This story of a thrilling trip by a party of American tourists in
Finland is told by one of them after their safe arrival in Stockholm:
“Our party left Stockholm on July 31 on a steamer for St. Petersburg but
was stopped by a Russian warship and compelled to return to Hango, where
we were lodged in a hotel. The steamer was taken in charge by a Russian
warship and blown up in the harbor channel. At the same time several
cranes and other harbor works were dynamited to block the channel to the
Finnish harbor. The explosions made a spectacular sight for the
Americans.
“Our party was unable to leave until August 3 because the roundhouse and
other buildings near the railway station were in flames.
“Starting for Stockholm by train, we traveled in cars already
overcrowded with refugees. Arriving at Hyvinge we found at least 3,000
persons waiting for the next train north. The town was already filled
and people were sleeping on the staircases of the overflowing hotels and
in the parks. We finally found lodging in a sanitarium outside of the
town. The next day we continued our trip in a train loaded with Germans
who had been expelled from the country.
“We next arrived at Seinajoki, a hamlet near Tammerfors, which boasts of
only one hotel but was trying to entertain 5,000 strangers. Every
private house was filled to its capacity, and we would have been
compelled to spend the night in the streets had it not occurred to the
manager of the hotel to suggest that we proceed to Nicolaisadt, a
seaport fifty miles to the west.
“We took this good advice and found comfortable lodgings in that place.
We also had the good fortune to discover an American freight steamer, on
which we were permitted to sail on August 5. The voyage was dangerous,
as all the beacon lights had been removed from the passage outward,
which is narrow and made hazardous by shoals.
“Two other steamers left port at the same time. The first was commanded
by a Russian pilot. It ran aground and was wrecked. The other vessel
narrowly escaped the same fate. Our steamer, however, got safely clear
and we arrived without accident at Hernosand, Sweden.”