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diff --git a/35183-0.txt b/35183-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a30943d --- /dev/null +++ b/35183-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6315 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memorials of the Sea, by William Scoresby + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Memorials of the Sea + My Father: Being Records of the Adventurous Life of the + Late William Scoresby, Esq. of Whitby + +Author: William Scoresby + +Release Date: February 6, 2011 [EBook #35183] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMORIALS OF THE SEA *** + + + + +Produced by Brownfox and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +TRANSCRIBERS’ NOTES + +Italic text in the original is surrounded by _underscores_. +Blackletter (Gothic type) text is surrounded by =equals=. +Corrections and other notes are recorded at the end of the text. + + + + +=My Father.= + +[Illustration: Wm. Scoresby] + + + + +MEMORIALS OF THE SEA. + +=My Father:= + +BEING RECORDS OF THE ADVENTUROUS LIFE OF THE LATE + +WILLIAM SCORESBY, ESQ. OF WHITBY. + +BY HIS SON + +THE REV. WILLIAM SCORESBY, D.D. + +FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETIES OF LONDON AND EDINBURGH; MEMBER OF THE +INSTITUTE OF FRANCE; OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE, PHILADELPHIA, ETC. ETC. + +LONDON: +LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. +1851. + + + + +LONDON: +PRINTED BY M. MASON, IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + + + +TO THE LADY MATILDA MAXWELL, + +WHOSE DISCERNMENT OF AN UNUSUAL AND SUPERIOR CHARACTER IN A MERCHANT +SEAMAN, WHEN KNOWN ONLY BY REPORT, FIRST LED TO THE GATHERING OF RECORDS +CONCERNING HIM; + +AND TO WHOSE EXPRESSIONS OF DEEP AND ADMIRING INTEREST IN THE RELATION, +REPEATEDLY SOLICITED, OF MANY CHARACTERISTIC INCIDENTS, THEIR +PUBLICATION IS STRICTLY DUE,— + +=This Volume,= + +COMPRISING THE OFT-TOLD STORIES, WITH ADDITIONAL RECORDS, OF THE +ADVENTUROUS LIFE OF + +=His Father,= + +IS, WITH GREAT RESPECT AND SINCERE REGARD, NOW ADDRESSED, BY HER +LADYSHIP’S FAITHFUL AND OBLIGED FRIEND, + +THE AUTHOR. + +_Torquay, Feb. 3, 1851._ + + + + +=My Father.= + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Page + +CHAPTER I.—EARLY LIFE AND PROGRESS AS A SEAMAN 3 + +SECT. 1. My Father’s early Life 3 + + 2. His First Year’s Apprenticeship 12 + + 3. His Progress as a Seaman, with Incidents of + Sea-life 20 + + 4. Capture by the Enemy, and Escape from a + Spanish Prison 26 + + 5. Rewards of Masterly Seamanship 31 + + 6. Entrance on, and Progress in Training in, the + Greenland Whale-fishery 36 + + +CHAPTER II.—COMMENCEMENT AND PROGRESS IN WHALE-FISHING + ENTERPRISE AS COMMANDER 42 + +SECT. 1. Disappointment in his First Command 42 + + 2. His Second Adventure and commencing Prosperity 52 + + 3. Further Successes, with their comparative Relations, + in the Ship Henrietta 55 + + 4. Episodical Incident—the Rescue of endangered + Pleasurers 65 + + 5. The Greenland Doctor 71 + + 6. Taming of a Bear—interesting Recognition 78 + + +CHAPTER III.—THE SHIP DUNDEE, OF LONDON 86 + +SECT. 1. Entrance on, and general Results of, this new + Command 86 + + 2. Dangerous Accident—admirable Tact 89 + + 3. The Dandy Sailor, or “Fine Tommy” 92 + + 4. Unfortunate Voyage, and Adventure in the + Greenland Ices 96 + + 5. Successful Stratagem in War 103 + + 6. Extraordinary Exploit in “cutting in,” single-handed, + a moderately-grown young Whale 108 + + +CHAPTER IV.—THE SHIP RESOLUTION, OF WHITBY 116 + +SECT. 1. Continued Prosperity; the Results, comparatively + and generally, of this fresh Enterprise 116 + + 2. Treatment and Recovery of a half-frozen Seaman 126 + + 3. Judicious Treatment of Men having suffered + from severe Exposure 129 + + 4. The Crow’s Nest 135 + + 5. Extraordinary Celerity in preparing an empty + Boat for the Fishery 139 + + 6. Tact and Bravery in attacking and killing a + dangerously-resisting Whale 144 + + 7. Remarkable Enterprise: the nearest Approach + to the North Pole 152 + + 8. Devotional Habits, at Sea and on Shore 164 + + +CHAPTER V.—FURTHER ENTERPRISES: GENERAL RESULTS 171 + +SECT. 1. The Greenock Whale-fishing Company 171 + + 2. “Cum au greim a gheibhthu” 174 + + 3. Subsequent and concluding Enterprises 178 + + 4. General Results of his entire Whale-fishing + Adventures 185 + + 5. Unusual Capture of Walruses 189 + + +CHAPTER VI.—GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS, AND MISCELLANEOUS + NOTICES 195 + +SECT. 1. Superiority as an Arctic Navigator 195 + + 2. Natural Science 203 + + 3. Improvements and Inventions 215 + + 4. Miscellaneous and concluding Notices 224 + + + + +MEMORIALS OF THE SEA. + +=My Father.= + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +EARLY LIFE AND PROGRESS AS A SEAMAN. + + +SECTION I.—_My Father’s early Life._ + +The name of SCORESBY, it is believed, is entirely unknown, in this country, +except in the case of the family, and one or two relations, of the subject +of the present records. + +My Father’s “more immediate ancestors,” as a short biographical account of +him by a friend, states,[A] “occupied respectable stations in the middle +walks of life, supporting, in each case, unblemished character, and +possessing, at times, considerable property;” and, in periods rather +remote, holding conspicuous stations. + +In Drake’s History of York, the family name, varying in the spelling in a +progress through several centuries, repeatedly occurs. But the single line +traceable through my Father’s ancestors, now alone appears to exist in +Britain. Walter de Scourby was “bayliffe of York,” in the year 1312; and +in the seventh and ninth years of Edward III., Nicholas de Scorēby, it +appears, was Member for York. Subsequently, we find, under the date of +1463, Thomas Scawsby, holding the office of Lord Mayor of that city. Some +member of the family, after the name assumed its present form, must have +given the designation of “Scoresby Manor” and “Scoresby Lodge,” to places +still known in the neighbourhood of York. + +At the period, however, of this memoir, the family occupied more humble +stations in life, chiefly in the class of yeomen,—a class once of much +importance in this country, but now, unhappily, so diminished in numbers, +under the absorbing influence of extensive properties, as to be scarcely +recognised as a designation. + +William Scoresby, my Father, ‘was born on the 3d of May 1760, on a small +estate farmed by his parent, called Nutholm, in the township of Cropton, +about twenty miles south-west of Whitby, in the county of York. In this +place the periods of his childhood and boyhood were spent.’ + +The memoir, here again quoted, refers to some incidents among his earliest +recollections, by which his life was greatly imperilled, marking ‘the +superintending providence of God, which, on all occasions, he gratefully +acknowledged.’ + +At an endowed school, in the nearest adjoining village, Cropton, his early, +and indeed chief, education was received. But the distance being +considerable, and the roads indifferent, his attendance was much +interrupted, and, in winter, totally suspended. His progress, therefore, +was far from being satisfactory. Nor was this disadvantage compensated by +any long continuance of opportunities for obtaining scholastic instruction; +for, at the age of nine, he was removed, and from that time forward +employed, as his strength and years might qualify him, in occupations among +the cattle, and about the farm. + +Occasionally, during his advance towards manhood, he was engaged with the +neighbouring farmers, when, during such occupation, an incident, of +_apparently_ no material importance, occurred, which constituted, under the +ordering of an allwise and gracious Providence, the grand turning-point in +his destiny, from a probable ordinary and unobserved occupation, to a +stirring, adventurous and conspicuous life. The change was induced by some +unpleasant treatment he received from the family with whom he was residing. +He became disgusted with a position which, without satisfying the natural +capabilities and enterprise of his mind, exposed him to such indignities. +The idea had, probably, been often in his mind before; but he now first +resolved on leaving the occupation for which his father had destined him, +and on trying at the nearest sea-port, Whitby, the adventure of a seafaring +life. + +It is somewhat curious that the course of life, in respect to the adoption +of a seafaring profession, of two individuals,—Captain Cook and my +Father,—whose names are associated with much of interest in the history +of Whitby, and who became, in their relative degrees, conspicuous as +adventurous seamen,—turned upon apparently trifling incidents; and, as to +the exciting of feelings of disgust with their previous occupations, of a +similar character. + +James Cook, like my Father, was, in early youth, employed along with his +father, in agricultural labours.[B] His turn of mind, however, being suited +to something requiring more tact than the ordinary toils in which farmers’ +boys were wont to be engaged, he was removed from the work of the field to +that of the counter, with the view of learning the business of a country +shopkeeper. It was at the fishing town of Staiths, about ten miles +north-west of Whitby, and at the shop of a Mr. W. Sanderson, haberdasher, +where Cook, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, entered on his new +employment; and it was whilst there that the incident, which led to his +abandonment of domestic trade for sea-life, occurred. + +It happened, as the early record goes, that, at a period when the coinage +generally in circulation was much defaced and worn, a new and fresh looking +shilling was paid in by a customer. Cook, attracted by the comparative +beauty of the coin, and thinking with regret of its going forth again in +the ordinary progress of business, substituted the sterling value, and +appropriated the new coin, as “a pocket-piece,” to himself. It was +ill-advised that he did so without previously asking permission or +intimating his purpose; for the shilling had been observed by his master, +its abstraction was detected, and Cook was suspected and charged with +dishonesty,—a charge which the production of the shilling from his pocket +_seemed_ to confirm. His keen sense of right feeling, and of what was due +to himself, rendered this incident so painful, that he determined, if he +could get permission to do so, to leave his employment, as a shopkeeper, +and, indulging a strongly imbibed prepossession, turn to the sea. The +unmerited suffering was abundantly compensated by that good and gracious +Providence, whose dispensations reach to the humblest, and specially +regards the oppressed. The young shopkeeper—turned apparently by this +fretful incident from his monotonous pursuits, and stimulated to seek an +adventurous profession, and not opposed, but kindly aided, by his master, +who had become perfectly satisfied of his integrity—was led into those +paths of distinction whereby he became so highly conspicuous, if not chief +among the circumnavigators of the globe! + +“It is worthy of remark,” says Dr. Young, in his life of Cook, “that the +coin which so forcibly attracted his notice was what is called a +_South-sea_ shilling, of the coinage of George I., marked on the reverse +S.S.C., for _South-sea Company_; as if the name of the piece had been +intended to indicate the principal fields of his future discoveries.” + +If the result of disgust at his experienced indignity turned not to +account, with my Father, in so eminent a degree,—it yet was so over-ruled +for good as to place him at the head of the adventurers engaged in the +whale-fishery of the Greenland seas, and to render his example, +perseverance, and talent, highly beneficial to his country in the +furtherance of that, then, extremely important branch of national +enterprise. + +It was in the winter of 1779-80, that my Father proceeded to carry his +resolve into effect, by leaving his place and travelling to Whitby. Guided +by the suggestions of a relative, to whom he had communicated his +intentions, he was recommended to Mr. Chapman,—an opulent and respectable +ship-owner, and a member of the Society of Friends,—with whom he engaged +himself to serve as an apprentice, for three years, in a ship called the +Jane, commanded by a son of the owner. + +As his services, however, were not required till the ensuing +spring,—because of the practice, as to ships trading to the Baltic and +Archangel, “of laying them up” for the winter,—he returned immediately +home, informed his father of what he had done, and then, at his suggestion, +went back to the farm he had somewhat abruptly left, and there remained +until his place could be satisfactorily supplied. This being speedily +accomplished, he set himself arduously to work to the studying, by the help +of whatever suitable books he could get hold of, of the subjects connected +with his new profession. + +On the 1st of February 1780, according to previous arrangement, he +repaired to Whitby for the ratification of his agreement, and for receiving +directions as to when and how his services would be required. His anxiety +on this occasion, to proceed with his studies in the manner in which he +found himself making gradual and encouraging progress, led him at once into +an adventure of much peril, and into circumstances in which his +acquirements in the _principles_ of navigation had their first, yet most +successful and important, application. + +Finding that his services would not be required until the month of April, +he determined, being full of ardour for self-improvement, not to lose a +single day; so that, although the afternoon had arrived before he finished +his arrangements with Mr. Chapman, he set out on his pedestrian course +towards the Moors, intending to sleep at the village of Sleights. Urged, +however, by his feelings, and tempted by the fineness of the evening, and +the brilliant sunset, by which the distant hills (then covered with snow) +were illumined and gilded, he resolved on proceeding to Salter Gate, a +position, in the midst of the Moors, eight miles further in advance, and +attainable only by a not very well-defined line of road across a heath-clad +and totally uninhabited country. It was a region, therefore, of complete +desolateness, through which he prepared to pass, and, on occasions of +snow-storms, one of great danger to any travellers who might be +unfortunately overtaken by them whilst in the midst of the Moors;—for, at +the period of which we now write, there were neither fences to confine, +nor poles (as in subsequent years were erected) to mark, the line of road, +so that an hour’s continuance of thick drifting snow might totally +obliterate, in many places, the distinctions betwixt the highway and the +general trackless heath. Hence it happened, that scarcely a winter passed +over without yielding the records of perilous or fatal adventures; and, +whenever snow-storms abounded, of travellers, more or less in number, +perishing by being overwhelmed in the snow-drifts. + +It was not long before our traveller, advancing rapidly with vigorous and +elastic step within the region of lonesome moorland, became aware that he +had entered upon a critical adventure; for having arrived near the sixth +milestone on the high-moors over Whitby, he became unexpectedly encircled +by a dense and gloomy cloud, attended with a sudden and furious storm of +wind and fleecy snow, the snow descending so thick as to envelope him in +such dark obscurity, that, for some little time, he could neither see his +way to advance nor to return. + +Recovering somewhat from his first embarrassment, and considering what +might be well to be done, he determined, adventurous as the attempt might +be, to go forward toward Salter Gate, yet six miles distant, and not a +house on the road. He had made but little progress, however, in advance, +before he found he had gone off the turnpike-road; nor did his first +attempt, as by a nautical traverse, seem to improve his situation. When +brought to a stand in this perplexing condition, it was, that his naturally +reflective mind suggested an use of his humble geometrical acquirements, +which afforded him essential service. He had observed how the wind first +assailed him, with reference to the direction of the line of road, which, +fortunately for him, like the roads of ancient construction, generally, +followed a steeple-chase directness, regardless of hill or dale, for the +point aimed at; and by adjusting his progress on the same angle, in respect +to the course of the wind, he hoped to be guided in his now perilous +undertaking. “Taking his departure” from this incidental starting-point, he +set forward with as much speed as the nature of the ground and the +resistance of the storm could well admit, and, proceeding in a straight +direction, over hill and dale, through moor and bog, he accomplished +another mile, and that so successfully as to reach its termination, to his +great satisfaction, scarcely twenty yards from the seventh milestone. +Encouraged by this success, he now advanced, in spite of storm and blinding +snow-drift, and under painfully reduced strength, approaching at the last +very near to exhaustion, until his enterprise and tact were happily +rewarded by arriving at Salter Gate, where, in the house for which he +originally aimed, he was enabled to obtain both shelter and refreshment. +The rest of the enterprise, after encountering various difficulties, from +the continuance of the snow on the ground, was in like manner accomplished, +so that with no great loss of time he was welcomed in safety at his +father’s house. + +During this arduous and hazardous journey, as his biographer remarks, “he +proved the value and accuracy of his geometry whilst traversing the +high-moors, the importance of perseverance, and the gracious care of Divine +Providence.” + + +SECTION II.—_His first year’s Apprenticeship._ + +In the quiet of a country home, my Father now resumed those studies which +bore more immediately upon the profession he had chosen, and perseveringly +continued them till the time appointed, the middle of March, for his +joining his ship. His preparations towards the supplying of his maritime +costume and equipment being already made, he repaired to Whitby, and was +duly set to work, with others of the destined crew, to rig and fit out the +ship. Towards the end of the month the arrangements were so far advanced, +that she was hauled down the harbour into a berth convenient for putting to +sea. But whilst here a hard gale set in from the north, which brought so +heavy a sea into the harbour that the Jane was in danger of breaking +adrift. This circumstance called for the prompt and active exertions of the +crew to get out cables and hawsers for additional security, an occasion on +which my Father received his first lesson on mooring a ship,—a lesson +which could not be lost upon one who associated with great physical +strength and energy so observant and reflective a mind. + +Early in the month of April, the weather proving favourable whilst the +spring-tides prevailed, the Jane put to sea, and for a time made pleasant +progress. Nearing the Naze of Norway, however, they were overtaken at +night, and that suddenly, by a heavy gale of wind, which in its effect was +in no small degree alarming, and from the quality of the crew, indeed, +twelve out of about twenty hands being apprentices, some mere lads, and +several quite inexperienced, eminently perilous,—for the ship being +lightly ballasted, was quickly thrown upon her “beam-ends,” the water +rising over the lee gunwale till it reached the “combings of the hatches,” +whilst the requisite measures, demanding instantaneous promptness, were +seriously delayed by the general inaptitude of the crew. They were enabled, +however, in time to save them from the threatened foundering, to get the +sails clewed up, whereon the ship righted, though the sails were left +fluttering, the sport and prey of the storm, until the morning. The gale +then happily abating, and veering to a favourable quarter, the canvas, as +far as preserved to them, which so recently had threatened their +destruction, became available for the furtherance of their voyage, and +enabled them without further adventure to reach Memel, the port of their +destination. + +But when outward danger had been safely passed, and nothing but a feeling +of perfect security could naturally be realized, the object of this +memorial became sensibly alive to the impressiveness of the solemn +sentiment of our Church’s funeral service—“In the midst of life we are in +death!” The ballast had been taken out, and the hold and ’tween-decks +cleared to make way for the cargo, when my Father, being below, near a +“raft-port,”—an opening at the bow or stern by which a timber cargo is +received into the hold,—heard the voice of the Captain calling for a +boat’s crew to put him on shore. There being no _deck_ now laid upon the +hold-beams, but only a series of “carlings” from beam to beam, the summons +was attempted to be answered by running along these very narrow supports. +Ill directed, however, by the very deceptive light admitted by the +raft-port, my Father’s head came in contact with an unobserved break in the +upper deck, by which he was precipitated into the hold, a depth of about +twelve feet, and was taken up by his comrades in a state of insensibility. +In this alarming condition he remained for several hours, being meanwhile +carried for surgical assistance on shore. + +He was but barely passed out of the immediate hands of the surgeon, who +contemplated his case hopefully, when the carpenter of the Jane was borne +to the same place, having also fallen into the hold in a similar way, with +an adze in his hand, a fearful cut from which in his forehead added to the +severe effects of so considerable a fall. + +Under careful and skilful assistance, however, both the endangered +sufferers were soon restored, being enabled to return to the ship in about +eight days’ time,—the carpenter, indeed, with his wound but imperfectly +healed, and with a long and conspicuous scar which might have been +admonitory for the rest of his days. The lesson to my Father had not been +forgotten when, near half a century after, on recurring to the adventure, +he remarked, “This was another kind interposition of Providence which has a +claim on my grateful homage.” + +Their cargo of timber being completed, they immediately sailed from Memel, +and joining convoy at Elsinore, safely reached the Thames, whither their +cargo was destined. + +Whilst the ship was lying at Limehouse, my Father and another of the +apprentices obtained leave, on a Sunday, to go on shore and visit the great +Metropolis, where they met with another, and to them a previously unknown, +species of adventure. On reaching the city they were accosted by a man +dressed in regimentals (apparently a serjeant), who, pretending that he was +a Yorkshireman and knew them, contrived to insinuate himself into their +confidence, and offered to guide them in their object of sight-seeing, +remarking particularly that they had a fine opportunity of seeing the King, +who was about to attend a general review in Hyde Park. Catching at a +suggestion so naturally pleasant, they, without an idea of mistrust, put +themselves under his, apparently, friendly guidance, and proceeded in the +direction of the Park. On reaching Temple Bar he invited them to accompany +him into an eating-house, where he ordered refreshments. + +But the landlady, on making her appearance—a respectable and benevolent +person, as they subsequently had good reason to know—observed and +surveyed the little party with a very unusual kind of scrutiny, first +looking the soldier sternly in the face, and then, with an expression +relaxed into compassion, turned her gaze on his youthful and obviously too +confiding associates. Repeating her scrutiny of their pretended friend till +assured of his identity, she addressed him with an air of stern authority, +and commanded him to leave the house. The man affecting surprise, and +‘presuming that she must have mistaken him,’ endeavoured, by a +well-practised self-possession, to avoid the threatened defeat of his +insidious purpose. But she, persisting in her knowledge and accusation of +him, and threatening to call in a constable to her aid, succeeded in +causing him to feel that it might be for his safety to take himself off. + +On his departure she turned to the wondering young sailors, and to this +effect addressed them:—“I perceive, young men, you are from the country, +and are strangers in London. I am from the country myself, but I know that +man to be a villain. Not long since he stole some articles from this very +house, and I am fully assured he will wait for you to get you trepanned; +you shall therefore not leave my house this night.” + +They accordingly remained her guests till the morning, when she allowed +them to depart for their ship; but on offering her compensation for her +kindness, she refused to take anything more than was barely sufficient to +pay for their moderate refreshments. + +“This act of generous friendship,” remarks the writer of the Memoir, +“deserves to be recorded on three accounts: first, for the honour of our +common nature; secondly, to be contrasted with the villany of the pretended +soldier; and thirdly, to illustrate the watchful Providence of God.” + + * * * * * + +Having delivered their cargo at Limehouse, and taken in ballast, they +sailed on their second voyage, to St. Petersburgh, for a cargo of hemp and +iron. Here they were unfortunately caught in the formation of ice, with but +little expectation of escaping during the winter. But on the 4th of +November, a gale from the eastward having broken up the impeding ice, they +immediately sailed, and in four days reached Elsinore, where they expected +to join convoy for England. All the men-of-war from home, however, having +sailed, they joined a fleet of similarly unprotected ships, numbering +altogether six-and-twenty sail, and together proceeded for England. About +half-way across the German ocean, they proved the advantage of their mutual +association for defence, a large cutter privateer having hove in sight, and +attacked the rear of the fleet. For a considerable time the enemy’s fire +was directed from a respectful distance against the nearest ships, which +they, according to their proportion of armament, as actively returned,—so +actively, indeed, that, in their ill-provided warlike stores, they soon +expended the greater part of their ammunition. The enemy, however, ignorant +of this circumstance, and unable to detach any single vessel, kept aloof, +probably for the chance of the night; but the night proved dark, and +afforded them a screen from the prowler, and they all escaped unscathed +into port. + +They reached Portsmouth, their new destination, about the middle of +December, and delivered their cargo among the naval stores of the King’s +Yard. + +During the discharging of the cargo, my Father received vexatious abuse, +without any provocation on his part, from the chief-mate of the ship, which +so annoyed him that, under the impulse of a strongly excited feeling, he +had resolved to quit the Jane, and enter on board His Majesty’s ship the +Royal George, just then passing them from the graving-dock, where she had +been undergoing repairs. But reflecting on something which, in the bustle +and confusion amongst her crew as she hauled away, he had observed +incongruous with his feelings, he happily paused in his hasty resolve, and +ultimately decided on submitting himself to a continuance, though under the +constant exposure to like arbitrary annoyance, of the duties of his humble +station, with a view to the fulfilment of the engagement he had entered +into with the owner of the Jane. And, as estimated by the probability of +his being involved in the disaster of that ill-fated ship, had he entered +on board of her, the decision appeared to be Providentially guided; for at +no long interval after this time it was that the Royal George came to her +end so strangely, as to place the catastrophe alone and without parallel, +amid the varied and marvellous records of our naval history. The story is +well known. She was “careening,” for the purpose of having some caulking +of her seams effected, or damage of her copper sheathing repaired, whilst +anchored at Spithead, with her lower-deck ports open in all imaginable +safety. A sudden squall, whilst the ship swung across the tide, laid her on +her beam-ends; the water poured in by the open ports in such force and +quantity, that she sunk in less than eight minutes, involving officers, +men, and visitors, so generally in the common catastrophe, that out of +about 1200 souls, or upward, on board, only 331 escaped alive! The brave +Admiral Kempenfelt, an experienced and accomplished navigator, who, through +many perils of war and tempest had passed unscathed, suffered among the +rest, a fate which, very probably, had been that of my Father, had he +carried out his impetuously-formed design. But, with the good hand of God +upon him, he escaped the then unimagined peril. + + * * * * * + +On the laying up of the Jane for the winter, the seamen, as usual, were +discharged, and the apprentices sent by a coasting vessel passengers to +Whitby. My Father repaired to his country home for the interval of service, +until summoned again to London, in the early spring of 1781, to join his +ship on her being chartered for a voyage to Riga, for a cargo of deals for +the Government. + + +SECTION III.—_His Progress as a Seaman, with Incidents of Sea-Life._ + +Entering the sea-service as a profession or business, as an unaided +adventurer, my Father felt, and ever acted on the feeling, that, under +the blessing of Providence, to which he distinctly looked, he must be +the fabricator of his own fortune. To learn his profession, from the +very elements of a seaman’s duty to its most manly and skilful +perfection; to acquire a knowledge of navigation, of which he had +anticipated but little, and to extend that knowledge to the highest +style of seamanship,—constituted the scheme and aspiration of his +naturally vigorous and enterprising mind. + +But in beginning, as a country lad, at the beginning, with nothing of +position, or education, or influence, to raise him above the common and +ordinary class of learners in the school of maritime practice, he met with +no small difficulty in raising himself, as his purpose was to do, in +character and pursuits, above his fellows. His habit was—as soon as raw +inexperience enabled him to form a habit—to spend his leisure time, when +not on watch, aloof from the galley-congregation of idle, and often +profane, companions. And instead of following the useless and time-wasting +practices of those around him, his habit was, as opportunity offered, to +endeavour, by the help of a few appropriate books, to carry out his former +humble acquirements in figures into the really practical “working of a +day’s work,” and “the keeping of the ship’s reckoning.” Nor, in the +ordinary “watch,” did he associate intimately with the general body of the +crew, preferring, unless he could find a somewhat like-minded aspirant +after a better position, to walk alone on the main-deck or forecastle, +holding companionship only with his own thoughts. + +Two incidents, in connection with this period of my Father’s personal +history, are fresh in my recollection,—one of them illustrative of his +difficult position in refusing familiar association with his fellow +mariners; the other illustrative of his success in the acquisition of +nautical knowledge, by his own persevering and unaided application. + +A marked degree of ill-will, on the part of several of the crew in one of +his early voyages, followed his prevailing separation from familiar +association with them. This was exhibited by innumerable tokens and +expressions, both in word and action. Jeers, insinuations and ridicule, +were indulged in with painful and increasing frequency, and these not +unmixed with contemptuous or offensive actions. Naturally spirited and +quick-tempered, as the subject of this ungenerous behaviour was +constitutionally, it was hard to restrain the expression of indignation, or +to resist the urgent impulse to a just retaliation. But, acting on the +system of non-retaliation, so long as they kept “hands off,” he bore this +persecution with extraordinary forbearance. For constitutionally strong and +energetic, few would have been able to compete with him, as the issue +proved, if the lion in him were roused. His height was now near six feet; +his frame was strong-boned and muscular; his vigour and activity were +unusually great. But he restrained himself to the utmost, and his great +strength, as to the perceptions of his associates, continued long unknown. + +At length the time of resistance, which he could not but feel must some +time or other arrive, came. It happened in this way. My Father had +descended the deck after his watch, and with the view, I believe, of +retiring, as usual, to a quiet part of the vessel alone, when two of the +crew made on him a premeditated attack—a kind of half-joking assault by no +trifling hits, rudely grasping him at the same moment, one on each side. +Endeavouring to shake them off without coming to extremities, he quietly +requested them to desist. Their sinister defiance and rudeness in grappling +him increased in offensiveness. “You had _better_ be quiet;” “Do be quiet;” +“Let me alone;” and other peace-desiring solicitations of like kind, were +tried. But the attack and effort to throw him became more determined. At +length, after a firm and decided utterance to the command “Hands off!” +indicating that the spirit was up, the attacked party in his turn grappled +the necks of his assailants, one with each hand, and, taking advantage of +the muscular reaction, after they had made a simultaneous but ineffective +thrust against him, he flung them, by a Samson-like impulse, right and +left, and both of them fell, heavily, prostrate on the deck! So unawares +was the throw, and so totally unsustained by cautionary preparation, that, +as to one of them, the subject of this self-earned retribution, lay +motionless, insensible, and bleeding! Others of the crew who had noticed +the scuffle came up, and seeing the man lie so helpless, and apparently +inanimate, exclaimed, “He is dead! Scoresby has done for him!” Happily, the +catastrophe was not so serious. By and by there was a return of motion, and +obvious reflux of life; but when at length the prostrate had, with much +difficulty, gathered himself up, he contrived to stagger meekly enough +away, without noticing the author of his humiliation, or ever after +attempting either a renewal of his bravadoes, or a retaliation for his +severe punishment. + +It is hardly needful to say that, from that time, my Father was allowed to +pursue his own way without further molestation or offensive remark; and +that the respect which seamen are generally ready to yield to true bravery +and superior skill was as generously bestowed by the right-minded of the +crew, at least, as the fine and successful effort of the unfairly assaulted +one deserved. + + * * * * * + +The other incident was of a totally different character. + +My Father had early discovered, on his studying out the rules and practice +of navigation, as set forth in the comparatively humble nautical works of +that period, that there was much that was gratuitous, or arbitrary and +uncertain, in the allowances and corrections proposed to be made on the +“ship’s log.” On these things he made his own observations, and, in +calculating the ship’s position, which he was now tolerably well able to +accomplish, he made his _own corrections_, instead of those marked on the +“log-board” by the officer of the watch. His position, in consequence, +often differed very materially from the ordinary reckoning, as well as from +that kept by one of his associates among the apprentices, who, like +himself, was anxious for advancement in his profession. + +At the time referred to he was in progress of his third voyage in the Jane, +when, having taken in their cargo of spars for masts, at Riga, they were on +their return towards Elsinore. + +On the third day after their departure from Riga, a little after twelve at +noon,—the wind being easterly and the weather foggy, and the ship under +studding-sails, making a progress of about five knots,—the two young +navigators finished the day’s reckoning, and then proceeded to compare the +results. The position of the ship, as calculated simply from the register +on the log-board, necessarily differed from that deduced from the same data +on which the judgment had been exercised, and various allowances and +alterations made. Observing the nature of the difference, which amounted to +several miles, the intelligent youth exclaimed, “Why, by your account, we +are just running down Bornholm; but my journal is the same as the ship’s, +and we are going round to the northward of the island.” The question being +discussed with considerable animation betwixt them, it excited observation +among the crew, and reached the ears of the Captain. A sharp look-out for +land was ordered, when, in brief space, the look-out on the forecastle +shouted “Breakers a-head!” “Put down the helm—Let go the anchor!” cried +the Captain. The manœuvre was just in time to save the ship from +destruction. When she swung to her anchor it was in four-and-a-half fathoms +water; the breakers were close by the stern, and the stern not above twenty +fathoms from the shore,—and the shore, as had been predicted, was that of +the island of Bornholm! + +The weather soon cleared up, when they found themselves in a sandy bay on +the south-east side of the island. The sea not being considerable they soon +got under weigh, and sailing round the island to the southward, they +reached Elsinore the next day. “It was to this private reckoning kept by +Mr. Scoresby,” observes the writer of the Memoir of which I have here and +elsewhere availed myself, “and the debate to which it led, that the +preservation of the ship and cargo may evidently be ascribed.” + +“The reward which Mr. Scoresby received for this piece of essential service +was such,” adds the biographer, “as the deserving too frequently obtain +from their superiors in office, who feel themselves insulted when their +deficiencies are exposed by the efforts of their superiors in merit. The +preservation of the ship and cargo,” by the superiority of a mere tyro in +seamanship—a young apprentice, “drew upon him, especially, the envy of the +mate, who, it will be remembered, had aforetime shown a painful measure of +ill-will, and the disapprobation of some of the inferior officers. These +ungenerous influences, in their combined effect, rendered his situation so +uncomfortable that, on reaching the Thames, he left the ship, and engaged +in an Ordnance-armed storeship, the Speedwell cutter, destined to carry out +stores to Gibraltar.” + +This step, which it is to be apprehended had not the sanction of the +parties to whom he was apprenticed, was attended with consequences which, +with one whose mind was early directed to regard a Providential hand +perpetually engaged in guiding, controlling, or, for merciful ends, +rebuking the affairs of man, could hardly fail to be impressive, and to +yield salutary convictions of the error into which a manly indignation at +ungenerous usage and jealous antipathy had urged him. + + +SECTION IV.—_Capture by the Enemy, and Escape from a Spanish Prison._ + +The Speedwell was soon equipped, and, the service being urgent,—the relief +of the garrison at Gibraltar,—with all haste got to sea. But admirably as +this fast-sailing cutter was adapted for a service requiring all possible +despatch, the weather proved very unfavourable for making a satisfactory, +much less a rapid, progress. + +The delay was additionally trying to those on board the cutter, from the +deprivations in which the unexpected length of the voyage, by reason of +calms and adverse winds, involved them. For, economical of room for the +requisite stores whilst on the passage to the Straits, the Speedwell was +sent out so inadequately supplied with water, that the crew were reduced to +a distressingly short allowance. + +This incident, however, afforded occasion and opportunity for the +development of my Father’s peculiar acuteness of intellect, and the +exercise of his natural science. Whilst suffering greatly from thirst, the +idea occurred to him that some refreshment might possibly be derived +through the medium of the pores of the skin by bathing—an idea which the +calmness of the weather enabled him to put to the test and satisfactorily +to verify. For on undressing and taking a rope for his security, and +jumping overboard, he realized, even beyond his expectations, a decidedly +refreshing influence—such as, under his report, to induce most of the +officers and crew not only to try the same experiment, but to render it a +prevailing practice, whenever the state of the weather would permit. + +But a new incident soon substituted for this another species of deprivation +and suffering. They had advanced within sight of the Spanish coast, when, +on the 26th of October 1781, being off Cape Trafalgar, they fell in with a +force so overwhelmingly superior, as to render resistance useless. The +cutter became a prize to the enemy, and my Father, with his associates, +prisoners of war. They were taken into Cadiz Bay, and he, with some +others, were marched into the interior of the country, to St. Lucar la +Major, a small town of Andalusia, seated on the river Guadiana, a tributary +of the Quadalquiver. + +Here, they were not ungenerously treated; whilst the rigour of +imprisonment, as at first practised, became gradually relaxed under the +imagined security of the captives. The degree of liberty, indeed, after +awhile became such, that the prisoners were entrusted to go unguarded, to +some distance from their quarters, to fetch water. In this indulgence my +Father saw a chance of escape, which, being participated in by one of his +associates, a spirited young sailor and friend, they privately conferred +thereon, and ultimately arranged to encounter the difficulties and risks of +the adventure. + +Availing themselves of an occasion when various circumstances gave favour +to the experiment, they proceeded, in their usual manner, to the place +where water was procured; and, finding themselves unobserved, they walked +away, as if incidently strolling about, until they had obtained shelter, I +believe, from a wood. Here they pushed rapidly on, dropping their +water-vessels in a place of concealment, until having made what they deemed +a sufficient progress to baffle an ordinary pursuit, they hid themselves +for the remainder of the day. Then, with the stars only for their guidance, +they travelled, as by a steeple-chase route, throughout the night towards +the coast. This, indeed, became their prevalent plan of proceeding, to +rest in some concealment by day, and to travel by night. + +Their progress proved, indeed, fully as adventurous, consistently with +their safety, as the liveliest imagination could have pictured. The perils +and difficulties they encountered from native Spaniards, or from the +pursuit of troops sent after them; from their imperfect concealment during +the day, or critical exposure in their progress during the night; from the +applications which they were necessitated to make on the _generosity_ of +the enemies of their country for relief and sustenance,—for they had been +deprived of everything they possessed except two little bundles of clothing +which, in contemplation of the adventure, they had previously concealed +beyond their prison; from their suspicious appearance in the dress, and +with the language of foreigners, inducing attempts to give them up to the +public authorities; with the aid and consolations, on the other hand, which +they occasionally met with from the sympathies of the gentler sex, even +whilst others were seeking their recapture,—yielded altogether a series of +exciting and anxious incidents, which, if the particulars could be +thoroughly recalled, might afford materials for a history of really +romantic interest. The fact of kind and generous sympathy, and effective +aid from women, I well remember as constituting a touching element in the +relation of their perilous undertaking. As Mungo Park, in his varied and +perilous travels, ever found kindness, in the instinct of a sympathising +nature, from women, savage though their race might be, so did my Father +and his associate realize, among the Spanish peasants, the like experience. +Once, in particular, I remember its being stated, that when our adventurers +had confided themselves to the supposed friendly shelter of a cottage, the +master of the cottage stepped away, in order to give information about the +fugitives at some neighbouring magisterial or military post, whilst his +wife, compassionating the proscribed strangers in a foreign land, meanwhile +contrived to give them a secret warning of their peril, and at the same +time to provide the means, by the back of the cottage, for their prompt and +effectual escape. + +The remainder of the story, so far as relates to their escape from the +Spanish shores, may be summarily given. + +Under the guidance of a gracious and prospering Providence, they arrived +safely at the coast, and, happily, when circumstances proved singularly +favourable for the completion of their adventurous project. For it so +happened (and happened it not by the providential ordering of times and +circumstances to fit each other for an issue accordant with confiding trust +and fervent prayers?) that when they reached this most critical position, +they found a _cartel_—an English vessel which had disembarked her freight +of prisoners of war, brought out in exchange—just preparing to depart for +the land of their hopes! + +Penniless and friendless, as our now reanimated adventurers were, besides +being specially exposed to detection on the well-watched shores of an +enemy’s country, it required no little management and tact to get off +during the night; that so, fugitives as they were on the one part, and +intruders on the other, they might elude the observation both of the +Spanish officers and the captain of the cartel. But the same gracious +furtherance, as heretofore they had experienced, continued to prosper their +way, and all difficulties and hazards were safely accomplished; and, by the +friendly aid of the crew, upon whose humanity they cast themselves, the +means of concealment were provided until the circumstances of present risk +and anxiety should have passed away. + + +SECTION V.