, the sun had but just set, and the light, eighteen
miles distant, could be distinctly seen. It created a great deal of
excitement and enthusiasm among the young officers and seamen, who had
read enough about Norway to be desirous of seeing it. For weeks the
young gentlemen on board the ship had been talking of Norway, and
reading up all the books in the library relating to the country and
its people. They had read with interest the accounts of the various
travellers who had visited it, including Ross Brown, in Harper's
Monthly, and Bayard Taylor, and had studied Harper, Murray, Bradshaw,
and other Guides on the subject. The more inquiring students had read
the history of Norway, and were well prepared to appreciate a short
visit to this interesting region.

They had just come from the United States, having sailed in the latter
part of March. The squadron had had a fair passage, and the students
hoped to be in Christiansand by the first day of May; and now nothing
less than a dead calm for forty-eight hours could disappoint their
hopes. Five years before, the Young America and the Josephine, her
consort, had cruised in the waters of Europe, and returned to America
in the autumn. It had been the intention of the principal to make
another voyage the next year, go up the Baltic, and winter in the
Mediterranean; but the war of 1866 induced him to change his plans.
Various circumstances had postponed the cruise until 1870, when it was
actually commenced.

The Young America was the first, and for more than a year the only,
vessel belonging to the Academy. The Josephine, a topsail schooner,
had been added the second year; and now the Tritonia, a vessel of the
same size and rig, was on her first voyage. The three vessels of the
squadron were officered and manned by the students of the Academy. As
on the first cruise, the offices were the rewards of merit bestowed
upon the faithful and energetic pupils. The highest number of merits
gave the highest office, and so on through the several grades in
the cabin, and the petty offices in the steerage. The routine and
discipline of the squadron were substantially the same as described in
the first series of these volumes, though some changes had been made,
as further experience suggested. Instead of quarterly, as before, the
offices were given out every month. Captains were not retired after a
single term, as formerly, but were obliged to accept whatever rank and
position they earned,