Norway’s largest cruise and shipping company has been navigating the North Sea since 1893, though this photo of Hurtigruten’s Harald Jarl vessel at Kirkenes was taken a little later in 1962. The line was originally founded by government contract in order to improve communications along the country’s extensive and irregular coastline – notoriously one of the longest in the world.

According to Hurtigruten, even just sending a letter from Trondheim to Hammerfest in the late 19th century could take up to three months during winter, so a more permanent solution was needed to bind Norwegians together.

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