—_Rewards of Masterly Seamanship._ + +We are here brought to the describing of an incident particularly +characteristic of my Father’s talent as an accomplished practical seaman. + +After the vessel was fairly at sea, and, furthered by a favourable wind, in +encouraging progress on her way to England, my Father and his gallant +associate ventured to appear upon deck. The natural surprise of the +Captain, on finding two intruding auxiliaries amongst his people, assumed +no very friendly character, even when the daring and almost romantic +undertaking of the strangers had been made known to him. On the contrary, +he received their explanation with no small measure of anger, and followed +up his pitiless inconsideration with heartless threatenings. He +threatened, with much apparent determination, either to land them again +amongst their enemies, or give them up as a boon, though of most unwilling +hands, to some English ship-of-war. Their appeals to his sympathy and +benevolence were unavailing. Their offer “to work their passage,” which +_they_ thought might be a compensation for their provision, was slighted, +on the ground that “the crew was sufficient.” But at length the Captain +suggested the alternative, at which he evidently aimed, of their paying for +their accommodation and passage to England. Being, as we have shown, +absolutely penniless, this was a difficult requirement, though the Captain +got over it by proposing that they should sign a document pledging +themselves, on arrival in England, to a payment which they deemed most +exorbitant. With this demand the urgency of their own purpose, and the fear +of the threatenings of the Captain, obliged them to comply, and the paper +was drawn up and signed. + +Fortunately for them, the Bay of Biscay maintained its too dreaded +celebrity at the season referred to, by becoming the scene of a formidable +sea and storm. The gale commenced rather suddenly, and became rapidly so +fierce, that the seamen, who were quite inadequate in number, as well as in +capabilities, were unable to get in the sail within the limits of safety. +The canvas was flapping furiously aloft, and all efforts to reef were +distressingly slow. Meanwhile my Father and his comrade were eyed with +indignation and surprise by the Captain, as they moved on the deck, or +stood holding by the “weather-rail,” with quiet composure, as if ignorant +of, or indifferent to, the increasing peril of the position of the ship. At +last, an exclamation of astonishment burst from the Captain, that, +regardless of the general safety, they should not offer a helping hand. +They replied most coolly, “that the crew, they understood, was ample, and +needed no help of theirs, and they were but passengers!” The perplexed +commander turned away in ill-concealed vexation. Still the gale increased +in severity, till the ship was thrown almost on her “beam-ends,” and their +situation became quite alarming. He then renewed his application under a +severe taunt, as if it were unmanly to allow the crew to struggle so +against the difficulties of the storm, and they, two able and efficient +seamen, looking on! “Destroy the paper,” they said, “and let us work our +passage, and we shall be ready for your orders.” Desperate now, in his +anxiety to save the canvas and spars, and, indeed, to secure the safety of +the ship, the Captain produced the important and vexatious paper, and +tearing it passionately into pieces, he scattered its fragments on the wild +waste of waters to leeward. + +Forthwith the two emancipated passengers spring forward to their duty as +members of the crew. They could not have been unobservant of the slovenly +manner in which yards and sails had been prepared for the operation of +reefing,—so ill-arranged, indeed, with a ship heeling almost yard-arm in +the water, and sails flying over the yards to leeward, as to render the +operation scarcely practicable. First of all the yards are, in a seamanlike +manner, laid to pass; braces are hauled taught, and lower yards steadied by +the “trusses” and “lifts;” “reef-tackles,” with a helping hand probably by +the men aloft, are well hauled out, and the inflated and flapping canvas +pressed in by the “buntlines” to the yards,—and then, bounding into the +rigging, their feet scarcely touch the “ratlines,” as, aided by the +elasticity of tension in the shrouds, they ascend up the mast. Way is +instinctively made by the previously dispirited hands for my Father to the +“weather-earing” of the topsail, and for his friend to leeward. Here, as in +most other operations, his singular energy, strength and skill, render him +wonderfully efficient. Seated across the yard-arm, with shoulder steadied +and supported by the “lift,”—the “earing” passed round and reeved in the +“reef-cringle” of the sail,—he is enabled, with little aid from the hands +on the yard, to haul out the sail by vast muscular strength, skilfully +applied, to the fitting position, when the cry “Haul out to leeward,” is +replied to by his associate there with similar vigour and celerity of +action, so that the enclosed section of the sail, previously so intractable +under other hands, is in a few moments laid compact on the yard, and +securely enfolded within the “reef-points.” Thus reef succeeded reef, till +the broad flapping sail displayed but its smallest dimensions—the +“close-reef” adapted for the storm, whilst corresponding operations were +performed on the other sails with marvellous smartness and despatch; for +the superior energy and commanding efficiency of these leaders, of a +previously heartless and dispirited crew, had happily infused into all a +new spirit of confidence, and stimulated to unwonted effort to imitate +their admired ability, and thus to become useful helps in the task to be +accomplished. + +Within a less interval of time, perhaps, than had previously been wasted in +inefficient endeavours to accomplish the duties required by the sudden +violence of the storm, topsails are reefed and set compactly to the wind; +courses and other sails are reefed or made snug by handing; +top-gallant-yards, with spars and flying gear aloft, are sent down upon +deck; and the ship, now no longer pressed down by overwhelming top-weight +and fluttering sails, is restored to the desired equilibrium, and snugly +prepared to encounter and weather the storm! + +From this time the duty of the ship was well and smartly done. The +superiority of my Father as a thorough practical seaman must have been both +felt and acknowledged: the distance at which he soared beyond the others +was too great and obvious for the intrusion even of that bane of social +concord—jealousy; and the effect seems to have been the infusion of a +higher character into the ordinary crew. Well, therefore, did our fugitives +from a Spanish prison repay to ship, captain, owners and crew, the benefits +they themselves received. + + +SECTION VI.—_Entrance on, and Progress in training in, the Greenland +Whale-Fishery._ + +After his exciting adventure in escaping from imprisonment in an enemy’s +country, my father retired, for a season, from his seafaring pursuits. He +returned to the homestead of his fathers, where, assisting in the +management of the farm, he remained about two or three years. During this +interval he married; the object of his choice being Lady Mary, (viz. Mary, +with the prefix of Lady, taken, not ostentatiously, but in rural +simplicity, from the characteristic designation of the day of her birth, +which was on _Lady-day_), the eldest daughter of Mr. John Smith, of +Cropton,—a rural district about five-and-twenty miles from Whitby,—who +resided on a small landed property which he had inherited from his +ancestors. + +By no means satisfied, however, with this retirement,—which recent hard +and perilous service had, for a time, rendered congenial to his +feelings,—and as little contented with the limitation of his unusual +energies to such a contracted scope of employment, he turned his attention +again to the sea. And in this object he at length found a congenial +opening, in a region and employment admirably adapted to his physical +constitution and adventurous spirit, the _Greenland Whale Fishery_; a trade +which, at this period, the latter end of the eighteenth century, was +pursued with considerable enterprise from the port of Whitby. + +On this new species of maritime service he embarked in the ship Henrietta, +Captain Crispin Bean, in the spring of the year 1785, as one of the seamen. +Of the incidents of his training in this adventurous and stirring +profession, we have, unfortunately, no special records. To the +requirements, however, in every species of knowledge and duty connected +with the Arctic navigation and the capture of the huge cetacea of the +north, he gave himself with such tact and perseverance, that, on his sixth +voyage, we find him to have risen over the heads of all his original +associates, and occupying the position of second officer, the +_specksioneer_ of the ship.[C] + +A single incident, though of the most trifling nature, has been preserved +in connection with this period of my Father’s life, which I am induced to +record, simply because there was something in it illustrative of character. + +As the ships employed in the whale fishery in the spring and summer were +usually _laid up_ during the rest of the year, it was the frequent +practice of the officers, who were generally engaged from year to year, +to embark as seamen in the coasting trade during the interval of winter. +My Father, habitually energetic and industrious, and having now an +increasing family to support, adopted this commendable course. On one +occasion it so happened that he was employed in a vessel whose chief +officer, the mate, was a young man possessing a full share of +self-conceit, evinced by a not unfrequent exhibition of supercilious +assumption of superiority—characteristics excessively obnoxious to my +Father’s manly disposition. But, notwithstanding the occasional +exhibition of an offensive manner towards himself as well as others, +such was always his high sense of the _duty of obedience to superiors_, +and of the importance, in principle, of _proper subordination_, that he +bore with restrained feelings in silence this youthful and vexatious +folly. An occasion, however, occurred, in which he might legitimately +suffer the fault to chastise itself, and it is to that to which my story +refers. + +The vessel was lying in port about to take in ballast. In this operation, +which is often effected (as in this case) by the shovel of +“ballast-heavers” out of loaded “lighters” laid alongside the ship, there +is a liability to scatter a good deal of the shingle or other material, so +as to fall overboard to the encumbrance of the harbour. To prevent this +damage to the navigation, it is in many places a harbour regulation that a +canvas screen or sail, called a “port-sail,” should be placed below the +small port-hole cut in the side of the ship for the reception of ballast, +so as to catch the ballast-heavers’ scatterings. + +In the good ship, the ——, however, this canvas protector happened to be +wanting when ballast was about to be taken in. The mate, with a manner (it +is presumed) of excessive superciliousness, came to my Father with a +_“bolt”_ (or roll) of canvas, asking him, as if doubting his capacity, +whether he could make such a thing? and then requesting him to set +immediately to work to supply the lack of port-sails. Assuming a look of +meekest simplicity, which for such a just retribution my Father could well +put on, he quietly asked, in reference to the order to make port-sails, +“how _many_ he was to make?” Mistaking the look of simplicity for +simpleness itself, the young officer, as he turned jeeringly away, replied, +“_half-a-dozen_, to be sure.” + +One only, or two, at the most, could possibly be required; but, to punish +arrogancy, the order was strictly regarded. Some hours subsequently the +mate returned to the place where the work of the sail-needle was being +actively carried on, when, to his astonishment and vexation, he found the +deck covered with the breadths of canvas _cut out_ for the half-dozen +port-sails, and some two or three of them already seamed together! His +fierce demand, “Why have you cut up the whole bolt of canvas?” was +responded to in the former quiet manner of simplicity, “Did you not order +me to make half-a-dozen?” + +Whilst thus justly chastised for his own folly, and biting his lips with +vexation,—the vexation being the more exciting because _consciously +self-earned_,—he could not refrain from resorting to abuse, where reason +and justice must fail him. But singularly enough it happened, whilst the +altercation which ensued was being carried on, and when it had been +broadly intimated to him, I believe, that his further services could be +well dispensed with, that a letter, just then brought by some one coming on +board, was put into my Father’s hand, offering him the unexpected +appointment and preferment which constitute the subject of our next +chapter. He was thus enabled, with no small advantage of position over the +still fretted and abusive officer, to say, “If you are not satisfied with +what I have commenced, I can leave you to do it yourself.” + + * * * * * + +In concluding this chapter, it comes appropriately in connection, to +mention something of the state of my Father’s mind and feelings with +respect to the grand object of this probationary state with man—the +attainment and furtherance of a religious life. + +On this topic I am the better enabled to write satisfactorily, because of +the repeated references to it which I have heard my Father make in +after-life. At all times, within my own recollection, he evinced a very +marked regard for religion, with a clear apprehension of the great +principles of our holy faith, and an ardent desire for the experience of +its divine consolations. But he used to refer back, with a kind of longing +regret, to the days of his youth, when he had _felt_ the consolations of +godliness, and realized the happiness of heavenly meditations. Often (as I +have heard him intimate) whilst pursuing his agricultural labours, and not +unfrequently, too, when walking to and fro in his night-watch at sea,—he +had been privileged to realize that enviable feeling of peaceful happiness, +in the lifting up of the heart in pious meditations and communings +heavenward, which constitutes at once an experimental evidence and present +reward of the reception of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. +For, however it may fall short in the ardency of its perceptions, or +however it may be liable to be confounded with the hasty and transient +impulses of mere excitement, yet, in its nature, and according to its +degree, the feeling thus realized belongs, I doubt not, to that truly +enviable class of Christian experiences described by St. Paul, as “the +peace of God, which passeth all understanding,” and as the rejoicing “with +joy unspeakable and full of glory.” + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] “Memoir of William Scoresby, Esq.” by the late Mr. Samuel Drew, in the +“Imperial Magazine,” for 1822. + +[B] Life of Captain James Cook, by the Rev. G. Young, of Whitby. + +[C] The title “specksioneer,” derived from the Dutch, is applied to the +officer who has special charge of the fishing apparatus, and the conduct of +the flensing operations in the fishery. He is also a principal harpooner. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +HIS COMMENCEMENT AND PROGRESS IN WHALE-FISHING ENTERPRISE, AS A COMMANDER. + + +SECTION I.—_Disappointment in his first Command._ + +In the history of men who, relatively to their prospects by birth, have +attained to distinction in life, there will generally be found some special +incident, sometimes apparently trifling in itself, or some particular +circumstance, or chain of circumstances, in their professional career, on +which, under Providence, their fortune manifestly turned. + +Both the _incident_ and the circumstance referred to were clearly and +strikingly marked in my Father’s history. The incident appears in what +occasioned the disgust which he took in early life at farming occupations, +whereby he was stimulated to enter upon a seafaring life. The +_circumstance_, or chain of circumstances, we find in the important +preferment which unexpectedly, as to the occasion, was given to him when, +over the heads of many associates, he was appointed to his first command. + +Crispin Bean, the captain under whom my Father had had his training and +experience in Arctic adventure, was, for _his time_, a successful +whale-fisher. For, in the course of from seventeen to twenty years in +which he followed this commerce, he realized a _small_ fortune, sufficient, +at least, with a little patrimony, to satisfy his very moderate desires and +requirements, and to induce him to retire, whilst in fulness of vigour, +from his arduous profession. He was a man of excellent character, and one +for whom my Father always retained a sincere regard, and towards whom he +was ever ready to show kindly consideration, when his means for subsistence +and comfort were less sufficient in after-life. A vivid remembrance of Mr. +Bean’s regard and preference for him, on the turning point of his temporal +destiny, was observably retained, and was elicited, as I had myself not +unfrequent opportunities of noticing, both in his manner of speaking of his +former commander, and in his readiness to minister to him in acts of +kindness. + +It was after his voyage in the year 1790, that Mr. Bean announced to his +owner, Nicholas Piper, Esq., of Pickering, his intention of relinquishing +his command, and retiring from the sea. Himself entirely unprepared for +appointing a successor, Mr. Piper enquired whether there was any one, among +the officers of the Henrietta, whom he (Mr. Bean) could recommend for a +Master? Mr. Bean, well observant of my Father’s persevering energy, +seamanlike talent, and general superiority, replied,—“There is Scoresby, +the specksioneer, who, I think, is the man for the duty.” And to him, with +but little delay in further investigation, the command, to the agreeable +surprise of my Father, and the jealous vexation of some of his brother +officers, was transferred. + +Mr. Piper, however, whilst so promptly exercising this generous confidence +in his appointment, failed, in consistency, when proceeding with the +measures for carrying it into effect. Considering his limited measure of +experience, when contrasted with the much longer engagement in the fishery +of the then chief officer, and some of the leading harponeers, he, +unfortunately, took _upon himself_ to re-engage these men for the ensuing +voyage,—a proceeding which, however prudential, my Father felt to be at +once uncourteous and unwise, though a measure which he was by no means in a +position either to contravene or satisfactorily to resist. Every ground of +hope, however, which he might have indulged in respect to any favourable +views of such a principle, in its working, failed, whilst his very worst +apprehensions were more than realized. + +This result, indeed, came out the more characteristically, because of the +singular unfavourableness of the season, wherein he made his first trial, +for the objects of the adventure. The fishery, in general, proved +unprecedentedly unsuccessful. Of seven ships which set out from Whitby, +(the port from whence the Henrietta sailed,) one, the Marlborough, was +lost; four returned “clean,”—that is, without any cargo; and two had but +one fish each—one of them very small. Tradition has it—and the tradition +I can well believe to be a historical fact—that the cargoes of the whole +Whitby fleet of _Greenland_ whalers (except one) from the fishery of 1791, +were carried overland to Pickering, a distance of 21 miles, in one wagon! + +It was in the worst class, that of “clean ships,” in which the Henrietta +stood at the conclusion of this unpropitious season. But she so stood, not +by any means deservedly, as regarded either the talent and perseverance of +her new Captain, or the opportunities which his enterprise had afforded to +his officers and crew for a position of, at least, leading prosperity. My +Father, indeed, whilst often speaking in after-times of this trying, +mortifying, and, as to his prospects in life, perilous failure, was known +to remark, that such were the opportunities which his own people had, of +doing as well as the most successful of his competitors, that there was +scarcely a “fish” caught by the whole Greenland fleet, but whilst the +Henrietta was in company, or during the capture of which he was not within +view! + +It was not the wish of the leading officers of the Henrietta, however, that +their position should be different. A strong feeling of jealousy was +injuriously cherished by certain officers over whom my Father had been +preferred; and so far was this carried, and so variously indicated, that it +became evident that their wish and _design_ was, _that their commander +should be found in the most humiliating position_ amongst his fellow +fishermen. The reality of the existence of this feeling was manifested in +various ways. Among the early indications of a conspiracy which my Father +clearly detected, was the positive and wilful inattention of some principal +officers to the objects of their enterprise, when he was in bed, with the +substitution of idle, if not venomous, converse, for officer-like diligence +and watchfulness. For on one occasion, when being on very promising +fishing-ground, he had sent a boat “on bran,”—the term used for +designating the condition of a whale-boat when stationed afloat, with the +crew ready for instant action, watching for the incidental appearance of a +whale,—he heard, whilst lying anxiously awake in his bed, the subdued +creaking of the “tackles,” as of a cautious and surreptitious hoisting up +of the boat; and, on afterwards going unexpectedly on deck, he found the +“watch,” both officers and men, engaged as we have just stated. + +Attempts on the part of the officers to direct or dictate, not unfrequently +made, failed, as was right they should do, except in one instance (judging +from the case being often alluded to by my Father with regret), where the +yielding to a proposition against his better judgment met with its +consistent rebuke. A number of whales had been fallen in with, and the +greater part of the boats had been sent out in pursuit. Reckless and +ill-conditioned they pulled about hither and thither, frightening many, but +harpooning none, of the objects of chase. For a considerable period the +same folly or inefficiency was being enacted, and yet “fish” in encouraging +numbers were still to be seen. The chief mate, one Matthew Smith, came to +my Father to remonstrate with him for keeping the boats so long abroad +without something to exhilarate the men,—urging, that spirits, as he said +was usual, should be sent to them, or it could not be expected that they +could either succeed or persevere. Though more than doubtful of the wisdom +of employing stimulants in an adventure requiring the greatest coolness and +self-possession, my Father unfortunately yielded, and ordered the steward +to supply a quantity of brandy for being carried out to the absent sailors. +But the mate’s boat, which was sent with this _refreshment_ (?) was seen, +after it had proceeded a mile or so from the ship, to cease rowing, and +“lie to on its oars;” and there, as my Father’s sure telescope told him, +they remained, till the crew had “drank themselves drunk.” Then, in their +mad folly, they proceeded to the field of fishing enterprise, and +effectually marred any chance of success, if a single honest harpooner were +there, and gave a new and additional impulse to the existing recklessness +and disaffection. + +But private resistance of orders, as well as apparent neglect of +opportunities frequently afforded them of advancing the grand object of the +voyage, ultimately grew into the most aggravated form of +insubordination—_mutiny_. + +On one occasion, when the Henrietta had been pushed into an unwonted +position of imagined peril among the ice by her commander’s adventurous +spirit, the alarm of her crew urged their disaffection into open mutiny. +They gathered themselves together, and proceeded to the quarter-deck, to +demand (as I have understood the incident) their being released from so +perilous a situation. My Father’s disregard of their remonstrances, and +expressed determination to persevere, were at length met by brute force and +open violence. One of the men, excited by his companions’ clamours, and his +own dastardly rage, seized a hand-spike, and aimed a desperate blow, which +might have been fatal, on the head of his Captain. But, now roused to the +exertion of his heretofore unimagined strength and tact, he, whilst warding +the blow with his hand, disarmed the assailant, and seizing him, as I have +been told, in his athletic arms, actually flung him headlong among his +associates, like a quoit from the hands of the player, filling the whole +party with amazement at his strength and power, and for the moment +arresting, under the influence of the feeling, the unmanly pursuance of +their mutinous purposes. + +The power of one against so many who had committed themselves to a penal +act and assault, however, not being likely to continue to avail him, my +Father, with a decision of purpose scarcely less surprising than his power +of action, ordered a boy to take the helm, and whilst himself and others, +whom his example might influence, “squared the yards,” directed the ship’s +course (the wind being fair) _homeward_. Their demand to be released from +the ice being thus yielded, and, with circumstances so very different from +what they had expected, reduced, for a while, both the mutinous and +insubordinate of the crew, to a sort of dogged quiescence. But when the +ship, having cleared the ice, was still kept on the same course, and when +ice and haunts of whales began to be left far astern, anxiety and alarm +took place in the breasts of the authors of the mischief, who now, in their +turn, felt just cause for dreading the issue of a proceeding which they had +thus unexpectedly provoked. Words of unwonted calmness were now dropped by +one or other of the officers, in hopes of eliciting some indication that +the homeward direction was but a threat. Hints of the loss to the owners +and himself were thrown out, if he followed out his apparent purpose; but +all to no purpose—the Henrietta still wended her way before the +home-blowing breeze with steady and unrestrained progress. At length, so +great was the alarm excited, that the bold and blustering mutineers became +subdued, and they came forward, backed by their subordinates in the crew, +humbly soliciting that the ship might be hauled on a wind again for +Greenland, and promising that themselves, and every man aboard, would +submit to orders, and do their utmost to further the object on which they +had embarked. + +To have persisted in a purpose undertaken from necessity, the result of +which could only be of unmixed injury to his employers as well as himself, +when yet there was a chance, however faint, of doing something in respect +to the intention of the adventure, might have been deemed an act of +obstinacy, rather than wisdom. Not, therefore, to lose any chance of +success, which this demonstration of better feeling might seem to promise, +the ship was forthwith hauled to the wind, and, as circumstances of wind +and weather allowed, every effort of seamanship was employed for hastening +their return to the fishing-ground northward. The sunshine, however, which +had rendered the gathering in of a limited harvest possible, was now +departed, and all subsequent endeavours to make up for lost time and +opportunities proved fruitless, so that the talented and efficient +commander of the Henrietta had the mortification of reporting the result of +his first and trial adventure as “a clean ship!” + +On their arrival in port, the designs of the disaffected became gradually +developed. It was hoped, and evidently expected, that my Father, failing of +success, would be superseded; and it ultimately came out, though not until +the whole scheme of this nefarious conspiracy had been enacted, and the +failure of the experiment determined, that it had been matter of promise or +arrangement, in the event of the chief officer obtaining the command, that +the other officers in succeeding ranks should have a step in the way of +promotion; and that the men, generally, should have better, and more +_equal_ treatment, and, as they were vainly flattered, be rewarded with +higher wages! + +Indications of this dastardly attempt to arrest the advancement of a young +and enterprising commander appeared in two or three circumstances, which +occurred soon after the Henrietta’s return to Whitby. One of these was the +discovery of a letter, fastened conspicuously on one of the sails, +addressed to Mr. Bean, the former captain, “requesting him to procure +another master, Captain Scoresby having left the vessel, or gone ashore.” + +Another circumstance, of a bolder character, I remember being related, +which, however, operated in a manner directly the reverse of what was +designed by the originators of the ungenerous device. A party of the +officers, three or four in number, proceeded to the owner’s residence—I +believe over the Moors to Pickering—for the express purpose of complaining +of my Father’s unfitness for the command. One of their reasons, more +curious than manly, was founded on observation of their commander’s +_fearless and adventurous practice, as a navigator_,—entirely different +from the habit of the times. The complaint was to the effect, “that, +instead of keeping the ship clear of danger in the fishery, he was +continually running them into the ice; and his daringness was such that, if +he should be continued in the command, _he would lose the ship and drown +them all!_” + +On a sensible man like Mr. Piper, the information, as to enterprising +character, conveyed by objections of this kind, was by no means lost. His +reflection thereon, as I understood it to have been, was, “Why this is the +very sort of man we need!” + +My Father was not, of course, without his anxieties as to what the issue +might be. He had embarked in a post of great responsibility, where, beyond +the ordinary qualifications of the navigator, _success as a fisherman_ was +looked for, and so prominently regarded, too, that successfulness, above +all other qualities, stood absorbingly pre-eminent. Having failed on his +first, and most critical, trial, he anxiously expressed his regrets at his +failure, when he first met his disappointed and suffering owner. But he, +having meanwhile, I believe, spoken on the subject to his former captain +(Mr. Bean), replied encouragingly, “It can’t be helped: you must try +again.” The confiding owner, however, could not but be a little surprised +when, on the first fitting occasion after the intimation of his +re-appointment, my Father, meekly, but firmly, informed him, “that if he +again took the command he must have the appointment of all the hands—both +officers and general crew.” Mr. Piper’s usual “Pooh! pooh!” at a demand so +unexpected, produced no change in the reasonable requirements of his +anxious, but decided dependent. He consulted Mr. Bean thereon, and he, it +is reported, recommended acquiescence on the part of the owner. At all +events the owner did acquiesce. The happy effect and result will appear in +our next section. + + +SECTION II.—_His Second Adventure, and commencing Prosperity._ + +Under the fitting authority yielded to my Father, in respect to the +absolute selection and engagement of his officers and crew, he acted with +equal wisdom and decision. His first act was to discharge the whole of his +old and self-assumed accomplished or experienced officers, and to replace +them with younger and more tractable men; some of those who had served with +him in his first command, whose characters he had appreciated, being +advanced from inferior stations to places of responsibility. + +The principle that had been conceded by the owner to his captain, as to the +absolute selection of his crew, was, however, in a very minor appointment, +attempted to be interfered with; but it only served to bring out in greater +distinctiveness the character with whom he had to deal. The circumstance +was this:—On the fitting out of the ship in the spring of 1792, my Father, +on going on board one morning for his usual superintendence of the work, +observed a stranger,—one whom he had not himself engaged,—busily +employed, as if quite installed in office, about the cooking department. In +surprise he asked the would-be _cook_ “who had sent him there?” “The +owner,” he replied, “had _shipped_ him as the cook.” + +Without a word further, and without regarding consequences, so momentous to +himself which might result, he gave himself up to the manly impulse of his +mind, determining either to have the appointment revoked, or to relinquish +a post which had formed at once the object of his aspirings and the summit +of his hopes. His manner on the occasion, whilst most respectful to his +superior, was as unequivocally firm, as his mind was decided. Taking the +“ship’s papers” from their safe custody in a compartment of the cabin, viz. +the ship’s register, certain bonds claimed by the Customs and Excise, and +other documents required to be held by the ship’s commander,—he proceeded +immediately on shore to Mr. Piper’s apartments, at once presenting them, +and in so doing, resigning his command into the hands of the astonished +owner. His astonishment was hardly lessened when, on being asked the reason +of this strange conduct, my Father referred him to the appointment, without +his personal sanction, of a cook to the ship. The remonstrative “pooh! +pooh! pooh!” proved of no more avail than on a former occasion; but Mr. +Piper’s naturally good sense prevailing over his mortified pride of +authority, he conceded this point also, and my Father, returning on board +with his papers, sent the intruding cook to the right-about, leaving him +and Mr. Piper to settle the disagreeables as well as they might. + +The principle, the firmness, and the tact of my Father, in respect to the +engagement and selection of his crew, were amply vindicated in the happy +result of his second adventure as commander. Men who had been selected and +appointed by him, readily deferred to him. Men who, contrary to ordinary +slow progress, step by step, had been advanced, _per saltum_, to places of +responsibility, gave spontaneous respect and honour to one who could so +estimate ability, and confide in the application of untried talents. +Discipline was easily preserved, and active, confiding, and cordial +obedience succeeded to the former disaffection. The commanding talent of +the director of the adventure thus obtained its proper scope, and resulted +in an almost unprecedented measure of success.[D] No less than _eighteen_ +whales were captured, yielding 112 tuns of oil, on this, to my Father, very +momentous voyage; for, whilst a second failure might have permanently +blighted his hopes and prevented his prosperity, this extraordinary success +directed admiring attention to the commander, who had had largeness of mind +to contemplate, and superiority of ability to accomplish, so enterprising +and profitable an advance beyond what his predecessors from the port of +Whitby had either deemed in any way practicable, or had been limited, by +their too narrow conceptions of sufficiency, from attempting. + + +SECTION III.