ON AN ADMIRALITY STEAMER.

ROUND NORTH UAPE TO ARCHANGEL. AN IXTIvIIESITXG TRIP. Writing to his parents at Wairtiate ,• irom Tkunburgh, under date November ■ &, Mr Jack "Nicol says: — j ■'1 am pleased to be able lo say 1 am back i'roni that trip to Archangel ! Wo had very bad weather all tne way ; round the "North Cape and it was cold. ! The ship, the steamship Sproit, was! about 100 ft long and small m beam, ' and 68 tons register. We did get a i shaking up, and all hands were sick, i Huge seas were breaking right over the ' ; ship and one of our boats was carried . away. Water began to rise, through coming m from the top ; and we were * afraid she would founder. We stopped \ to get the water out, when the other ' two' boats kept on into. it. That was . the last we saw of them. In the cabin ; we had a small 'bogey,' a. kind of stove, but owing to the ship laboring so heavily it was impossible to keep the fire on. So. everything got damp .and very cold. Then we sighted some islands (the Lof'oden Islands) off the coast of Norwajy They were completely covered witfc snow, being within the Arctic Circle ; the weather became bad again round the North Cope, and I really became uneasy and afraid we would not see the hus'iness through, when a great sea , struck us and completely knocked m tho only remaining lifeboat we had. ', All hands, including the cook, were, called out to help lash it and save what then, was left of it. I was on watch, and the chief came down below. It was aa anxious time. "Tlie same Sunday night we were surprised about 6 o'clock to see a huge $hip ahead towering over vs — a great black mass. It was an auxiliary cruiser, and an officer came on board to examine our papers. They had not been m port for weeks, and were eager to hear the pe\ys;and .get old papers. Along the coast we could see nothing but pure . whi,te. hills, and it was cold. We had to report to 'examination steamers' at ,a r .'.'certain part' of the coast. On reaching this place there was nothing to be seen, so we waited all day, tossing about, up and down the coast. Next morning' a tramp steamer came m sight, and she made straight for .the land, and. we thought she had perhaps been there- before, and fbUb'wed. You could imagine our surprise to see inside about a dozen ships, one a. huge liner with ber bows severely damaged. In that place we Jwef e very pleased indeed to rest for about four days before we were sent on. "Archangel is a few miles up a riven, "aiid we had an unusual experience getting up. The ice was very thick — about Bin.— and the weather was very cold indeed 1 . All the shore was white. People were walking across the river imhiediately m front of the ship; m fact, running across before We broke the ice. Then that night we reached* our destination, and were pleased to see the other boat up and' safely tied. Th* third 1 one, we were told, had returned to Scotland 1 m distress, having been nearly lost. We had a few days there, and had a bit of a look round. Ice and snow were everywhere, and everybody used sleighs and great furs. I was very r glad to use a woollen helmet, which had been sent me, and the other boys Svanted to use it. On tlie l_th we left the ships—allhands, on sleighs,, two m each, and all tho baggage m larger sleighs— for "the railway 'station. We made a fair profession — 24 men, two m each sleigh — and four -baggage sleighs, making 16 sleighs. Right through Archangel, across a river, and over to the station -rabput . two hours' drive. Then began •t]_te* long.ipyerla'rid journey home, through North "Russia to Petrograd', into Finland, un into Sweden, by rail still, p.croes the frontier and down, through. Sweden, into. Nor way to Christian ia,- and then across the famous scenery of Nor- ; AVrjy to Bergen, where we got a boat for* .[Newcastle-" _.