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172 before the eyes of the traveler is en- chanting in the extreme. The little word cod has great sig- nificance in these islands, and a large number of the hardy youths, who are fishermen and sailors almost from birth, find their way into the American and British merchant service. The inside passages through the islands and out into the open Arctic waters at Nord Cap, entail a 400-mile journey. If the winding course could be straightened, a hundred miles could be subtracted from this trip but any ship which has tried this plant has given it up. Steaming along the coast, dodg- ing rocks and reefs, porting the helm four points here, and starboarding a few minutes later, would either make or mar young bridge officers. Navigation Difficult No finer training school for mates and masters can be found than the coastal work of these intricate fiords. Three years of White sea trading never brought a pilot on board of the two steamers on which I sailed. The water channels vary in width from an eighth of a mile to 5 miles in the most con- gested parts of the run, and chart work, in its most interesting form, is soon learned. Course running is done en- tirely by. the physical features of the land as interpreted from the chart, with here and there a buoy or beacon. Time and distance are reckoned on approxi- mate directions. It may be only an hour before midnight, but the sun hangs - up in the sky at an angular height of from 8 to 10 degrees. We are now around Nord Cap, have pulled to the southeast and are steam- ing down the Lapp coast. Here we meet large numbers of open boats under sail, bound from isolated places to the nearest port, perhaps Hammer- fest, where their small cargo of furs or reindeer tongues can be bartered. A steam. whaler may be sighted towing its prey to one of the boiling down stations. The inhospitable coast of Finland is hugged as closely as possible. Ice and snow are in evidence although it is June. We pass Vardo where Nan- sen made a short stay on his road back to civilization. No places of any im- portance are found along this coast. You wonder at the boldness of the few lighthouse keepers who live in these bleak surroundings for a few months in the summer. Occasionally a herd of reindeer gazes inquisitively at you from the shore. Sailing to the south, we soon enter the gulf of Onega and make fast to the dock at Kem. This is a ‘very important lumber shipping port. Work goes on night and THE MARINE REVIEW day, or rather all day, as darkness 1s absent. Although Kem is south of the Arctic Circle, the sun barely dips below the horizon. The loading is done by men and women, many of whom are uneducated. Ordinary home comforts, as understood in the temperate zone are absent. Homespun cloth and furs are worn in summer as well as winter. Now. we are off to Archangel where we finish loading. This means leaving that port with from 12 to 15 feet of a deck cargo, as shown in the accompany- ing illustration andalso with a heavy list. Some consolation may be gained in recall- ing that after putting in the summer with top-heavy lumber cargoes, we are gen- erally chartered in the Spanish iron ore trade during winter. In the one case, our cargo is too high above the water line and inthe other, it is too much below. Steaming up the river to Archangel, we are compelled to accept the services of a Russian pilot. This port is vastly different from Kem and its docks are modernly equipped. The railroad south from this city feeds the _ shipping. Archangel is the most northern city of importance in the world. The barge trade on the great river Dwina also brings immense shipments of lumber, flax, tar and tallow to the summer fleet. On the trip homeward, we may run through some of the larger fiords, to shorten distances and _ find smooth water, but we avoid the narrow and tortuous passages as our heavy list affects the handling of the boat. After passing south of the sixty-fifth parallel, the sun gives up its midnight vigil and lights have to be used again. Secure Ships for Pacific A new agency for a steamship line from Puget sound ports to Vladivostok, the H. F. Ostrander Shipping Co., has recently been established with head- quarters in Seattle. Eight vessels have been chartered for the Puget Sound- Vladivostok trade. These range in dead weight tonnage from 5,500 to 8,- 000, and will be continued in the service as long as the trade justifies it. The ships now under charter will afford sailings once a week. The United States Steamship Co. has entered into a contract for the purchase of all or at least 90 per cent. of the stock of several steamship companies as follows: New York & Buffalo Steam- ship Co.; New York, Norfolk & Wash- ington Steamship Co.; Hudson Naviga- tion Steamship Co., and Palmer & Co., owning a completely equipped ship yard at Noank, Conn. The United States Steamship Co. was organized under the laws of Maine last December with an authorized capital of $25,000,000. May, Buy “Junk” Steamer $850,000 The steamship DUNHoLMg, sold years ago as a fire-blackened hulk $30,000, has been bought for appro, mately $850,000 by the Standard Oji ¢ She has sailed from New York for { east with oil in cases. This sale in cates the scarcity of bottoms and lengths to which shippers will go to . vessels to move the freight of the worl since the war has so heavily burdened the merchant marine of both the Allies and neutral countries. DuUNHOLME, in November, lying at a Bayonne, N. J., pier, near ¢ Standard Oil Co.’s_ works, h case oil and ready for an ocean voyage on which she would have left the next day. There was an explosion on board and flames spread over her.. Soon she sank in her berth. Her British owners, the Pyman Steamship Co., of West Har-— tlepool, England, abandoned her to the underwriters, Lloyds, who sold her to the Merritt & . Chapman Derrick & Wrecking Co. at auction for $30,000, The corporation raised her, took her to — its long pier at Stapleton, S. I, and kept her there until last fall, when she was disposed of to the Clinchfield Navigation Co., of 29 Broadway. There had been frequent rumors about sales of Dun- HOLME, and it was said that, as late as last July; she could have been “any- body’s ship for $60,000.” It was under- stood that the wrecking company netted a profit of $100,000 on her. Resembled a Derelict DuUNHOLME’s new owners, that is the Clinchfield company, had her towed over to the yards of the Tietjen & Lang Dry- dock Co., in Hoboken, N. J. She was not much to look at. Her superstruc- ture had beeen burned away and _ her plates above the water line were wracked and bent. She was covered with soot. and grime and her lying off Staten island in the open had not added to her beauty. She looked like a derelict when she came to the hands of the ship re- Pairers. It was found, though, that her engines and boilers were not in as bad shape as had been supposed and _ that her hull was firm and sound. The sur- veyors who went over her said that it was a surprise to find how good her — condition was. The Clinchfield company states that they made a $300,000 contract for her to be put back in seaworthy condition. — The work has now been completed and in April she steamed away from Ho- boken, took on more of that case oil which was her original undoing and then started for the Orient under the American flag. i In eastern maritime circles it is gen-