—_Further Successes, with their comparative Relations, in the +Ship Henrietta._ + +Future results clearly indicated the source, under a favouring Providence, +of my Father’s prosperity. These first fruits of adventure were justified +by the subsequent harvest, as the legitimate proceeds of superior +management. Merely accidental circumstances may yield, for an occasion or +two, or for several occasions, felicitous results; but where adventures +involving mind and talent for their conduct, prove, through a long series +of repetitions, under all the diversities of times and seasons, unusually +successful, they give evidence of a master-mind directing the operations. + +During the subsequent five years of my Father’s enterprises in the same +ship—from 1793 to 1797 inclusive,—the Henrietta’s cargo stood generally, +I believe, at the head of the list of successful voyages amongst the whole +fleet of Greenland whalers. The least successful voyage was liberally +remunerating to the owner—the most successful, unprecedentedly so. The +total captures in whales, during the six successful years, including that +of 1792, was no less than eighty; and the produce in oil, (considered as +wonderful for that day,) 729 tuns. + +Before the introduction of this species of energetic enterprise, the +adventurers, as a class, were content with small things. We have the +commendatory record concerning Captain Banks, of the Jenny, of Whitby, who +was esteemed a talented and successful fisherman, that he brought home +sixty-five whales in ten years, or six and a half per year; whereas the +average captures by my Father, during the period referred to, was thirteen +and one-third whales, or more than double the number of this successful +predecessor. + +The catch in his fifth year of command reached the then extraordinary +amount of twenty-five whales; and in his last year, the proceeds in oil +were greater, being 152 tuns, than had before entered the port of Whitby +in any one ship. + +Whilst giving the first detailed and authentic records of a Father’s life +and enterprises, it may be permitted, I trust, in the son, to dwell still +further on these comparisons, whereby the enterprises referred to may +obtain their just estimation in their bearing on the commercial prosperity +of the nation. + +The comparison of my Father’s successes with those accustomed to be +realized by the northern whale-fishers in general, will afford to him, as +may have been anticipated, a highly commendatory result. + +The most distinguished whale-fishers in the world, during a century and a +half, or more, were the _Dutch_, with whose ordinary successes the +comparison may, with propriety, first be made. Within the long interval of +107 years, ending with 1778, the produce of 57,590 whales was brought into +Holland by 14,167 ships, (reckoning repeated voyages,) yielding an average +of four and one-fifteenth whales per ship. During the ten years more +immediately preceding my Father’s commencement,—from 1769 to 1778, for +instance,—the average produce of the Dutch _Greenland_ whale-fishery, per +ship, a year, (ninety ships, on an average being employed,) was about three +and a half “fish.” In the ten years beginning with 1779, (sixty sail being +regularly sent out,) the average was about three and three-quarters. And in +the ten years, from 1785 to 1794, passing within the period of my Father’s +early enterprises, (sixty ships being then also annually engaged in the +fisheries of Greenland and Davis’ Strait), the catch was 2294 whales, +giving an average of three and eight-tenths whales per ship for each year. +Hence my Father’s success, compared with these various averages of the +Dutch fleet, rises, in respect of the number of whales captured, in the +remarkable proportion of above three and a half to one. + +But we turn to _home_ comparisons, which as to the object in view is of +more importance to us,—though the materials for obtaining _general_ +results are, I regret to find, but very scanty. + +As to the whale-fishery of _Great Britain_, in 1787 and 1788, we find +(_Arctic Regions_, ii. p. 112,) 505 cargoes were obtained in the two years, +amounting to 15,894 tuns of oil, or 31·5 tuns per ship a year. + +The records in hand of the Greenland fishery from _Scotland_, in the years +just preceding my Father’s commencement, relate only to the period from +1785 to 1788. In each of the two latter years, when thirty-one ships were +employed in the trade, the average success per ship was only two and +four-fifths whales. The general average for Scotland seems, indeed, at this +period to have been low; but, soon after the commencement of the present +century, the enterprise and perseverance of our northern sailors began, not +only to assert their proper position, but to recompense for past +inferiority,—their whale-fishery of these more recent times becoming +second to none, either in the ability with which it was pursued, or the +success with which it was rewarded. + +With the port of Whitby, from whence the Henrietta sailed, we have already +drawn certain comparisons. We only add the general result of the fishery of +1786, 1787, and 1788, when twenty ships sailed from this port yearly for +Greenland. The catch per ship, for each of these years, was about three and +a half whales; but, including the next three years, one of which was most +disastrous, the average catch would hardly reach three fish per ship. + +But the best comparisons of my Father’s successes are with those of the +Greenland whalers from _Hull_; these comparisons being rendered most +satisfactory because of the ample records before me of the whale fishery of +that port. The records referred to are comprised in an elaborate and +carefully kept manuscript, kindly entrusted to me for the present object, +belonging to Mr. James Simpson, painter, of Hull, in which an admirable +abstract is preserved of the whale-fishing enterprise of the port during a +consecutive period of fifty-nine years, from 1772 to 1830 inclusive. + +From this document, for the comparison at present designed, we obtain the +following information:—During the twenty years, from 1772 to 1791, +reaching my Father’s commencement, 266 ships (including repeated voyages) +sailed from Hull to the Greenland whale-fishery, and obtained, altogether, +an amount of produce of 9377 tuns of oil, averaging 35·25 tuns a voyage for +each ship. In the six years _before_ my Father’s commencement,—1786 to +1791,—158 ships (gross amount) obtained 4975 tuns of oil, or 31·5 on the +average. And in the next six years, corresponding exactly with those of my +Father’s successful enterprise in the Henrietta,—1792 to 1797,—ninety-two +Greenland whalers, from Hull, procured 5464 tuns of oil, or 59·4 tuns per +ship a year. + +My Father’s average success, taken in comparison of these various _home_ +results, we hence gather, was about _four times_ as great as the ordinary +success (within the limited periods specified) of the British whalers +generally. It was also _four times_ as great as the usual average of the +_Whitby_ whalers; in like proportion above the average of the _Hull_ +whalers during the previous twenty years; and more than double the Hull +average for the same actual period! + +But to institute the most _severe_ comparison with the successes of his +competitors in this important field of commercial enterprise, we may notice +that during the period of his command of the Henrietta (omitting, for +reasons already assigned, the first year only), the amount of my Father’s +cargoes exceeded, by 151 tuns of oil, that of the most successful of the +Hull ships of the time, amongst more than fifteen annual competitors; and +was larger even than the amount attained by the six united cargoes of the +most successful ship out of the whole of the whalers from the port, taken +year by year! And, it is believed, could the comparison have been made with +the entire fleet of whalers proceeding from Britain to the Greenland +fishery, my Father, under this severest possible test of competition, with +all the disadvantages of time and chance against him, would still be found +at the head! + +Among the captains of the Whitby fleet, no one, I believe, at all +approached his successes; and among those commanding the Greenland whalers +of Hull none came at all near him, except one—Captain Allan,—whose name I +feel it but justice to record as the most successful fisherman of his port, +and one of the first of his day. Captain Angus Sadler, whose remarkable +successes we hereafter notice, did not commence until 1796. And Captain +John Marshall, who afterwards became so celebrated among his compeers, was +but, as yet, rising towards superiority; besides, his enterprises, after he +became so signally successful, were conducted in Davis’ Strait,—a branch +of the fishery to which our comparison may not fairly extend. + +The result of the enterprise of the other captains of this period was, in +each case, so far below that of the subject of these memorials, as only, in +two or three cases, to reach one-half his success. Captain Taylor, of the +Fanny, brought home 400 tuns of oil within those six years, and Captain +Wilson, of the Caroline, 318; but my Father’s catch, as above stated, +yielded no less an amount than 729 tuns! And when it is understood that the +Henrietta was of but small tonnage, (254 tons,) whilst many of the Hull +ships were from 50 to 100, or even 120, tons larger, the comparison +instituted becomes the more remarkable. + +In these successes of my Father, the people of Whitby felt an universal and +exciting interest, for most of the principal inhabitants, as well as a +large body of those in the middle and lower classes, were, more or less, +directly or indirectly, participators in the gains of the whale-fishery. +But whilst all were astonished at the results of enterprises so +unquestionably due to an individual guidance, no small number were moved to +feelings of jealousy in consequence of successes, to which the fruits of +their personal ventures in other ships bore no reasonable proportion. The +modes in which this baneful feeling towards my Father was evinced, were as +various as they were sometimes annoying. At first, the extraordinary +results were ascribed to “luck;” and, subsequently, when more than luck was +too obvious to be denied, the waning phantom of superstition was resorted +to in order to escape the commendation of a frank acknowledgment of +superior merit. Some persons there were of an order of mind so simple, as +actually to believe what was jocosely told, that he “knee-banded” a portion +of fish in one year to facilitate the success of the next. Jeers and +lampoons were made use of as outlets for the expression of narrow and +jealous selfishness,—annoyances which the substantiality of my Father’s +advantages enabled him very well to bear, but which were often keenly felt +when played off against the less stern materials of his amiable and +tender-minded wife and susceptible young family. + +The working of this principle, in envious manifestations of word and +feeling, presents a painfully characteristic fruit of human degeneration +from original perfectness. And the manner and sphere of its working yield +very characteristic instruction on the nature of the deteriorated mind. +Mankind can well bear, and be free to commend in generous frankness, +successful enterprise in _other_ departments than that of their own sphere. +Nay, by a strange concession of the secret mind, when under a disposition +to withhold the meed of praise in the department which trenches on +self-interest, or self-consequence, we find many disposed to bestow an +utterly extravagant measure of adulation, where it may be popular to do so, +on individuals and enterprises distinctly separate and remote from +interferences with themselves. But let a man be “ploughing in the same +field” of enterprise, or intelligent research; let the admired results of +the labour of one but stand out on the sculptured tablet of fame in bold +relief of the mere groundwork surface of the other explorers of like +mysteries; or let the profitable fruits of the industry of one contrast +with the sad failures or meagre successes of others engaged in the +self-same species of enterprise, and then we shall find, more or less +developed, among the many whose efforts have been overtopped and eclipsed, +and among the multitudes, perhaps, associated relatively or interestedly +with the mortified competitors, the feelings of envy and jealousy, +sometimes of hatred and malice, most sadly conspicuous and dominant. + +In my Father’s case, where sometimes the owners, captains, and crews of +near a dozen ships sailing from the same port had their most ardent +enterprises, year by year, altogether eclipsed by his superior +success,—and where, by reason of relative or interested association, the +majority of a town’s population became participators in the mortifying +competition,—the measure in which the ungenerous feelings might possibly +have their existence and impulses, may be well imagined to have been very +extensive. That it was so in an extraordinary degree in the early progress +of my Father’s adventures, and during many years of his singular +prosperity, every member of his family had too painful evidence. + +But as to the observant and intelligent classes separate from this baneful +prejudice, and as to some of more dignified minds amongst parties who were +personally interested in whale-fishing concerns, the character and merits +of the subject of these records were sufficiently appreciated and +acknowledged. + +The fame of his successes reached throughout the commercial ports of the +realm, and applications of a very tempting nature came unsolicited upon +him, for transferring his guidance and energies to other associates in +Arctic enterprise, with encouraging promise of far more profitable results. + +My Mother, who was much attached to Whitby, as a place of residence, viewed +these repeated offers with much anxiety, feeling that my Father’s taking a +command elsewhere must involve her either in the trial of leaving Whitby, +or in the great inconvenience of a much more considerable period of +severance than the mere Greenland voyage required, of the family circle. +For awhile her objections prevailed; but ultimately, as in another chapter +we shall have to record, these objections sunk under the advantages +elsewhere proffered. + + +SECTION IV.—_Episodical Incident—the Rescue of endangered Pleasurers._ + +Before carrying forward the records of my Father’s new adventures in a more +promising field for his personal prosperity, I shall introduce an incident +of a very peculiar and interesting description, belonging to the period, +though not to the business of the fishery, whilst he still held his command +of the “good ship” Henrietta. It occurred whilst the ship lay at anchor, +incidentally, in the river Tees, on one of her most successful voyages, +homeward bound, when I was myself on board. Though I was but a child, I +remember the time well. The novelty of my position in being taken on +shipboard by my Father, when, a few days before, he had been on shore at +Whitby, and the interesting circumstance, to me, of the capture of a small +sand-bird, which I anxiously fed and endeavoured to keep alive, made an +indelible impression on my youthful recollection. The incident, however, +constituting the present story, I did not well understand till long +afterward, but which I now record with much confidence of being +substantially correct in every detail, from hearing it repeatedly related +in after-life. + +The incident consisted in the interesting and gratifying circumstance of +the saving of the lives of two individuals moving in an upper sphere in +society, by my Father’s habitual facility and accuracy in the use of the +pocket telescope, and by the information derived therefrom being made use +of with his characteristic forethought and energetic promptness of action. + +The success of the voyage had been such that the largest amount of whales +yet captured in the then progress of the fishery, being twenty-five in +number, had enriched by their produce this single adventure. Beyond the +capacity of the _casks_ taken out for the reception of the cargo, a large +quantity of blubber “in bulk,” or in massive flitches, had been stowed on +the top. The draught of water of the ship, thus unusually loaded, was found +on their arrival in Whitby Roads, which was just after the spring-tides had +passed off, to be too great for the flow in the harbour. Whilst waiting the +advance of the succeeding spring-tides, therefore, the ship was taken +northward to the river Tees, the nearest accessible port, and a supply of +empty casks sent thither by a small coaster, whereby the men were usefully +and savingly occupied throughout the interval in chopping up the loose +blubber, from which its valuable contents in oil were perpetually oozing +out, and securing it from further waste in the auxiliary casks. + +Whilst this operation was still in active and _greasy_ progress, my Father, +in walking the deck, remarked on a large patch of sand, about a mile from +the ship, a gig, occupied by a gentleman and a lady, driving pleasantly up +and down. The day was fine, and the recreation of driving on a smooth and +extended surface of sand, so singularly firm that the wheels did not +penetrate beyond the slightest impression, was very enjoyable. But, as it +soon appeared, and as my Father providentially anticipated, it was by no +means—on the place selected—a _safe_ recreation. + +The bank of sand referred to, of which there are many such within the wide +extent of the Tees, appeared uncovered at about half ebb, and became +accessible soon afterward by the drying of a slightly depressed channel +lying betwixt it and the shore. Previous to this time of tide the party had +been driving nearer the fields; but tempted by the fine smooth expanse of +surface of the outer sand, and encouraged by its admirable firmness on +trial, they forthwith limited their driving to the breadth of the +continuous surface, and continued to enjoy themselves in this recreation +and their social converse, unconscious of danger, till after the tide had +long been rising. + +My Father, who continued observing them anxiously with his glass, had +noticed the rapid rising of the tide, which he soon found was entering the +channel, and separating them unconsciously from the shore. Engrossed as +they seemed in their pleasant recreation, he inferred, and that justly, +that their lives would soon be imperilled. Anticipating the danger, he +ordered a boat to be got ready to push off at a moment’s notice, should the +absorbing inattention of the strangers continue. At length he saw that they +had become aware of their position, and were driving their vehicle into the +narrow channel into which the tide had recently flowed. With palpitating +anxiety he perceived that the water was deeper than they had imagined, and +that the previously firm ground, disintegrated by the action of the tide, +had turned into the treacherous quicksand. He then saw the horse take +alarm, the gig sink down to the axles of its wheels, and the lady and +gentleman jump out in obvious terror behind, and with difficulty regain the +broad surface of the yet dry, and, happily for them, firm sandbank. + +Promptly he summoned the crew of the boat, whom he had previously advised +of the probable result of this adventure, and sent them off with the urgent +and stimulating command, “Pull as for your lives, or they will be lost!” +Bravely and humanely did the sailors perform their cheerfully undertaken +task: every nerve was strained to give speed to the boat, whilst the +steersman, as he is wont in the pursuit of the whale, no doubt urged their +nervous and energetic efforts by the oft-reiterated cry “Give way! Give +way, or they will be lost!” + +With intense anxiety and interest my Father watched every oar’s stroke in +the progress of the boat, and every action of those whose rescue he +sought. He marked the gradual rise of the tide, till it just washed the +highest part of the surface on which the dismayed party now stood. He +perceived that the sand became softened, and that they began to sink; but, +with a well-tutored judgment, he marked also, to his heart’s great joy, +that the boat would be in time. It approached them as they were gradually +sinking, when the lady threw herself forward in the water to anticipate the +rescue, and both in a few moments exulted, with nervous trepidation, in +their now conscious safety from a justly-dreaded watery grave. It was a +touching, heart-stirring result, realized as well by the author, under +Providence, of the timely relief, as by the generously sympathising sailors +and the parties themselves. + +They were of course conveyed at once to the safety of the proximate shore, +and, being landed there, the seamen returned to look after their horse and +gig, which were all but submerged. The horse, with no small difficulty, +they got disengaged from its entanglement with the vehicle, which, +fortunately, had still energy enough left to enable them to swim it to the +shore. The gig was then sought after, secured, and floated to the same +place of safety. And, ultimately, the horse was reharnessed by their active +aid; and the two individuals, who had experienced such a providential +rescue, drove forthwith away from the scene of this memorable adventure. + +The gentleman was found to be a Mr. M——, nephew to a dignitary of the +Cathedral Church at York; his companion, Mrs. S——, a lady of fortune. +The wife of the one, I understood, and the husband of the other, were also +spending the morning together mutually reciprocating in a social drive; but +they had chosen the common road of the highway, and, of course, ran no risk +of a similar adventure. + +One would have been glad to have had to record, in connection with such an +unusual incident, that the preservation from a premature death, by the +sailors’ cheerfully devoted energies, had met with something like a +grateful recognition of the service rendered. The only acknowledgment, +however, which was made for this timely and momentous aid, whereby a +carriage and horse, besides the lives of two individuals in a genteel +position in society were saved, was the reward of a guinea to be divided +amongst the whole boat’s crew. The high-minded philanthropist feels +sufficient reward in the satisfaction of being privileged to be the +instrument of yielding distinguished benefits to his fellow-creatures; but +every right-minded person loves to see some fitting evidence of a grateful +apprehension of benefits conferred. As to the paltry offering to the +sailors, I remember my Father being grieved and vexed,—vexed that they +should have condescended to accept any reward, where the offering, in +reference even to the efforts made, much less to the service conferred, was +so contemptible. As for my Father himself, the opportunity of saving the +lives of two of his fellow-creatures was the source, in itself, of fervent +and permanent satisfaction, affording him, no doubt, one of the most +peculiarly pleasant and grateful recollections of his adventurous life. + + +SECTION V.—_The Greenland Doctor._ + +Some circumstances of a more playful nature belonging to the period +embraced by the present chapter may here be introduced, with a view to vary +and perhaps enliven these parental records. + +The subject I select belongs to the history of a kind of +_steward-surgeon_,—the humble class of medical practitioners usually +employed at the period of my Father’s early career, being designed, on the +one part, to fulfil the technical requirements of the law, that a +whale-ship claiming the advantage of the Government “bounty,” must carry a +surgeon; and, on the other part, to gratify the officers in the captain’s +cabin by the improvement of the common culinary operations of the ship’s +cook, by the hands of the doctor or second-mate acting as cabin-steward and +pastry-cook. To my Father’s credit, however, it should be stated, that he +was the first, as I have understood, who sought out a more fitting person +for this department, and, obtaining a medical student from Edinburgh, +employed him strictly as a medical officer, and gave him the advantage of a +gentleman’s position. + +On one occasion, during the period referred to, my Father had not +succeeded, when the time for the arrangement became pressing, in engaging +a surgeon for the voyage. Hearing, however, of a person living in a village +near Whitby, who had, according to repute, sundry qualifications +appropriable to the station as its _duties_ were then ordered, my Father +sent to inquire whether he would like a situation, the emoluments of which +might far exceed his usual earnings from a multifarious profession. The +“doctor,” (as we shall hereafter call him,) forthwith proceeded to Whitby, +and, on being particularly questioned as to his various capabilities, gave +a most ample schedule of the duties he was qualified to undertake. He could +bleed and draw teeth—the two essentials for the surgeon;—he could shave +and dress hair—the qualifications of the barber;—he could make pastry and +bake—the chief requisites of the cabin cook. + +But, in order to his passing the mustering-officer of the Customs, a +medical certificate, to be obtained only by personal examination, he, +somewhat to his discomfiture, was told would be requisite. After some +consideration, as to the difficulties of such an ordeal, and the +probabilities of failure or success, he expressed his willingness to submit +to an examination. Whatever his anxieties might have been, in prospect of +the trial, my father could hardly be less solicitous than the doctor +himself about the result, as the sailing of the ship might possibly be +delayed if the present candidate for the post of medical-officer should +fail. + +An appointment was forthwith arranged for this serious affair, Doctor +R——, of Whitby, being the examiner, and the Angel Inn, the place for the +exercise. My Father, who had accompanied his candidate officer to the place +of meeting, sent him, under guidance of a waiter, to a private room, where +Dr. R—— was waiting for him, wishing him, with no small measure of +anxious misgivings, good-luck in his examination. But the doctor was a +_wise_ man, and his simple-minded forethought did him essential service. + +In a very few minutes, to my Father’s much surprise and disappointment, as +he naturally anticipated, the doctor returned. “How is this?” he exclaimed, +“What is the matter, that you have returned so soon?” “Oh,” said the +doctor, with a curious mixture of expression of subdued happiness and +self-sufficient gratulation, “it’s all over—I’ve passed.” “Passed!” +ejaculated my Father, “how is that possible? Doctor R—— had no time to +examine you.” The doubt was settled by the handing over of a slip of paper +containing a sufficient certificate. All curiosity to know how such an +issue could have been attained in so limited a space of time, my Father +impatiently asked, “But how was it, doctor? How were you examined?” + +The doctor described the scene, as I well remember my Father’s account of +it, in about the following terms:—“When I went to Doctor R.,” said the now +happily appointed surgeon, “I spoke first; I said to him, Doctor R., the +long and the short of the business is this—_if I can do no good, I’ll do +no harm_.” “Then,” after a moment’s pause and consideration, with some +little expression of cool surprise, as the candidate described it, “Then,” +replied the examiner, “_you’ll do better than half the doctors in +England_;” and, without a word more, he proceeded to write out a +certificate. + + * * * * * + +Anecdotes of the doctor were not unfrequently told, with evident pleasant +recollections, by my Father, who seemed, in an unusual degree, to have +exercised a playful pleasantry with this simple-minded officer of many +departments. + +The cookery he managed with a fair measure of ability; and the breakfast +cakes, though not always so _fair_ as they might have been, were +sufficiently enjoyable in comparison of hard coarse biscuits. But a little +disrelish was threatened by an accidental sight of the process of +cake-making, which it required the full measure of indifference to trifling +unfitnesses among the sailors of the mess to get over. One morning, early, +my Father happened to pass by the place where the doctor was industriously +preparing the paste for the oven. To his surprise he observed, and uttered +an exclamation expressive of the surprise, that the hands of the +manipulator of the elements of bread were not only unwashed, but most +remote from the ordinary colour belonging to cleanliness. The doctor bore +the exclamation with the coolest perseverance, and without even lifting +his eyes from the bowl in which he was mixing the materials, contented +himself with remarking, in reduplication of expression, the but +ill-consoling fact, as to the effect of the operation on his hands, “the +paste will clean them! the paste will clean them!” + + * * * * * + +The doctor was ambitious of practice in shooting, and fond of embracing +occasions for the purpose. Whilst the ship was incidentally lying close +beset in the ice, without the possibility of any movement being effected, +my Father, on one occasion, bethought himself of an enlivenment of the +general depression incident to such a situation, at the expense of the +simple-hearted, good-natured doctor. For this he made the fitting +arrangements, and then, calling up the doctor, pointed him out a +dark-looking object, apparently a seal, lying at some little distance from +the ship, and asked him if he would like to go and try to shoot it? The +proposition was too pleasant to the doctor’s wishes to be rejected, and +preparations were forthwith made by the bringing up of two guns, with the +requisites for loading, upon the deck. My Father took one of the guns to +load, handing over the other to the doctor for the same purpose, and then +they descended upon the ice, which afforded a sufficiently firm footing for +their travelling to the place where the object of the contemplated sport +was seen. + +As they proceeded, my Father favoured the doctor by offering him the first +shot; but supposing his own gun might suit the doctor best, being a finer +and lighter piece than the other, he proposed an exchange, which was +readily and thankfully accepted. + +Coming near the place, they saw the dark-looking back of the creature +plainly appearing, with an occasional slight movement indicative of +wakefulness, behind a small hummock of the ice; then advancing cautiously, +till almost within shot, my Father suggested that the doctor should creep +forward, in shelter of the hummock, till he got the animal sufficiently +within command of his gun. Having attained the requisite position, my +Father, in an audible whisper, cried, “Now, doctor, now’s your time!” The +doctor having anxiously taken his aim, and satisfactorily covered the +creature with his gun, fired, when, instead of a seal, up started one of +the seamen, uttering a terrific shout of “Murder! murder! I’m a murdered +man!” My Father joined in the exclamation of horror at what the doctor had +done; and the doctor turning ashy pale, his knees tottering and his teeth +chattering from terror, had well nigh fallen insensible under his acute +emotions—emotions aggravated in intenseness of anxiety, by the cries of +the other seamen now rushing in a body to the place, to see the sad +catastrophe of “a man shot in mistake for a seal by the fool of a doctor.” + +Happily for the dismayed and suffering sportsman, the catastrophe, though +almost too painful as a joke, was soon proved to be exaggerated and unreal, +by the supposed wounded seaman throwing aside the deceptive character he +had assumed, and coming forward to join in the laugh against him. + +It is hardly necessary to mention that the whole affair was contrived, and +that, by the changing of guns, my Father had secured the well-charged one +of the doctor’s, and replaced it with one abundantly furnished with powder +and wadding, but devoid altogether of deadly shot. + +It is seldom that practical jokes go off so well; for few persons will be +content to be made the dupe for others’ entertainment. The potion, +therefore, that we should not like to have given sportively unto ourselves, +we should be cautious in administering to others. Manifold cases of very +serious mischief, extending even to results fatal to human life, have +arisen from the unfitting or unseasonable playing off of practical jokes. +In the case which I have ventured to describe, however, there was little +risk. The position of the author of the joke in respect to that of its +subject, on the one part, and the good-natured simplicity of character of +the subject on the other, afforded, together, a sufficient security against +any essential mischief. Perhaps, too, where an entire ship’s company were +in much depression of mind, by reason of the alarming and tedious besetment +under which they were suffering, a beneficial and redeeming effect was, on +the whole, realised. For the doctor himself, so far from cherishing any +painful or unkindly feelings on account of the part he had unconsciously +played in the little facetious drama, was too happy in being relieved from +the temporarily imagined misery of having, whilst seeking sport, deprived a +fellow-creature of life. So effective, indeed, did this influence react +upon his feelings of anxiety, that he himself joined in the general +hilarity as heartily as any of his amused shipmates. + + +SECTION VI.—_Taming of a Bear—Interesting Recognition._ + +The _Polar Bear_ is popularly known as one of the strongest and most +ferocious of that class of animals which shrinks not from voluntary +conflict with man. The species is often met with, sometimes in considerable +numbers, upon the shores of the Arctic lands, and within the region of the +ices of the Greenland sea. It not unfrequently occurs of the length of +seven or eight feet, and four or five feet high, weighing as much as a +small ox. Specimens whose skin measured twelve to thirteen feet in length, +have been described by voyagers. The “paw of the bear,” of which there is +Scriptural mention, may, in the full-grown animal, as now met with, be from +seven to nine inches in breadth, and large enough to overspread two-thirds +of a square foot, or more, of the snowy surface on which it treads. Hence +its admirable adaptation for the region in which Providence has placed its +abode. + +Of this animal the Arctic whaler has frequent opportunities of making +captures, and, sometimes, of adding a stirring variety to the ordinary +scenes of conflict and adventure. My Father’s experience, whilst affording +many examples of the former result, had a reasonable share of the latter. +It is to a special case, however, as indicated in our head-title, that the +present record relates. + +On one occasion, when a female bear with cubs had been attacked, one of the +young ones was taken alive. It was a fine, and, for a cub, well-grown +animal. When first taken on board, it was temporarily secured on an +unoccupied part of the deck, but in a place near to which my Father had +incidentally to pass. Whilst thus passing, inconsiderate about any risk of +assault, the animal very unexpectedly made a spring at him, but +fortunately, checked by his rope, failed in the ferocious intent. This +circumstance suggested the idea, which he soon proceeded to carry out, not +only of chastising, but of subduing the captive animal. The proceeding +adopted was as follows:— + +The rope already encircling the neck of the bear was put through a +ring-bolt on the deck, and the head was thereby drawn so closely down as to +limit its capabilities of extension within the range of a few inches, or +perhaps about a foot. My Father then took his station in a secure position, +and held out his hand invitingly towards it, an action which the irritated +creature retorted by a furious roar, and attempt to bite. This act he +rebuked by striking it over the snout with the fingers, closely compacted, +of one of his hands. At each blow, attempts were vainly made to catch and +tear the audacious instrument by which Bruin was thus being chastised. But +after very many repetitions of the now keenly-felt strokes of the hand on +this tender place of the head, and after as many failures, on the part of +the chastised creature, in his endeavours to retaliate, the bear began +evidently to feel a commanding influence, as indicated by the frequent +effort to avoid the coming blow. Occasionally, however, he would renew his +attempts to bite, roaring, with an obviously mixed expression of ferocity +and pain. Perseveringly, as the bear continued to resist, the same +chastisement was regularly administered, till at last, the recently +intractable animal began to be subdued under the master-power with which he +struggled. + +The effect of the process was, from time to time, tested, by holding out a +finger near to the creature’s face. If it attempted to bite, the +chastisement was continued until, on the application of the test, there was +either a quiet submission, or a turning away of the head. Ultimately the +animal was made acquainted with our accustomed modes of expressing +approbation, by being patted on the neck or side of the head; and, then, as +often as it rebelled, the usual punishment was renewed, and, whenever it +indicated submission, it either received the former token of approval, or +the more substantial and intelligible reward of being fed by the hand by +which it had been wont to be chastised. + +The thorough subjection, indeed, of this naturally ferocious creature was +soon effected,—within the space, I believe, of two or three days,—and +from that time forward my Father’s command over it was uniform and supreme. +Nor was the kindness with which he treated the captive lost upon it; for it +yielded, as occasions permitted, very decided indications of an inversion +of its ordinary vicious propensities in respect to its considerate master. +Two illustrative cases belong to this record. + +On the arrival of the ship in port, bruin was removed to the oil-yard,—the +premises on which the blubber was landed, in order to its being reduced +into marketable oil. Its arrival became a subject of popular interest, and +the inhabitants of Whitby flocked out in masses to see it. + +Whilst so situated, the bear, somehow or other, obtained his release, and +escaped into an adjoining covert,—“Cockmill Wood.” The incident soon +became known at Whitby. A wild and dangerous animal—now rendered supremely +ferocious by reason of the almost perpetual teazing to which he had been +subjected from his numerous visitors—at large, within a mile or so of the +town, and in a wood intersected by a much-frequented footpath, proved the +occasion of great and general excitement. Men and lads, assisted by dogs, +and armed with guns and a variety of other destructive weapons, were +speedily in progress, and with overwhelming superiority, towards the +retreat of the bear, with a view to its destruction. + +Happily for poor Bruin, my Father got timely intimation of the circumstance +that had occasioned so much alarm. He proceeded forthwith to the oil-yard, +where he provided himself with a short piece of rope, and then climbed the +cliff into the wood in search of the stray animal. Guidance was +sufficiently afforded by the stream of persons flowing towards the place of +his retreat, and, on nearer approach, by the noise and clamours of the +assemblage. + +It was a curious scene. A motley crowd of men and boys and dogs formed, at +a respectable distance, a curvilinear front, with the surprised object of +attack quietly standing in the focus. Fortunately no blood had yet been +shed; no wounds or bruises yet given. It was the important moment of mutual +reconnoissance. It might have been a question how the creature should be +dealt with? Whether he should be summarily attacked with fire-arms, or, by +the help of the restrained dogs, his recapture attempted? + +Any doubts which might have thus occasioned the desirable delay were now +speedily settled. My Father, with only the rope in his hand, made his +appearance. He passed through the ranks of the would-be warriors in the +contemplated fight; when, to their utter amazement, and to the no small +alarm of many, he proceeded without hesitation forward. Speaking to the +bear, in his usual manner, as he approached, and walking straight up to +him, face to face, he patted the shaggy neck, as he placed a prepared noose +of the rope around it, and then quietly led away the furious brute, which, +under his commanding guidance, became as tractable as a lap-dog! + +The other incident connected with this animal is worthy of record, being, +if somewhat less adventurous, not less curious. + +The care-taking and maintenance of a now considerably grown Polar bear soon +became matter of inconvenience. It might, there is little doubt, have been +sold advantageously for being itinerated as a _show_ about the country; but +my Father imagined a destination for it, where it would be better cared +for, by having it deposited along with the wild beasts in the Tower. + +It being ascertained that the contribution would be very acceptable, the +bear was embarked in a coaster. On its arrival in the Thames, it was +received in a manner befitting its importance and security, and safely +transferred to its final destination. + +It was about a twelvemonth or more, I believe, after Bruin’s regular +installation among the wild beasts of the National collection, that my +Father, happening to be in London, determined on taking a look at his old +acquaintance, Bruin. Proceeding to the Tower, he paid the usual +entrance-fee, and without intimating anything about his special object, +took the course through the collection, like other visitors, as guided by +the exhibitor. + +His eye being wistfully directed in advance of his position, he at length +got sight of the looked-for object; when, breaking away from those pursuing +the prescribed progress, he hurried directly up to where his ursine friend +was encaged. A warning cry came urgently from the keeper, who had noticed +his near and bold approach to a place of danger—“Take care, sir, that is +one of the most ferocious animals in the collection;” but it was +disregarded. My Father only paused, whilst, by his familiar and accustomed +salutation,—“Poor Bruin! poor fellow!”—he gained the attention of the +animal, when, catching its eye, and perceiving he was recognised, he went +quietly up, thrust his arm through the cage, and, whilst he patted the neck +and head of the evidently delighted creature, received a species of fawning +response, which was eloquently interesting and touching. The keeper, who +had rushed forward on witnessing the daring intrusion on the interior of +the bear’s cage, now stood fixed in almost speechless astonishment. At +length, lifting his hands with a characteristic indication of his extreme +amazement, he exclaimed,—“Why, sir, I never saw the like of that all the +days of my life!” + + * * * * * + +The subjection of the wildest and most ferocious animals to the authority +of man is not so much, we may observe, the result of man’s superiority as +of the Creator’s special appointment. It was His design and command, in +respect to the inferior creatures, that this should be so. The superiority +appointed originally to Adam was, that he should “have dominion over the +fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing +that moveth upon the face of the earth.” But the appointment, which was +simple and natural when all was innocency, was afterwards renewed, we +find, under a _new influence_, that of _fear_, specially induced on the +general constitution of the animal creation. For among the blessings +graciously assured by the Almighty to the righteous Noah and his sons, on +their descent from the Ark, we have this pervading influence set forth in +these characteristic terms:—“The _fear_ of you, and the _dread_ of you +shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air; +upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea: +into your hand are they delivered.”—Gen. ix. 2. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[D] This measure of success, I find, had been in a trifling degree exceeded +by vessels sailing from the port of Hull, but only in four instances during +the preceding twenty years, comprising the enterprises of 286 ships, +reckoning their repeated voyages. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE SHIP “DUNDEE,” OF LONDON. + + +SECTION I.—_Entrance on, and General Results of, this New Command._ + +The aversion of his wife to a change in the port of sailing, though it +might retard, did not prevent my Father’s ultimately making that change. He +had been applied to by letter, and with reiterated urgency, and offers of +additional advantages, by a mercantile firm in London (Messrs. Edward Gale +and Sons) to take charge of a ship of theirs, which they were anxious to +employ in the northern whale-fishery. But, finding that the applications by +letter failed, or at least led to no satisfactory result, one of the +principals of the house determined on an application in person,—an +undertaking, at that time, involving a most troublesome and tedious +journey,—and, totally unexpected, made his appearance at the residence of +our family in Whitby. + +The circumstance of Mr. Piper’s early consideration for, and confidence in, +my Father, on an occasion which, under the Divine blessing, proved the +turning-point of his fortune in life, had induced a feeling of regard and +gratitude so decided as to become strongly resistant of the temptation to +change. But, on the other hand, he had long felt dissatisfaction at the +abridgment of some allowances and perquisites enjoyed by his predecessor in +command, and promised to himself, which, though of but small consideration +in the meagre extent of the former wonted success, had accumulated, in the +estimation made year by year during his extraordinary successful career, to +a very handsome amount, in money value. His repeated remonstrances at this +deprivation and injustice being always met with a “Pooh, pooh! be content; +you have done very well,”—no doubt served greatly to weaken the binding +influence of ties otherwise so decidedly felt, and frankly acknowledged. +Hence, from an unwise and ungenerous policy, which, in the course of six +years had deprived my Father of a sum amounting, as he calculated, to about +300_l._ out of his rightful earnings, the alliance previously existing +betwixt himself and the owners of the Henrietta, was, with due and +honourable notice on his part, brought to a conclusion by the visit and +liberal proposals of Mr. Gale. These proposals, as I have understood, +involved a new and additional advantage to the commander, in a per centage +upon the value of the cargo obtained, together with the proffer of a small +share in the concern, on terms at once equitable and easy. On this +encouraging basis an arrangement was forthwith made with the house which +Mr. Gale represented, for the command, by my Father, of the _Dundee_, of +London, a ship much larger and finer than the Henrietta, on a whale-fishing +adventure in the Greenland seas. + +In the spring of the year 1798, the Dundee, according to the arrangement +made, was, after being strengthened and fortified for the navigation of the +formidable ices of the north, fitted out, and set forth on her first voyage +to the fishery. The result far more than realized the hopes and +expectations of all the parties interested in the adventure; for, in a +surprisingly short interval of time, the return of the Dundee to the Thames +was announced, with the exulting and almost incredible report, that she +brought the spoils of no less than _six-and-thirty_ captured whales! The +report proved true; and, although many of the whales were of small size, +yet a quantity of produce, in oil and whalebone, such as no other +adventurer had hitherto obtained, was yielded by this extraordinary +“catch.” + +During subsequent adventures, with but one exception in a series of five +years, my Father’s high reputation for pre-eminent skill and success, was +amply maintained. In one of these voyages (that of 1801) twenty-three +whales were captured, which yielded the previously unequalled quantity of +225 tuns of oil;[E] and the voyage following, which terminated his command +of the Dundee, produced twenty whales, yielding 200 tuns of the best kind +of train oil, with a proportional weight of whalebone. + +These voyages were not only unequalled in the Greenland whale-fishery in +their measure of success, but likewise in the quickness with which they +were accomplished. _Ordinarily_, my Father’s ship, not sailing earlier than +his competitors in general, not only brought home the largest cargo of any +in the fleet, but returned amongst the soonest. The produce in oil, +therefore, partly from the freshness of the blubber when it was brought to +the “coppers,” and partly from the care taken, under his direction, in the +process of boiling, was, as I have advisedly designated it, of the _best +quality._ + + +SECTION II.