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America, Russia, Hemy, and Nafoleonthrough the far northern reaches of the North Sea and thencoasted down Norway to the Sound. It seems that the onlyAmerican bound to or from the Baltic who fell victim to theFrench was Captain Joseph Mossby of the ship "Enterprise," ofSalem, wh o "was unfortunately killed by a privateer firingabout twenty musket shot before she boarded his vessel." 25The ship herself was allowed to continue to Copenhagen.It must not be thought that the voyage to Russia was one onwhich the watch dared catch a nap whe n the captain or matewas not about. The insurance underwriters of Philadelphia, avery knowledgeable and hardheaded group of men , thoughtotherwise. At one period during the war, they demanded awhopping 22.5 per cent to insure a voyage to Russia! MDespite the forebodings of gloomy underwriters, Americantraders obviously continued to seek the ports of Russia. On eeffective method of avoiding French capture on the way toRussia was simply to keep as far away from France as possible.During the quasi-war, America sent itsfirstships in any num ­bers (and probably itsfirstships, period) to Archangel. Thatboreal port is better acquainted with ice than water, and Americansailors were more familiar with the Celebes Sea than theWhite Sea, and the most southerly course to Archangel tookthem several hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle—butthen war has always been a maniacal navigator. W e know fewdetails about the opening of the trade with Archangel beyondthe fact that there were four American vessels there in Septemberof 1798, two of them being the ship "Financier," CaptainClark, of Boston, and the ship "Perseverence," CaptainWheatland, of Salem. 27In 1800, the war was dwindling to a close. France, not80