Doubtless commerce has reformed since then, though one may perhaps be pardoned for thinking that there is still room for improvement.
However that may be, the Norwegians were certainly fearless seamen; they are to-day, and so they will ever be.

Ole Kamp was not the man to belie his origin; besides, he had served his apprenticeship under his father, who was the master of a Bergen coasting vessel.

His childhood had been spent in that port, which is one of the most frequented in Scandinavia.

Before he ventured out upon the open sea he had been an untiring fisher in the fiords, and a fearless robber of the sea-birds' nests, and when he became old enough to serve as cabin-boy he made a voyage across the North Sea and even to the waters of the Polar Ocean.
Soon afterward his father died, and as he had lost his mother several years before, his uncle Harald Hansen invited him to become a member of his family, which he did, though he continued to follow the same calling.
In the intervals between his voyages he invariably spent his time with the friends he loved; but he made regular voyages upon large fishing vessels, and rose to the rank of mate when he was but twenty-one.

He was now twenty-three years of age.
When he visited Dal, Joel found him a most congenial companion.