It is unknown when Captain Christian Pharo and Styrman Gunner Andresen were born. What is known is that they were both from Norway. They were merchant sailors who most likely participated in the once booming lumber industry around Pensacola. It is also likely they were recognized in Pensacola's Norwegian community, which was quite large in the late nineteenth century.

Captain Pettersen erected two cast iron monuments side by side, to Gunner Andresen and Captain Christian Pharo of the ship Gertrude. Pharo and Andresen died of yellow fever in the epidemic of 1867. They probably received treatment at a building-turned hospital at the corner of Palafox and Romana Streets to treat yellow fever victims.

The graves of the Norwegian seamen feature the only cast iron headboards in the cemetery.

Edited by Cynthia Catellier, University of West Florida Department of Public History