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diff --git a/old/51910.txt b/old/51910.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3edc4af..0000000 --- a/old/51910.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5677 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Voyage to the Arctic in the Whaler Aurora, by -David Moore Lindsay - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: A Voyage to the Arctic in the Whaler Aurora - -Author: David Moore Lindsay - -Release Date: May 1, 2016 [EBook #51910] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - - - - - - - - -A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC IN THE WHALER AURORA - -By David Moore Lindsay, F. R. G. S. - -"Our infant winter sinks, divested of its grandeur, should our eye -astonish'd shoot into the frigid zone." - -BOSTON: DANA ESTES & COMPANY PUBLISHERS - -1911 - - -[Illustration: 0001] - - -[Illustration: 0010] - - -[Illustration: 0011] - - -DEDICATED - -TO - -SIR THOMAS MYLES - -A VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC IN THE WHALER AURORA - - - - -CHAPTER I--INTRODUCTION - -The following is little more than a diary of a voyage made by me on the -whaler _Aurora_ of Dundee in 1884. I cannot imagine its being read by -many, as the subject can only interest a few who have themselves gone -down to the sea in ships. - -The Arctic whaling industry is I fear becoming a thing of the past, and -this prompts me to have the record of our successful voyage printed. - -Some mention has been made of the Greely Relief Expedition, as the -relief ships were with the whalers during the passage to Cape York from -Newfoundland. - -We were not brought in contact with the _Chieftain_ at all during the -cruise, but I have told the story of her disaster, as it was the most -unfortunate occurrence of the year amongst the Arctic whalers, and for -the data I am very much indebted to the _Dundee Advertiser_ and to Mr. -Allen Bell and Mr. Harvey of that paper for the trouble they have taken -about it. I am also indebted to Mr. Robert Kinnis of Dundee for much -interesting whaling information in the Appendix. As that gentleman -possesses the records of all catches taken by British ships for more -than a hundred years, he is in a position to supply very valuable data -on the subject. - -Mr. Walter Kinnis kindly supplied me with many photographs, as did Dr. -Crawford, formerly of the _Arctic_, and Captain Murray of Dundee. - -It has given me great pleasure recalling the scenes described. As I -was very young at the time of the voyage they produced an indelible -impression. Often since have I longed for a few weeks in Lancaster -Sound, and to hear once more the inspiring shout "A fall!" - -Being fond of adventure, and having read as many works on the subject as -most boys of my age, it was with great pleasure that I looked forward -to hearing a lecture delivered by Commander Cheyne, R.N. I was then at -school, and our tutor thought it would be an education for us to hear -him. The lecture was to me intensely interesting and the illustrations -splendid. For days after I could not think of anything else. During -study at night, I used to spend a good deal of time looking at a map -of the Arctic seas, and picturing Melville Bay with its dangers. After -leaving school, and while at college, I read Walter Scott's "Pirate." It -told about the Orkneys and Shetlands, and its frequent allusions to the -whaling industry set me thinking. I found myself often repeating: - - "The ship, well laden as barque need be, - - Lies deep in the furrow of the Iceland sea. - - The breeze for Zetland blows fair and soft - - And gaily the garland is fluttering aloft. - - Seven good fishes have spouted their last, - - And their jawbones are hanging from yard and mast; - - Two are for Lerwick, and two for Kirkwall, - - And three for Burgh-Westra, the choicest of all." - -As there was no immediate chance of going to Greenland, why not see -Shetland? So when the summer holidays came, I made my way to Edinburgh -with two friends who had also read the "Pirate." - -We found that steamers sailed from Leith and that the best of the -fleet, the _St. Magnus_, would leave the next morning at six, so we -took passage in her and visited Orkney and Shetland, thoroughly enjoying -being off the beaten track. - -One day we sat on the Nab Head at Lerwick and looked over a calm sea. In -the distance a barque could be descried. Half an hour later we noticed -her much closer, although no sails hung from her yards. Then we -discovered that while barque rigged she could also steam, and when she -anchored we found that she was a whaler, the _Eclipse_ of the Peter -Head,--Captain Gray. We went on board and were shown over the ship. -Polar bear skins were stretched in frames drying, and we learned that -she had 3,500 seals on board and 17 bottle-nosed whales, and, what was -of far more consequence to me, that