—_Dangerous Accident—Admirable Tact._ + +Whilst pursuing for a long series of years, so adventurous a profession as +that of the whale-fishery, accidents of a peculiar nature were not +unfrequently occurring. On such occasions, my Father’s promptness and +judiciousness of action were as admirable as they were characteristic. + +But leaving such incidents, as far as may be, to their place, +chronologically, in our present Memorials, we adduce here a single example, +which may serve at once to illustrate and to justify this observation. The +case, indeed, though pertaining to his professional pursuits, did not occur +when at sea; but during the process of reducing the blubber of the whale +into oil, after the return of the ship into port. + +The ship Dundee, whilst commanded by my Father, had but recently returned +from one of her usually successful voyages, and was laid, for discharging +at the quay, in Blackwall Dock, near to the premises in which the oil was +being boiled. My Father, during the most active part of the operations of +discharging and boiling, was in the habit of sleeping on board the ship; +and, at the time of the accident referred to, I, then a boy, happened to be +with him. Sometime during the night, we were all awoke by loud and fearful +shrieking, from the direction of the boiling-house. My Father, instantly +apprehending some accident there, jumped from his bed, and, just as he was, +flew up on deck and over the ship’s side, and in a few moments of time was +at the spot from whence the shrieks proceeded. The idea that had at once +flashed upon his mind was appallingly realized. One of the poor fellows, +engaged at the reducing of the blubber, was in the condition of being +dragged out of the boiling cauldron by his associate in the work! + +My Father’s most powerful helping hand was opportunely available, and, with +the quickness of thought, he plunged the appalled sufferer into a large +cistern of cold oil and blubber, resting on the platform above the +copper,—a cistern, or “beck,” as it is called, out of which the contents +of the copper, after being boiled and emptied, were to be renewed. In this +most appropriate bath, the poor fellow was for a considerable time kept +immersed. My impression is that he was kept there until means were obtained +for his removal; and then he was conveyed, without further delay, to the +London Hospital. His life, notwithstanding the terrible severity, was thus +happily saved. My Father’s conduct was highly commended and applauded by +the medical staff of the Hospital, both for his discernment of the best +treatment, perhaps, which could have been administered, and for his so +promptly giving the sufferer the advantage of it. + +The cause of this appalling accident, was, I believe, the breaking of the +staff of the stirrer, which the night-watch over the boiling was required +to have continually in motion, to prevent the “finks” (the cellular +substance of the blubber) sticking to the bottom or sides of the copper +when boiling. By the sudden failure of the staff, against which he pressed +his shoulder, he was projected forward, but, providentially, not so as to +fall headlong,—his effort to recover himself so far succeeding as to cause +him to plunge feet foremost, whilst he sunk, on attempting to reach the +shelving side of the copper, up to the waist in the horrible bath! + +I yet remember, young as I then was, the return of the debilitated but +happy sufferer, after his discharge, “as cured,” from the Hospital. The +man, whom I had known familiarly as a stout, lively, good-natured fellow, +was now reduced into a mere shred—a poor, pallid creature, an almost +skeleton of a man! But his ultimate restoration, I believe, was quite +complete. He knew and appreciated the wisdom with which he had been +treated—he felt and acknowledged that to my Father, under Providence, he +owed his life. + + +SECTION III.—_The Dandy Sailor; or, “Fine Tommy.”_ + +In this connection, whilst now story-telling, we may perhaps, as fittingly +as elsewhere, introduce a little record, very often told by my Father, for +enforcing a moral lesson in respect of a species of folly which we often +witness, and from which some of my young readers, peradventure, may not +find themselves entirely devoid. + +If the sacrifice of personal comfort to the tyranny of fashion appeared to +my Father a great absurdity; much more did the risking of health for the +indulgence of personal conceit in dress, or the braving of severity of +climate, inadequately clothed, from the vanity of singularity in hardiness, +seem to him as the very summit and extravagance of folly. + +It was in support of his views on this particular subject, when conspicuous +instances of such folly happened to come before him, that my Father was +wont to tell, as an impressive warning, the instructive story of “Fine +Tommy.” + +_Fine Tommy_, who had acquired this appellation by particularity and almost +dandyism of dress when at sea, was a smart and well-looking youthful +sailor, who had shipped himself with my Father in one of the voyages in +which he commanded the “Dundee.” His personal conceit, so unusual with the +thoroughbred sailor, was nevertheless associated in him with such a measure +of activity and seamanlike acquirements, as to save him from that ridicule +of his associates, which in any other case would have been excessive, if +not intolerable. Whilst the temperature of the weather was but moderately +severe, his appearance on deck in a smart light shore-going jacket, exposed +him to little damage beyond the playful salutations of his +comrades,—salutations which he was wont good-humouredly to return by +speaking with indifference of the hitherto experienced cold, and ridiculing +the feminine weakness of a premature muffling of the person with +pea-jackets, huge boots, comforters, and mittens. + +During most of the progress of the ship northward, Fine Tommy continued +successfully and proudly to brave, as I have just intimated, the gradually +increasing cold, and that without material inconvenience or damage. But at +length, when the region of ice had been some little way penetrated, the +previously prevailing southerly or temperate wind happened to shift during +the night to the northward, which, with a fresh blowing gale, brought a +rapidly lowering temperature, approaching the zero of the thermometic +scale. The ship soon became covered with ice, and a chilly penetrating +“frost-rime” powdered the hair, or (as in some cases adopted) the rough +wigs of the sailors. Before Fine Tommy’s watch was called,—for there were +usually three watches in the whale ships, affording eight hours below +alternately with four upon deck,—the extreme change, almost from a +bearable frostiness to the greatest severity of cold, had taken place. He, +incredulous of the influence as well as unconscious of the change that had +taken place, came up in his usual clothing, a thin jacket, light shoes, and +uncovered hands. Now jeered by his watch-mates as to his perception of +cold, he determinately faced the chilling blast, renewing his bravadoes of +indifference of feeling even to the then prevailing severity. This lasted +during his two watches for the day. All hands besides were muffled up in +every species of warm clothing, whilst Fine Tommy still walked the deck and +performed his various duties with no other protection against the really +Arctic severity of cold than aforetime. + +On the calling of the watch the following morning, however, Fine Tommy did +not appear. The next day, too, he was absent from his station. When his +turn came to take the helm he was not there. Enquiry was made, and my +Father found, as he had well predicted, that Fine Tommy was ill, and +obliged to keep his bed. Day after day, and week after week, passed over, +and the absent one was still unseen. Even _months_ passed over until the +voyage, which had been prospered with splendid success, was approaching to +a close, so that the attainment of a temperate latitude and a return of +warm weather had begun to cheer our northern adventurers with the prospect +of a speedy realization of home enjoyment, when, like the hybernating +insect revived by the genial influence of the summer sun, Fine Tommy was +also resuscitated; and the long prostrate and once foolish defier of the +Arctic climate appeared again upon deck to breathe the restorative air as +it came pure from the grand repository of the atmosphere, instead of the +defiled and mixed vapours of the ’tween decks of a whale-ship. + +The lesson thus impressively taught was often read in my hearing; the +application, in some cases, possibly, might be intended for myself. If one +was seen wading, as it were, in mud with a pair of light shoes inadequate +for defence either against cold or wet,—the admonition or remark was ever +prompt, “it would be well to mind Fine Tommy.” If a fashionable “dandy” +coat, in the days of dandyism, were worn in the severity of winter; if a +dress insufficient for protection or warmth were, by either sex, observed +to be worn; if the outside of a coach were mounted without an adequate +covering, or a ride in an open carriage undertaken with only the +habiliments usually worn in walking, the monition became natural, as the +moral was apt,—“to remember Fine Tommy.” Whenever, too, I have myself +remarked the analogous folly, every where, indeed, more or less observable, +of risking health or abandoning personal comfort to _appearance_ or +_fashion_, the moral of this very lesson has constantly been forced on my +recollection, tempting to the relation of the story, in order to the more +impressive effect of the warning,—“Remember Fine Tommy!” + + +SECTION IV.—_Unfortunate Voyage, and Adventure in the Greenland Ices._ + +One of my Father’s voyages in the Dundee, and but one in the various ships +he commanded for a period of upwards of a quarter of a century, commencing +with the year 1792, proved a failure. The failure, however, arose from one +of those incidental circumstances of climate, on the one part, and neglect +of a principal officer, on the other part, which no human foresight could +have anticipated, or human skill or diligence have remedied, after the +perilous character of the ice-entanglement became clearly apparent. + +This misadventure occurred, singularly enough, when I happened, though only +a boy of ten years of age at the time, to be of the number of the souls on +board. On the invitation of my Father, who had landed from his ship in +passing Whitby, on his progress northward, to take leave of his family, I +had gone off with him, designing to return by the pilot boat, to see the +ship. I was astonished with what I saw; I explored with unmixed delight +every accessible compartment of the cabins and store-rooms below, and +conceived an irresistible desire to remain where I was, and go out on the +voyage. At length the call of the pilots for “Master William,” as the day +advanced to its close, put my desire to the test of practicability. For a +while I remained silent below, and when silence was no longer likely to be +available, I contrived the child-like device of hiding my hat, which, on +ascending the companion ladder bare-headed, I let it be understood I could +not find! My Father having noticed my delight, and interpreting rightly the +little device, remarked to the pilots,—“Don’t mind him; he will go along +with us.” A mother’s anguish, however, who loved me with the tenderest and +most ardent affection, flashed into my mind. It forced utterance in the +expression,—“But what will my Mother say?” The reply, curiously enough +regarded as being consolatory, sufficed to allay my scruples,—“She will +love you better when you come back!” The pilots still urging haste in my +embarkation, as the boat was thumping heavily against the ship’s gangway, +were at length made sensible of what they at first could not credit, that I +was to remain behind; and they set out for the shore in no small condition +of amazement, and with no slight feeling of sympathising embarrassment, on +account of the report they must yield to one, whom they sufficiently knew +as an anxious, susceptible, and affectionate mother! + +But my own story must be here suspended, as it possibly may hereafter find +a place, if Providence yield me health and life for the undertaking, in the +series of the “Memorials of the Sea,” which, sometimes, I venture to +contemplate carrying on. + + * * * * * + +The leading incidents of this disappointing enterprise, I am enabled to +give with a satisfactory measure of confidence, from a record made of it, +many years ago, in a private autobiography, from which, mainly, I extract +the following details. + +After touching at Lerwick (Shetland), for the completion of our +supplementary crew of _boatmen_, we proceeded northward towards the usual +whale-fishing stations. On arriving in sight of Spitzbergen, and finding +the western coast accessible, with a vein of clear water running +continuously along shore, we pursued the encouraging opening as far as the +northern headland of Charles Island, in latitude 78° 53′ N. Here, tempted +by the clear water eastward, we reached into a wide inlet near King’s Bay, +when, by a sudden gale coming on from the northward and north-westward, we +were driven, encumbered by ice of recent formation, and fragments of old +ice, into the opening betwixt the foreland and the main, where the ship +ultimately became closely beset in the _Bay of Birds_ of Barentz. + +At first, the officers in general thought little of the entanglement, +expecting that any favourable change of wind would serve to release us. My +Father, however, watching the augmentation in the thickness of the ice, by +pressure and frost, received, very early, a more anxious impression. He had +observed, indeed, that the ice was not yet thoroughly sealed together and +fixed into an immoveable mass. For, periodically, he perceived, that some +relaxation in the compactness of the general body of ices took place, which +he ascribed to the action of a tide; and, on one evening, before retiring +to rest, when a fine breeze, favourable for promoting an opening seaward +had begun to prevail, he rather confidently anticipated some relaxation +which might be available for our escape at the period of the favourably +acting tide. In this expectation, he gave special orders to the chief +officer, who had formerly been a whaling commander, and ought to have well +appreciated the importance of the instruction,—to call him when the +hoped-for relaxation of the ice might take place. But, disappointingly +enough, he awoke of himself after a rather long sleep, when, as his watch +indicated, the time of favourable tide must be passed. He anxiously dressed +himself and hasted upon deck; but, whilst much slack and navigable ice was +yet visible at some little distance to the north-westward, all about the +ship was close and impenetrable. His enquiry as to whether the ice about +the ship had not also slacked? led to the mortifying admission, reluctantly +extracted, that the ice had indeed slacked very near to the ship, but, as +was intimated in excuse, “it was so _rank_ and difficult that nothing could +be done without ‘calling all hands,’ and much trouble; and he,” the chief +mate, “thought it would perhaps be more cleared away, by the hopeful +breeze, by the time the Captain turned out!” + +The highly culpable folly of this conduct became too soon apparent to all. +For when an easterly, and then a southerly wind blew, without inducing any +repetition of the slackness that had been missed; when we found the whole +of the accumulated ices frozen into a solid field, without crack, or +opening of any kind to be seen from the mast-head; when we marked our +position as deeply embayed within the projecting headlands, and the ice +everywhere wedged up against and cemented to all the circumjacent +shores,—every one became anxious respecting the success of the voyage, +whilst some began to entertain the depressing apprehension that the ship +might possibly be detained throughout the winter! + +The story of our distressing detention, with the measures adopted partly +for the employment of the men, but which became ultimately available, even +beyond our utmost hopes, for facilitating our release, is too +long,—consistently with the extent designed for this volume, and the +completion hereafter, possibly, of some personal records,—for being given +in detail. It may be sufficient, for our present purpose, now to say, that +after the endurance of the misery of an eight weeks’ besetment, release was +happily attained, and the Dundee was again free (but not until the season +adapted for the fishery had thus been all but wasted) to range through any +part of the ordinarily accessible ocean. + +Our course being directed towards the north-west, we soon fell in with +ships, and learnt that the fishery had been tolerably good, and that two or +three ships had already obtained almost full cargoes. + +Shortly afterwards we met with fish, and all hands set forth in earnest +anxious pursuit. But they were, in fact, too anxious, and, in part, +discouraged by the idea that the season was about at an end. Their efforts, +in consequence, were ill directed or inadequately followed up, and only +mortifying failures resulted. Stimulated by the defects and failures of his +harponeers, my Father was induced to try the chase himself. Forthwith +taking his post at the bow of one of the boats, he soon gave evidence of +his superior efficiency. He “struck” whale after whale to the amount of +three; but not being adequately supported by the other boats, one of the +first of these escaped from the harpoon, under circumstances such as, he +considered, should have led to its capture. Excited by this failure, he +changed boats, in one of the other cases, after the fish, under the first +harpoon, had reappeared at the surface; and, as the harponeers generally +seemed heartless and inert, he changed again, after fastening another +harpoon, until he had planted no less than three or four harpoons, in the +same fish, with his own hands! + +The season, however, soon came to a close, and these two whales, with a +dead one which was also discovered by himself, constituted the whole of the +Dundee’s cargo in this trying year,—a cargo yielding only five-and-forty +tuns of oil, yet amounting, after all, to nearly two-thirds of the general +average of the Greenland fishery. + + * * * * * + +Notwithstanding this serious abstraction from the general average of his +five years’ adventures in the Dundee, my Father’s general pre-eminence +was, in the issue, still maintained. During these five voyages, ninety-four +whales were captured, and an amount of 812 tuns of oil brought to market. +The yearly average, _inclusive_ of the year of unavoidable failure, was no +less than 18·8 whales, producing 162·4 tuns of oil, besides the fair +proportion of whalebone, sealskins, etc. + +Compared with the fishery from Hull and Whitby, and, as far as my materials +go, elsewhere, this result was considerably beyond that of any other +Greenland whaler. With respect to the Hull average for the same period, the +Dundee’s superiority was in the ratio of 162·4 to 77·5 tuns of oil, or more +than two to one. In comparison with the success of any other individual +ship, the Dundee still stood at the head of the list,—the nearest approach +in Hull being that of the Ellison, a ship commanded, during four years out +of the five, by the same enterprising and talented officer, Mr. Allan, as +we had occasion to notice, so favourably, in a former comparison. The +Molly, Captain Angus Sadler,—a hardy adventurous and able commander, who, +in subsequent years, became chief amongst his competitors from +Hull,—obtained, during my Father’s command of the Dundee, the next highest +amount of cargoes,—the total, in the five years, being 689 tuns of oil. +The Egginton, Wray, (one voyage under another captain) obtained, at the +same time, 508 tuns; the Symmetry, Rose, 481 tuns; the Fanny, Jameson and +Taylor, 460 tuns; the Manchester, Matson, 417 tuns, etc.;—the Dundee’s +cargoes, as has been shewn, being, in the same period, 812 tuns. + +But, besides these comparisons, in all respects so favourable, we may again +venture, up to the end of eleven years of consecutive adventures, to take +the severest test of competition; viz. a comparison betwixt the Dundee’s +cargoes, and that of the select cargoes, for the five corresponding years, +of the most prosperous Greenland-man, from Hull, of each year. And under +this amount, being 806 tuns of oil, the Dundee is found still to stand the +first. + + +SECTION V.—_Successful Stratagem in War._ + +An incident of a very stirring and exciting nature occurred in the very +outset of the unfortunate voyage just referred to, which I here take +occasion of introducing, as very characteristic of my Father’s tact and +cool self-possession. + +A day or two after leaving the coast of Yorkshire, from whence I had myself +embarked,—the weather being fine with a brisk and favourable wind, and the +ship going steadily and swiftly under her ample and well-trimmed +sails,—all hands were set to work, my Father superintending, in clearing +the ’tween-decks of a variety of stores hastily taken in, and confusedly +scattered about, in order to make all snug and secure for the North-Sea +passage. So much were all hands, men and officers, engrossed by this +important labour of clearance and order, that, some how or other, the +“look-out” had been for awhile neglected, when, suddenly it was announced, +by a voice calling out from the deck at one of the hatchways—“a ship +bearing down close upon us!” + +It being a time of war, and the North Sea abounding with ships of war and +privateers of the enemy, the announcement produced an instant suspension of +the work going on, and drew universal attention to a circumstance which +might possibly involve the safety of life and property in the ship. + +My Father’s quick eye, and sure telescopic glance, discovered at once the +characteristic marks of an enemy, and vessel of war. She was bearing down, +steering easterly, exactly so as to intercept our track, but not on any of +the courses usually steered either for England, France, or Denmark. Already +she had approached within a little more than a mile of our position, and so +that in about a quarter of an hour we must be within hailing distance. + +With the promptness and coolness characteristic of the Dundee’s Commander, +measures for self-defence, and skilful strategy, were arranged and progress +commenced. These measures, I conceive, are worthy of some particular +notice. + +His habit, it should be observed, was to endeavour to anticipate, in quiet +contemplation, the various contingencies pertaining to his enterprise, +which, peradventure, might be considered as not unlikely to happen. The +meeting of an enemy, therefore, was one of those incidents that had been +regarded as by no means improbable, and the dealing with which, by what +ingenious tact or device might be available, had been well considered. For +to _fight_ with an enemy, where stratagy might answer for an escape, was +justly held as most unwise, where success in conflict could gain no +prize;[F] where failure must issue in loss of property, voyage, and +personal liberty; and where either failure or success must probably involve +a loss of life, for which there was neither call of duty to risk, nor +possible compensation to justify. + +Fortunately, had the extremity required, he was in a position calculated +for a brave defence. The Dundee was as well armed as she was well manned, +carrying twelve guns, eighteen pounders, I believe, with a crew of betwixt +fifty and sixty men. The guns were already loaded, and in every way fit for +immediate service. + +The stratagy, in this case, contemplated, was to give, to the threatening +assailant, the surprise of a concealed armament, and the impression as of a +designed deception in the class of ship assumed. + +And fortunate it was, that there were circumstances connected with the +qualifications of the crew, and the construction of the ship, admirably +adapted for the experiment proposed. For contemplating, as we have +intimated, such a risk as that now threatening him, my Father had selected +out of the variety of hands offering themselves for the voyage, two men of +rather unusual qualifications,—one, who was an adept in beating the drum, +the other “in winding a boatswain’s call.” These qualities, amongst +seafaring men, being almost peculiar to classes employed in vessels of war, +induced a preference, in respect to them, over others, though the drummer +might by no means be equal to some who were rejected, in regard to general +seamen-like attainments. + +The construction of the ship, too, was well adapted for the execution of +the proposed surprise, being “deep-waisted” with a high quarter-deck, and +having her guns entirely below, with no outward indication, at a distance, +of either ports or armament. + +On the first alarm, the hands, with one accord, had begun to swarm up on +the deck, but their retirement was promptly commanded. The men required for +the guns were sent to their quarters, with orders to make all ready for +action, but to lift no port. The hands above, whilst requiring to move +about, were kept as much as possible on the leeside of the deck, where, +from the heeling of the ship and the enemy’s windward position, they were +in sufficient concealment. The _drummer_ and _boatswain_, now most +important elements in the plan, had their special instructions, whilst the +crew thus became generally sensible, by means of the orders given, of the +ingenious device of their commander, so as to be well prepared to give to +it its utmost impression. + +Short as the time was,—the coolness of the commander being communicated to +the men, so as to relieve the urgent haste from any embarrassing +confusion,—all arrangements had been completed before the enemy came +within hailing distance. At that period (as _apparently_ from the first), +everything visible on board the Dundee indicated an unconcerned quietness, +and utter unconsciousness of danger from the stranger’s approach. The men +on deck were laid down flat on their faces. My Father coolly walking the +quarter-deck, and the helmsman engaged in his office of steering, were the +only living beings who could be discerned from the deck of the assailant. + +Without showing any colours, in answer to our English ensign waving at the +mizen-peak, the stranger came down to within short musket-shot distance, +when a loud and unintelligible roar of the Captain, through his +speaking-trumpet, indicated the usual demand of the nation or denomination +of our ship. A significant wave of my Father’s hand served instead of a +reply. The drum beats to quarters, and whilst the roll yet reverberates +around, the shrill sound of the boatswain’s pipe is heard above all. And +whilst the hoarse voice of this officer is yet giving forth the consequent +orders, the apparently plain sides of the ship become suddenly pierced; six +ports on a side are simultaneously raised, and as many untompioned cannon, +threatening a more serious bellowing than that of the now astonished +Captain’s trumpet-aided voice, are run out, pointing ominously toward the +enemy’s broadside! + +The stratagem was complete; its impression quite perfect. The adversary +seemed electrified. Men on the enemy’s deck, some with lighted matches in +hand, and plainly visible to us by reason of her heeling position whilst +descending obliquely from the windward, were seen to fall flat, as if +prostrated by our shot; the guns, pointed threateningly at us, remained +silent; the helm flew to port, and the yards to the wind, on our opposite +tack; and without waiting for answer to his summons, or venturing to renew +his attempt on such a formidable looking opponent, he suddenly hauled off, +under full sail, in a direction differing, by some six points, from that in +which he had previously intercepted our track! + + +SECTION VI.—_Extraordinary Exploit in “cutting-in” single-handed, a +moderately-grown Young Whale._ + +The tardy formality with which the “flensing” of the whale was +accomplished, irrespective of the particular magnitude of the animal to be +despoiled of its blubber and whalebone, was frequently a source of great +annoyance to my Father. The number of cuts, with the placing of straps, and +attachment of tackles, had become—like the skeleton forms issued by public +offices—an established system; and, cumbrous as it was, with respect to +fish of smaller growth, it was made generally applicable to all. The effect +of this was, that whilst the largest sized fish would be flensed in about +four hours, the taking in of one of the fourth, or sixth part its size +would occupy nearly half as much time. An hour and a half at least, but +more frequently two hours, at that period of the fishery, would be expended +upon one of the ordinary small-sized whales. The poor little carcass, +indeed, was encumbered by the number of the harponeers (to whose province +belongs the fixing of the tackles and the cutting away of the blubber) +congregated upon, or about it, whilst flensing. + +As every instance of remonstrance, whilst failing in producing any +improvement, regularly induced unpleasantness of feeling, my Father was at +length provoked to put forth a challenge, to which his officers were able +to offer no possible objection, except the indication, by look and gesture, +that they would derive some recompense for the rebukes passed on them, by +certain and signal failure. His adventurous challenge was, that, with the +assistance of only one-third part of the available crew, he would go on a +fish, and send it in, single-handed, in _half the time_ occupied by the +four or six harponeers with the help of all hands! + +Opportunities for the experiment being at this time abundantly afforded, he +forthwith prepared himself for this trial of skill. The available +hands—that is, excluding cook, steward, surgeon, etc.—were usually about +forty-five or forty-six in number. Out of these he took, not a picked set, +but only two boats’ crews, with their supernumeraries, according to their +existing classification, comprising about sixteen men. These he appointed +to their several stations about the deck; eight to the capstan, four, +perhaps, to the “crab” or “winch,” and the rest to manage the +“tackle-falls,” to cut up the blubber and heave it into the “flens-gut,” or +receptacle for it below. The two boys who were appointed, on the usual +plan, to hold the boat in which he was to stand whilst flensing, were, +perhaps, extra; but this I forget. + +Previous to the commencement of the experiment, the preparing of his +cutting instruments, viz. a “blubber-spade” and “blubber-knife,” became +matter of personal and special attention. The _spade_, (an instrument with +the cutting part about eight inches broad, and used in the manner of the +“hay-spade,”) was not merely ground to a fine edge and then sharpened with +an oil-stone, but the sides (ordinarily left black with varnish, or +encrusted with rust,) were reduced by the grindstone to a bright and smooth +surface. His blubber-knife (an instrument with a three feet blade and three +feet straight handle) was, in like manner, carefully ground, sharpened, and +polished; so that these instruments, presenting the least possible +resistance, from the adhesion of the metal to the blubber, when in use, the +muscular strength of the flenser might, in no respect, be uselessly +expended. + +All things being ready, and the men duly distributed, the time was noted, +and my Father, single-handed, as I have said,—except as to a man to put in +the straps[G] and attach the tackles, that he might not have occasion to +wet or grease his hands,—proceeded to the trial on his apparently +presumptuous challenge. + +The plan he had previously determined on, and which subsequently became +very common in the flensing of small fish, was the following:— + +The under part of the head (always being placed upward for flensing), with +the jaw-bones, “lips,” and tongue, is first attached to the capstan tackle, +and, being separated as it is hove up, is taken on deck altogether. +Meanwhile the skull, with the whalebone and upper part of the head,—which +is brought in sight, clear of the water, by the strain hove upon the other +section or lower jaw,—is secured by the second tackle, and speedily made +to follow its companion in the ascent to the deck. + +One of the fins, having a strap previously put round it, is next hove upon, +till (the fish being free to roll over, so as to adjust its position to the +direction of the strain,) it is well raised upward, and, the blubber +annexed to it, put upon the stretch. The fin is then easily “unsocketed,” +and the blubber on the seaward side being cut across beyond it, it becomes +the attachment for heaving up a long slip of three or four feet in width, +and extending, with its upper part, high above the level of the deck. As +this ascends, (the fish meanwhile spontaneously “canting” outwardly from +the ship), the other fin appears in sight, and, being embraced by another +strap, is, in its turn, hove up by the “fore-tackle” correspondently, as to +its further progress, with its fellow. When the attachment of the second, +or fore-tackle, rises to about the level of the deck, the blubber-slip is +cut across, just above the place of that attachment, and the separated +portion, being lowered down upon the deck, is cut up, with singular +celerity, into square lumps, adapted for being easily thrown about by the +“pick-haak” men; and these, as rapidly as they are cut out, are made to +disappear through a hole in one of the main-hatches into the flens-gut +below. + +The moment the first, or “after-tackle,” is released, it is overhauled +again over the ship’s side, and, a fresh strap being fixed in the +continuous slip, (which, to preserve its continuity, is cut spirally from +the carcass,) the progress of the operation goes on, without ceasing, till +the whole superficies of blubber is removed. + +The progress in the case referred to must, doubtless, have been regarded +with strange feelings of astonishment and mortification by the severely +rebuked harponeers; for, on the completion of the operation, the watch +being again appealed to, the adventurous challenge was found to have been +triumphantly vindicated. Instead of the work being effected, as challenged +to be done, in half the time which had been expended by thrice the force in +the number of men, it was found to have occupied but little more than a +third part of that interval. With all hands to help, the time frequently +expended by the harponeers in flensing a small fish had been nearly two +hours; my Father, with a third part of the crew, had, single-handed, done +the same thing in almost forty minutes! + + * * * * * + +This extraordinary feat of tact and strength was first accomplished, I +believe, during my Father’s command of the Dundee; but the feat was +repeated, under my own observation, on board the Resolution, and the +tardiness of a burdensome system, still too prevalently acted upon by the +officers, was similarly rebuked. To the extent, at least of a saving of +_one-half_ the time spent in the operation by the harponeers, the bold +experiment, single-handed and with but one-third of the crew, was +successfully repeated. + +My Father’s plan of proceeding, in this extraordinary feat, is worthy of +notice. His constitutional habit, as I may term it, of a sort of +_deliberate celerity_ was here the characteristic of his progress. But no +time was wasted. As fast as the men on deck could heave-up the blubber, the +blubber was freed to their hands. Every change of tackle, or place of +working, was so managed as to leave no interruption in the labours of his +men. As he never himself ceased working, he took care by judicious +preconsideration, that they should never stand idle. On the contrary, he +had his own part always in advance of their province, so that, in order to +keep pace with him, they were stimulated to the utmost practicable degree +of activity. The capstan, whilst the tackle was slack, or the strain +slight, actually spun round, whilst the hands on it, “shortening in on the +bars,” ran at their utmost speed. An instinctive spirit was infused into +every department; for no section of the men liked to be behind, so as to be +in the humiliating position of hinderers of the others. + +Though the master-hand was accomplishing so much in so short a time,—more, +in this species of work, I may be bold to say, than any other man ever did +before or since,—there was no appearance of hurry. His sharp and +finely-polished _spade_ with which he chiefly worked, seemed to meet with +no resistance from the animal textures against which its edge was directed. +Instead of cutting downward through the blubber a spade-breadth at a time, +as most usually was done, he would run the instrument in a direction +obliquely horizontal, so as to separate the slip then heaving up from the +general envelopment of the blubber, for a yard or two in extent, at a +single stroke or thrust of the instrument. The slight attachment of the +blubber to the muscles of the carcass could then be usually torn away (with +a touch underneath with the spade when incidentally needful to be cut) by +the force with which the slip was being raised by the mechanical engines in +motion on the deck. + +Thus proceeding with calm and quiet self-possession, and with unceasing +perseverance, few cuts being made but at the best advantage, and no stroke +of his cutting-tools being struck in vain, the work proceeded with such +despatch as to accomplish the extraordinary results we have just +described. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[E] Up to the end of the eighteenth century my Father’s successes, with but +rare exceptions, were at the head of the list of the whole of the northern +whalers, both of Davis’ Strait and Greenland. But about this period Captain +Marshall, in the Davis’-Strait branch, began to take the lead of all +competitors there. + +[F] Some of our readers may require to be informed, that an ordinary +merchant ship, not having “letters of marque” for acting as a privateer, +can have no claim on any property which the bravery of her captain and crew +might take from an enemy. So that, in the event of capturing an assailant, +as might have been possible in the case referred to, the hard blows and +damage must be borne by the merchantman, whilst the prize would fall due to +the first ship of war incidently met with, or otherwise to the sovereign or +public officers at home. + +[G] _Blubber-straps_ are usually made out of whale-line, but some of +thicker cordage, and consist of a length of about two fathoms for each +strap, the ends of which being spliced together, constitute a flexible ring +of rope. A hole being cut through the commencing end of the slip of blubber +to be raised, the strap, being of course double, is inserted therein, and +the two ends, brought together from the opposite sides of the blubber, are +looped over the hook of the tackle, and so the attachment for heaving up +made complete. It may here be added, that the tackles for flensing are +fixed aloft to a strong rope, along which the blocks are distributed, +extending (but not very tightly stretched) from the mainmast-head to that +of the foremast, called the _guy_. The considerable height of this +attachment of the tackles (or, technically, “speck-tackles”) permits a long +slip of blubber to be hove up in continuity, whilst the distribution of the +blocks thereon admits of the two tackles being worked either jointly or +separately without interference. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SHIP “RESOLUTION,” OF WHITBY. + + +SECTION I.