Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1910-03-25
PILOT BOYS OF NORWAY.
N~nvfEntors on Any Sea-
Boats Are Copies of Viking Ships.

Youngest NavfSntOrs on Any Sea-
Boats Are Copies Of Viking Ships.
The hardy Norsman takes to the
sea like a duck to a pond. He is al
most amphibious. The youngsters on
the coast begin to work for their liv-
ing at an early age, and it is aston
ishing what different phases of sea
life the boys fill to the satisfaction
OF their employers and themselves.
The Norwegian pilot boat, a clumsy
looking craft of some thirty feet in
length, is perhaps as seaworthy arcraft
of her size as swims the sea.
She has a large cruising ground.
She carries a spirit sail of fair size
and several jibs to suit the weather.
Carefully handled, she will ride out
the heavy gales which in the German
ocean kick up a dangerous and choppy
sea hat calls for all the seaworthy
qualities of a sailing vessel.
The boat Is manned by a pilot and
his boy. Her cruising ground is be-
tween the Maze and the Skaw-promi-
nent landmarks for vessels bound to
Norwegian ports or harbors in the
Baltic or Gulf of Finland.
The pilot boat is run alongside the
ship. the pilot jumps aboard and the
boy trims sheet and steers for his
home port, which may be as far north
as Stavanger.
The sail is long and lonely, but the
boy contrives to navigate thither,
blow high or blow low. He seems to
have the homing instinct of the
pigeon, as the only aid to navigation
that he has Is a chart and compass.
An easterly gale often blows him far
off his course.
Some of the boys are only 13 or IA
years old. They are the youngest nav
igators on any sea. Flaxen of hair,
with blue eyes and rosy cheeks, they
are brave inc sturdy sailors. Their
diet is chiefly salt fish and sea biscuit
when afloat, but sometimes the vessel
that takes the pilot will throw the
youngster a chunk Of cooked salt beef
or salt pork, and sometimes a, hunk
of plum duff for his W private con
sumption; but these cases are COM
paratively rare, and the boy general
ly has to depend upon the narrow re-
sources of his own larder.
His little craft contains no side
lights. Whenever a vessel approaches
him, he lights a flare-up signal-a
torch OF oakum soaked in tar or kero-
sene.
On his solitary voyage to his home
port he sleeps in the daytime, his
boat steering herself. In this way he
prepares for the vigil of the night.
The dangers he encounters are
many and great, but he takes them
in a matter-of-fact way highly credit
able to him. 1t is strange that so few
boats are lost. The truth is that their
model is such as to withstand just the
sort Of weather they meet. In their
principal features they resemble the
viking ships of old, which in their adj
venturous voyages weathered the
heaviest Atlantic gales and ravaged
the British and Irish ~seacoasts in
many a hostile and bloody raid.
The young Norwegian, after his
training in the pilot boats or mackerel
| boats. mans trading ships of every
country,
Lars or Nils or Oscar has one ideal,
and that Is to ship aboard a British
or American yacht. preferably a steam
craft, where he lives a happy life,
well fed and we'll treated. He Is .
frugal, thrifty sailor, and his earnings,
with but few deductions. are sent
home to gladden. many a Scandinavian
areside.
He gets on N average $50 a month
on q yacht, an amount which loo0
very big to him In comparison with
the scanty wages paid to sailors N
- the Norwegian aaE