e high fore-deck and sang and talked,
unworried by callers and the thousand interruptions of the land. Then
we had evening prayers together, Catholic and Protestant alike; and
for my part I felt the nearness of God's presence as really as I have
felt it in the mysterious environment of the most magnificent
cathedral. Eternal life seemed so close, as if it lay just over that
horizon of ice, in the eternal blue beyond.

CHAPTER X

THREE YEARS' WORK IN THE BRITISH ISLES

In the spring of 1897 I was asked by the Council to sail to Iceland
with a view to opening work there, in response to a petition sent in
to the Board by the Hearn longliners and trawlers, who were just
beginning their vast fishery in those waters from Hull and Grimsby.

Having chosen a smaller vessel, so as to leave the hospital ship free
for work among the fleets, we set sail for Iceland in June. The fight
with the liquor traffic which the Mission had been waging had now been
successful in driving the sale of intoxicants from the North Sea by
international agreement; but the proverbial whiskey still continued
its filibustering work in the Scotch seaports. As our men at times had
to frequent these ports we were anxious to make it easier for them to
walk straight while they were ashore.

We therefore called at Aberdeen on the way and anchored off the first
dock. The beautiful Seaman's Home there was on the wrong side of the
harbour for the vessels, and was not offering exactly what was needed.
So we obtained leave to put a hull in the basin, with a first-aid
equipment, refreshments, lounge and writing-rooms, and with simple
services on Sunday. This boat commenced then and there, and was run
for some years under Captain Skiff; till she made way for the present
homely little Fishermen's Institute exactly across the road from the
docks before you came to the saloons.

I shall not soon forget our first view of the cliffs of the southern
coast of Iceland. We had called at Thorshaven in the Faroe group to
see what we could learn of the boats fishing near Rockall; but none
were there at the time. As we had no chronometers on our own boat we
were quite unable to tell our longitude--a very much-needed bit of
information, for we had had fog for some days, and anyhow none of us
knew anything about the coast.

We brought up under the shadow of the mighty cliffs and were debating
our whereabouts, when we saw an English sailing trawler about our own
size