she carried a surgeon. - -Years passed; I was a student at the University of Edinburgh and had -every opportunity of learning about ships sailing from Scottish ports. - -One day in November, 1883, I went to Dundee and, leaving the Tay Bridge -station, made my way along the docks to a basin in which were several -whalers. They were discharging cargo, and it was unnecessary to see them -to know of their presence. Two of the ships, though small, were very -beautiful to look at. They were the _Jan Mayen_ and the _Nova Zembla_. -Others, the _Narwhal, Polynia, Esquimaux, Active_, etc., were not so -pretty, but they all had a fascination--they came from the romantic -Arctic, and I went on board each one. Then I visited another dock where -three ships lay together. They were the _Arctic_, the _Aurora_ and -the _Thetis._ It required no expert to tell that they were vessels -of superior quality. I went on board the one nearest the shore, the -_Thetis_, and interviewed the mate. He told me that all three ships -would carry surgeons. The _Arctic_ and _Thetis_ were bound for Davis -Straits, the _Aurora_ for Greenland. - -[Illustration: 0025] - -The office of the company, Wm. Steven & Son, was near by, so I left the -ship very much excited. Here was almost a chance to visit the Arctic -regions. Going over to the office, I learned that the captain of a -whaler selected his own surgeon, and that Captain James Fairweather of -the _Aurora_ had just been there. I obtained his address, and calling -a cab, was soon at his house. He was not in, but I waited. Seated in a -room on the floor of which polar bear rugs were stretched, I began to -realize that I was taking a rather serious step without consulting -my parents. Before long the Captain entered, and after a little -conversation, I arranged to sail as the _Aurora's_ surgeon the following -January. So without really meaning to go when I left my rooms in the -morning, I found myself in the railway carriage on the way back to -Edinburgh, booked for an unusual voyage. - -During the winter I told some friends what I intended to do, and one -of them at once went to Dundee and secured the _Arctic_, the captain of -which was an Irishman. Another was also desirous of going, but said he -would wait until I returned and told him how I liked it. However he too -went in the end and we met in the north. - -The _Aurora_ was bound for the Newfoundland sealing first and -afterwards for the Greenland whaling; that is to say, she would fish for -bottlenosed whales on the east side of Greenland in the seas around Jan -Mayen and Spitzbergen and make a shorter voyage of it than the Davis -Straits ships. - -To prepare myself for the experience I read what I could about -Greenland, and was fascinated by the prospect of seeing its icy -mountains and possibly some of its inhabitants; while the very word -Spitzbergen suggested to me polar bears and icebergs. In January, 1884, -a letter from the Captain told me he would sail about the end of the -month and requested me to be in Dundee by the 29th. - -[Illustration: 0029] - -I bought a lot of unnecessary clothing, such as pilot-cloth suits lined -with flannel. When the flannel became wet afterwards it wonderfully -altered the fit of the things, so I removed it with my knife. I also -laid in a supply of literature, arms and ammunition, and left the -Waverley station at six on the morning of the 29th. Arriving at Dundee, -I went to a hotel and then to the office, where I met the Captain, and -went with him to the place where the men were signing on. Here I heard -some one reading rapidly a lot about the nature of the voyage and what -we would have to eat. When I left the building, I was a legal member -of the _Aurora's_ crew for the coming cruise, and my rating was that of -surgeon, with pay as follows: - - - L. s. d - - Monthly pay 2 0 0 - - Oil money per ton 2 0 - - Bone per ton 4 0 - - Seal skins per 1,000 1 0 - - -I had to furnish my own cabin and to pay the market price for any trophy -of my own shooting which I wanted to keep. As our voyage was in pursuit -of Arctic animals and as I was a member of the crew sent for that -purpose, of course this was quite right. - -It was possible for me to increase the above pay by being in fast boats. -Let me explain what I mean: when a boat first strikes a fish it is -called a fast boat; and if the whale is killed, every one in the boat -receives what is called striking money. The harpooner gets ten shillings -for putting in the gun harpoon, and ten and six pence for the hand, or a -guinea for both, while every member of the crew receives half a crown in -either case. - -It was my good fortune during the following eight months to increase my -wages by two shillings and six pence in this way. Having fixed terms and -other details I went on board the ship which was to be my home for -some months to come. She was a pretty auxiliary barque of 386 tons -registered. Her engines were about a hundred horse power. She had a -top-gallant forecastle and a raised poop. Running forward from the poop -was the engine room skylight, which ended at the funnel casing, and -steps led from the poop to the main deck on each side of it. The funnel -was painted buff, the ship outside was black, and the bulwarks inside -white and blue. The bridge was across the engine room skylight and in -front of the mizzenmast, an iron railing around the poop, offering no -protection from the weather, while a companion opened aft in front of -our two wheels. The pretty little cabin was furnished in pitch pine and -leather. The Captain's room occupied the starboard side, while mine was -on the port, both opening into the cabin. Forward of my room was that -occupied by the first and second mates, and this looked into the passage -at the foot of the stairs. Forward of the passage was the pantry and -also the engineer's room. A locker in which things were stowed occupied -the stern and opened into the cabin. Forward of the cabin table was a -stove in which there was a cheerful fire, and in the square skylight -hung a bird's cage and a garland, also some plants. - -Finding out what I wanted for my room, I went into the town, ordered the -things and had them sent down. - -_January 30_. Two acquaintances, whose identity I may indicate by the -initials H. and P., turned up this day to see me off. I took them over -the ship, but they were not very enthusiastic. We afterwards went around -the docks and saw the other whalers getting ready for sea. Quantities -of marmalade and dozens of hams were being put on board the _Esquimaux_. -Two of the whalers had already departed, the _Narwhal_ and _Polynia_, -while others were not starting for a week to come; but as there were -uncertainties about the western ocean's passage in winter, Captain -Fairweather had decided not to wait longer than the 31st. - -It snowed a little, which made the docks look dreary. I met the -Captain's wife on board during the afternoon, also his brother, who had -command of the _Thetis_. - -The following day Armitage arrived. He brought me a big meerschaum pipe, -and was delighted with the ship, so pleased that he visited many others -to see if he could not secure a berth on one of them. But those carrying -surgeons had their medical officers engaged. We wandered around the -docks all the morning and at noon I went on board. - -The _Aurora_ left the dock at one P. M. and anchored for a short time in -the river to pick up a few belated and more or less incapable members of -the crew, and to land some stowaways. - -My friends stood on the dockhead with hundreds of others to see us off, -and as we passed through the gate, old shoes, oranges and other things -were thrown on board. - -[Illustration: 0033] - -I was walking about the poop with my hands deep in the pockets of my -pilot coat and looking at the sea of faces on the dock, when, stumbling -over a chain, down I came with a crash in the most ignominious way. -However a stumble and fall on board a whaler putting to sea generally -passes unnoticed; one would attract more attention by standing up all -the time! Thus the voyage began,--my position flat on deck, being in -keeping with the best traditions of the trade! - - - - -CHAPTER II--VOYAGE TO NEWFOUNDLAND - - - "A thousand miles from land are we, - - Tossing about on the roaring sea; - - From billow to bounding billow cast - - Like fleecy snow on the stormy blast." - - -|Steaming down the river we landed quite a lot of stowaways at Broughty -Perry about 4.30 P. M., just as it was becoming dark. Tea was served at -five,--my first meal on board the _Aurora_. - -The Captain and myself sat on the starboard side of the table. Wm. -Adam, the mate, Alexander McKechnie, second mate, and Wm. Smith, chief -engineer, sat on the other side. - -Immediately after tea, I went to my room as we were crossing the bar -and going out into a gale of wind. Everything was tumbling about, and -knowing that in a very short time I should lose all interest in my -surroundings, I began making things secure. - -There were two berths. My bed was in the upper as it had a porthole, and -most of my belongings were stowed in the lower. - -A lot of tobacco had become loose, so I put the little packages of it -between my bed and the side of the ship. The port was not screwed very -tight and leaked badly for a week or so. This saturated the tobacco and -generated an odor which added nothing to my comfort. The motion becoming -very pronounced, I turned in, and being tired, slept well. - -[Illustration: 0038] - -_February 1st_. Footsteps overhead and the singing of shanties on deck -awoke me at daybreak, but I was intensely ill, so stayed in bed all day. -My room was illuminated by a small light set in the deck overhead and by -a partially submerged port, so it was not cheerful. Above my head there -was