The name of the ship broker, Axel B. Lorentzen, should be inscribed at the beginning of this section of my story in large capital letters. Without his help I don’t know how things would have gone. The work we first set about was to find a means of conveying our large machine cases and all our extra equipment from Norway to Spitzbergen. Considering the time of year it was necessary that we should have a ship which could cope with the ice conditions. Should we charter any other kind we would risk incalculable delay. Out of the six large crates the engine-cases must in every event find room in the hold. It was out of the question for these to be stowed on deck. Lorentzen got for us the “blueprints” of ship after ship, and I sat at home for hours studying the plans and working out the dimensions of the cases and the hatches. In the end we got a sketch of “Hobby,” just when I had almost given up the idea of ever being able to get the motor cases down into the hold, for it seemed that the only way would be to take the engine gondolas out of the crates, and at least stow _them_ safely in the hold. In the case of “Hobby,” from the figures given, it appeared that the crates could just be passed through the hatches and lowered. Our joy was great. The four other crates could be stowed on deck, so we chartered “Hobby” to be taken over on the 5th of April. We had believed that it would be an absolutely simple matter to get the machines home to Norway from Italy, but we had miscalculated. We learnt this very quickly! The regular lines went to ten or twelve different ports taking on board parcels here and parcels there. Therefore this means of transport was of no use to us. A Dutch line offered to take the machines for 50 per cent of the ordinary freight to Amsterdam. This was very tempting, but we should be under the necessity of transporting them to Rotterdam in order to join the ore-boat leaving for Narvik. We also tried other ways, but without result. Then came Lorentzen one day and brushed all our troubles aside by saying, “All we need to do is to arrange something for ourselves.” He calculated that if a boat of the size of the usual coal-boat, sailing from England to the Mediterranean, could carry our wing cases and propellers on deck, taking the engine cases and extras in the hold, there would be sufficient space left for the boat to carry 200 tons of salt. Thus he calculated that the round tour--England, Mediterranean, Norway (West Coast) (even after allowing for the unloading of the coal and the journey to Sicily for the salt)--would only leave a reasonable sum to be paid by us for our goods’ transport,--namely, the difference in freight,--to which cost we agreed.