128 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



WHILE CLEARING THE MIXES BORDERING THE NORWEGIAN COAST THE SWEEPERS 



PUT INTO STAVANGER 



This is a bustling little town, made prosperous by the war. The American mine-sweepers 

 came here to obtain fresh water and redistribute their sweep-gear. 



at the extreme eastern side of the bar- 

 rage. The other, Group 8, began just 

 oft the entrance to Kirkwall, but could 

 not be undertaken until the British had 

 removed their line of mines, laid closely 

 parallel to ours ; for theirs, which were 

 only six feet below the surface, were 

 more dangerous to us than ours to them, 

 and consequently should be undertaken 

 first. 



Four days sufficed this time for repairs 

 and overhaul in port. To a man aboard 

 a sweeper it seemed as if he lived con- 

 tinuously at sea ; and for such small 

 ships, too. it was indeed an enviable en- 

 durance record they were making. 



Even the routine affairs of administra- 

 tion, which almost invariably take place 

 in port, had to be conducted on the mine 

 field. An interesting example of this 

 occurred when the annual examination 

 of enlisted men for promotion to war- 

 rant officers fell due. 



A storm was raging at the time, mak- 

 ing it impossible to sweep and equally 



impossible to transfer the candidates 

 from their various vessels in order that 

 they might appear before the examining 

 board on the flagship ; so that most valu- 

 able invention, the radio-telephone, was 

 resorted to, and by this means each candi- 

 date was simultaneously asked the suc- 

 cessive questions of the examination 

 while he sat at a desk on his own ship. 



A SHORTAGE OE KITES THREATENS THE 

 WORK 



Aside from the delays caused by the 

 gales, which now came on in greater vio- 

 lence and frequency, the sweeping pro- 

 gressed without interruption or serious 

 casualty. The speed at which we now 

 were working, however, introduced a fac- 

 tor which threatened daily to delay us. 

 Sweep-wire and kites — essential imple- 

 ments — were being used up faster than 

 we could obtain them. Besides the steady 

 shipments from the United States, British 

 manufacturers were producing at their 

 maximum capacity. We had already 