a book shelf. I tried to read, but could not feel interested as it -was so very depressing to look forward to months and months of this -sort of thing. Matters grew worse as the day went on, the climax being -reached when rounding Duncansby Head; but respite came about midnight, -when we crept into Long Hope and let go our anchor. - -_February 2nd._ Shouting and crying awoke me in the morning, and opening -the door of my cabin, I saw the Captain teaching two boys that the sea -was a bad place to run away to. They had been under an upturned boat and -the seas coming on board had almost drowned them out. Each boy promised -that he would never do it again. They were given two tins of mutton and -a small sack of ship's bread, and put on shore. - -Long Hope is a well sheltered harbor, between the islands of Hoy and -South Walls. There was a pronounced smell of turf smoke about the place -and the land was half covered with snow. - -Two other whalers were at anchor near by, the _Narwhal_ and _Polynia._ -They had left Dundee ten days before us and bad been weather bound here -for that length of time. - -I brought my gun up as there were some Richardson's skuas flying about, -but I did not get a shot at one. The mate, however, shot a herring gull -with it and this was the first splash of the ocean of blood shed by us -during the voyage. - -Breakfast was a cheerful meal and the horrors of the North Sea were soon -forgotten. - -At noon, the tide being favorable and the wind having gone down greatly, -we all three steamed out into the Pentland Firth. The _Polynia_ was the -first to move; I heard her anchor chain clanking on board to a well-sung -shanty. We started next, and as there were some good voices forward we -tried to outdo the others. The _Narwhal_ followed, never to return, as -she was lost during the summer. - -Turning Brims Ness sharp, we kept on the Orcadian side of the firth; and -after passing Turn Ness, we laid our course for Cape Wrath. Across the -water we could barely make out Thurso. The land lies rather low about -the mouth of the Thurso river; but on the Hoy side the scenery was fine -and we soon sighted the Old Man of Hoy. During my trip to Orkney and -Shetland a few years before, I had spent several days on this island, -so was interested in seeing it now from the sea on this dismal -February afternoon. Its sombre cliffs are always grand, but the present -atmospheric condition made the scene impressive. - -[Illustration: 0043] - -The Old Man of Hoy, in the simple language of the guide book, is, "An -insular pillar composed of flagstones and shales. Across their denuded -edges there stretches the band of amygdaloidal lava which is capped by -the red sandstones to the height of four hundred fifty feet." I could -make out the Ward Hill, but clouds lay low on its summit. Near there -I had visited the celebrated Dwarfie Stone made famous by Scott in his -"Pirate." It is a huge block of rock twenty-two feet by seventeen and -seven deep. There is a passage in it with a bed like a ship's berth hewn -out on each side, and it had been, of course, the home of a Trold. - -I turned my back on this land of Trolds, and went down the quarter-hatch -to see the second mate serving out lime-juice, tea, coffee, tobacco and -sugar to the men. I heard their names called and had a good look at -them as they came up. Our crew was a fine looking lot and the most -respectable body of men one could find on any ship, unlike the New -Bedford or San Francisco South Sea whalers, which carried very mixed -crews of every color. - -Most of our men had spent the greater part of their lives in Greenland -waters, and though not well informed on current topics and very -superstitious, they were self-respecting to a degree and absolutely -fearless, and they were all of the same nationality. - -Of course, life on board a whaler is much pleasanter than on any other -sort of merchantman, because the ships are well found and the crews very -large so that, except when actually engaged in sealing or whaling, they -have an easy enough time. - -The captains in the trade were very humane men, many of them scientific, -and they treated their crews well. Amongst the harpooners were often -found men who had themselves commanded ships and whose stars, no doubt, -would again be in the ascendancy. - -A few unsuccessful years, or the loss of a ship or two, would probably -cost a man his command, and bad luck cannot be avoided. - -Before the second mate had finished serving out I retired, as the ship -was beginning to feel the heavy swell that was coming in, and by six P. -M. I was absolutely "under the weather," and it was blowing hard from -the northwest. We passed Cape Wrath about midnight. The following day a -strong gale was blowing with snow and the engines were slowed down. - -_February 4th_. Blowing a gale, reefed mizzen set and main topmast -staysail, with the engines slowed