I knew a ship broker, who sometimes would hire men for ships in other harbors. Upon application to him I found there wa a Tvedestrand bark, lying at Stralsund, Germany, that needed a first mate. This ship's name was 'President Daae', captin Thoreson, and it would be sailing for New York as soon as a first mate had been hired. I showed him my papers. After looking them over, he said: 'You are the man I want, and you will get the largest pay given First Mates sailing from Norway, and I will give you a first class ticket on any steamer to Stralsund. I could do nothing but accept this offer. It might be a matter of just pride to be a boy of 22 years, first mate on a bark, with highest pay customary in Norway at this time. This was not so bad. But I also knew there would be great responsibilities. That put a damper on my pride. I was mustered in right there in Copenhagen, and the next day I took the steamer for Stralsund.
I secured some boxes for things I had to send home. The next forenoon I went aboard a large, find steamer that took me as far as Malmö, Sweden. There was no boat going direct from Copenhagen to Stralsund. It was a beaming, radiant day of sunshine and fine weather. Who could have dreamed that here I would have been drawn into a little romance of love, which I was finally very glad to get out of? Even as it was, I did not get out of it without injury to fine feelings.