—_Continued Prosperity:—the Results, comparatively and +generally, of this fresh Enterprise._ + +The change of command which, in the progress of our Memorials, comes now +under consideration, was brought about by two circumstances;—the great +inconvenience of a family residence at Whitby, whilst my Father was sailing +from, and returning to, London; and the incidental formation of a +co-partnery at Whitby, which my Father was invited to join, for the +building and equipment of a new Greenland ship from that port. + +The advantages, in point of comfort and convenience alone, were such as to +render the change in ship and port to which this scheme pointed, highly +desirable; and most earnestly and imploringly was the proposition of the +parties at Whitby supported by my long discomforted and pining mother. But +the conditions submitted to my Father were equally acceptable. It was +designed that the co-partnery should consist of the holders of eight equal +shares, of 1000_l._ each; that Messrs. Fishburn and Brodrick, the designed +builders of the ship, should hold two shares, five other inhabitants of +Whitby, as arranged among themselves, each a share, making seven, and my +Father the eighth. His wages and perquisites, too, on the liberal and +advanced scale as allowed him by the Messrs. Gale, were to be continued. + +Without difficulty, and with but little loss of time, the arrangements were +all completed, and the owners of the Dundee, who were justly esteemed for +their honourable and generous dealing by their Captain, had due and +respectful notice given them of the intended change, and were easily made +sensible of the propriety of it, as far as regarded his personal +well-being. + +In the “Resolution,” a fine, substantial, and in all respects well-built +ship of 291 tons burden, was comprised the property of the new co-partnery. +The cost of the ship, with casks and all other stores, was 6321_l._ 3_s._ +4_d._ The provisions for the voyage, together with insurance, and the +advance wages usually paid to the men, amounted to 1470_l._ 4_s._ 1_d._ +Thus the total expenditure in preparation for the voyage was 7791_l._ 7_s._ +5_d._, leaving a small balance out of the sum subscribed in the hands of +the managers. + +The proceedings on board the ship, with the results of this adventure, for, +and during the whole time of my Father’s command (a period of eight years), +are in considerable detail before me, being comprised in a regular series +of journals kept by myself. For young as I was when the Resolution +commenced her career of adventure—being then but thirteen—I was +regularly installed, and by no means unwillingly, in training for the +whale-fishery as a profession, as one of her apprenticed hands. + +On the 21st of February, 1803, the ship was launched, and duly “christened” +the “Resolution;” and on the 21st of March, she left her moorings in the +harbour and proceeded to sea. We made the ice on the 2d of April; on the +12th were in latitude 78° 40′ N. in sight of the “Middle Hook of the +Foreland;” and on the 18th “struck” and killed our first whale. The 20th +was a prosperous day, for so early a period of the season, adding two more +large fish to our commencing cargo. The 29th, however, was very different, +being a day of mortifying adventure. We had obtained shelter, during a gale +of wind, under the lee-side of a “field,”—a large and continuous sheet of +ice extending beyond the reach of vision from the mast-head,—where several +whales, (chiefly old ones, with their cubs or calves,) were met with. Four +of them—comprising two old and two cubs—were harpooned during the day. +The little ones, of but trifling value, were captured; but both the +“mothers” escaped. One of them had been so energetically assailed as to +receive four harpoons,—a condition from which the capture generally +results,—when she made a most determinate advance beneath and beyond the +ice. She ultimately escaped, carrying away with her a spoil (a painful and +deadly boon, indeed, to herself) of a harpoon, with twelve attached lines, +comprising a total extent of 1440 fathoms, or about a mile and two-thirds, +in measure! The next day, however, yielded us some compensation, in the +capture of another _large_ fish, a result altogether not a little +inspiriting, where the attainment of an amount of six whales, before the +expiration of the month of April, was a circumstance rarely, if ever, +realized before. Our thirteenth fish was killed on the 8th of June; but, +though we persevered about ten days longer, and had well nigh captured +another fish, in which two harpoons were struck, we made no accession to +our not full, but, as the season went, most satisfactory cargo. + +In looking over my journal for materials for this abstract, it was +singularly interesting and pleasant to the feelings to find, under date of +the 27th of June, when the good ship Resolution was on her homeward +passage, a written recognition, which I remember to have received from my +Father, of the Divine hand and Providence in respect of the successes +obtained. It is comprised in this brief but appropriate Collect:—“O most +merciful Father, who of Thy gracious goodness hast crowned our labours with +success, we give Thee humble and hearty thanks for this, Thy special +bounty, beseeching Thee to continue Thy loving kindness unto us, that we +may enjoy the fruits of our labours to Thy glory and our comfort, through +Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.” + +The proceeds of this first voyage in oil were 163½ tuns: the _Whitby_ +average of the same year (exclusive of the Resolution’s cargo) being only +62 tuns, and the greatest catch among the rest of the Whitby fleet being +eight whales, yielding 139 tuns of oil. Hence, with relation to the average +of the port,—six ships,—my Father’s success stood in the ratio of 2·8 to +1, or nearly three to one! + +But subsequent voyages—the next three especially—proved regularly and +increasingly prosperous; the cargoes of the years 1804, 1805, and 1806, +yielding a produce of rather more than 600 tuns of oil, derived from the +capture of eighty-seven whales. The entire proceeds of my Father’s +enterprises in eight voyages, in this successful ship, amounted to 194 +whales, yielding 1617 tuns of oil, or an average of twenty-four whales and +one-fourth, with 202 tuns of oil per voyage! + +His competitors from the same port, during the whole of this particular +period, comprising 7·8 ships a year, obtained, on the eight years’ average, +only sixty-eight fish, yielding 646·4 tuns of oil; whilst the united +cargoes of the most successful ship of each year, amounted but to 138 +whales, 1228 tuns of oil; this select amount being exceeded by nearly a +third part, by my Father’s individual catch; and the general average being +exceeded in the proportion of two and a half to one! + +But it was hardly to be expected that, whatever might be my Father’s +peculiar superiority, as compared with the general body of competitors, no +one, out of many hundreds of different commanders, should be found +successfully to emulate, within a long series of years, even his +extraordinary enterprise. + +Yet, closely as two or three individuals commanding in the Greenland +fishery might approximate, or occasionally exceed, his successes, it is +remarkable that no one, within any of the periods of the Henrietta, the +Dundee, or the Resolution, or within the whole period of nineteen years, +ever went beyond him! + +My Father’s most successful competitor, within the longest period of +cotemporary enterprise, ending with the year 1810, was Mr. Angus Sadler, of +Hull. From 1796 to 1810 (fifteen voyages) they fished in the same region, +the Greenland Seas, my Father obtaining 2693 tuns of oil, and Mr. Sadler +2539. In the eight voyages of the Resolution, however, the competition was +singularly close; Mr. Sadler bringing home the produce of only two whales +in number less, and the exact same quantity (1617 tuns) of oil. But, in +this comparison, my Father was at great disadvantage from the inferior size +of his ship,—the Aurora, of Hull, which Mr. Sadler commanded in several of +his most prosperous voyages, being of the burden of 366 tons, and the +Resolution only of 291. This difference of capacity was very important, +enabling Mr. Sadler, in two or three different voyages, to bring home a +quantity of produce exceeding by some sixty or seventy tuns, altogether, +the capabilities of stowage of the Resolution,—which ship, five years out +of eight, having been what was called “a full ship,” might, no doubt, have +obtained some greater cargoes, and, by consequence, a better position in +the competition, had her capacity been larger. + +It falls not within my present province, nor within the scope of my +materials, to set forth the considerable successes of some other leading +fishermen at the time of the Resolution’s enterprises. I may merely notice, +that Mr. Kearsley, of the Henrietta (trained under my Father), was the most +successful of the other _Whitby_ captains; and that some enterprising men, +commanding ships out of _Scotland_, began now, or soon after this, to take +a high position in the prosperous class. + +The only other _general_ competitor of my Father’s yet to be named, whose +enterprises were cotemporary during the whole or greater part of his +career, from 1792 to 1810, was Captain John Marshall, of Hull. Within the +_western_ field of Arctic enterprise—the whale-fishery of _Davis’ +Strait_—Captain Marshall stood pre-eminent. His successes there +corresponded very much with those of my Father in the fishery of Greenland; +and the total results did not materially differ. Whilst my Father’s +successes yielded, within the period referred to 2728 tuns of oil, Captain +Marshall’s, though deprived of the chance of one year’s adventure in which +he remained on shore, amounted to 2691 tuns. Had the full nineteen years +been completed, his successes would, probably, have been the greatest. But +the _services_, and the qualities required for them, differ so materially, +as not to permit, in fairness, of an arithmetical comparison of the _mere +quantities_ of produce. For success in the fishery of Davis’ Strait, at the +time under consideration, was a far more easy undertaking than in that of +Greenland. This fact is satisfactorily derived from a comparison of the +average success in the two fisheries. In seventeen years out of the +nineteen under review, (there being no ship from Hull to Davis’ Strait +during 1792 and 1793,) the average success of 313 Greenland whalers from +Hull was a produce in oil of 84·4 tuns, whilst the mean success of the +Davis’ Strait fishery, 190 ships, was for the same period +124·3,—indicating, most clearly, that the latter fishery then afforded a +better chance of a cargo than the fishery of Greenland, in the ratio of +very nearly three to two![H] + +Hence, my Father’s success, when taken on the most extensive comparison +with the fishermen of his day, stands decidedly conspicuous and +pre-eminent. And this pre-eminence, it should be noted, was not only in the +amount of the cargoes he obtained, but also in the shortness of the time +occupied in his voyages; for whilst the general average of Greenland +voyages of this period (as indicated, at least, by the extensive enterprise +from the port of Hull,) comprised four months and nineteen days, the +average of my Father’s absence from sailing to his return was, in the +Resolution’s eight voyages, only three months and twenty-eight days! + + * * * * * + +It may not be uninteresting to some of our readers to be informed, before +we conclude this section of results, of the actual realization in gross +amount of value, and in profits divided amongst the partners, in this +prosperous whale-fishing adventure. This, by reason of a complete abstract +of the payments and receipts during the greater part of the Resolution’s +career, I am enabled to give with perfect accuracy:— + +PAYMENTS. + +Expenses on First Voyage, including Outfit £ _s._ _d._ + of the Second 4008 18 4 + Ditto for Second Voyage. 4476 2 6 + Ditto for Third Voyage 4679 11 5 + Ditto on Fourth and Fifth 9216 14 6 + Ditto on Sixth 5823 14 4 + Ditto on Seventh 4729 11 8 + Ditto on Eighth 4722 11 5 + —————————————— + £37,657 4 2 + ═════════════════ + +RECEIPTS. + +Proceeds of Cargo and Government Bounty + (20_s._ per ton on the ship’s measurement, + or 291_l._) on the First Voyage 6864 10 5 + Ditto, Second Voyage 6568 1 0 + Ditto, Third 6287 10 9 + Ditto, Fourth and Fifth 10,428 7 11 + Ditto, Sixth 7157 8 6 + Ditto, Seventh 8275 14 6 + Ditto, Eighth 8195 16 10 + ———————————————— +Amount of Receipts £53,777 9 11 + Ditto Expenses 37,657 4 2 + ———————————————— +Clear Profits £16,120 5 9 + ═════════════════ + +This balance I have stated as “clear profits,” because, in consequence of +the perfect state of repair of the Resolution, the large augmentation in +the quantity of her stores, and the increased cost of shipping, the value +of the ship (augmented by the charge of outfit for the ninth voyage in the +table of expenses) was scarcely at all deteriorated. Hence we derive for +the clear profit on the original advance of 8000_l._,—a capital still +existing,—during eight years continuously, the sum of 2015_l._ 0_s._ 8_d._ +a year, or 25 per cent per annum. + + * * * * * + +With this result, the enterprises of my Father in the Resolution, of Whitby +(influenced, in a considerable degree, I believe, by a kindly and parental +consideration for myself), concluded. For on the very day on which I +completed my twenty-first year, he, at a Board of the co-partnery, +specially summoned, formally resigned his command; and, on the same +day,—the earliest at which, by reason of age, I could legally hold a +command,—I was unanimously elected his successor. + +Whilst thus retiring from the command of the Resolution, my Father was by +no means disposed to abandon his stirring and highly remunerative +occupation. At the very period of his retirement, indeed, the opportunity +of a new and satisfactory connection was, incidentally by my own medium, +opened to him, of which he forthwith availed himself. + +But before entering on the relation of his subsequent enterprises, we +shall proceed, according to our usual plan, to adduce a few incidents or +circumstances, illustrative, mainly, of character or talents, which are +associated with this period of our memorial history. + + +SECTION II.—_Treatment and Recovery of a half-frozen Seaman._ + +The peculiarity of the conflicts, and the severity of the climate, +encountered by the Arctic whale-fishers, yield a characteristic novelty +both to the incidents and accidents of their adventure. So that, although +the incidents of whaling enterprise may, for the most part, possess such +general characteristics as to admit of some classification among +themselves, they are at the same time novel, when considered in relation to +the results of ordinary adventure; whilst, every now and then, an accident +happens, or a circumstance is met with, which, taken on the broadest scheme +of comparison, is found to be _sui generis_. + +Such incidents afford special occasions for the exercise of inherent +science and originality of intellect in those who have to deal with the +results. And, I may add, every accident or occurrence of this kind, which +claimed my Father’s directing consideration, was, in all cases that I ever +heard of, dealt with in a manner consistent with a condition of mind of +inexhaustible resources in itself. + +Several cases of this description happened, whilst I was myself present, +during my youthful training as a seaman and a fisherman. The one referred +to, in the title of this section, was specially interesting. + +Whilst the ship Resolution navigated an open lake of water, in the 81st +degree of latitude,—something like the Baltic Sea in magnitude,—during a +keen frost and strong northerly wind, a whale appeared, and a boat put off +in pursuit.[I] On its second visit to the surface the boat came up with it, +and a harpoon was securely struck. A convulsive and terrible heave of its +ponderous tail, which succeeded the wound, struck the boat at the stern, +and by its reaction projected the boat-steerer overboard. As the line +attached to the harpoon drew the boat instantly off, the crew threw some of +their oars towards him for his support, one of which he fortunately seized. + +The auxiliary boats, as well as the ship, being at a considerable distance, +and the fast-boat being rapidly drawn away from the imperilled seaman, the +harponeer, under the instinctive impulse of humanity, cut his line with the +view of yielding him succour. But no sooner was the sacrifice made than, to +the great mortification of all in the boat, it was found to be useless; +for, in consequence of the loss of oars, some being thrown towards the +sufferer, and some broken or carried off by the stroke from the whale, the +boat had become altogether unmanageable! + +A considerable time elapsed before the headmost auxiliary boat reached the +place: happily they were so far in time that the object of their anxious +solicitude still floated, stretched over an oar, whilst retaining but +little sensation. + +On his arrival at the ship, being hauled up the side by ropes, with +judicious help from his comrades in the boat, he was found to be in a +deplorable condition. His clothes were frozen like a casing of mail, and +his hair was consolidated into a helmet of ice. + +My Father, having ordered him to be taken into the cabin abaft, gave his +immediate attention, in guidance and precedence of the ship’s surgeon, in a +system of treatment which, under the circumstances, was, perhaps, the most +judicious that could have been adopted. + +Whilst placed on the cabin floor, where the temperature was moderate, but +not high, the frozen clothing of the patient was forthwith removed, and his +person dried with warm towels, and then industriously rubbed, by two or +three hands at a time, with well heated coarse cloths and flannels. There +being great exhaustion, and all but a suspension of the circulation, +stimulating cordial was administered as he was able to take it. + +When the process of friction had been continued until sensation began to be +restored, and the general faculties in some measure awakened, he was +covered with dry under clothing, and placed, amid an abundance of warm +blankets, in my Father’s bed. After a few hours’ sleep he awoke +considerably resuscitated, but complained of a painful sensation of cold. + +Some warm and nourishing diluents having been given to him, he was +conducted to his own berth, and, with the view of removing his distressing +feeling of chilliness, two of his comrades were requested to accompany him; +where, one on each side, their abundant healthful circulation and animal +heat, proved most effective in ministering, restoratively, to these defects +in the condition of the patient. + +The shock on his constitution, however, was greater, with respect to his +apparent early recovery, than was anticipated. He was so far restored, +within a few days, as to be able to engage in his usual duties; but months +elapsed before his countenance exhibited its wonted glow and appearance of +health. + + +SECTION III.—_Judicious Treatment of Men having suffered from severe +Exposure._ + +The Resolution was moored to a flat sheet of ice, surrounded by streams and +open drift ice, on the 30th of April, 1808. It blew fresh, and the weather +was cold. In the evening a whale was harpooned, which ran out about the +length of a mile and a half of line from the fast-boat. Other harpoons, and +several lances, were then struck, and no doubt remained with the pursuers +but that it would speedily become their prize. But this expectation +signally failed. A tremendous and convulsive throe of the whale produced an +extraordinary effect: one of the lines, and also a harpoon were broken, and +the other two harpoons drawn out simultaneously, when, to the astonishment +of the beholders, the imagined capture was found, in one moment, to have +become free. It dived and escaped! + +A storm meanwhile had commenced. Five boats, with their crews, remained for +the getting in of the long length of line run out from the first fast-boat, +whilst two, myself in one of them, returned to the ship, in aid of the +inadequate residue of men—for any nautical operation—left on board. + +Thick snow set in, the storm increased, and the ship, being fast to a +_light_ piece of ice, drifted rapidly to leeward, and away from the boats. +We became distressfully anxious about the safety of the absent men. At one +the next morning the mooring was cut, and the ship being got under way, was +worked on short tacks to windward, in the supposed direction of the boats. +At three we were rejoiced by the appearance of three of the boats, which, +with crews unharmed, we got safely on board. The remainder, they reported, +might be expected by the same track in half an hour. + +Cheered by this hope, we continued making every effort to get the ship to +windward. But, long after the time of their expected return, no other boat +appeared. Hour after hour of anxiety and distress passed over whilst we +navigated, off and on, among troublesome and dangerous ices. Guns were +fired occasionally, and at every unoccupied interval all hands were engaged +in the one object which sympathy urged—the straining of their eyes in the +hope of discerning the boats of their comrades through the obscurity of the +snow. The obscurity was not attenuated; the storm raged, and the sea +increased, whilst a foreboding gloom appeared in every countenance, +darkening and keeping pace with the dismalness of the night. The loss of +one-half of the Ipswich’s crew on a similar occasion was yet fresh on our +minds, and low whisperings of expressions of fear, and shuddering +responses, indicated a prevailing dread of a similar fate to their +comrades. + +At length, happy moment! a little after eight in the morning, a sudden +shout of joy announced the discovery of the boats, and in a few minutes we +had the undescribable satisfaction of seeing them alongside. Aided by those +on board with ropes and hands, they were all, twelve to fourteen in number, +received safe on board, and welcomed with the most heartfelt greeting by +their truly exulting shipmates. + +The natural desire and effort to get below, into a place of genial warmth, +both with the shivering sailors and the sympathising people on board, was, +with most judicious consideration on the part of my Father, restrained. The +men had been suffering from more than a twelve hours’ exposure, without +food or adequate extra clothing, to cold and storm,—the thermometer, which +had been as low as 13 degrees, being still 8 or 10 degrees below +freezing,—and many were partially frost-bitten, and some stiff and +half-paralyzed with the severity of the weather. In this case, he wisely +considered, that sudden transition to the warm galley, and proximity to the +blazing fire of the cabouse below, might be productive of dangerous, +possibly of fatal, effects. He felt it was needful for their safety that +means should be _previously_ adopted for restoring, in some measure, the +arrested or retarded circulation. + +Stimulants, in a case of this kind, moderately administered, were +considered advantageous; but friction, and muscular exercise, much more +essential to safety. Those, therefore, whose hands or feet, or faces or +ears, had become _white_ (like the appearance of a tallow candle) by the +utter abstraction of the blood, had their frost-bitten parts actively and +perseveringly rubbed with the open hands of others, and the worst cases +with snow, until the endurance of the severe, or even agonizing pain +usually attending the recovery, when the repelled circulation begins to be +restored in the affected parts, had removed the risk of _mortification_ +taking place. Others were variously _exercised_, as they were able to make +muscular efforts of themselves, or with the assistance of others. Those who +were capable of the exertion were made to run about the deck, chasing, or +being chased, one by another. And soon apprehending, as most of them did, +the wisdom of the measures adopted, they not only entered into them +heartily, but those who had been the most affected, as soon as their limbs +obtained power for the exertion, were ready to join, or to attempt to join, +in the exercise and race, until some glow of warmth, and consciousness of +restored sensation, had taken place of the pre-existing chilliness or +insensibility. They were then, under strict cautions against approaching at +first too near the fire, suffered to go below; and, happily, under this +wise and effective treatment, all escaped without any permanent injury. + +A stout Shetland boy had well nigh fallen a sacrifice to the severity of +the exposure. He expressed a great desire, whilst abroad in one of the +boats, for sleep, and earnestly entreated the men, who objected to the +indulgence of the inclination, to allow him to compose himself for half an +hour, “for he was sure,” he said, “that he should dream of the situation of +the ship.” After a few minutes’ repose, which they were induced to permit, +he was awoke, but with difficulty, and it required considerable attention +on the part of his companions to keep him from a sleep which, under such +circumstances, they well knew must be the harbinger of death. + + * * * * * + +Other instances of the happy exercise of good judgment in the treatment of +men who had suffered long exposure to cold and hunger, might have been +adduced had I particularly noted them. One other case, though of no real +danger, (occurring May 29th, 1809,) may be briefly mentioned, in which I +was personally a participator. + +It was blowing a fresh gale from the north-east, with strong frost, +thermometer 20°, but the sea was not very considerable because of the +sheltering influence of surrounding ice. Two whales were captured; but one +of them dying at a great depth under water, had to be hauled up by the +united crews of two or three boats, which proved a tedious and severe +labour. We were absent from the ship from fourteen to sixteen hours, +without food or shelter from the inclement gale, sometimes lying inertly on +our oars waiting for the rising of the harpooned whales, or for the hauling +up of the sunken one to the surface; and sometimes we were engaged in +pulling about, hauling in lines, or in “towing” the dead fish to the ship. +By the time we got on board we were mostly in a state of considerable +exhaustion, and all were painfully suffering from cold and hunger. + +My Father had considerately provided for our return. Instead of the +distribution of ardent spirits,—the measure universally resorted to at +this period, with the view of cheering and restoring the depressed energies +of any long-exposed party of adventurers in the boats,—a far better and +more effective provision had been made. A huge kettle of coffee was boiling +on the fire, which, with the usual supplies of bread and beef, was +distributed in ample quantity among the half-starved party now returning; +and a more grateful or more salutary instance of administered refreshment I +do not remember ever to have enjoyed. The heat of this beverage, supplied +as it was so liberally to all, had the most happy effect in aiding the +restoration of the animal heat, and of exhilarating without unduly +stimulating the depressed physical condition of the men. The case afforded +an admirable practical example of the correctness of the principles +generally asserted, in favour of simple drinks over spirituous or fermented +stimulants, by the advocates of “Temperance.” + + +SECTION IV.—_The Crow’s Nest._ + +The invention of the CROW’S NEST in the form now universally used by the +British Arctic whalers, and adopted generally by our discovery ships, +deserves, from its convenience, comfort, and importance, a special record. + +For the safe and effective navigation of the Arctic ices, as well as for a +due watch being kept for the discovery of whales, an elevated position on +the mast, as a station for the directing or “look-out” officer, is +absolutely necessary. In seas covered over with numerous masses of ice, or +in positions where the navigation is at once encumbered, difficult, and +perhaps dangerous, it is impossible for the officer _on deck_ to perform +the duty, at all adequately, of directing the ship’s course and progress. + +From time immemorial, therefore, the captains of whalers, or other acting +officers, have always been wont to take their station occasionally, and +when necessity required, at the mast-head, or rather on the main top-mast +“cross-trees.” For the benefit of a little shelter from the piercing +breezes in this exposed situation, some ships were provided with a canvas +screen of about three and a half or four feet in height, passed round the +sides and fore-part of the top-gallant rigging, from the top-mast +cross-trees upward. This, with a sort of wooden rail for a seat, extending +betwixt the aftermost shrouds of the top-gallant rigging, afforded the +_best crow’s nest_ hitherto made use of; a shelter tolerably effective when +the ship was sailing by or near the wind, but altogether useless when going +with the wind abaft the beam. It was not very safe either, as accidents +from sleepiness, or the giving way of the very inadequate seat, sometimes +happened. Besides, when top-gallant sails were set, this contrivance was +all but useless. But a far inferior sort of protection than this was in +frequent or ordinary use at the time of my first experience in the Arctic +seas. For years, I remember, we had nothing more for sheltering behind but +bits of canvas on either side of the top-gallant rigging and round the +top-mast head, without anything in front; and in some voyages still +less,—a slip of canvas bound round the head of the top-mast and heel of +the top-gallant mast, spreading some eighteen inches to two feet wide, and +perhaps three and a half feet high, being all that the poor officer had to +shield him from the most penetrating severity of the Arctic winds. Often +have I myself sat, when a little boy, by the side of my Father for hours at +a time, in this wretchedly exposed position, shivering with cold generally, +and with hands and feet frequently in severe pain, whilst he habituated me +in his superior practice of navigating amid dangerous ices. + +The consequences of this deficiency of protection were,—that the proper +navigation of the ship was often neglected, the discovery of many whales +sufficiently within view from thence was prevented, and the success of the +adventure was much restricted. + +The greatest boon, therefore, of modern times, ever given to the Arctic +navigator, it may be safely, I think, said, was my Father’s invention of +the _round top-gallant crow’s nest_. It was in May, 1807, I believe, in +which the first of these was built. It was placed, in the first instance, +at the top-mast head, but ultimately, when the invention became perfected, +it was perched, like a rostrum, on the head of the main top-gallant mast, +with nothing whatever above. + +This structure, as most approved by the inventor, is about four and a half +feet in height and two and a half in diameter. The form is cylindrical, +open above and closed below. The frame-work of the cylindrical part is +covered with leather or canvas. The entrance is by a trap-hatch at the +bottom. Arrangements are made for the depositing (sheltered from the +weather) of various pieces of useful apparatus, such as speaking-trumpet, +telescope, signal-flag, perhaps a rifle for shooting narwals, compass, etc. +For the more effectual shelter of the observer when standing up, a moveable +screen, two or three feet wide and adding a foot to the elevation, is +placed on the windward side, and shifted whenever the ship is tacked, or +the course materially changed. + +The protection thus obtained from the chilling action of the wind is most +perfect. Not a breath of air stirs within this elevated rostrum. The +observer has free use of all his limbs, and, being safe from the +possibility of falling, has nothing to disturb him in giving his entire +attention to the navigation of the ship and the look-out for whales. Being +perched, too, on the most elevated part of the mast, there is nothing to +interfere with his view of the whole area of the circle of vision, having, +in clear weather, a diameter of twenty to twenty-two geographical miles. So +supported, and so effectually protected, with the means of sitting, and +space for moving about when standing, there is no particular hardship, in +tolerable weather, in remaining at the mast-head for some hours together. +Often has this elevated position been occupied by my Father, (and often by +myself, too,) during ten or twelve hours, and sometimes fourteen hours or +more, within the twenty-four. + +This invention has not only added unspeakably to the comfort and security +of the officer at the mast-head, but has, no doubt, contributed greatly +both to the safety of ships navigating the Arctic ices, and, in respect of +its position for “a good look-out,” in no inconsiderable degree to the +prosperity of their adventures. + +The attainment of this position during storm and snow, or when the rigging, +as not unfrequently happens, is covered with glassy ice, is the chief +matter of discomfort, difficulty, and risk. The frigid northerly blast +feels as if blowing quite through and through you. The ascent, by the +ordinary rigging and ratlings, conducts you to about three-fourths of the +elevation of the top-mast; you then step into midships, upon a series of +battens extending betwixt the top-mast backstays; and, finally, when +approaching the cross-trees, you proceed up a vertically stretched ladder +of ropes and battens,—ropes on the sides, and battens as steps,—until you +make lodgment within the crow’s nest by the trap-hatch, which, being then +put down, forms a part of the close and secure platform. + + +SECTION V.—_Extraordinary Celerity in preparing an empty Boat for active +Service in the Fishery._ + +In the celerity with which he accomplished complex or tedious operations +pertaining to seamanship or the whale-fishery, my Father stood quite +unrivalled. We have elucidated this characteristic in a former section, in +respect to the flensing of a young whale with extraordinary rapidity, and +we now adduce another example of a more incidental nature. + +During the outward passage towards the fishing-stations, the boats, +designed for the fishery, are carried out in an entirely dismantled +state,—some being stowed away upon deck, and some, perhaps, below. On +reaching the ice it is usual to suspend a couple of boats, or more, by +their davits, at the quarters of the ship, to be ready for sealing, or any +occasional purpose. But the whale-lines and other fishing apparatus are not +wont to be put into them until the ship reaches, or approaches near to, +some of the accustomed fishing-stations. + +The boats of the Resolution were in this second condition on the 11th of +April, 1808, when the ship, in her progress northward, had reached the 71st +degree of latitude,—a parallel in which whales were not expected to be met +with. It happened, however, on the occasion alluded to, (as I find it noted +in my log-book, kept at the time,) that a whale made its appearance very +near to the ship. It was in the morning, early, whilst my Father was yet in +bed; but he was not called, because, in the unprepared condition of the +boats, the officer of the watch, and indeed all the people on deck, +considered the pursuit of it to be utterly impracticable. + +My Father, however, as little trammelled in judgment by ordinary usages as +he was in the habit of being guided by popular ideas of the limits of +practicability, was much annoyed by the officer’s assumption, which had +prevented his being called. “It was no use disturbing you,” the officer +pleaded, “as there was not a boat in readiness for the fishery.” “But a +boat might have been got ready,” was the confidently asserted rebuke. That +this could have been done, however, within the short period of time in +which a solitary whale might be expected to remain within sight, seemed to +the officers as utterly impossible; for whilst a whale, under such +circumstances, would seldom be found to remain within sight for half an +hour, the preparing of the boats with lines, harpoons, and other requisites +for the fishery, would, as they conceived, occupy several hours. + +My Father maintained, however, the practicability of a boat being fitted +out, in a manner sufficient for efficiency, in the course of a quarter of +an hour; and, when the idea was unhesitatingly objected to as an +_impossibility_, he undertook to prove his assertion. A boat then hanging +at the larboard quarter, empty, except as to oars, he selected for an +experiment, and undertook, with the help only of the watch upon +deck,—about sixteen hands,—to have that boat ready for active service +within the space of fifteen minutes. + +To the due apprehending of this unprecedented undertaking, it will be +proper to describe what is ordinarily deemed needful for fitting out a boat +for the harpooning and capturing of the whale. The loose furniture of oars, +harpoons, lances, etc., present no particular difficulty; but the supplying +of an adequate quantity of lines, and placing them in a condition for being +safely run out, is, as ordinarily practised, a long and tedious operation. +The lines, it may be mentioned, are taken on board from their winter +storehouse, in coils made up by the ropemaker, in the shape of a short +drum, each coil weighing a little more than a hundred-weight, and measuring +120 fathoms in length. They are so coiled, in regular layers, commencing +with that of the slender square or cylindrical centre on which they are +wound, that they may be either unwound, by reversing the original motion +of the coil from the exterior, or by taking up the inner end left loose in +the open centre, the line may be drawn out thence whilst the coil remains +at rest. For the lodgment of the lines, when deliberately preparing for the +fishery, they are _unrolled_ from the cylindrical mass, and coiled in +compartments in the boats as they come off; but as this could not be done +under a period of some hours, the running of the lines out of the centre of +the coils was the plan alone available for my Father’s object. + +Whilst every article of the requisite apparatus was yet in the place of its +ordinary lodgment,—harpoons and lances being in the places appropriated +for them in the ’tween decks, and whale-lines in the gunroom,—the time for +commencing was noted, and my Father proceeded, as I very well recollect +witnessing, to the proof of this new feat of activity and management. + +To the several hands of the “watch,” now gathered round him, was distinctly +apportioned his part of the undertaking; first of all in bringing promptly +on deck the requisite quantity of whale-lines and fishing apparatus, and +then in placing them fit for service. Several lines (I think about four in +number) were stowed away in different compartments of the boat, with the +interior cavity of each upward. The inner end of the line of one of the +coils, in the most favourable position for running, was rapidly “spliced” +to the “foreganger” of the harpoon by my Father, whilst the officers about +him were set to the splicing properly together of the alternate outside end +of one coil with the inner end of another, so as to constitute an +appropriate running series. Everything being accomplished, and the boat got +ready for lowering, the time was again noted, when, to the astonishment of +all on board, the interval expended was found only to have been _twelve_ +minutes! + +The rebuke of the officer of the morning watch, thus experimentally +justified, occasioned, very naturally, a desire to question, if questioning +could in any one particular be maintained, the effectiveness or safety of +the preparations thus hastily made. And it _was_ questioned whether lines +so disposed, for being run off the ropemaker’s coils, would be safe to +trust to their running clear in the case of actual service. This matter was +soon settled by a most satisfactory experiment. As a whale when harpooned +does not go faster away than a man can run, it was proposed to run off the +whole of the lines out of the boat by hand, in order to prove that the +arrangements that had been made were adequate, both for ordinary service +and safety. + +The decks were forthwith cleared, fore and aft, and the men arranged to run +with the line, from the boat to the forecastle, in unceasing succession,—a +service which they performed, after the word was given to start, with a +hearty goodwill and their utmost activity; and the experiment was admirably +successful. The whole of the lines went out of the boat, by the usual +notch over the stem, without hitch or failure of the slightest kind +interrupting their free progress from beginning to end! + + +SECTION VI.—_Tact and Bravery in attacking and killing a +dangerously-resisting Whale._ + +It was no uncommon event for my Father, in case of any difficult or +dangerous enterprise in the fishery, to take part himself in the adventure. +The special case now referred to will illustrate at once his practice and +talent. + +On the 29th of May, 1807, a whale was harpooned by one of our officers. It +descended to some considerable depth, but speedily returned. On its +reappearance, it evinced an uncommon degree of irritation. Its motions, +whilst making but little progress a-head, were vehement and +incessant,—rolling itself quite over, or, in an oscillating manner, from +side to side; throwing its huge tail into the air, or flinging it with +fearful impulse right and left, and so keeping the surface of the sea +around it in perpetual commotion and foam. The display of its fins and tail +was so terrific and dangerous, that few of those in command of our boats +were hardy enough to approach it. But, under this violent action of the +fish, and the inaction of our men, the risk of losing the hoped-for prize +became imminent. This being evident to my Father, who, with discerning and +watchful eye, had all along been viewing from the mast-head, with intense +anxiety, the exciting scene with his glass,—he made the signal, and in a +manner indicative of urgent haste, for one of the boats to come to the +ship. In brief space,—the fish not being far distant,—he had personally +embarked on his dangerous enterprise. + +On reaching the scene of action, where the wounded monster was still +exerting its excited energies in aiming blows at any approaching boats, or +thrashing the sea into a foam,—our accomplished whale-hunter quietly +assumed a station, in parallelism, nearly, with the direction of the +animal’s extended length, and within a few fathoms of its broadside. The +boat-steerer,—as the custom is,—he guided by the motion of his hand; but +the boat’s crew, being previously urged to exert a tremendous spring on +their oars when he should decide on making his attack, were to await his +verbal command. + +A favourable pause, succeeding a terrific display of action and power, had +been watchfully discerned by my Father, when, giving the signal to the +boat-steerer to sheer towards the fish, and, simultaneously, the emphatic +order to the men,—“Give way, my lads; give way!”