down. During the morning a man was -hurt. He was carried aft and held on the cabin table while I--very -ill--and also held, sewed his scalp and dressed the wound. - -_February 5th_. Strong gale. Ship under reefed mizzen and main staysail, -steaming slow. High sea running and sun obscured all day. - -This applies to the state of affairs on the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th, -during all of which time I enjoyed the horrors of _mal de mer_. I saw -by the log that we had spent our days under fore and afters with a heavy -sea running, but I made no original observations, keeping in my berth -all the time, wondering during my conscious moments what brought me to -sea and vowing that I would never set foot on a vessel again if spared -this time. - -The ship's dog (Jock) was a rather sociable and sympathetic collie. He -spent a good deal of time with me, and I could not help admiring the old -chap when I knew that he really did not belong to any one, but always -turned up on the _Aurora_ about sailing time and made the voyage with -her. At St. John's, Jock had lots of friends and visited a good deal, -but he was always on board on sailing day. - -_February 11th_. A mere shadow of my former self, I got up and did not -feel ill. My wash basin was in one corner of the room. I put my head -against the corner above it and by sticking one foot against the side of -the door and another against the lower berth, was able to apply a little -water to my face, but the swing of the ship was so great that it swished -nearly every drop out of the basin. I dressed and went to breakfast, -feeling absolutely well and ravenously hungry. After breakfast, tucking -my breeches inside my sea boots, I went on deck. The door opened aft. As -I came out, the stem of the vessel sank low as the bows rose on the -sea, and I saw a black mountain of water rolling from us. Getting to the -mizzen rigging on the port side, I put my arms in the shrouds and stood -on a spar lashed on deck. It was very dark for the hour and blowing the -greatest storm that I had ever experienced, the wind fairly shrieking -through the rigging. - -We were steaming half speed and had a reefed mizzen and main staysail -set. Looking forward, I saw the little ship taking tons of dark water -over her bows. It came off the forecastle in a cataract, and rushing aft -between the engine room and bulwarks, it surged upon the poop. We only -had a few feet of free board and were making terrible weather of it. The -atmosphere was full of water, as the tops of the waves were blown off in -sheets. A great splash came over the quarter about this time and fairly -engulfed me. Then I learned that it was better to wear one's sea boots -inside instead of outside the trousers. - -This was sufficient for the day, so I retired below to change and dry. -During the evening, the Captain showed me our position on a chart which -was glued to the cabin table under the cloth. We were not yet half way -across. - -The 12th, 13th and 14th were all equally awful, but I had my sea legs -and a good appetite, so was thankful. The only pleasure I had was -standing on the bridge and watching the ship burying her bows into the -big seas and the water coming in tons over the forecastle and filling -the main deck. She was indeed a wet ship in bad weather. - -_February 15th_. The Captain said that he had never seen a lower -barometer. A great gale was blowing and the ship was hove to. Bags of -oil had been put out on the weather side, but the oil did not escape -with sufficient freedom so they were hauled in and a lot of punctures -made with a knife, but this did not improve matters much. It rendered -the sea comparatively smooth to leeward and there was not so much spray -flying, but tons of water tumbled over us and we spent a dreadful day. -I tried the deck for awhile, but it was dangerous. At night the ship was -laboring fearfully and continued to do so for days. - -_February 20th_. Another fearful day. I had occasion to visit the -topgallant forecastle to see the ship-keeper, who had hurt his knee. -There was a line from the forecastle door to the main rigging for -safety, as one was almost sure to be caught by a sea while going the -length of the deck. - -Two men came aft for me, and watching our chance, we reached the -forecastle safe. Coming back, I decided to try it alone, so waited until -a tremendous sea had broken over us, then before she had time to take -another, I made a dash, but a body of water splashed over the starboard -side and forced me to climb up the inside of the main rigging and stay -there until some of it swept off the deck. Towards night the wind began -to moderate a little. - -_February 21st_. Pitching and tossing as usual. Cloudy, but not much -wind; a nasty sea, however, and the canvas did not hold her steady. -Really in a heavy gale the storm holds a ship down to some extent. - -The next day, however, the