the US. Thus, Næss was one of the few, if not the only, private shipowners allowed to continue his operations during the war. The other countries controlled their vessels' crews, while Næss with his Panama flag had to recruit his seamen on a voluntary basis. Næss established a working relationship with the United States Maritime Commission. For the accounting year ending 31 July 1940, the net profit was £150,325. For 1941, it was £155,844, and for 1942, it was £158,397. The first vessel the company lost was Norness, which torpedoed off of Long Island in January 1942. It was the first vessel to be sunk that close to the US coast. The sinking was huge news and the press coverage was extensive, even though the whole crew was saved. Serving Norway During the summer of 1942, Næss was called for a meeting with Johan Ludwig Mowinckel, former prime minister of Norway. He was not satisfied with how Nortraship was administered and wanted Næss to manage the organisation, as he had established connections with the United States Maritime Commission. In November 1942, Næss was given the position as Deputy Head of the Nortraship New York office. Næss he had to give up his job as head of the Viking Tanker Company and sell his shares in order not to have a conflict of interest. Immediately after joining Nortraship, Næss was thrown into negotiating a new tonnage agreement with his British and US counterparts, Bill Weston from the Ministry of War Transport and David Scoll from the War Shipping Administration. The negotiations took months, and the agreement was signed on New Year's Eve 1942, and thus named the Hogmanay agreement. The agreement was to last for the rest of the war, and Næss played the inexperienced US negotiator against the British, thus landing as many benefits as he could for the Norwegians. With the tonnage agreement settled, Næss focused on the bad relationship between the main Nortraship offices, London, and New York. He initiated an exchange of reports between the offices, and made a number of visits to the London office, thus gradually improving the cooperation between them. When the war ended in 1945, Næss was asked to stay on to help liquidate Nortraship and to arrange the negotiations for new vessels replacing the ones sunk during the war. Næss stayed for another year and, together with Nortraship's representative in Washington, George