—he was in a moment +placed within reach; and then, at long arm’s length, whilst leaning over +the boat’s bow for distance’ sake, he plunged his well-sharpened harpoon +deep into the writhing creature’s side. Its usual vengeance-slash of its +tail was made harmlessly; for the order to “back off,” had been so +instantly and effectively obeyed, that the boat was beyond reach before +this ponderous engine of motion or destruction could be thrown out. + +Rebuked, in a measure, by this daring attack of their commander, as well as +encouraged and stimulated by its success, one of the hitherto hesitating +boats immediately followed for a similar object; but the officer commanding +it, not having the same tact, advanced incautiously, at an unfavourable +moment, and too far within the range of the enemy’s destructive members, as +to subject himself and comrades to a formidable peril. The tail of the fish +was again reared into the air, in a terrific attitude over the boat. The +harponeer, who was directly underneath, happily discovered his danger, and +leaped overboard; and the next moment the threatened stroke was impressed +with tremendous force upon the centre of the boat, which literally buried +it in the water! + +Providentially, no one was hurt. The officer who leaped overboard, escaped +certain death by the prompt adventure. The huge tail (a member measuring +perhaps twenty feet in width, extending to a superficial area of about +eighty square feet, and weighing from one to two tons), struck the very +spot on which he had previously stood. The effects of the blow on the boat +were extraordinary. The keel was broken; the gunwale, and all the planks, +except two, were cut through; and it was evident that the boat would have +been completely divided, had not the tail struck directly upon a deep coil +of the whale-lines. The crew, succoured by the various boats lying around, +were all speedily picked up; but the boat was so thoroughly smashed as to +be rendered useless. + +This alarming discouragement, with the crippling of their strength and +resources by the destruction of one boat and the withdrawal of another for +the conveyance to the ship of the drenched and shivering sailors, threw the +principal burden of the exploit of capture on my Father. For though other +harpoons, after some minor adventures, were struck, the actual killing of +this leviathan of its tribe was effected by himself. + +Contrary to the usual habits of the Greenland whale, this individual, +instead of occasionally seeking the depths of ocean for its protection, +especially on receiving a fresh and painful wound, remained mainly at the +surface. Its natural energies, but yet little acted on by the exhausting +influence of the _pressure_ of water, were consequently very little +impaired; for the superficial wounds of harpoons produce no immediate +effect upon life. + +Hence, the operation of lancing was yet to be effected, before there could +be any chance of subduing the still existing dangerous vigour. My Father, +as was his wont, proceeded next to this venturous undertaking. Again he +plants his boat in parallelism of position with that of his gigantic game. +Full of ardour and confidence in their leader, his boat’s crew are ready +for any effort or adventure which the daring or activity of man may +accomplish. The proper moment for the attack is waited for, and, when +seen, instantly improved. The boat, as a thing of life, springs, at his +signal, towards the side of the whale. The Commander’s long lance—six feet +in the iron, and four feet in the handle—is darted, at arm’s length, into +the writhing carcass, up to the very socket; and, before the fling of fins +or tail can reach, he has recovered a safe distance. The effect of the +wound in the vitals is speedily seen. The previous white steamy vapour +ejected from the lungs has become tinged with red; and nature’s powers, as +experience indicates, must soon decay. Convulsive action in the monster, as +stimulated by this inward stab, being at length suspended, the favourable +moment is again improved. Another lance,—darted in as quickly as the +stroke of the tiger’s paw,—penetrates, for the second time, the vast +viscera of the whale; whilst the active agents of the attack escape, as +before, unscathed. The deadly thrust is quickly repeated; and, as the +capability of exerting instant violence is diminished, the deeply stricken +lance is worked actively up and down whilst still within, so that every +movement effects an additional wound, and the work of death is the more +speedily and mercifully promoted. Thick jets of blood now issue from the +blow-holes, and the sea, through the wide space of disturbed waters, is +tinged by the overflowing streams; whilst boats, oars, and men, are thickly +sprinkled with the sanguinous dye. Lanced, now, on both sides at once, with +these formidable instruments of destruction, the dangerous energies of +this vast animal become soon overpowered, and it now yields itself +passively to its inevitable fate. One effort alone remains. The instinctive +impulse or spasm of expiring vitality,—like the brilliant gleam or +coruscation of the expiring taper, is expended in a series of tremendous +death-throes. The writhing body of the giant captive is now thrown into +strangely powerful action; fins and tail play with terrific violence, +tossing up huge waves, and dashing the sea, for a considerable circle +round, into foam. The prudent fishermen push off to a safe distance, and, +looking on with the solemnised impression of a spectacle at once wonderful +and sublime, leave the convulsions of expiring nature to expend themselves. +The vital energies are exhausted; the huge carcass, so recently perilous in +the energies of life, rolls, by the gravitating tendency of its formation, +on one side, and slowly the helpless fin rises to the surface of the water, +and inherent power of motion ceases for ever! Three hearty cheers from all +hands engaged in the capture, with the waving and “striking” of the “jacks” +displayed in the boats from which harpoons had been struck, announce to the +ship the happy issue of the conflict; from whence, in turn, similar +exulting cheers are heard loudly responding.[J] + +We have remarked, in a foregoing chapter, on the economy in Providence, by +which the fiercest quadrupeds, under human tact and intelligence, become +subdued and tractable. Here, again, we are led to reflect on the economy +manifest in respect to the _hugest_ of the animal creation, whether on +earth or in the ocean, whereby all become subject to man, either for +advantageous employment, as to their living energies, or for purposes of +utility as to the produce of their dead carcasses. + +The capture of the whale by man, when their relative proportions, as to +physical power and mass, are considered, is a result truly wonderful. An +animal of a thousand times the bulk of man, with a corresponding +superiority in strength, inhabiting an element in which man cannot exist, +and diving to depths where no other creature can follow, with the +capabilities, too, of abiding there for an hour together, is attacked by +man on its own ground, not only in the tranquil Pacific, but in the +boisterous north-western seas; not only in the open seas of the tropics, +but amid ice-bound regions around the pole; and in each region is +constrained to yield its life to his attacks, and its carcass a tribute to +his marvellous enterprise. + +Why this result, with such disproportionate physical powers in conflict, +should not only take place, but prevalently follow the attack, is +satisfactorily explained on the simple principle of the Divine enactment. +It was the appointment of the Creator that it should be so. And this, +besides what we have already quoted from the sacred records of creation, we +have again, by the inspired Psalmist and elsewhere, declared. Hence, as to +the fact of the dominion of man over the inferior creation, Divinely +yielded, we have the authority of this adoring appeal of God’s inspired +servant:—“What is man, that thou art mindful of him!” “Thou madest him to +have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under +his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of +the air, and the fish of the sea, and _whatsoever passeth through the paths +of the sea_. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the +earth!”—Psalm viii. 6-8. No doubt this striking psalm has direct reference +to the world’s Great and Divine Redeemer; but what herein is true of the +“Son of Man,” is also, in respect to the consideration of the Almighty for +man and his appointed dominion, true of men as a species. And so it +follows, that the monsters of the deep, as well as the wild beasts of the +earth, yield to this law of creation, that man should have the dominant +power! + + * * * * * + +The whale, thus adventurously subdued, proved a large one of its kind, and +a very valuable prize. Its special dimensions and produce, though not +noted, may be very proximately gathered from the record (always made in the +whaler’s journals) which we have of the length of the largest of the laminæ +of whalebone, viz. 11 feet 9 inches. According to the general averages, as +given in the “Account of the Arctic Regions,” (vol. i. pp. 449-478,) this +specimen would be about 56 feet in length, and must have yielded about 20 +tuns of oil, with about 22 cwt. of whalebone. The value of the capture (oil +being _very low_ in price at the time) was about 500_l._; but the same +capture, in the years 1801, 1813, or 1817, when prices were _high_, would +have been worth no less than 1000_l._ to 1100_l._ + + +SECTION VII.—_Remarkable Enterprise.—The nearest Approach to the North +Pole._ + +The adventurous attempt to reach the _North Pole_, like that of the +“North-west Passage,” may be considered as an enterprise peculiarly +British. Of six voyages expressly undertaken for this object, up to the +time, and inclusive of, Captain Buchan’s, in 1818, there was no advance +beyond the 81st parallel. The highest latitude reached was by Captain +Phipps, in 1773, who advanced to 80° 48′. Captain Buchan’s farthest was +about 80° 34′. And up to the present day we have no account which can be +fully relied upon of any ship, discovery ship or whaler, having approached +within forty geographical miles of the high northern latitude reached by my +Father in the year 1806. + +The Honourable Daines Barrington, indeed, in his discussion of the question +of the “Probability of Reaching the North Pole,” adduces a great variety +of instances of the advance of whalers to far higher positions of northern +latitude; but for the reasons stated in the “Account of the Arctic +Regions,” (vol. i. p. 42,) I consider the authorities from which Mr. +Barrington derived his information as not satisfactory. As to the +defectiveness in authority of _mere recollections_, or even of the notes of +ordinary observers, in respect of adventures of this kind, I have a curious +example in the “Account of a Voyage to Spitzbergen,” by a Greenland +Surgeon, who sailed in the Resolution professionally, on the very voyage on +which my Father made his greatest advance northward. The author, in respect +to this advance, thus states from his journal:—“May 28. Latitude by +observation 81° 50′. Sea almost clear of ice, with a great swell; weather +serene. Had our object been the making of discoveries, there was not +_apparently_ anything to have prevented us from going a good way farther to +the north; at least we did not perceive any large fields of ice in that +direction.” + +Now this is mainly erroneous. Instead of 81° 50′, the highest latitude +_observed_ was only 81° 12′ 42″, and the statements as to the nature and +position of the ice, are equally diverse from what those circumstances +actually were. + + * * * * * + +My Father’s notable enterprise in the attainment, probably, of the highest +latitude that had ever been reached by man was made in the ship Resolution, +in the voyage of 1806. Occupying, young as I was, the responsible office +of chief-mate in the ship, I have the records of the adventure preserved in +my journal in all their essential or important details. + +The entrance into the ordinary fishing-stations on the western side of +Spitzbergen was, on this occasion, occupied by ice of extraordinary breadth +and compactness. We entered it on the 28th of April, in the latitude of 76° +N., and, pressing northward at every available opening, we reached the +latitude of 77° on the 7th of May. Several ships were then in sight. On the +10th, a gale setting in from the S.E., we were enabled to make considerable +progress through the encumbering ice, and soon left all our associate +whalers fairly out of sight; and from that time until the 19th of June +(after we had retraced much of our progress southward) we never saw a sail. + +Up to the 13th of May, indeed, there was nothing unusual, as to the +practice of my Father, in the nature of the adventure. But on that day, +being in latitude about 78° 46′, within sight of Charles Island, on the +western coast of Spitzbergen, he entered upon a new and apparently +dangerous enterprise,—the attempt to find, whilst the sea was apparently +_filled_ with ice, in this high latitude, a navigable sea still nearer the +Pole. + +The ice around was singularly compact, and, to ordinary apprehension, +impenetrable. Northward of us it consisted, as far as our view extended, of +scattered masses of heavy drift-ice, closely cemented into a compact body +by recently formed _bay-ice_. To attempt a passage herein, if such were +possible, must, in any case, be a most difficult and laborious undertaking; +but if the compact body were entered, and not successfully penetrated and +passed beyond, it might involve a risk, which a considerable fleet actually +fell into, of the loss of the fishing season by a helpless besetment. There +were indications, however, which my Father’s experienced eye alone +discerned,—of open water to the northward. The bright reflection of the +snow-covered ices in the sky, constituting the phenomenon of the “ice +blink,” most certainly pointed out the continuous encumbering of the +navigation for a considerable way in advance; but, when elevated to the +very top of the mast, he could perceive a bluish grey streak _below_ the +ice-blink, parallel to and skirting the horizon, which he deemed a sure +indication of “clear water,” _beyond_ the proximate “pack.” Yet this grey +reflection, or “water-sky,” might not be of any great extent? It might +arise from a transient vein of water capable of being obliterated on the +first change of wind? Were such the nature of the opening, it might prove, +even if reached, the more dangerous trap, as its position was more advanced +northward? + +These considerations, of very serious import, were settled, happily, by +another sign which the watchful navigator got sight of. He discerned, for +short intervals, occasionally, a very slight motion, as he conceived, of +the water in contact with some of the large lumps of ice near the ship. +His careful scrutiny of the masses, under an anxiously watchful eye, at +length assured him that there _was_ a movement. Experience then certified +that the movement could only arise from a _swell_, and that the swell must +proceed either from the main ocean, southward, or else from some immense +interglacial lake, or what is technically called “a sea of water,” +northward. That it _did not_ come from the southern ocean, the distance to +which he had penetrated, and the unmixed brightness of the ice-blink in +each of the southern quarters, convinced him; and that it _did_ come from +the northward he was able to satisfy himself, by carefully observing the +points or places on the masses of ice where the alteration of level in the +water was the greatest; for this scrutiny sufficed to show, that the axial +position of the ice, which the motion pointed out, was in strict +parallelism with a wave coming directly from the place of the “water-sky” +to the northward. + +Encouraged by these indications, he determined on leaving a position +recently attained, where the ship had some little room, and pushing, at all +risks, into the formidable body of consolidated ices still beyond him. This +arduous and adventurous purpose was commenced on the 13th of May, with a +moderate breeze (favourable to our advance) from the south-west. Little +progress was, indeed, then made; but laborious perseverance, rendered +effective by a consummate application of all the means and resources +available for our furtherance, ultimately yielded the desired, and I might +add, deserved success. During five successive days, a series of labours +were carried on of the most energetic and persevering description. The +transit through the intervening ice,—which consisted, as we have +intimated, of extensive sheets of bay-ice, with heavy lumps and masses +consolidated therein,—was urged by all the variety of aids that were known +to be applicable. These aids, beyond the available force of occasional +favourable winds, consisted in the cutting of tracks or channels with +ice-saws, where the thickness was too great to be broken, or, where +thinner, in breaking the ice under the bows by boats suspended beneath the +bowsprit, whilst their crews rolled them violently, from side to side, as +in “sallying;” in making canals, by well-laden boats being run across +extensive planes of ice, where their weight, with that of their crews, +might be sufficient to break the resisting surface; in “warping” through +encumbered channels, or amid lumps of more ponderous ices; in “towing” with +boats, or “tracking” by men on the ice, during calms, along any clear +channels of water which might have been opened out a-head; and, finally, by +_sallying the ship_, in aid of any of these resources, for widening the +space in which she floated, so as to leave her free to move, where room +might exist in advance. And here, I think it due to my Father to notice, in +regard to the sallying of the ship,—an oscillating or rolling motion +accomplished by the running of the crew, simultaneously, from side to side +across the deck,—that the application of this most important auxiliary +process was original with him, and, as far as I can remember, _now_ for the +first time employed. It is a process, I may add, which has subsequently +been adopted by fishermen and discoverers in general, as a mean which may +often be made effective when, _under all other means_ for the promotion of +progress, the wedged-up or ice-bound ship has become utterly immoveable. + +The manner in which these various operations were carried on was laborious +in an extreme degree. Whilst the crew were allowed but limited and distant +periods for rest, my Father’s exertions were such as, except under the +pressure of circumstances involving the alternative of life or death, I +think I never saw equalled. Not only was he always at his post directing, +instructing, stimulating his men when progress was being made or attempted, +but often looking out when the hands in general slept, or continuing his +superintending toils, watch after watch, when portions of the crew had, +alternately, their intervals of rest. In that severe service, indeed, few +men could have so persevered. An extraordinary vigour and strength of +constitution enabled him to accomplish, in labours of this kind, for which +he had so high capabilities, what most men would have broken down in +attempting. + +His exertions and talents, as we have indeed anticipated, had their due +recompense in the most successful results of the enterprise. After passing +an icy barrier of extraordinary tenaceousness and compactness, as well as +of formidable extent, we reached a region, in the 80th parallel, of +incomparably greater openness than we could have anticipated,—“a sea of +water,”—to which we could see no bounds, but the ice we had passed through +on the south side, and the land to the eastward. + +Under a brisk gale of wind and with fine clear weather, we were enabled +rapidly to explore through a considerable portion of its extent, the +immense interglacial sea upon which we had entered. It was found to stretch +east and west, or E.N.E. and W.S.W. more nearly, to an extraordinary +extent, and to be bounded to the northward as well as to the southward by +packed ice of undeterminable extent,—the two bodies of ice being ten to +twenty leagues apart. And within this vast opening, though not till after +the northern and southern ices had closed together and joined to the +westward, we made the principal part of our fishery. + +On the 28th of May, being in latitude 80° 8′, we killed our first whale; +and within the next fortnight, and near the same position, sixteen others +yielded their lives to our harpoons and lances. On the 29th of June, only +two-and-thirty days from the time of our first capture, we completed our +cargo, being “a full ship,” with the produce of twenty-four whales, one +narwal, two seals, two walruses, and two bears. This cargo, by far the +largest, I believe, of the season, yielded 216 tuns of oil, and almost +eleven tons of whalebone. The fishery, in consequence of the peculiar +position of the ice, and the unusual inaccessibility of the best fishing +stations, proved generally bad. Judging from the returns in my possession, +comprising the successes of twenty-four of the Greenland whalers of that +year, I should calculate the general average at about fifty tuns of oil per +ship, or less than one-fourth of the Resolution’s cargo. The united cargoes +of nine ships, out of eighteen, from one port (taking, of course, the worst +fished ships), exceeded only by a few tuns the single cargo which resulted +from the singular enterprise of my Father. + + * * * * * + +But we return to the grand exploration of a region which, as far as +conclusive records go, has not, before or since, ever been _navigated_. + +In the first instance, after our arrival in this vast northern opening of +the ice, we proceeded to the westward, and, finding no whales, tacked, when +we had reached the longitude of about 8° W., in the parallel of 79° 30′ N. +We then stretched to the northward and eastward, proceeding, generally, +near to or within sight of the northern “pack,” for a distance of above 300 +miles,—a direct uninterrupted progress in this high latitude quite +unparalleled. On the 23d-24th, at midnight, an altitude of the sun, below +the Pole, carefully taken with a fifteen-inch sextant by Ramsden, gave the +latitude 81° 12′ 42″. We continued our progress until (early the following +morning) we had reached the longitude of 19° E., when our latitude, as +estimated from the recent observation, was 81° 30′ N. This was our farthest +advance northward, in which we had gained a position within about 510 miles +of the Pole! Even then, the navigation was still quite open to the E.N.E., +(true) and from that point round to the S.E.; so open, that, as we could +certainly gather from the appearance of the sky, we could have easily +advanced many many leagues farther in the direction we had so extensively +pursued. + +Our situation, at our farthest advance, was singular and solitary indeed. +No ship, no human being, it was believed, was within 300 or 350 miles of +us. Unquestionably, the crew of the Resolution now occupied the most +northern position of any individuals in the world! The sea began to freeze +and threatened our detention. We had made no progress in the fishery, nor +could we find any whales. The seamen began to be anxious, fearful, and +troublesome, so that abundant considerations urged our return to the +westward, where, as has been shown, our commercial enterprise became so +signally successful. + +The accuracy of the determinations for the latitude we have stated, was +variously verified during our progress both ways. Thus, going +north-eastward, we observed, May 23d, at noon, in lat. 80° 50′ 28″; at next +midnight, as we have noted, in 81° 12′ 42″. At the succeeding noon, after +above eight hours sailing on our return, we again observed in 81° 1′ 53″; +and, still running south-westerly, we sighted at 8 P.M. of the same day +Hackluyt’s Headland, some forty miles still to the southward of our +position. + +We have spoken of this adventure as reaching to the highest latitude ever +attained, as far as we have conclusive records, _by sailing_. Captain +Parry, in his Polar attempt of 1827, indeed, went beyond my Father’s +greatest attainment a distance of seventy or eighty miles; but this advance +was wholly gained by travelling across the ice. For with all the advantage +of a later period in the summer, and the penetration of the loose ice by +boats, the _travelling_ had to be commenced on attaining the latitude of +81° 13′. + +In referring to this attempt, one can hardly refrain from expressing regret +at the success of an expedition so energetically pursued being marred by +circumstances which, under better arrangements, might have been avoided. +For had the plan as originally suggested, about twelve years before this +adventure, been acted on, I have no hesitation in affirming, that _a far +greater advance_ northward, if not complete success, must have attended the +daring enterprise. It falls not, indeed, within the object of the present +Memorials to take up again a question which is discussed in detail in a +communication of mine to the “Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,” and +published in the number for July 1828; but it may suffice to say, that the +opinion offered just above has now the sanction of the gallant conductor +of the enterprise himself, who, in a letter published by the late Sir John +Barrow, in his volume of “Arctic Voyages” (p. 313) states, that “he +believes it to be an object of no very difficult attainment, if set about +in a different manner.” And, it may be added, a plan for that adventure is +given in the letter now quoted, substantially embodying the characteristic +points of my original scheme,[K] and, indeed, in no essential particular, +except the suggestion for spending the previous winter at Spitzbergen, +differing from it. + +Under such support in the idea, from one of the best authorities amongst +those experimentally acquainted with the difficulties of the undertaking, I +am led, not only to an increased conviction of the practicability of the +enterprise, but to the entertaining of the belief, that the triumph is yet +in store for the daring and adventurous nation + + “Whose _flag_ has braved a thousand years, + The battle and the breeze;” + +when + + “The meteor flag of England” + +shall wave upon the axial point of the world at the Northern Pole! + + +SECTION VIII.—_Devotional Habits, at Sea and on Shore._ + +At this period of my Father’s life, his religious views and habits had +become matter of personal notice, and observation with myself,—so as, in +certain respects, to enable me to speak of them from distinct +recollections. + +He always spoke of religion with reverence, and manifested a particular +regard for the institution of the Sabbath. He was strongly attached to the +Church, and attended its public services with most reverential and +undeviating regularity. In theological views, he inclined to those of the +Rev. John Wesley, of whose character and principles he was a great admirer. +Holding the system of that eminent servant of Christ as auxiliary to the +Church,—he became much attached to it, so that, for a considerable extent +of his life, whilst by profession a churchman, he was commonly the holder +of a pew in the old Wesleyan Chapel at Whitby, and, on the Sunday evenings +(after the services of the Church had closed) was a constant attendant, not +unfrequently being accompanied by some members of his family, at the +religious services conducted there. + +This feeling and habit brought him into personal intimacy with the leading +Wesleyans resident at Whitby, and into friendly intercourse with the +officiating ministers of that body—to whom he always evinced pleasure in +showing kindness and hospitality. + +It was in this connection that he made the acquaintance, and obtained the +friendship, of the late talented Mr. Drew, to whose brief memoir, published +in the “Imperial Magazine,” which he edited, I have been indebted for +several particulars in my Father’s early life, not elsewhere to be found. + +His attachment to the Wesleyans, indeed, had a further expression than that +of often joining in their devotional services, and having much friendly +intercourse with their members; for it extended to several instances of +substantial good-will in the form of liberal contributions, as well as in +loans of money in aid of their chapels. + +My Father’s distinctive regard for religion, and religious ordinances, was +still further indicated by several circumstances which I had the +opportunity of noticing as prevalent with him when at sea. Among these +stand prominently in my recollection, the habit of having Divine service +performed on the Lord’s-day, whilst I accompanied him during his command of +the Resolution of Whitby. On these occasions, the crew, summoned by the +tolling of the ship’s bell, were assembled in the cabin, where my Father +conducted the service according to the form comprised in the Liturgy of the +Church, and afterwards (for some voyages at least,) read portions, such as +he deemed suitable, from some devotional book, or latterly, with my +assistance as I advanced in years and experience, from a collection of +plain, practical, and valuable sermons, which had been presented to me, +for the purpose, by that amiable and eminent servant of Christ, the Rev. T. +Dikes of Hull. + +In addition to these devotional habits, may be noted, his habitual reliance +on the guidance and protection of Divine Providence. This was variously +indicated; not only by the use of pious expressions, which he was heard to +utter when he was about adventuring on some perilous enterprise, or when he +had been enabled safely to wend his adventurous way out of imminent +dangers, but in respect to a habit, which he suggested to me, as fitting to +be copied, of commencing his sea-journal with an appropriate prayer, +supplicatory of the Divine guidance and protection, and of inserting at the +conclusion of a successful fishery, a fitting collect of thanksgiving. The +insertion of the latter, in a foregoing section, may claim the addition +here of the form, as modified out of a collect in the Liturgy, for the +former, which I find uniformly inserted in many of my own +journals:—“Assist us mercifully, O Lord, in this our intended voyage, and +make it profitable to us, particularly by disposing us towards the +attainment of Thy everlasting salvation; that, among all the changes and +chances of this mortal life, we may ever be defended by Thy most gracious +and ready help, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.” + +The journal from which this form is quoted comprises, too, a poetic attempt +by my Father,—an acrostic on my own name,—strikingly characterised by +sentiments of devotion, humiliation, and adoration. + +Another practice, which he prevalently pursued when at sea, in addition to +the religious exercises already noted, was that of devotional reading when +in bed. I refer to this particularly, not only because it was a practice +that I had constant opportunities of observing, but because of the +admirable contrivance (applicable, I think, to the condition of many +invalids,) adopted for rendering this exercise and recreation convenient +and agreeable without the labour of holding the book, or the prevalent +exposure of the hands to the cold and often freezing temperature of his +“state-room.” + +The contrivance consisted in an open deal frame, about eighteen inches by +twelve inside, like a light flat picture-frame when empty, which, in my +Father’s case, was fixed by hinges to the bulkhead forming the inner side +of his bed, so as to be turned up, flat against the side, when not in use. +Being hung on an oblique plane, it became, when let down for reading, +parallel to the position of the reader with his head, face upward, lying on +a pillow. The distance from the face was adjusted to his own reading focus; +but could easily be altered by different loops on the string or wire, by +which the end opposite to that affixed by hinges was supported from the +planking of the deck, or ceiling, overhead. + +The book designed to be used was laid, with the open pages downward, upon +the interior of the frame, where it was supported by three parallel wires, +the side wires receiving the margins of the book, and the centre wire the +middle. These wires for the adjustment of distance were made to slide, by +loops at their ends, upon two other strong wires attached longitudinally to +the interior of the frame, so that the wires could be readily adapted for a +book of any size, from a large quarto down to the smallest volume. + + * * * * * + +The condition of my Father’s mind, in reference to this all-important +subject, I find particularly indicated in two of his letters, fortunately +preserved, which were written to me at the period embraced by the present +chapter, whilst, as a youth, I was attending the scientific lectures of the +University of Edinburgh.[L] I select, with slight verbal correction, two or +three passages:— + +“It is a great pleasure to us to learn that you know the value of time +which you have so nicely divided to suit the lectures, etc.; but, at the +same time, beg leave to say, that we think you have made a mistake when you +say, ‘I intend, if all’s well, to go to Mr. Wood’s on Sunday, as, on that +day, I have no lectures to attend.’ My dear son, I know it is too much the +custom to visit and take our pleasure on the Sabbath-day, which ought to be +strictly observed, as the wise Author of all things has appointed. He has +appointed one day in seven to Himself, that we may rejoice therein and +serve Him, as he has commanded us in the Holy Scriptures, desiring us +therein to search for wisdom, (as Solomon sought, and was blessed with +riches and honour,) which your Bible, and _Sunday Lectures_, and your own +prayers offered up to God, will procure for you, and He will yield His +peace which passeth all understanding. We are very poorly off indeed if +there be no better things in store for us than those of this world, which, +compared to spiritual things, are all vanity and vexation of spirit.” + +After a very gratifying notice of my “steady conduct,” followed by some +judicious paternal counsel and warnings, the section of the letter now +quoted thus concludes:—“Hearken to the advice of a Father, and walk in the +_laws_ of the _Lord_, which you will find the greatest comfort this life +can afford.” + +The other letter, after a high commendation of diligence in the acquisition +of knowledge, and the citing, for one’s example, the names and enterprises +of many of the most distinguished scholars and philosophers of antiquity, +proceeds as follows:—“But after a man may (like these distinguished +examples) have studied all arts and sciences, until he be as great a +proficient as Crichton, yet, _without religion_, he will, at the latter end +of his life, have, with Sir John Mason, to exclaim,—_Seriousness is the +greatest wisdom, Temperance the best physician, and a Good Conscience the +best estate._ Therefore, my son, with all thy getting, get wisdom and +understanding, and never be ashamed to carry a pocket Bible about with you, +wherein you may find comfort in every state of life, and, at the same time, +you will feel a thirst for every useful science, which, I flatter myself, +you will not relax in pursuit of.” + + * * * * * + +In conclusion of this sketch of my Father’s views and habits, religiously +considered, I may just notice, that, although his principles sometimes +failed under special temptations, as in the case of Sabbath-day fishing, +yet the feeling of reverence for the day appointed for rest and devotion, +was seldom without some manifestation. If whales were pursued when +incidentally seen on the sacred day, they were not sought for, nor were +boats sent out on watch, as on other days, nor was ordinary work ordered or +permitted to be done. During his latter voyages, however, his practice +became more decided in this respect; for the fishery itself, pressing as, +in a worldly view, its claims might seem, was suspended during the Sabbath; +and the day was generally given to the appointed objects of the gracious +and beneficent institution. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[H] The proportion of profit, it may be noted, did not equal that of the +relative produce obtained from the two fisheries, in consequence of the +additional expenses of the Davis’ Strait voyage, in respect of the time +absent, and of the higher premium required for insurance. + +[I] Given in substance in the “Account of the Arctic Regions,” vol. ii. +page 360. + +[J] It will here be proper to notice, that in the foregoing description of +this adventurous capture, we have taken occasion (in the way of +illustration generally) to fill up the picture, in regard to some +particulars of well known and prevalent experience, beyond the extent of +the leading facts and outlines, or memorial records, specially before us. + +[K] This plan was first communicated to the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, +and published in the second volume of its Memoirs. It was subsequently set +forth in a revised form, in the “Account of the Arctic Regions,” published +in the year 1819. + +[L] From attendance on the instructive lectures and demonstrations of +several of the most eminent men of science and learning of the day, during +a considerable portion of two sessions, I feel it a matter of grateful duty +here, by the way, to say, that I obtained a larger measure of general +information and scientific knowledge than, within like period, perhaps, any +other existing instrumentality could have yielded. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +FURTHER ENTERPRISES: GENERAL RESULTS. + + +SECTION I.—_The Greenock Whale-fishing Company._ + +In the summer of 1810, whilst I was on a recreative tour in Scotland, and +visiting at the house of a merchant in Greenock, my adventures and +experience in the northern whale-fishery became a frequent topic of +conversation. This was the means of eliciting, in respect to several +gentlemen with whom I had intercourse, a strong disposition to embark in +this, to them, _new_ department of commercial enterprise. My Father, at +this very time, being on the point of retiring from the command of the +Resolution, was informed of the circumstance, which speedily led to his +forming a new and satisfactory connection with some of the first men, in +character and position, in that enterprising port. + +The associates, originally, were, I believe, George Robertson and William +Forsyth (of the house of Messrs. Robertson, Forsyth, and Co.), and David +Hyde, Esquires, who, with my Father, each holding equal, or one-fourth +shares, constituted the new firm of “The Greenock Whale-fishing Company.” +Of this association, my Father was appointed the managing partner, with +authority to purchase and fit out one or not exceeding two ships, for the +Greenland fishery, in which he was to have the select or principal command. + +Under this arrangement my Father proceeded to London, and purchased two +ships, only one of which, however, the _John_, was ultimately appropriated +to this Arctic adventure. + +The John was a Batavia-built _teak_ ship, 316 tons burden. To ships built +of this species of timber, almost indestructible in respect of ordinary +decay, my Father was very partial; and, in purchasing the John, though she +proved more expensive than was expected (having cost 12,700_l._ to sea), he +was not, as to this peculiar and important quality of her timber, +disappointed. She proved a fine ship, an admirable “sea-boat,” and, except +as to capacity, which was rather too small, fully answered his +expectations. + +No time was lost in entering upon this new and responsible enterprise. The +John sailed, on her first voyage, in 1811, the season next succeeding my +Father’s last command of the Resolution; and the result, as to its +successfulness, well satisfied the sanguine hopes of the parties associated +in the risk. The cargo obtained was sixteen stout whales, which yielded a +produce of 200 tuns of oil. + +With this commencement, the residue of the adventure of this concern amply +corresponded. During the four voyages to which the co-partnery extended, +103 whales were captured, and a produce of 837 tuns of oil, averaging 209 +tuns a season, brought into port. In the last voyage of the series, that of +1814, thirty-four whales, yielding 249 tuns of oil, were taken; being, as +to quantity, the best of all my Father’s adventures. The cargo of the +preceding year, however, was, on account of the very high price of oil, the +most remunerative. The gross receipts of that year, on account of a cargo +of 190 tuns of oil, and about ten tons of whalebone, amounted to the +extraordinary sum of about 11,000_l._! + +The entire successes of this _fourth_ command of my Father’s, as thus +exhibited, not merely equalled, it is seen, but actually exceeded any one +of his former enterprises. Though his cargoes, however, were nearly double +the general average of the fishery, there were now competitors, in this +field of enterprise, who, _within this limited and particular period_, +equalled or even outrun him in the race. The only accurate comparison which +I am here enabled to make, is with respect to the successes of the Hull +fishermen. And here I find two,—Captain Joseph Sadler, of the Gilder, and +Captain Harrison, of the Walker,—whose enterprises during these four years +were highly productive; having yielded, as to the former, something more +than the John’s cargoes, and as to the latter, just about the same amount. +But in both these cases, it may be noticed, that the tonnage of the ships +was advantageously larger than that of the John. + +Before proceeding with an account of the concluding enterprises of the +subject of these memorials, we have an incident to notice, which, however +trifling in itself, may, it is hoped, interest the reader, because of its +characteristic nature and somewhat amusing result. + + +SECTION II.—_“Cum au greim a gheibhthu.”_ + +The capacity for receiving knowledge, and the capability of applying the +knowledge possessed, are characteristics of very different qualities of +mind. The latter of these qualities is, _per se_, incomparably the most +important and valuable. For one man, with comparatively moderate +attainments, but having a facility in applying the knowledge he has +acquired, will be a far more useful member of society, and is capable of +becoming a more distinguished character, than another of vastly superior +acquirements in learning, who does not possess the faculty of application. +Thus one, like the skilful mechanician, may be able out of small variety of +materials to construct apparatus of indefinite extent of usefulness, or, +like the expert and talented smith, may be able to construct out of one +material every species of instrument (to use a sailor’s phraseology), “from +a needle to an anchor,” whilst another, though possessing almost unlimited +stores of materials, may have little capacity for bringing them out and +applying them to purposes of usefulness. The former case is that of one +who is of himself a practical artist in knowledge; the latter, of one who +requires others to bring out and apply the knowledge which he has been +careful to store up. + +My Father, in a truly eminent degree, possessed the first of these +characteristics of mind. Whatever knowledge he might gain he was apt in +applying, and so applying, by the powers of a vigorous intelligence, as to +make the result strikingly original. + +The incident which I here record, was, indeed, of itself, rather curious +and amusing, than important or specially useful. But in it we find +developed an order of mind which, if it possess but one fact of a +particular species, will, if occasion should ever require, or admit of its +being done, turn that one fact to account. + +Whilst resident for considerable intervals of time in Scotland, during his +engagement with the Greenock Whale-fishing Company, my Father had been +thrown into intercourse with some of the Gaelic speaking population of the +district. Some of their phrases had struck him as being curious and +forcible, especially in relation to the economics of worldly policy. Among +these, one phrase in particular had been fixed in his memory—“Cum au greim +a gheibhthu;” which, being interpreted in Scottish idiom, he understood to +imply, “Haud,” or “Keep the grip you have got.” + +The occasion on which this phrase, somewhat felicitously, was brought into +use, was the following:—Returning from one of his voyages to the +Greenland seas, whilst sailing from the port of Greenock, they had +stretched, under a prevalence of south-westerly gales, to leeward of the +northern shore of the island of Mull, forming part of the county of Argyle. +The wind not availing for convenient progress on the destined course, they +took shelter in Tobermory, near the head of the Sound of Mull. This port, +as a site for commercial enterprise, was brought into consideration (undue +consideration as the trial has proved) by the “Board of Trustees for the +Encouragement of the Fisheries,” a little more than half a century ago. The +place naturally attracting my Father’s attention, he went on shore with +little delay. He proceeded to the inn first of all, and indicated his wish +to the landlord to have dinner provided for him before he returned to his +ship. The interval he naturally employed in examining the place and the +neighbouring scenery. + +During the time whilst he remained at the inn, and was in communication +with its inmates, he observed,—when ordering his dinner, and when being +waited on as he was eating, as also, subsequently, when he asked the cost +of the entertainment he had received,—no language was spoken betwixt the +landlord and his wife (who mutually contributed to his requirements) but +the Gaelic. And on two or three occasions, especially on a discussion, as +he fancied, of the important matter of the reckoning, there seemed to be a +considerable difference of opinion betwixt the parties as _to the amount_ +to be charged. Nevertheless whilst by the significant action, and +whispering tone, he gathered, or supposed he gathered, so much of the +purport of the discussion, not one word of what was said, as they had +justly inferred, could he strictly or certainly interpret. + +But a trifling incident, by which his acquaintance with the maxim above +spoken of was elicited, gave a new and somewhat astounding annunciation to +his Gaelic-speaking hosts. + +Some little time before his departure, being in want of some carbonate of +soda, which he occasionally took for a not unfrequent annoyance of acidity +at the stomach, a messenger, a little son of the landlord, was sent to the +apothecary, to procure what was required, he being furnished with sixpence +as payment for the same. On his return with the article it happened that +the parents of the boy, who had just finished one of their Gaelic +discussions, were both in the room, and were observant of his delivering +the carbonate, and, along with it, twopence, the amount of the change. +This, my Father declined receiving; but the boy, not thoroughly assured of +the intention, turned to his parents for directions how to act, who, +participating in his perplexity about retaining it, motioned him to return +the pence again. On his second essay to do this, he was met by the most +expressive and intelligible injunction,—“Cum au greim a gheibhthu,”—an +injunction which the lad received with not less surprise than satisfaction. + +Whilst my Father, with his characteristic self-possession and coolness, +practised this little device, he was greatly amused in marking the +wonderful effects of his Gaelic maxim upon the minds and feelings of his +hosts. The mere utterance of a few words in a language supposed to be +unknown to their guest, might have sufficed, under any circumstances, to +have occasioned some surprise; but the so felicitous an application of a +national phrase in the peculiar circumstances of the case, seemed +absolutely to overwhelm them with consternation. For they naturally +inferred that their guest must be familiar with a language which he had +thus idiomatically employed, and therefore that he must have understood the +discussions, designed to be _most private_, which had been held in his +hearing. From that moment there was an obvious change of manner and conduct +towards their guest by his hosts; not that they were less respectful, but +more cautiously reserved; and it seemed not a little curious, after so much +of the native tongue had been heard, that not another word of Gaelic was +ever uttered by any of the household in my Father’s hearing so long as he +remained among them. + + +SECTION III.