weather had moderated, so I tried stoking and -managed quite well. I also tried changing a fire, which was not such a -success, but I kept steam up and it was an interesting experience. - -An end comes to all things. On the morning of the 23rd the ship for the -first time was on an even keel and some sun was shining through my deck -light. Hitherto attempts at washing had been unsatisfactory, as the -motion of the ship in a sea was so quick. Now, however, I indulged in -a complete toilet, and with a feeling of self-respect went on deck. The -day was cloudless and beautiful, the sea smooth as glass, and dotted -over it were white specks of ice. In a very short time the pieces of ice -became more numerous and larger, and when we were at breakfast we heard -and felt the ship crushing and bumping amongst them. By eleven A. M. a -breeze came up from the southeast and all sail was set, but by noon the -ship stuck hard and fast in the ice, and presented to me a wonderful and -beautiful sight. - -Every stitch of canvas was set and drawing, and the engine going full -speed, but still for a time we did not move. Now was my chance to walk -about on the frozen sea, so I went out with the dog and we both enjoyed -a race, keeping very close, however, for at any moment the Aurora might -move. We came on board when the mate called, as a crack was appearing -ahead of the ship. We were now two hundred twenty miles from St. John's, -and expected to be in ice all the way. During the afternoon I went up to -the foretop and Valentine thoroughly enjoyed a half hour gazing at the -wonderful scene. - -We were very seldom stuck for any length of time, a few bumps from the -ship being generally sufficient to open a crack. - -[Illustration: 0051] - -A great many of the men were on deck most of the day, and certainly -she was a heavily manned ship with her crew of sixty-five. Six of them -belonged to the engine room, eight were harpooners, who lived in the -topgallant forecastle, as did some of our tradesmen. Of these we had two -carpenters, a cooper, blacksmith, and sailmaker. The specksioneer also -lived there. He was the chief of the harpooners, a splendid old man -called George Lyon. Sixteen of our men were from Shetland, a quiet, -sober, industrious lot. - -Standing on the forecastle, I watched the ship crunching through several -miles of young ice. She never actually stopped once. Her bows would rise -up on it, then huge slabs would tilt on end as she glided on. Sometimes -a long crack would open and let her slide in to be almost stuck. By -degrees she would gain way and probably steam into an open pool, to -strike the opposite side with considerable force, thereby opening a -crack in which she would repeat the performance. The engine is the -secret of ice navigation. With canvas alone we would have been fast in -the ice much of the time, while with heavier engines we could have gone -through heavier ice. The night was fine, and we managed to keep moving -on our course. - -_February 24th_ was a glorious day. One would scarcely expect to find -such, weather in February in this neighborhood. - -In the morning we passed through rather smooth ice. Occasionally there -were large ponds and in many of these I saw seals. Sometimes they were -plunging about in numbers, but generally a few heads only were visible -looking at us inquisitively as we passed. There were no bergs in sight, -but during the afternoon we passed some rafted ice which was piled up -six or seven feet above the floes, and once we were fast for an hour in -a rather heavy place, when I again tried the walking, but there was snow -on the ice which was slightly frozen on the surface, and this made it -heavy as one went through the crust. Towards evening the sky became -cloudy; it was very cold, and snow was falling when I turned in for the -night. - -In the morning Cape Bonavista was in sight. It was my first view of this -New World. All land was beautiful to me after a month at sea and this -looked so attractive as we neared it that I wanted to settle on it for -the rest of my life. However, we passed on, and during the day steamed -through the narrows and tied up astern of the _Arctic_ on the south side -of St. John's harbor at what was known as Stevens Wharf. - -The _Arctic_ had sailed ten days after us and had made good weather of -it as she was a long ship of nearly double our tonnage, but of nothing -like our strength of build. - -The Resolute's Wooden Funnel lute had also arrived. The latter on the -way out had lost her funnel, so a pyramidal structure had been erected -of wood lined with tin; this answered very well for a time. Some of her -bulwarks had been carried away, especially forward of the main rigging -on the port side. She was a fine ship, strong and well engined, but the -North Atlantic in winter leaves its mark on the best. - -[Illustration: 0055] - -The _Resolute_ was owned in St. John's