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Richard Bernhard With was born September 18, 1846. He was the son of Tromsø's first Sea Captain Citizen, Sivert Regnor With. At only 8 months of age, he had his first voyage on his father's ship to Rotterdam.

After graduating from the "Tromsø Teacher College", he went to sea. He started as the first mate on a sailing ship. Life on board was a nice change from his normal life, but also had it's Challenges for a youth with high education. His first trip as a 1st mate, was with a crew consisting of 11 men, 1 german, 1 russian and 8 Finish men, just 3 of them were able to speak a little Swedish.

He married Oline Sophie Wennberg, 23 Sep 1873 in Dverberg, Nordland. The couple had 4 children between 1874 and 1879. Anne, Richarda, Helga, and Sophus.

Richard spent some years in "external" sailing, before he settled down in Risøyhamn, Vesterålen as a merchant. In 1880 he started a new steamboat-company (vesterålen dampskipsselskap), and the first ship "vesterålen" was purchased in 1881. On this ship he was the Captain and sailed up and down the Norwegian coast with cargo.

In 1891, August Kriegsman Gran, the national steam ship advisor, proposed the idea of providing an express shipping service between Trondheim and Hammerfest. Two steamship companies, The "Nordenfjeldske Dampskibsselskab" and the "Bergenske Dampskibsselskab," were offered the route, but rejected it, regarding the sailing during the dark and stormy winters as impossible. At the time there were only two marine charts in existence and only 28 lighthouses north of Trondheim.

Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskap, took up the challenge. For some time, Captain Richard With and his pilots had been keeping accurate notes on courses, speeds and times taken to sail the route and felt that the service would be viable. On 18th May 1893, the government entered into a 4-year contract with Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskap, providing the company with the backing for a weekly sailing between Trondheim and Hammerfest during the summer and Trondheim and Tromsø during the winter. There were nine ports of call on the route.

When the steamship 'Vesteraalen' left the quay in Trondheim on the morning of 2nd July 1893 bound for Hammerfest, it signalled the beginning of a communications revolution. It enabled the population and industries along the coast to communicate in a completely new way. Previously, it could take up to three weeks in the summer or five months in the winter to send a letter from Trondheim to Hammerfest. The Coastal Express reduced this time to a few days. After 36 hours the ship reached Svolvær, and on the 5th of July at 3.30am, 67 hours after departing Trondheim, the ship docked at Hammerfest - half an hour ahead of schedule! The ship and its crew were met by cheering crowds at all ports of call along the Norwegian coast. The "Hurtigruten" was a huge success. Richard With Captained the boat for 1.5 years, and proved that the ships could run without delay or crashes all winter, even in the worst weather. He didn't have an accident the entire time.

As president in Vesterålseke, Captain With opened a tourist-cruise line at Spitsbergen, and made a tourist-cabin in Advent bay. The spitsbergen tourist-line continued from 1896 to 1899, which caused a great focus on Spitsbergen, and brought much attention to the coal-mining industry there.

In 1909 he ended his presidency at Vesterålens Dampskibsselskap. The company had become very big, and owned many ships, as both a cargo and passenger-line. Also in 1909 he visited America to find business-men sharing his plan to start the American-line. This went very well, and in the fall 1910 a meeting was held, and With was selected as vice-chairman. He stayed until 1913.

Another of Richard With's accomplishments was the building of the harbor in Risøyhamn, which was also a success, even if the work took many years. It was perhaps his proudest day June 25 1922, when he Captained the ship "Finnmarken" with the king onboard and several other ship's following, sailing through Risøysundet, on the harbors opening day.

After retirement, Captain With lived in Oslo, until his death 9 Feb 1930. Today he is remembered and honored as the father of the "Hurtigruten" the "SS Richard With" is a coastal cruise ship named after him, and his statue stands both in Tromsø and in Trondheim.