—_Subsequent and concluding Enterprises._ + +On the retirement of my Father from the Greenock Whale-fishing Company, the +command of the John, with the advantages and perquisites enjoyed by her +original commander, was transferred to his son-in-law, Captain Thomas +Jackson. Having previously, during a period of three years, held a command +in the transport service, besides having been associated with my Father in +his voyages of 1813 and 1814, Mr. Jackson took up this somewhat novel +service with that spirit, talent, and enterprise, which, in their action +and results, were alike commendatory and successful. + +My Father, meanwhile, whose spirit of enterprise, if not wearied, had +become somewhat less constraining in furtherance of fresh undertakings, was +content, for the first time during a period of above thirty years service, +to remain for a season (that of the year 1815) unemployed. But, ill at ease +in a condition of entire idleness, he undertook, for a couple of voyages, +to sail out of Whitby (without engagement of property in the adventure) in +charge of the _Mars_, a new ship of 343 tons, belonging to his old and +steady friends, Messrs. Fishburn and Brodrick. The cargoes, in this +instance obtained, did not correspond with those which had hitherto claimed +for him an unrivalled superiority. They were still characterised, when +compared with the results of the fishery in general, as superior; but +superior only to an extent of one-fourth or one-fifth beyond the common +average. + +Another year of retirement from the sea-service, as a commander, succeeded +his engagement in the command of the Mars; but the time was not spent, as +before, without any professional object; my Father, in the autumn of 1817, +having purchased, solely on his own account, another teak-built ship, the +_Fame_, of 370 tons burden, originally brought into England as a prize from +the French. + +The fitting out of the Fame was deferred until a period very inconveniently +late, under the idea, perhaps, of her being employed by the Government for +Arctic researches,—just at this time proposed to be renewed; and this idea +he might well be supposed to entertain, because of the knowledge of the +fact,—that it was in consequence of information communicated by myself to +the President of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, that the attention of +the Council of the Royal Society and the Government had been directed to +the long dormant enterprise, and that that distinguished patron of science, +with whom we both had frequent intercourse, was very desirous that I should +be employed (having requested me to be sent for to London with this view) +in the proposed adventure.[M] + +Our expectations herein, however, I need hardly add, were altogether +disappointed, and, so far as _expense_, at least, was concerned, much to +the national disadvantage, as we could have accomplished one of those +enterprises (the Polar research of 1818) at one-tenth of the cost of the +appointed expedition, and, at all events, with as much effectiveness; for, +on that unfortunate occasion, _less_ could not have been accomplished. + +In consequence of the delay by this and other causes induced, it was not +without very great efforts that the Fame was got ready for the fishery of +the ensuing season, 1818. The requisite preparations however, were +completed, whilst there was yet time for the adventure, and the ship, for +the first attempt, being put under my command, sailed from Liverpool on the +2nd April. Having obtained, for the season, which was not a prosperous one, +a good cargo, we returned, August the 18th, (as had been arranged) to +Whitby. + +In the following spring my Father re-assumed his habitual occupation in +command of the Fame; but the great draught of water and somewhat sharp +build of the ship, rendering the tide-harbour, to which, in this first +instance, she had resorted, both inconvenient and unsafe, her port was +again changed for Hull, to which, with but a moderate cargo, she returned. +The next voyage, that of 1820, was, for the somewhat unfavourable season, a +very successful one; that of 1821 was moderately good; that of 1822 +returned only an average cargo; and the attempt of 1823 was prematurely +arrested by the unfortunate destruction of the ship by fire. + +The Fame had been fitted out for this contemplated voyage with unusual care +and expense,—considerable alterations and improvements, independent of +repairs, having been made; she had proceeded northward as far as the +Orkneys, where she had taken up an anchorage for the completion of her crew +with boatmen, when the catastrophe, which summarily frustrated the +undertaking, brought my Father’s Arctic adventures at the same time to a +sudden termination; for after so long a pursuance of his arduous +enterprises, and the acquisition of a handsome and ample competency, there +were much stronger motives for inducing him now to remain on shore, “for +the enjoyment of the fruits of his labours,” than to stimulate to further +efforts in any new undertaking. + +The summary of these two latter enterprises, it will naturally have been +anticipated, does not correspond with that of the three-and-twenty years of +all but continuous successes. For though the cargoes obtained in his six +last voyages were, on the whole, considerably above the ordinary average, +yet they by no means maintained the claim to superiority. + +This change, however, in my Father’s position as a fisherman, admits of a +satisfactory explanation. The circumstances on which success was now +dependent had, in some most essential particulars, changed. Superior +knowledge of the Arctic ices, and consummate skill in penetrating and +navigating the compact or tortuous interruptions to the usual retreats of +the whales, which with _him_ were so characteristic, were now no longer +available. So greatly had the whales been reduced in number, apparently, +by the enormous slaughter of their species during the last quarter of a +century; and so much scattered had the residue been by the perpetual harass +and attacks to which they had been subjected, that the positions, wherein +the _opportunity_ for making a successful voyage used to be constantly +afforded, were now almost entirely deserted. Hence the enterprise and +skill, enabling the fisherman to take the lead in penetrating the ice, +which had been wont to be eminently rewarded, had now become of little +avail. No one could calculate on the positions in which fish might be +found. In places apparently most likely, not a fish, perhaps, was to be +seen; whilst in circumstances least expected success might be met with. And +although a few active, enterprising, and clever men, were now and then +found taking a lead in respect to proportionate success, yet the fishery +altogether had become very precarious; so increasingly precarious, indeed, +that within about half-a-dozen years of this time the whale-fishery of the +Greenland seas proved so utterly unremunerative, as to be all but abandoned +as a distinct commercial enterprise. The port of Hull, for example, which +during the whole period of my Father’s command of a whaler had, on an +average, sent out twenty-two ships annually to the Greenland fishery,—in +1828, only five years after he discontinued the pursuit, had only one +Greenlandman, and the year following none. + +His retirement from so active and enterprising a pursuit as had engaged the +subject of these records during a period, altogether, of six-and-thirty +years of his life, was by no means an event of unmixed benefit. It was far +otherwise. For the effect of wear and tear on the constitution, whilst for +this long period subjected to circumstances of peculiar anxiety and +excitement of adventure, soon became apparent under the trial of absolute +leisure and the deprivation of ordinary stimulus. It is, indeed, a +well-ascertained characteristic of the human system, strikingly indicative +of the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, to derive temporary energy from +the very stimulus of the demands for energy. Thus strength, beyond all +previous imagination, is often yielded for special occasions, whilst the +capability of action is wonderfully maintained for the period of protracted +necessity or duty. But the trial comes when the tension of the mysterious +fabric of the human system has to be relaxed. The strength, for the +occasion, being beyond the ordinary powers of renovation, is maintained by +the nervous stimulant at the expense of a wear and tear which not only +becomes apparent on the cessation of the undue exercise, but in aggravated +proportion by reason of the natural reaction. + +How far these operations in a too long continued stretch of the natural +powers might have induced the inferior state of my Father’s health, during +the six years of his life succeeding the time of his retirement from the +sea, it is impossible to say; though the fact of this deterioration of +health, in the interval of leisure, was abundantly apparent. + + +SECTION IV.—_General Results of his entire Whale-fishing Adventures._ + +In conclusion of these records of my Father’s Arctic enterprises, +commercially, there remain yet to be given the _general_ comparisons and +results, in which we shall again find them to be great and pre-eminent. The +materials for these comparisons, on my Father’s part, are compendiously +exhibited in the following summary of his various voyages:— + +TABULAR VIEW OF THE SUCCESSES OF THE LATE + W. SCORESBY, ESQ., IN HIS ADVENTURES IN + THE GREENLAND WHALE-FISHERY. + +————————┬——————┬—————————————————┬——————————————————————— + │ │ │ Cargo obtained. +No. of │ │ ├—————————┬————————————— +Voyage. │ Year.│ Ship commanded. │ Whales. │ Tuns of Oil. +————————┼——————┼—————————————————┼—————————┼————————————— + 1 │ 1791 │ Henrietta. │ clean. │ nil. + 2 │ 1792 │ " │ 18 │ 112 + 3 │ 1793 │ " │ 6 │ 90 + 4 │ 1794 │ " │ 6 │ 120 + 5 │ 1795 │ " │ 25 │ 143 + 6 │ 1796 │ " │ 9 │ 112 + 7 │ 1797 │ " │ 16 │ 152 + 8 │ 1798 │ Dundee. │ 36 │ 198 + 9 │ 1799 │ " │ 12 │ 144 + 10 │ 1800 │ " │ 3 │ 45 + 11 │ 1801 │ " │ 23 │ 225 + 12 │ 1802 │ " │ 20 │ 200 + 13 │ 1803 │ Resolution. │ 13 │ 164 + 14 │ 1804 │ " │ 33 │ 188 + 15 │ 1805 │ " │ 30 │ 196 + 16 │ 1806 │ " │ 24 │ 216 + 17 │ 1807 │ " │ 13 │ 213 + 18 │ 1808 │ " │ 27 │ 210 + 19 │ 1809 │ " │ 26 │ 216 + 20 │ 1810 │ " │ 28 │ 214 + 21 │ 1811 │ John. │ 16 │ 200 + 22 │ 1812 │ " │ 25 │ 198 + 23 │ 1813 │ " │ 28 │ 190 + 24 │ 1814 │ " │ 35 │ 249 + — │ 1815 │ [on shore.] │ — │ — + 25 │ 1816 │ Mars. │ 20 │ 170 + 26 │ 1817 │ " │ 6 │ 82 + — │ 1818 │ [on shore.] │ — │ — + 27 │ 1819 │ Fame. │ 10 │ 120 + 28 │ 1820 │ " │ 10 │ 184 + 29 │ 1821 │ " │ 9 │ 143 + 30 │ 1822 │ " │ 6 │ 70 +————————┴——————┴—————————————————┴—————————┴————————————— + +The total number of voyages in which he held the command in the fishery, +from first to last, was just thirty. The entire cargoes obtained, under +this personal guidance, comprised the produce of 533 whales,—“a greater +number,” says his friend Mr. Drew, “than has fallen to the share of any +other individual in Europe,”—with that of many thousands of seals, some +hundreds of walruses, very many narwals, and probably not less than sixty +bears. The quantity of oil yielded by this produce was 4664 tuns, of +whalebone about 240 tons weight, besides the skins of the seals, bears, and +walruses taken. + +From hence we derive a general average, during the thirty voyages, of +eighteen whales, yielding 155·5 tuns of oil per voyage; or, omitting the +first voyage, which, for reasons stated in Chapter II., ought fairly to be +excluded, the average would be 18·4 whales, yielding 160 tuns of oil for +each voyage. + +In comparison of the general average of the British whale-fishery, this, no +doubt, stands singularly high. But not having the materials for the exact +determination of this general comparison, we may take the Hull +whale-fishery for our guidance, which, from the large number of ships +regularly engaged therein, will, it is believed, afford a fair estimate. +And this section of the fishery, we find, comprised, betwixt the years 1791 +and 1822 inclusive, an average of twenty-two ships annually, the cargoes of +which, during that period, averaged 84·5 tuns of oil a voyage per ship. +Compared with this, it is seen, that my Father’s yearly average was almost +double the quantity! + +It is not possible, because of the lack of accounts as to several of my +Father’s ships, to ascertain, except proximately, the actual value of the +produce now determined; but, from the variety of information now before me, +as to the marketable value of Greenland produce during a considerable +majority of the years corresponding with these voyages, I have been enabled +to calculate the gross proceeds of the whole thirty years adventures, in +money, at 196,591_l._, or possibly a full 200,000_l._! + +The proportion of expenses due to these enterprises and results may, in +like manner, be proximately calculated. For, if the Hull fishery, with +little more than half of my Father’s success, were fairly remunerative,—as +it obviously must have been to induce perseverance therein,—then, the +residue of his catch above that average may, mainly, be considered as clear +profit; for, in such estimate, we set off the _additional_ expenses +incurred where there is superior success against the actual remunerating +profits in the inferior success. On this estimate we should have the value +of, say, seventy-five tuns of oil and four tons of whalebone for the clear +profit; or, out of a gross annual produce of the value of 6600_l._, a +residue calculated to yield about 3000_l._ a voyage profit.[N] + +This estimate would give the sum of 90,000_l._, or, omitting the first +voyage, 87,000_l._ for the amount of this individual skill and enterprise, +divided, in the shape of profits, among the owners embarked in the general +enterprise! On another ground of calculation, guided by the proportion of +expenses in certain known cases, the expenses were taken at two-fifths the +produce, which would reduce the profits (probably too low) to about +80,000_l._ + +In setting forth this result as very remarkable, it is with reference, it +should be observed, to the instrumentality and _capital_ employed. It is no +uncommon thing for a sum like this, or much greater than this, to be +realized in commercial enterprises; but, in such cases, there are generally +many instruments and a large capital employed in the business. But here, +under the one individual direction, there was but one ship employed, +involving an investment of capital of from 6000_l._ to 12,700_l._, or, on +an average, not exceeding 9000_l._, and this small investment yielding, +through a series of about thirty years, no less a sum than 3000_l._ a year, +being at the rate of 33⅓ per cent per annum on the capital employed. + + +SECTION V.—_Unusual Capture of Walruses._ + +This incident, which belongs to the period of the Fame’s voyages, is here +introduced, in conclusion of the general series of my Father’s Northern +adventures, as presenting something of novelty in the modern whale-fishery. + +The _walrus_ or _sea-horse_, as the whalers designate it, is one of those +extraordinary animals so prevalent in the Arctic regions, in which, like +the whale, are comprised the mixed characteristics of the inhabitants of +sea and land. The body, generally, from its extensive conformity, might be +supposed to be that of a huge seal; but the head is peculiar, approaching +the nearest, but only in rude and diminutive resemblance, to that of the +elephant, as being somewhat square-faced, with a hard and massive skull, +scarcely pervious to a musket-ball, and with two large external tusks +pointing downward. The fore paws may be compared to webbed hands; the hind +feet, in their ordinary position when at rest, form an expansive tail. The +skin, covered with short hair, is of remarkable substance, so as to produce +a strong, but rather porous leather, of about an inch in thickness. A thin +layer of fat lies beneath the skin. + +As met with on the coast of Spitzbergen, this animal is found of the +length, ordinarily, of twelve to fifteen feet, and eight to ten feet in +circumference. But specimens elsewhere found on the coasts of some Arctic +countries, are represented as extending to twenty feet in length. The +Spitzbergen animal, full grown, is about the bulk of an ox; its weight, as +I have estimated it, being from fifteen to twenty-four hundredweight. But a +twenty-feet walrus could hardly weigh less than three tons. + +Though the tusks, the fat, and the skins, have a fair commercial value, the +animal is never sought after as a special object of enterprise by the +whalers, except incidentally, and very few are taken. Large captures, +indeed, were occasionally made of sea-horses, in the early periods of +adventure after the discovery of Spitzbergen; but these animals have seldom +been met with by our modern whalers in any considerable number together, +and their capture, consequently, has very rarely exceeded half-a-dozen in a +voyage. No summary mode of killing them, indeed, had been prevalent or +understood by which due advantage might be taken of any extraordinary +opportunity. If met with in the water, where they might be attacked with +muskets or lances, the chance of capture was but small, as the wounded +animal would generally dive and escape. Formerly, I remember, harpoons of a +_small_ kind were provided expressly for the sea-horse; but with the whale +harpoon, now only used, the tough skin of the creature is hard to be +penetrated. If met with on shore or on ice, lances and muskets were more +available, and in such positions the principal, though scanty, captures of +modern times were wont to be made. + +My Father’s enterprise, therefore, in the case now referred to, was the +more remarkable, not only because of the unusual number captured, but +because of the novelty adopted in the mode of attack, by which mainly the +success was gained. + +Being on the coast of Spitzbergen, in the Fame, in the summer of 1819, when +no incumbrance was met with from ice, my Father was induced to stretch into +one of the fine picturesque inlets with which this remarkable region +abounds, Magdalena Bay, where an extraordinary sight on the beach attracted +his attention. Hundreds, if not thousands, of animals, which on their near +approach proved to be sea-horses, were seen congregated on the sloping +shore, thickly huddled together, basking in the bright sunshine and genial +warmth of the sheltered position. + +No one on board having ever seen anything of the kind before, all were in +a state of excitement, which soon became naturally diverted into ardour for +conflict and capture. Measures were speedily concerted by which a due +harvest might, if possible, be reaped out of this wonderfully stocked +field. Muskets, evidently, could do little, as the vast herd, on being +alarmed, would doubtless hurry into the sea, before the discharged arms +could be reloaded, and harpoons could be of no avail. Lances and +whale-knives, however, promised a better instrumentality, and especially +one kind of the latter, the _tail-knife_, which in reality proved the most +effective of all. This instrument, designed for making perforations in the +tail and fins of the captured whale, when preparing to be towed to the +ship, constitutes a portion of the furniture of every whale-boat, and +consists of a nearly three-feet straight sharp-pointed blade, with a wooden +handle of like measure. It resembles the blade of a cutlass, out of which +weapon, indeed, this kind of knife is frequently constructed. + +From accounts which at different times I have received from individuals +participating in the affair, I am enabled to offer such description of the +plan and proceedings as may serve, I hope, to give a tolerably correct +notion of this curious and novel kind of exploit. + +Well furnished with what appeared to be the best weapons for the attack, +the boats set out on the adventure, spreading themselves, whilst at a +distance, so as to make a simultaneous and warlike descent upon the beach. + +As this animal is but imperfectly adapted for locomotion on land, and its +progress, usually, sluggish and slow, there was a chance with the +individuals which had adventured highest up the slope of doing some +considerable execution among them. Though the walrus, ordinarily, appears +singularly fearless,—it might be said, stupidly fearless,—yet the whole +herd, in this case, was soon put into a state of commotion and alarm. The +principal attack on the flanks having arrested several of the number, the +general mass began a scrambling retreat, assuming a strangely formidable, +yet otherwise grotesque appearance, whilst, in their haste, the huge +carcasses were seen, in their mutual interferences, rolling one over +another down the beach. + +Two or three of the leaders of the attacking party,—the foremost among +whom was, I believe, Mr. William Jackson, afterwards a successful +commander,—perceiving the risk of the vast herd escaping before they +should have time for any considerable success in captures, boldly threw +themselves betwixt the affrighted walruses and the sea, so as, to the +extent their means of destruction might enable them, to cut off their +retreat. And now it was that the _tail-knife_ was found to be a most +admirable weapon for the occasion, its sharpness of point, and length of +blade, yielding mortal results at almost every stroke, and its length of +handle enabling its wielder to avoid the formidable tusks of the creature +whilst attacking it close to hand. + +The result exceeded the most sanguine expectations of the assailants. Many +wounded ones, I believe, escaped into the sea, but a famous slaughter and +advantageous spoil rewarded the adventure. One hundred and thirty of these +animals remained as trophies of the sailors’ victory, yielding, besides the +corresponding quantity of hides, a large weight of tusks and teeth, adapted +for dental purposes, and a quantity of oil, which, perhaps, we may roughly +estimate at 1500 to 2000 gallons. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[M] This fact having been differently reported and understood, the reader +who feels any interest in the subject may satisfy himself, I believe, of +the reality by reference to an article in the “Edinburgh Philosophical +Journal,” vol. xx. 1835-6, “On some Circumstances connected with the +Original Suggestion of the Modern Arctic Expeditions.” + +[N] This estimate of profits, though exceeding those of the Resolution, +already given, may be still maintained, on the ground of the price of +provisions and the high rates of seamen’s wages and insurance, pertaining +to a period, except as to one year, of continuous war. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. + + +SECTION I.—_Superiority as an Arctic Navigator._ + +My Father’s superiority as a fisherman, as exhibited in the foregoing +pages, had an essential relation to his talents as a seaman and a +navigator. The former, indeed, was in no inconsiderable degree a fruit of +the latter; for it was his superiority as a navigator of ice-encumbered +seas particularly, which, for a considerable series of years, enabled him +generally to obtain a position in advance of his competitors, and thus +yielded to him the best opportunities, whilst the ground was undisturbed, +for making his fishery. + +Not only, indeed, was he thus unrivalled among his associates in Arctic +enterprise, but to him was due the introduction of a truly scientific +system of arrangements, which, with their masterly application in practice, +enabled him at all times, when “beating to windward” among crowded ices, or +contending under the greatest obstructions and difficulties for a passage +“to the northward,” to take the lead. + +The penetration of the Greenland ices, whilst in search of whales, being +very prevalently pursued by beating to windward, or by sailing “on a +wind,”—so prevalently, indeed, that, during a quarter of a century from my +Father’s commencement in command, nine days out of ten, or more, were spent +in this description of navigation,—it became a matter of grand importance +to have the ship, as “to trim,” “cut of the sails,” ballasting, etc., +specially prepared for sailing “close-hauled.” + +For this style of navigation, the arrangements prevalent in the merchant +service, at the time, were most ill adapted. When without cargo, the ships +usually went in light “ballast-trim,” and had their sails cut so as to +“bag” into a deep concave on the side acted on by the wind,—conditions +most unfavourable for “holding a good wind” or “working close.” + +The whalers were thus universally circumstanced at my Father’s +commencement. They went ordinarily ballasted, or, sometimes, +“flying-light,” not only because of this being accordant with the general +practice with merchantmen, but with the view of lessening the concussions +against the ice when coming into violent contact with it. My Father, on the +contrary, adopted a totally different system. He caused such a large +quantity of the lower and second tiers of casks to be filled with water (to +which he subsequently added ballast of shingle or iron in the interstices +of the casks of the “ground tier”), that the ship became as deep as with +the third part of a cargo; his sails he had made to stand as flat, under +the force of the wind, as possible; he had his ship denuded of all useless +spars aloft, as well as of sails of little adaptation for sailing on a +wind; and, finally, the braces of the yards, and other running geer, he had +so adapted as to run free, and as light as consistent with safety. + +His ship thus presenting the least possible quantity of surface to the +leeward-tending action of the wind, being so fully ballasted, and having +her sails, so far as he had the adjusting of them, adapted for standing +flat and “near the wind,” he was enabled to make a progress, in “windward +sailing” among ice, which, during a long period of years, defied all +competition. + +But the adaptation of the ship, it was apparent, was not all. For the ships +which he had himself prepared for sailing on this effective system, +retained their advantage but very partially when they came under other +management. The Henrietta, which for several years had taken the undisputed +lead, was, after my Father left her, beaten by the Dundee, and the Dundee, +in like manner, by the Resolution; and not by the ship, only, which he now +commanded, was his former ship beaten, but by many competitors besides. The +loss of character in the ship he had retired from, indeed, became a matter +of much observation and remark both at sea and on shore; and the +circumstance was justly enough accounted for under the quaint +expression,—“she has lost her jockey.” + +It was, in fact, strictly so. The succeeding commander—clever as he might +be in other respects, and successful as one, especially, of my Father’s +training was—had not the superiority in seamanship with which the ship had +formerly been managed. The special adaptations, therefore, which my Father +had turned to such good account, were now only partially available. Under +considerable difficulties in the navigation, or against hard competitors in +the navigators, the once leading ship was liable to fail, and very often +did fail. The advantages provided in the adaptation of the ship were, in +such cases, lost in the management. But where the navigator, as in my +Father’s case, was pre-eminently skilful, the adaptations for windward and +ice-encumbered sailing became in the highest degree efficient, and +resulted, as has been shown, in an unrivalled superiority. + +A commander may sometimes become distinguished in war by successes acquired +at an unusual sacrifice of life. His resulting superiority may, in certain +cases, be dearly purchased. But there was no such counteracting element in +the pre-eminence, as an Arctic navigator, gained by my Father. His deeply +ballasted ship might have struck heavier against the ice than others, but +she rarely was _allowed_ to strike heavily. Concussions not unfrequently +fell to the lot of other ships, light enough, and free to rebound as they +might be, by which, nevertheless, bows or sides were stove in, and heavy +expenses in damages consequently incurred; but no such disasters were +encountered by him. His ship was wont to be a-head in adventure, navigating +the most difficult positions, braving most alarming threatenings of the +ices and the wind. But his ship went gallantly amid, and passed safely +through, all these dangers. He knew precisely what his ship, in +difficulties or dangers, _might_ do; and that, under his commanding +management, was done, and safely done. If, by the hundred chances which +might thwart a difficult operation,—in the perpetual movements of the ice, +the varying winds, the mistakes or defects of his helmsman, or the +unpromptness of the men in management of the yards and sails,—his intended +object or manœuvre should happen to be defeated, he was always ready, in +his inexhaustible and well-considered resources, to save his ship from the +imminent danger which a failure or blunder, in such cases, frequently +involved. His quick apprehension of almost every possible contingency, +served at once to develop and to bring into timely operation the resources +which his fertile talent supplied; whilst his keen discernment of the +quality and measure of the various movements of detached pieces or bodies +of ice, as unequally acted upon by wind or currents, enabled him so to +anticipate any probable risks, as to be prepared, however he might be +baulked in his principal design, for some other furthering project, or, at +all events, for a safe retreat. + +The reality of my Father’s superiority, as a navigator, now being +described, admits, as to me it seems, of conclusive evidence in these two +remarkable facts,—that, for the long series of voyages in which he held +his first three or four commands, his ship, _in all difficulties where +talent could be availing_, always took the lead; and that, for the whole +time of his command, wherein he was wont to take the lead, equally in +danger as in advanced position, he was always enabled, under the constantly +recognised and sought-for blessing of Providence, to pursue his adventurous +object safely, or without damage of any essential consideration, to his +ship! + +Within my own experience, whilst I accompanied him during nine voyages, +from a mere child to adult age, I had perpetual opportunities of discerning +his superiority over all the competitors we met with; and, during the same +experience, I had repeated occasions for noticing with proud admiration, +his wonderful skill in beating to windward amongst intricate ices, so as to +leave every ship that we found near us in succession behind. In the +morning, perhaps, at the commencement of a progress amid encumbering ices, +I have seen around the Resolution, in various positions, to windward as +well as to leeward, a considerable fleet of companion-whalers; and in the +evening of the same day, after twelve or fourteen hours efforts in getting +to windward, I have been able to see _no_ ship whatever within the limits +of vision from the level of the deck. On ascending then to the top-mast +head, where the extent of vision became vastly increased; I have generally +found the pursuing fleet, bent on the same course, to be far away from us; +some ships being left so much behind, perhaps, as to have disappeared, not +from fog, or darkness, but from mere distance to leeward! + +This striking feat of skill—differing in degree of course, according to +the nature and extent of the navigable interstices of the ice, and the +force and direction of the wind, with the sailing qualities of the +competing ships likewise, as well as the seamanship of their +commanders—was, as I have intimated, repeatedly performed under my own +observation. But the like triumph of superiority was also gained, and that +on different occasions within my personal observation, when the competing +progress was being made through a compact body of ice into the northern +fishing stations, and where the penetration, in anticipation of the general +fleet, gained its due reward in an early and superior success. + +The voyage of 1806, described in Chapter IV. Section VII., exhibited a +striking example of the successful application of this talent; and in that +of 1809, the same result was interestingly realized. + +We had taken the ice, in the latter case, with the view of penetrating the +barrier betwixt the free northern ocean and the fishing stations in the +seventy-ninth and eightieth degree of latitude, along with a large fleet of +other whalers. For some days, whilst no material progress could be made, we +remained in varying relative positions presenting but little decided +advantage. At length, when circumstances gave room for the due exercise of +talent and perseverance, we made a progress so much beyond that of our +associates, that we gradually left them, farther and farther, behind us, +until the whole of the fleet were out of sight. We thus gained the +“northern water” considerably before the others, and, falling in with +whales in abundance, soon commenced a most encouraging fishery. By and by, +others of the fleet began to make their appearance; and I well remember the +astonishment of the captains and men of three ships which came close up to +us on the 5th of June, just as we had taken in our _fourteenth_ whale, +whilst they had only obtained six amongst them. One of these ships had been +near us, or in company with us, on the 27th of May, the day on which we +succeeded in surmounting the icy-barrier. She, however, had only made the +same passage the day before this, and had made but trifling progress in the +fishery. + +As there is no portion of the navigable ocean throughout the globe, at all +comparable, as a field for the exercise of superior talent in seamanship, +with the ice-encumbered regions around the poles; so my Father’s +capabilities in this beautiful practical science, had, at once, the +requisite scope for their abundant exercises, and their admirable triumphs. +No matter what the species of manœuvre or operation might be, he was +equally superior in all. In “making fast” to the ice in gales of wind—an +operation of singular difficulty and ofttimes of no small risk,—the manner +in which he brought up his ship to the nearest possible proximity with the +place of the ice-anchor, afforded time and opportunity for getting out and +attaching the mooring hawser, and then, with progressively reduced sails, +eased the ship’s action on the rope till fairly brought up, head to +wind,—was in the highest degree masterly and beautiful. Repetitions of +trial, and failure on failure, with much useless toil and re-setting of +sails, and, not unfrequently, with very hard blows against the ice, were +matters of such perpetual experience among the inferior navigators engaged +in the service, as to render the operations we have just attempted to +illustrate, the more conspicuously admirable. + + +SECTION II.