and commanded by a St. John's -captain; but she came out from Dundee, where she had been overhauled. - -So ended my first trip across the Atlantic, and, until then, the most -uncomfortable experience of my life. - - - - -CHAPTER III--NEWFOUNDLAND - - - "Such are the charms to barren states assyn'd, - - Their wants but few, their wishes all confin'd." - - -|Our first possession across the sea was Newfoundland, and I made the -voyage to it 400 years after John Cabot, the discoverer. The _Mathew_ of -Bristol first sighted Cape Bonavista, which was the first point seen by -the _Aurora_. Cabot was a Venetian sailing out of Bristol for a time, -and for his great discovery, which gave England her vast American -possessions, King Henry gave John ten pounds a year. Cabot is to-day -very well thought of, but nothing much is known of what became of him. -The name makes an attractive one for a Newfoundland dog. I have known -several of them bear it, and it is a sort of geographical education to -have them running around; but there is not any place of importance in -the world called after this great mariner. - -The coast of the country is forbidding, being rocky and bleak, except -around some of the bays; the most beautiful of those seen by me being -Bay of Islands on the west coast, which reminds one of Norway. Here -and in the valley of the Humber, which runs into it, there is some very -fertile land, and there are some scenes of peace and prosperity. But the -general impression I have obtained after several visits to the country, -is that life is a struggle for many of the inhabitants compared with -what it is in any other colony which we possess. Newfoundlanders are -true to the land of their birth, but one familiar with North America at -large would never think of advising a colonist to push his fortune in -this particular part of it, because the opportunities are comparatively -few and the winters are too long for any working man to remain idle. -In the interior the soil is as a rule shallow; there are thousands and -thousands of acres of barrens, hundreds of lakes of different sizes and -numbers of streams. Great areas of the country are grown over with small -timber, the trees being so close together in places that one can hardly -push through them. Much of the barren country is moss-grown and boggy, -so that it cannot be travelled over by horses or mules; therefore, when -one leaves the rivers, it is necessary to carry everything on one's -back, and, as a result, travel in the interior is not much indulged -in by the inhabitants. To add to the pleasure, mosquitoes and their -cousins, the black flies, are in swarms. The whole interior is a -deer forest of the first magnitude, teeming with caribou (Rangi-fer -tarandus). These animals weigh about 300 pounds, and they are very gray -about the head and shoulders. I have seen them standing among trees -which were grown over with bearded moss, when it was difficult to tell -the caribou from the trees. Some of the heads are splendid with a -great deal of palmation and not at all like Greenland or polar American -caribou in which the palmation is generally poor and the beam long and -straggling, probably due to a difference of environment. Migrating to -the northern part of the island in summer, they return in September and -October to winter in the south, and the sportsman intercepting them on -their autumnal trip can have his choice of heads. - -Another attraction is the salmon and trout fishing. The rivers, -especially on the west coast, are well stocked, white trout being -particularly numerous. - -St. John's harbor is entered through the narrows. On the left, going -in, there is the lighthouse; and on the right, or north side, the signal -station. On this side is the city, lying at the foot of low hills, its -principal street, Water Street, being parallel with the shore. From it -run side streets down to the wharves and up the hill to the residences -and churches. The Dundee ships lay on the south side, our yard being -nearest the narrows. From it a path led out to the lighthouse point. A -hundred yards from the ship one was on the hillside and without the pale -of everything, because only a narrow fringe of buildings separated the -south shore from the wilds. Along the water edge, between our ship and -the lighthouse, one passed lots of fish flakes. These were constructed -of a framework of vertical and horizontal poles covered over with spruce -boughs upon which the split codfish were laid after being salted. The -air circulated under and around them well and they soon dried. I saw -codfish being dried on the beach in Shetland, but they were only spread -on the shingle. There are no trees in Shetland from which poles could be -made, but there is less precipitation there than in Newfoundland, so the -fish dry well upon the shingle. It is over 300 years since the -Newfoundland fisheries began to be