IN THE HOLD OF 'HANS EGEDE' n 



reputation for rolling. The ship, if clumsy, is 

 strong; the captain, who is a man of attractive per- 

 sonality and thoroughly at home in Arctic seas, 

 also inspired confidence. There are small though 

 comfortable state rooms for about twenty passen- 

 gers. On the return voyage in September, the 

 third of the four trips made each summer, nearly 

 sixty passengers had to be provided for and 

 temporary accommodation was made in the fore- 

 hold to which access was gained through a hatch, 

 requiring some practice to negotiate with reason- 

 able comfort, and a long, steep ladder. It was a 

 new and interesting experience to travel as cargo, 

 but despite a succession of rough seas our obliging 

 and acrobatic steward was always able to carry the 

 food along the wave-swept deck. Lying in a bunk 

 in the bow of a pitching ship the thud and swish 

 of the waves overhead, the shivering and creaking 

 of the timbers, cups swinging noisily on their 

 hooks, heavy bodies occasionally careering across 

 the floor of the damp hold these and other im- 

 pressions received by a sleepily receptive mind 

 made one feel that the traveller in a transatlantic 

 'floating hotel' misses something which gives 

 point to the contrast of a sea voyage to the 

 smoothness and peace of one's normal way of 

 life. 'On certain ships,' it is written in an ad- 

 vertisement recently published by a well-known 

 Line of Steamers, 'one can hardly appreciate the 

 fact that one is at sea.' The ' Hans Egede' in this 

 respect has the advantage the sea is obviously 

 there. 