—_Natural Science._ + +To my Father’s _natural science_, or original, almost intuitive, perception +and application of scientific principles, I have already made repeated +allusion. But this characteristic of originality, as well as superiority of +mind, deserves, I think, more special consideration. + +Having to deal with circumstances perpetually varying, and frequently +presenting features entirely new, the profession to which he had devoted +himself afforded almost the best possible opportunities for the development +and application of this quality of mind. And, in a greater or less degree, +every voyage he undertook as commander served to elicit this admirable +characteristic. Those who understood him not, very naturally ascribed many +of his novel proceedings to eccentricity, and these might be liable to run +into this very usual extreme; but, for the most part, the apparent +eccentricity was, in reality, a sound result of reflective, philosophical +consideration. I might adduce some incidents, perhaps, in which the +originality of conception was pushed into an extreme: yet I could recal, +possibly, hundreds of others in which such conceptions resulted in +proceedings at once admirable, in their fitness, and, as such, worthy of +imitation. + + * * * * * + +1. Take, for example, the process of _sallying_ the ice-bound ship for +relieving her of any remediable pressure, and giving free action to the +power of wind or “warps” for promoting her progress. And in this we have an +adaptation of a previously unapprehended mean and provision, always at +hand, possessing extraordinary capabilities as a mechanical force. It may +not be uninteresting to elucidate this fact. + +Suppose a ship, navigating the Arctic seas, to be held firmly on the sides +by the contact of two large sheets, or numerous compacted pieces, of ice. +The ice just a-head may be less compact, or there may be a proximate +channel, available for “boring” or sailing, if the existing pressure could +be relieved so that the ship might be free to move. For the relief of this +_lateral_ pressure, no mechanical force, except the action of the wind on +the sails when coming somewhat in the direction of “the beam,” had +heretofore been considered as available, or had been applied. But my +Father’s device afforded a novel, as well as a powerfully available, +agency. In what degree powerful is easily estimated. The ship, in the case +referred to, we will suppose is tolerably flat-sided (like the Resolution), +and floats, ordinarily, at the depth of the greatest width. Now the power +yielded by sallying may be considered as corresponding with that obtained +by a wedge acted on by a heavy weight; the _wedge_, in this case, being the +portion of the ship’s side that becomes depressed, operating by virtue of +the expansion of the ship’s _width_ when heeling, and the _force_ acting on +the wedge being the weight transferred from an even distribution with an +upright position of the ship, to an accumulation of weight on one side, +inducing a heeling position. Let the extent of heeling be considered as a +“streak” of nine inches, in which case, as the opposite side will be +proportionally and equally raised, the width of the line of flotation will +be increased, altogether (in a main breadth of 26 feet), about half an +inch, or a quarter inch on either side. The depressed side, then, in its +progress under water, as far as nine inches, will have expanded a quarter +of an inch in width, and the raised side an equal quantity; and both sides +will act on the contiguous ices with the mechanical force of a wedge of +nine inches long and a quarter-inch at the thick end,—exhibiting, on the +ordinary mode of calculating the power of the wedge, a gain of power for +either side in the proportion of twice the length of the wedge,[O] or 18 +inches, to a quarter inch, or as 72 to 1. + +The force acting on these wedges is that of the _weight_ of the men +employed in sallying, when all are placed on one side of the deck right +over the head or back of one of the wedges. In a whaler carrying fifty men, +the weight available for this purpose, say that of forty-six or forty-eight +of the crew, may be estimated at about three tons, one half of which only +would act downward, the other half being expended in the resistance upward, +of the opposite side. + +Hence the mechanical force hereby derived, as represented by these data, +would appear to be that of two wedges of a power of seventy-two to one, +each acted on by a weight of a ton and a half, that is, a force of the +weight of 108 tons acting towards the separation of the ice and ship on +each side. But only half the amount of these two forces, it will be +obvious, comes effectively into operation; for the wedges, being on +_opposite_ sides of the ship, act antagonistically, thus spending one-half +of their power against each other, in the compressing of the opposite sides +of the ship together. The force really in operation, then, serving to push +off the ice from each side, or tending to separate the compressing masses +of ice, will be equivalent to two weights of fifty-four or altogether to a +weight of 108 tons. + +If there were no resistance either from the _friction_ of the ice on the +ship’s sides, or from the _stability_ of the ship, the estimated mechanical +force, for the case assumed, would no doubt take effect. The resistance +from friction cannot, it is evident, be determined; but that of the ship’s +stability might be easily represented. At the _commencement_ of the heeling +position, however, the resistance from this source would be but trifling. +In its actual influence, in ordinary cases, the stability might abstract, +perhaps, a quarter or a third part from the entire force exerted, but still +leaving a free action equivalent to the weight of seventy or eighty tons +towards the separation of the ices, right and left. + +But the force ultimately brought into operation, after a sallying motion is +once obtained, becomes still greater and more effective,—acting now and +then, in the nature of concussion from the momentum of a portion of the +ship’s weight, as thus may be illustrated:— + +The weight of the crew, in the outset of the operation, being placed all on +one side of the deck, and then suddenly transferred to the other, will, +after the overcoming of the friction originally induced by the ice, cause +the ship to heel, and, on the reversing of the action (by the men running +back again across the deck) the direction of the heeling will be also +reversed. The process being carried on with a strict attention to the +adjustment of the moment of the running of the men (indicated by the word +of command, “over”) to the time of change in the natural oscillations of +the ship,—these oscillations (supposing the ice to be gradually receding) +will increase to a maximum, whilst the incidental concussions of the ship’s +sides against the contiguous ices will act as a “ram” on the wedge-like +expansion of the width of her two broadsides. The additional force thus +incidentally applied, it is evident, may be enormous. Hence the wonderful +effects sometimes produced by my Father’s ingenious device of +sallying,—effects not less important and striking when “clawing” to +windward of masses of ice in boring, when, by the mere action of the wind +on the sails the ship may have come to a stand, as when stuck fast betwixt +equally compressing ices on both broadsides at once. The moment the +sallying is perceived, the ship realises such relief from both pressure and +friction, as to start a-head as if acted on by a magical power! + +It hardly requires, perhaps, to be explained, that our investigations of +the operation of sallying in urging a path through encumbering ices, are, +strictly, only illustrative. For the action of the ship’s side which we +have considered as that of a regular straight wedge is, in reality, +curvilinear, and, ordinarily, would be unusually thin at the apex, thus +giving, at the commencement of the heeling movement, a much higher degree +of mechanical power. The _extent_ of the compression on the ship’s sides, +too, we could only consider in a particular case, such as one of thin ice, +or ice touching the sides to no great depth. In case of compression from +thick ice, having contact with the ship’s sides to a considerable depth, +the resistance to the sallying would, of course, be much increased, and, by +consequence, the operation less effective. + +It may just be added that the principle of sallying is evidently capable of +still more powerful application by aiding the _weight_ of the men, in the +first instance of movement, by auxiliary loads of guns, chains, casks, or +other heavy bodies transferred to one side of the deck; or, in a still +higher degree, by an auxiliary mechanical force derived from a “purchase” +from the ship’s lowermast, or top-mast head, to an anchor fixed in a +distant part of the ice on either side. An enormous power, it is evident, +might be derived from a leverage of this kind, sufficient almost to +compress or squeeze in the very timbers of the hull. + + * * * * * + +2. Another example of the application of the principles of natural science, +may be adduced with respect to my Father’s practice in the capture of +certain harpooned whales. In the most usual habits of the mysticetus, when +struck in the Greenland seas, it descends to a considerable depth, +generally 600 or 700 fathoms, and, after an interval of about half an hour, +or so, returns spontaneously to the surface for respiration. But sometimes, +especially when a taught strain has been held on the line, the whale +continues to press so determinately into the depths of the ocean that it +dies by a process similar to drowning. In that case the heaving up of the +capture becomes a matter of great labour and difficulty, and, because of +the liability of the harpoon to draw, or of the lines to part, of much +uncertainty as to the result. It is a matter, therefore, of much importance +to avoid the possible contingency of a harpooned whale “dying down.” The +process ordinarily adopted for inducing the return of the fish to the +surface, after the downward course is suspended, is to haul on the lines as +soon as any impression can be produced, so as to stimulate to action and +urge an ascending motion. In very many cases this process is effective, but +by no means in all. For sometimes so desperate and continuous is the effort +to get down that, when necessity might urge a return to the surface for +respiration, the power to return no longer remains, and the helpless +monster dies at its utmost depression. + +My Father, with his peculiar felicity of consideration and device, assumed +a measure of proceeding as _apparently_ unfitting as it was novel in its +character. When the usual processes for the obtaining of the fish’s return +to the surface had failed, and no prospect remained but that it must die +where it was, he would throw off the turns of his line round the stem or +“loggerhead” of the boat, and allow an extent of fifty or a hundred fathoms +more to run freely out and sink in the water. + +The meaning of the device was this:—The entangled whale had no doubt +descended deep in the water, as its ordinary mode of escaping from its +natural enemies; but the attachment and restraint of the line it could not +escape from. It was an instinct with it, therefore, as he conceived,—as in +the case of some well-known quadrupeds, which may be driven but will not be +led,—to resist the restraining force, and to struggle to distance the +point from which the restraint proceeds. The untoward effect of this +instinct, my Father supposed, might be diverted by rapidly slacking out a +large extent of the entangling line, so that it might sink _below_ the +place of the fish, and so _draw downward_; for the same instinct which had +incited it so perseveringly to dive, might naturally be expected to urge +it, under this change of circumstances, to an upward course. + +The experiment on being tried proved, in different cases, successful. The +whale, stimulated to a new course by a new direction being given to the +restraining line, returned to the surface, where it was received by its +waiting assailants, and, when deprived of its life, became a prompt and +easy prize, instead of an uncertain, hard-earned object of pursuit! + + * * * * * + +3. Besides the cases just recited of aptness in natural science, another +occasion is before my recollection in which, during his varied adventures +in the whale-fishery, this characteristic of mind, with my Father, was +strikingly developed. A large whale had been “struck” on the borders of a +vast sheet of ice, denominated a “field,” which took refuge beneath the +frozen surface, and, after suffering the deprivation of air for a period +too considerable for its capabilities of endurance, died there. + +After a long interval of patient waiting, on the part of the whalers, for +the turning out of the expected capture (for the compactness of a firm +field of ice generally obliges the whale to return to the outside for the +purpose of respiration), they proceeded to haul on the line to try to +facilitate their expectation. But when as much force had been applied as +the line might safely bear, their efforts came to a stand. There was no +reactive motion indicative of life in the whale, nor any progress towards +its withdrawal, if dead. + +Various repetitions of a similar effort, after slacking out a quantity of +line to give some change to the direction of the tension, ended in the same +discouraging manner; so that a doubt arose whether the harpoon were yet +attached to the line, or whether it might have got entangled on some +submerged irregularity of the ice. + +My Father at length left the ship to give his personal attention to this +difficult business. His first care was to examine the line at its fullest +tension; but the exact direction was not discoverable because of the +thickness of the verge of the ice. Slacking out, therefore, a considerable +quantity of the line, he caused the boat to be backed off to a little +distance, and, whilst it was kept off as much as possible by the oars of +several boats attached, the line was hauled in, till, becoming nearly +horizontal by tension, its direction beneath the ice could be clearly +determined. By this direction he traced, by the eye, an imaginary +corresponding line on the surface of the ice-field, which, by means of +numerous irregularities and hummocks, he was enabled to do +satisfactorily,—noticing particularly a very high and conspicuous hummock +in this exact direction, and at about the distance to which the quantity of +line run out might be supposed to reach. His next step, and that a truly +scientific one, was to try to vary the line of direction, so that he might +determine, by the intersection of lines, the position of the harpoon. This +he effected by again slacking out the line, but to a much greater extent, +and then causing the position of the boat to be changed by rowing slowly in +a direction parallel to, and at some distance from, the edge of the ice, +until the new direction might make a large angle with that previously +determined. Time being allowed for the rope to subside into its position +of rest, tension was given to it, as before, and another imaginary line +traced by the eye on the ice. My Father now perceived that the point of +intersection corresponded very nearly with the position of the remarkable +hummock, almost a mile distant, before noticed, and that it must be +immediately beyond it. + +Taking a whale-lance in his hand he walked over the ice to the place, and +_just beyond_ the hummock he found a thin flat surface of much younger ice. +Striking his lance repeatedly into this, he gradually effected its +perforation; when, to his no small delight and to the amazement of the men +who had followed his steps, his lance struck against a soft and elastic +substance beneath:—it was the back of the dead whale! + +Aid of hands and instruments being now obtained, the thin sheet of ice was +partly cut out and the fragments removed till the attached line could be +got at. When effected, it was again slacked out of the boat, and the end +firmly secured to the slender part of the body of the fish adjoining the +tail. The two lobes of the tail were then partly cut off, so as to hang +down in the water as sustained by a slight attachment, and thus by their +gravity to help to sink the carcass whilst they no longer were calculated +to catch the irregularities of the submerged surface of the ice, as the +tail, when perfect in structure and position, had previously done. A +considerable weight, I believe, in sand-bags, was also hung upon the +“bight” of the line for helping to sink the fish clear of obstructions +above, and, finally, the line being hauled on in the boat from whence the +fish had been originally harpooned, it progressively yielded to the force +applied, and in due time the loud and cheerful huzzas of the sailors +announced the completion of the capture in its appearance outside! + + +SECTION III.—_Improvements and Inventions._ + +We have had occasion, in the course of our memorial records, to describe +several important inventions or improvements of my Father’s in connection +with his professional occupations. There remain yet to be mentioned a +variety of other contributions, of a like order, to Greenland apparatus or +operations pertaining to the fishery, and also to objects of public +consideration generally. + +As to whale-fishing apparatus and operations, his contributions in the form +of new contrivances and improvements were numerous, and, many of them, of +considerable importance. These, we shall not attempt to describe in any +measure of detail, but chiefly in the manner of notices. + +In the stowage of his ship, for the economising of space and facilitating +the depositing of cargo, his improvements were valuable. + +His _casks_ he had built on a plan adapted for the accurate filling of the +space in the “hold,” comprising special deviations from the general size +and form in the introduction of large “leagers” for the midships (on the +kelson), adjusted, in length, to the exact spaces of the stantions of the +hold beams, as also of narrow, short, or irregularly formed casks for the +extremities of the hold, fore and aft. + +The _deck_ on the hold beams, instead of being laid, as usual, in a +continuous series of planks, was cut up into hatches, and laid level +betwixt the beams, so as, whilst forming a flat and even platform when laid +down, to open out the hold, on the removal of the hatch-like planking, +without other incumbrance against the stowing and filling of the casks +beneath, except the naked beams and their essential fastenings. + +In the suspension of the _boats_, with regard to facility in lowering or +hoisting, as well as for safety, his improvements were of great importance. + +It had been the practice in whale ships’ equipments, to suspend the boats, +usually seven in number, in double tiers at both _quarters_, one at the +“waist,” on each side, and one over the stern. The arrangements for these +objects were at once clumsy and incommodious. In place of the huge lofty +beams across the quarter-deck, from the extremities of which were suspended +the four “quarter boats,” my Father substituted compact, but lofty oak +“davits,” which, with their associate “skids” (upright timbers against +which the sides of the boats press and slide), were removable when not +required. For the double tier at the quarters, he substituted an additional +length of boats over the main chains, thus constituting an even running +series of three lengths of boats, having the advantage of great facility in +being lowered or hoisted, as well as a much improved security against +accidents in the passing of hummocks of ice, or from the sea in gales of +wind, to which the _lower_ quarter-boats, on the old plan of suspension, +were frequently exposed. + +In _fishing_ and other _apparatus_, my Father made various improvements. In +the harpoon, the improvement consisted mainly in the mode of keeping it in +condition for use,—_bright_ and _clean_ as well as sharp; but in the lance +he altered the form of the blade, which had usually been sharp-pointed and +only moderately hardened, for a somewhat rounded point and a better quality +of steel with greater hardness,—the advantage of which was, that if +striking against a bone, the point was not liable to be fixed by its deep +penetration, nor to be turned up or broken, as often happened, by the +collision. + +Some of the “flensing” apparatus, and one or two of the instruments used in +“making-off” the blubber, he variously modified and improved, substituting +for some very clumsy contrivances employed in the latter operation, compact +and well-adapted instruments. + +The _ice-drill_, a handy and very effective instrument for setting an +_ice-anchor_, was his contrivance, being a great improvement upon the old +_ice-axe_. + + * * * * * + +The talent for contrivance and improvement, as thus practically evinced, +was by no means limited in its exercises to subjects of a mere +professional nature. The town and harbour of Whitby, with regard to some +important modern improvements, have reaped conspicuous benefits from my +Father’s suggestions. + +His views on various matters of improvement in the town and harbour, with +their respective approaches, were first put forward in a pamphlet which he +published in the winter of 1816-17; and in 1826, about three years after +his retirement from the sea, the substance of the original pamphlet, +revised, extended, and illustrated by engraved plans, was again brought out +under the title of “An Essay on the Improvement of the Town and Harbour of +Whitby, with its Streets and neighbouring Highways; designed also for the +Maintenance of the labouring Classes who are out of Employment.” + +The improvements herein suggested, appear so far to have commended +themselves to the local executive authorities, that, in certain important +particulars, corresponding improvements have already been carried into +effect. + +Of these various suggestions, the one by far the most important of all is +evidently that designed for deepening the harbour-channel, and rendering +the entrance more safe and accessible. + +For a long period the harbour of Whitby had been protected, seaward, by two +principal piers,—one running from the eastern cliff about 215 yards, in a +north-westerly direction, and the other (a fine specimen of massive and +substantial architecture) running north-north-easterly, along the western +side of the harbour, and extending beyond the line of the west cliff, a +distance of about 940 feet into the sea. This longer pier, at the time my +Father wrote, stretched out a distance of about 100 yards (reckoned from +the general direction of the coast) farther than the head of the other, +leaving, however, a clear width, for the entrance of the harbour, of about +ninety-two yards. + +The effect of this arrangement, as to the extension of the western pier so +far beyond the other, was, as my Father well observed, extremely injurious; +for a deep bed of sand was constantly found encumbering the entrance by the +formation of a “bar,” which not only rendered the channel tortuous and +incommodious, but not unfrequently diminished the otherwise available depth +on the firmer bed of the river to an extent of several feet. And besides +this mischief to a harbour almost drying at low water,—the access, with +_scant_ winds from the westward, was rendered at once difficult and +dangerous because of the flood-tide sweeping strongly across the +harbour-mouth to the eastward, and tending, by its leeward set, to carry +the ship attempting to enter, against, or beyond, the left-hand pier, and +thus to risk her total destruction by stranding on the contiguous dangerous +scar. + +For the correction of the evil and danger thus, apparently, induced, my +Father proposed the extension of the east-pier by a bend in a more +northerly direction, so that, whilst the reflux of the harbour water, and +the natural stream of the _Esk_, might, within the narrowed and extended +channel, carry out the loose sand of the bar into the sea, and thus deepen +the entrance,—the projection of the east pier might serve at once to guide +the tidal coast-stream of flood with more force into the harbour, and to +render the access more easy and safe by such a protection immediately under +the lee of any ship coming in with a scant wind from the westward. + +This plan, with some little deviation, has already been carried into +effect. The pier has been lengthened in a N. by W. (westerly) direction, by +sections of fifty feet at a time, in the proposed direction; at each +section, now increased altogether to about 300 feet, the channel has been +found to be deepened and rendered less tortuous, and the entrance has +become more safe,—exactly as the projector of the improvement had +anticipated.[P] + +A grand improvement, as to the change of aspect and accommodation, to the +inner harbour, was also suggested by my Father, but has not yet been +carried into effect. The improvement suggested was for the formation of +the large space, above bridge, which is filled at spring tides from the +sea, into a permanent floating-dock,—a scheme which he conceived could be +easily effected by a wall, with gates, across the harbour, at, or near, the +place of the present bridge. + +The effect of such an arrangement, indeed, is not easy to be anticipated. +How far the overflow of water would suffice to keep the channel clear of +sandy deposits? or to what extent the body of debris and shale from the +mines above might, in such case, make lodgment in the bed of the inner +harbour? cannot be certainly determined. Yet as there are existing wears at +some distance from the town across the river bed, and no permanent +deposits, except in their immediate contiguity, I believe, induced, it +seems not improbable but that with a sufficient number of escape sluices in +the seaward bounding-wall, the efflux, whilst carrying off the considerable +supply of water yielded by the river, might suffice, at the same time, to +urge outward the descending debris, and keep the channel free. + + * * * * * + +In conclusion of these notices respecting my Father’s inventions and +suggestions for improvements, it will not be out of place to add the +substance of an interesting and curious autograph document (which fell into +my hands after his decease) referring to other speculations, contemplated +evidently as practicable, though neither explained, as to principle or +process, nor attempted to be carried out. + +The document, which as to its manner reminds one of the Marquis of +Worcester’s “Century of Inventions,” bears the date of London, 23d +December, 1824, and is aptly entitled—“Hints; or Outlines of Improvements +conceived by W. Scoresby.” These outlines, of which the following are +pretty nearly literal and verbal extracts, are, in the original, thus +introduced:— + + “How swift is a glimpse of the mind! + Compared with the speed of _its_ flight, + The tempest itself lags behind, + And the swift-winged arrows of light!” + +“During forty years occupation at sea, (the document then proceeds to set +forth,) when duty called me to watch, my mind was, at intervals, employed +about many things which might have been made useful to the public, had they +been brought forward in due time. + +Amongst these conceptions may be particularised the following:— + +1. An improved method of ship-building, both as to ships-of-war and +merchantmen, by adding to their strength in framing, and promoting velocity +by placing the masts and rigging, and also adding to their durability by +preventing in a great measure the attack of dry-rot. + +2. Seasoning timber to prevent the dry-rot in ships, churches, and other +buildings. + +3. To deepen the water on bar-harbours, and in navigable rivers, so as to +give easy access to all friends, and to shut out, when necessary, the +enemies of our highly favoured land! + +4. To build _breakwaters_ in any depth, not exceeding twelve or fourteen +fathoms water, of materials that will not yield to the surge of the sea, +and, when immersed in the briny flood, will become tenacious and durable as +_terra-firma_, even as the granite rock. + +5. To secure the banks of rivers, [subject to encroachments,] and to +support [endangered] buildings of any magnitude. + +6. To improve low, wet, barren lands, near tide-flowing rivers, that bear +up only mire and dirt, by draining on the ebb and warping on the +flood-tide. + +7. To draw off the foul and inflammable air from coal-pits and other mines +liable to explosion. + +8. To lay out new streets, nearly level, over uneven ground, with vaults +under them for containing fuel, etc. for the inhabitants, and so arranged +as to admit of pipes for gas, water, etc., being laid or altered without +molesting the pavements. + +9. To improve the hanging of venetian blinds in windows, [and to render +them more manageable and useful] for keeping out the sun. + +10. To prepare oatmeal for the table by a new method of drying and shelling +the corn. + +11. “To keep in health” by regimen. + +12. To improve the making of _lasts_, so that the boot or shoe may +comfortably fit the foot of the wearer. + +13. An improved method of pulling down decayed buildings in towns, in order +to rebuilding, as also of making new roads, to the honour of the British +nation, the accommodation of trade, commerce, and of the public. + +14. Lastly, To beautify the Church and draw man unto it, [not by mere +outward architecture and adorning, however admirable,] but by appointing +and supporting _faithful pastors_ now when the current of prejudice is +setting in so strongly against it!” + + * * * * * + +Some few of my Father’s original ideas, on such topics as these, were +occasionally elicited in conversation, but, unfortunately, no record was +made of them by those immediately in intercourse with him, nor were any +papers, generally expository of his views, met with among those amid which +this curious and interesting document was found. + + +SECTION IV.—_Miscellaneous and concluding Notices._ + +The originality of mind, superiority of intelligence and peculiar abilities +of the subject of these records, were characteristics yielding much variety +of illustration in the foregoing pages. + +His peculiar abilities as a whale-fisher, as may have been already +inferred, were conspicuous in every department, and in every practical +operation connected with the adventurous pursuit. If he could successfully +attack, and safely subdue, a vicious and dangerous whale which was working +destruction upon others who had assailed it; so he could harpoon a whale, +under circumstances of difficulty or _distance_, when no less powerful and +expert an arm could reach it. In the primary attack, the aim of the +harponeer is to get the boat fairly on the _back_ of the whale, that he may +the more effectually bury his barbed weapon deep in its body; but, as +ofttimes happens, the whale retires from the surface before the boat can +come up to it, and must then be assailed, if the distance will permit, by +the projecting of the harpoon with an energetic _heave_. To strike the +retiring or affrighted fish in this manner, with a weapon, which, with its +immediately attached line, is of the weight of eleven or twelve pounds, is +an operation requiring both strength and skill. Comparatively few +harponeers are able to perform this important object, effectually, beyond a +distance of twenty to twenty-two feet; and the distance of four fathoms, or +twenty-four feet, requires superior expertness. This, however, was an easy +range with my Father; whilst he has been known to heave his harpoon with +precision and success even as far as twenty-six or twenty-eight feet. + +His management in the urging and furthering of the general operations of +the fishery was sometimes attended with extraordinary results. Thus, on one +occasion, during his command of the John of Greenock, he captured thirteen +whales in thirty hours, and flensed five of them, comprising a produce of +about eighty tuns of oil, of the commercial value (inclusive of the +whalebone) of about 3500_l._! The ice, in this case, closing and +threatening besetment, other ships in company urgently made their escape; +my Father, judiciously weighing the risks and probable advantages, +determined to abide the issue. He did so, his ship got beset, but, as he +had anticipated, was soon released, and on the relaxation of the pressure, +just as the ice was opening, whales again appeared, and he made further +important progress in the fishery! + + * * * * * + +The originality of talent and tact so observable in the various records +heretofore given, became equally conspicuous, as occasions offered, in an +enlarged and general scope of application. The following case, though I do +not remember how I learnt it, is so characteristic of my Father, that I +cannot hesitate in offering it for illustration. + +He had a remarkable keenness and power in the eye, which, in the case +referred to, he turned to account with a curious and surprising result. +Having occasion to visit a ship lying in a _tier_ in a dock, he +encountered, in his transit across from vessel to vessel, a fierce and +dangerous dog. Though warned against venturing to cross the deck on which +this formidable looking animal was placed as guardian, he, relying on the +power of the human eye, which he believed no animal, if its gaze were once +fixed, could bear, determined to venture on the experiment. Immediately on +the dog observing the approach of an intruder on its domain, it exhibited +the most expressive tokens of the intention to resist; and when my Father +put his leg over the bulwark of the contiguous vessel it flew fiercely +towards him. Pausing in this position, he strove to catch the eye of the +dog, an attempt which for some time it contrived to evade. But at length +succeeding so that whenever it glanced towards his face it met his steady, +stern, and penetrative gaze, an effect, in the discomposed expression of +the creature, became soon observable. Whilst thus obtaining and holding its +unwilling look, my Father moved his other leg over and slowly advanced with +one foot upon the rail of the guarded vessel,—a movement which was +resisted by fierce barking and sundry traverse-like springs, but, withal, +an obvious indisposition to attack the being whose eye was so over-awing. +Another step forward renewed the display of noise and action, but the +stern, fixed look, now perpetually watched, repelled the assailant. He next +stood firm on the forbidden deck, and yet was free from attack; he advanced +a step, and the dog still bounding from side to side, or forward and +backward in front, came no nearer. Another and another step was +deliberately, but determinately pushed forward, whilst the dog, repelled by +the immovable gaze, yielded the ground. The result, as I have understood, +was, that when the dog had been driven entirely across the deck where there +happened to be no defence as bulwark, betwixt the rail and the ship’s side, +my Father sprung a step or two suddenly forward, as if designing, in turn, +to become the assailant, when the panic-stricken brute, as suddenly +backing, unconsciously passed beneath the railing and fell overboard! + + * * * * * + +As it has not been our plan in these memorial records to give a regular and +general biography, few circumstances in respect to habits on shore, +domestic relations, and private life, have been introduced. We may here, +however, supply some incidental matters in brief notices. + +His habits of life were, in respect to matters of self-indulgence, +generally moderate and temperate. At sea, his favourite beverage was tea; +and though not connected with any Temperance Society, nor practising total +abstinence from stimulating drinks, he was a great tea-drinker. On +occasions of long exposure at the mast-head, or after irritation of the +throat by much exertion with the speaking-trumpet in giving directions to +the men at a distance, when on ice or in boats, he was wont to take what +was called an “egg-dram,” consisting of a raw egg beat up with a spoonful +or two of ardent spirits. This was not unfrequently carried up to him by +the steward, and taken in the crow’s-nest; but he almost regularly, except +at the dinner hour, resorted to tea on each succeeding occasion when +refreshment was needed. Under hard and prolonged engagements in fishing, or +penetrating the ice, when from twelve to eighteen hours (with but very +brief intervals below) might be spent aloft, his call to the steward, as +he anticipated a few minutes of respite, was often heard to prepare tea. +And “tea,” “tea,” some four or five or even six times, betwixt rising from +and retiring to his bed, has been the chief orders for refreshment in his +hard and protracted exertions. + + * * * * * + +In character, my Father was patriotic, benevolent, and philanthropic; in +temper, quick and passionate, but soon composed, and singularly free from +animosity against those with whom he had been at variance, and _most +forgiving_ to those who had injured him. + +He was an enthusiastic admirer of the British Constitution, in Church and +State; an ardent loyalist, and a sincere respecter of magisterial +authority. He loved his country, and made neither few nor unexpensive +efforts for the public benefit. On the last renewal of the Whitby Pier Act, +when difficulty and opposition were expected, he spent a considerable sum +in the engaging of professional assistance with the view to the renewal and +improvement of an Act so important to Whitby and the coasting navigation. + +His course through life, though of almost uninterrupted prosperity, was not +of unmixed quietude. Jealousies and envyings on the part of some; +opposition, arising from misconceptions as to what they could not +understand, prevailed with others. But with those amongst whom he was cast, +of superior intelligence, he not unfrequently made his way satisfactorily +and agreeably. His personal superior intelligence and originality of +conception commended him to the favourable consideration of many of our +most eminent engineers and naval architects, and others professionally +engaged in public works. He was well known to the late Sir John Barrow, and +was a rather frequent visitor at the scientific assemblages at the house of +Sir Joseph Banks, as also many times a guest at the hospitable table of +that distinguished patron of science. + +At all periods of his life, he was well estimated by many of those whose +judgment and superiority were publicly recognised; and, after his decease, +most of those who had not understood him, received new and favourable +impressions concerning him. + + * * * * * + +In his regard to religion, there was no special profession. There was as +much freedom from ostentation as there was from hypocrisy, which he +despised. As to those things which mankind are prone to fail in, and as to +results in life in which it is found “that by reason of the frailty of our +nature we cannot always stand upright,”—I never recollect, in his own +case, his excusing them, or expressing views derogatory to Divine Grace, or +tending to the _abuse_ of its consoling doctrines. It was most manifest, +that his simple and entire reliance for justification before God, was in +Christ, and Christ alone; and it was equally manifest that he recognised +and held the duties of Christianity in their broad and practical bearing, +as of grand and indispensable importance for life and godliness. + +But not to anticipate further another opinion, which may serve for a +conclusion of these records, I proceed again to quote from Mr. Drew, who, +after speaking, in summary, of his life as a seaman and a whale-fisher, +noticing very approvingly his improvements in the whale-fishery, and the +benefits conferred by his experience and observations on navigation and +commerce, proceeds (writing, it will be observed, whilst the subject of his +memoir was yet living,) in these commendatory terms:— + +“In the career of this man we behold the progress of natural genius and +superior talents, surmounting every impediment, and conducting him from a +team of oxen and the plough to wealth and reputation, and to the highest +honours that the whale-fishery can bestow. + +“To this it is pleasing to add, that, instead of imitating the conduct of +too many engaged in his profession, ascribing success to _luck_ or +_fortune_,—Mr. Scoresby, throughout the whole of his dangerous course, +acknowledges the overruling Providence of God, and does not forget, though +an inhabitant of time, that he has an interest in eternity. + +“Of benevolent institutions he is the patron and friend, and the poor of +Whitby have experienced his bounty. The diffusion of the truths of +Revelation throughout the world has his best wishes and his [most liberal] +support. He views Christianity, not merely as a system of ethics, but as +possessing a soul-transforming power, which renovates the heart and +regulates the life, and as that alone which can make men wise unto +salvation.” + + * * * * * + +Reader! If _very_ much has been said, in the foregoing pages, in respect of +superiority of talent, and energy and originality of mind in the individual +whose acts and adventures it has been my object to describe, the statements +and facts adduced will, I trust, be found to justify the terms made use of; +but if commendations beyond what some might be disposed to yield, have, in +any case, been bestowed, or if admiration extending to partiality may have +appeared to characterise any of my comments, I would confidently ground my +claim on your indulgence in consideration of the circumstance, that the +revered subject of these records was + +MY FATHER! + + +Printed by M. MASON, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[O] The inexperienced mechanic is liable to be puzzled with the action of +the _wedge_, because of its being estimated, in some modes of its +application, in the _double_ proportion of its length to that of once its +thickness, giving to it, _apparently_, twice the force of the other +mechanical powers. It may not be unfitting, for the sake of our young +readers, to explain the little difficulty. The wedge when acting against +one fixed and immoveable body for the removal of another body, has then, +only, the like force as the lever,—a force proportionate to the extent of +space passed over, in driving, by the length, with respect to the increase +in the thickness, of the wedge; but when acting for the separation of two +bodies, both moveable, both sides then become effective, and it necessarily +exerts double that power. And so does the lever. For if the lever be +employed in like manner, the action in separating two moveable bodies will +be just double that of its ordinary action where the fulcrum is absolutely +fixed. This, indeed, is obviously the same with all the mechanical powers. +Action and reaction being equal, the power exerted in raising or moving one +heavy body must be exerted reversely against the earth, or other fixed body +serving as a fulcrum to the lever, or for the attachment of one extremity +of a tackle or series of pullies, or for the securing of the capstan +spindle. Let the attachments of the machine and its object, however, be +both afloat, and then any of the mechanical powers, like that of the wedge, +will have an efficiency of double that of its ordinary operation where one +part is a fixture. + +[P] This important work not being yet brought to a completion,—the +ultimate and abiding influence of the alterations cannot be accurately +predicted. The entrance of the harbour, by the new extension of the east +pier, having been narrowed, perhaps too considerably, a temptation is +offered to cast the terminal length, or head, in a bell-mouthed fashion +more easterly. If such an arrangement were made (as my intelligent +connection, Mr. Jackson of Whitby, suggests) it _might_ produce a very +mischievous effect by giving a broad fan-tail exit to the escaping ebb-tide +waters, and so diminishing their force at the very point where +concentration and compactness of efflux are of the greatest importance in +scouring the entrance and keeping it clear of sandy deposits. + + + + +PUBLICATIONS BY THE REV. W. SCORESBY, D.D. F.R.S.S., LOND. AND EDIN., +MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE, +PHILADELPHIA, ETC. + +BY LONGMAN & CO. + +MEMORIALS OF THE SEA: + +1. Sabbaths in the Arctic Regions: +Second Edition. _Post 8vo._, cloth boards, 3_s._ 6_d._ + +2. The Mary Russell: +Second Edition. _Post 8vo._, cloth boards, 3_s._ 6_d._ + +3. My Father: +Being RECORDS of the adventurous Life of the late WILLIAM +SCORESBY, Esq. of WHITBY. + + +THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION: _8vo. cloth boards, with two large Charts, 6s._ + +Remarks on Researches for North-west Passage: the Public Duty concerning +our gallant Countrymen—Historical Sketch of the Plans and Outset of the +Missing Expedition, and of Researches made for its Relief—Suggestion of a +Plan for present Measures of Search—the Passage of the Middle Ice of +Baffin Bay, with illustrative Incidents—on Aids to the furtherance of +Research—with an Appendix. + + +MAGNETICAL INVESTIGATIONS: _8vo., with Plates. Part I., 5s.: Part II., 10s. +6d._ + +Comprising original Researches on,—the Magnetic Capabilities of various +descriptions of Steel and Iron—the Ratios of Increase of Power by +Combinations of Bars and Plates—the Effects of Hardness, Quality, Form, +and Mass on the resulting Magnetic Power—the Determination of the Quality +and Temper of Steel best adapted for Compasses, with original Modes of +testing the Quality of Iron and Steel, and greatly improving Magnetical +Instruments in general. + + +ZOISTIC MAGNETISM: _8vo. 6s._ + +Consisting of original Researches in Mesmeric Phenomena, with the view of +eliciting the Scientific Principles of this mysterious Agency—and in which +Experiments are described eliciting strong Electric or Magneto-electric +Conditions, with the intercepting of the Mesmeric Influence by Electrics, +and the neutralizing of the Effects of Substances, having an ungenial +Influence on the Subject, by the same Process as was found to neutralize +the Electricity of Sealing-wax, etc., as acting on the Electroscope. + + +JEHOVAH GLORIFIED IN HIS WORKS: + +A Sermon preached in St. James’ Episcopal Chapel, Edinburgh, August 4, +1850, on occasion of the Meeting of the British Association for the +Advancement of Science.—1_s._ + + +ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS: + +_2 vols. 8vo.—Out of print._ + + +VOYAGE TO THE NORTHERN WHALE FISHERY: + +Including Researches and Discoveries on the Eastern Coast of Greenland in +1822.—_1 vol. 8vo.—Out of print._ + + +=“William Scoresby’s des Jüngern Tagebuch einer Riese auf den +Wallfischfang:”= + +A German Translation by Professor FREDERICK KRIES, published in Hamburgh +1825. + + +BY NISBET & CO. + + +MEMORIAL OF AN AFFECTIONATE AND DUTIFUL SON: + +Frederick R. H. S., who fell asleep in Jesus, Dec. 31, 1834; aged 16 +years:—_12mo. 4s._ + +DISCOURSES TO SEAMEN: + +Consisting of Fifteen Sermons, preached in the Mariners’ Church, Liverpool, +treated, for the most part _generally_, on subjects of Christian Practice +and Doctrine: _12mo. 4s._ + + +BY SAMPSON LOW & D. BOGUE. + + +THE WHALEMAN’S ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN: + +As gathered by the Rev. H. CHEEVER, on a Voyage undertaken for his Health, +and Edited and Revised by the Rev. W. SCORESBY, D.D. + + +London; Printed by M. MASON, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. + + + + +TRANSCRIBERS’ NOTES + +Page 17: villany as in the original +Page 28, Footnote F: incidently as in the original +Pages 34, 210: taught as in the original +Page 42: sea-faring standardised to the more common seafaring +Page 43: seaman-like standardised to the more common seamanlike +Pages 44, 101, 109, 113, 225: harponeers as in the original +Page 71: Section VI corrected to Section V +Page 81: teazing as in the original +Page 82: reconnoissance as in the original +Page 93: thermometic as in the original +Page 94: hybernating as in the original +Page 103, 183: inconsistent hyphenation of Greenlandman/Greenland-man as in + the original +Page 105: stratagy as in the original +Pages 106, 118: inconsistent hyphenation of leeside/lee-side as in the + original +Page 112: correspondently as in the original +Page 127, 146, 225: harponeer as in the original +Page 132: cabouse as in the original +Pages 141, 190: inconsistent hyphenation of hundredweight/hundred-weight as + in the original +Pages 143, 165: inconsistent hyphenation of goodwill/good-will as in the + original +Page 144: masthead standardised to the more common mast-head +Page 159: tenaceousness as in the original +Page 174: mechanician as in the original +Page 197: geer as in the original +Pages 200, 209: topmast standardised to the more common top-mast +Page 204: recal as in the original +Page 216: kelson, stantions as in the original +Advertisements: Rries corrected to Kries + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Memorials of the Sea, by William Scoresby + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMORIALS OF THE SEA *** + +***** This file should be named 35183-0.txt or 35183-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/1/8/35183/ + +Produced by Brownfox and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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