He was greatly impressed by the kindness and hospitality he received from all classes in both countries with the exception of one district near Gottenborg, where he met with some outrageous conduct on the part of a postmaster, who either thought he was robbed, or else fully intended to rob his guest.
He was honoured by interviews with King Charles John IV, better known as Bernadotte, Napoleon's Field-Marshal and founder of the present royal dynasty of Sweden, and it is worthy of note that as far back as 1828, Norway was chafing under the Union with Sweden which was brought about by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814 and has so lately been dissolved.
On the 10th of May 1828, Captain Yorke started from the Customs House Wharf on the Thames, in a small steamer of 300 tons. Steam navigation being then in its infancy the vessel was of great interest to the traveller, who notes that she had 'two very fine engines of 40 horse power!'
The passage to Hamburg took exactly fifty-five hours. It is curious in the light of eighty years' commercial progress to read that 'The commerce on the Elbe has no comparison with that of the Thames.' Then follows a difficulty with the Customs officer, who, unaware of the habits of British sportsmen, was horrified to find gunpowder among the captain's baggage, a discovery which necessitated an appeal to the British Consul and entailed a delay of several days.
Kiel was reached on 14th of May, and after exploring the pretty little town the two friends took the Caledonian steam packet for Copenhagen. This little steamer was built as a pleasure boat for James Watt, and had run nine years making much money for her owner though a very 'bad boat.'
At Copenhagen Captain Yorke was much impressed by the royal palace of Frederiksborg, with its chapel where are crowned the Kings of Denmark, and its pane of glass on which Caroline Matilda [Footnote: Sister of George III, Queen of Christian VII. She was entrapped into a confession of criminality to save the life of her supposed lover Struensee, who was afterwards beheaded. She was condemned to imprisonment for life in the Castle of Zell, and died there aged twenty-four in 1775.] had scratched, 'O keep me innocent; make others great.' His professional interest was kindled by the Trekroner Battery which he visited in a boat, and of which he noticed both the strong and the weak points. He failed to get into the dockyard, though here again he was careful to note the number of ships of the line, frigates, and launches afloat; but the royal stud of 700 horses and the riding school struck him most. On the 20th of May our travellers reached Elsinore, and crossing over in an open boat to the Swedish coast they landed at Helsingborg.
My father was a good sportsman, and fishing was his favourite sport. It was combined with that love of scenery which was one of his characteristics, and his first fly was thrown in a beautiful river at Falkenborg, rented by two Englishmen who paid £300 a year for it. Here he remarks that the Swedes 'are poor, honest, and exceedingly good natured.'
'I believe,' he wrote, 'that much of the great civility we received arose from our travelling as we did, without speaking or understanding the language, with no servant and no carriage, taking the common conveyances of the country. Our fare, chiefly fish, black bread, and brandy. The country round Falkenborg is barren, with cultivated spots here and there.
'After leaving Falkenborg we experienced a great change in the character of the people. Kindness and honesty were changed for ill-looks and petty extortions. On a bridge between Moruss and Asa, the woman who kept it and our drivers charged a double toll, and drank the overplus in schnapps before our faces! Our vehicle is changed from four wheels to two, so we now travel in little wooden gigs and four horses, forming a pretty cavalcade.
'We arrived at Gottenborg about 1 P.M., dined table d'hôte and left at four. We passed along the banks of the Wener, a superb river. The vessels that trade from Gottenborg to the Wener See pass up this river. To pass the falls a canal is cut through the solid rock, with two locks. I saw a vessel of 80 tons go through. Considerable saw mills are erected here, the timber cut up, the lumber is just marked, launched down and the owners look out for themselves.