since then.

Why Rauma got a museum so early? In 1891, during the renovations of the Holy Cross Church, many things needed to be stored somewhere. Hence the idea of a museum was born.

Funny, the museum walls say the town had 15 city councilors, chosen among the biggest tax payers. But those wealthy men were not interested in such additional tasks given to them. The only revenue they received was a free rent of a cabbage field for 8 years. Haha. Imagine telling this to your current city mayor 😊

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Collecting taxes to the Swedish king was an unpleasant thing to do and the youngest clerk got that job. The Swedish copper coin from the 1700s and 1800s could be 19 kilos heavy! Look at the picture.

The second floor is about the history of Rauma and Finland. The first floor has an exhibition of Rauma bobbin lace. Now that it has temporarily moved into the premises of Marela house museum, the Town Hall museum holds an exhibition of church lace.

The first floor has a nice souvenir shop. Toilets are on the ground floor. You can see the windows of the lockup (prison).

By the way, while in Rauma, visit 3 museums for the price of 8 euros! (Raathihuone- old town hall, Kirsti seaman’s house museum and Marela shipowner’s house museum).

Old Town Hall