To illustrate this Captain Lund said: "A Dutch pilot or captain could come on my ship and his orders in his own language would be understood by my crew.

I mean simply the words of command, without explanations.

On the other hand, a Dutch crew could understand my orders without suspecting they were Russian." Sitting among the officers in the ward-room, I endeavored to accustom my ear to the sound of the Russian language and learn to repeat the most needed phrases.

I soon acquired the alphabet, and could count up to any extent; I could spell Russian words much as a schoolboy goes through his 'first reader' exercise, but was unable to attain rapid enunciation.

I could never get over the impression that the Muscovite type had been set up by a drunken printer who couldn't read.