worked. They proved the country's -first attraction and there is nothing of the sort in the world like -them. For the five years 1871 to '75 the export of dried cod was -1,333,009 quintals of 112 pounds. The Basques first appeared on the -scene and a port on the west coast to-day bears their name, Port aux -Basques. As early as 1527 an English shipmaster, on entering St. John's -harbor, found eleven ships from Norway, one from Breton and ten from -Portugal, all fishing. - -In looking over the exports for 1881 one notices several interesting -items; one is, 4,127 tons of cod-liver oil, another item is 300 barrels -of cods' heads at $1.00 per barrel. I fancy, however, their use has -not become very general yet when we know that only 300 barrels were -exported, and that over sixty million cod were killed. When I speak of -the cod fishing, I mean the Labrador as well as the Banks fishery. -In fact, the former is probably the more fished of the two by the -Newfoundlanders. - -The day after our arrival our ship began discharging cargo, that is to -say, taking off our whale-boats and launch, and taking out all -supplies for the whaling voyage. Then they began sheathing the deck and -bulwarks--even the floor of the cabin was covered with plank. Bunks were -erected for the men in the 'tween decks, all stores removed from the -quarter hatch and bunks put in there for the quartermasters, and the -crow's-nest was hoisted up and made fast to the main mast, a few feet -below the truck. The crow's-nest or barrel was a most comfortable place. -One entered through a trap door in the bottom, and when this was closed -there was no draught. Around the edge of the barrel and sticking out -some distance there was an iron rail upon which the glass could rest, -the latter being kept in a canvas bag or pocket inside. From there the -ship was navigated, a wire going to the engine room and ringing the -bell, but orders to the man at the wheel were called down. While these -changes were taking place, in company with the surgeon of the _Arctic_, -I wandered all over St. John's and the neighborhood, and enjoyed the -hospitality of many residents. It was some distance around the end -of the harbor to the city, but we could skate across if we liked. The -weather was intensely cold and the land was covered with deep snow. - -The _Aurora_ having been converted into a sealer, and having taken on -board her supplies and exchanged her beautiful whale-boats for a number -of very crude looking punts, moved over to the north side of the harbor, -and waited for sailing day to take her crew on board. - -[Illustration: 0065] - -It may not be out of place to make a few remarks here about seals and -sealing generally. Most people know that seal fisheries exist, but -few have any idea of their extent. The ice-fields of Newfoundland -and Labrador produce more than anywhere else; but Greenland, Northern -Europe, the seas around Jan Mayen, Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen produce -also a great harvest, and the fur-bearing seals of the Aleutian Islands -must not be forgotten. Sealing on the east coast of Greenland is -entirely in the hands of natives, but the industry in other places is -chiefly prosecuted by Europeans and Americans. Lindeman tells us that -in 1720 the ports of the Weser sent out ships, that in 1760 Hamburg sent -nineteen which took 44,722 seals, that in 1862 five German ships took -17,000, five Danish 5,000, fifteen Norwegian 63,000 and twenty-two -British 51,000; so this gives one an idea of the extent to which Great -Britain was represented. In 1876 the Dundee ships alone took 53,000, -valued at over L34,000. It was the custom for the British sealers to -arrive in Bressa Sound, Shetland, about the end of February, and there -pick up a considerable part of their crews, getting to the ice about the -middle of March. The young seals were in good condition about this time -and had not yet taken to the water, so afforded an easy prey to their -foes. Around Newfoundland, sealing has gone on with great profit to all -engaged for probably one hundred and fifty years, and a glance at the -following table will give some idea of its extent: - - In 1805 81,088 were taken - 1818 145,072 - 1822 306,982 - 1831 686,836 - 1840 631,385 - 1850 598,860 - 1860 444,202 - 1872 278,372 - 1881 447,903 - -Roughly, about 350,000 every year, the greatest catch being 685,530 in -1844. - -Harvey tells us that in 1857 there were nearly four hundred vessels of -80 to 200 tons burthen engaged in the industry, employing altogether -13,600 men, and that the year's catch was worth $1,700,000. Now, about -eight to ten thousand men are engaged, and the seal fishing yields about -one-eighth part of the entire exports of the country. - -Steam was first used in 1863 and then the sailing ships began to -decrease in number. In 1884 more than thirty steamers were used, while -the sailing ships had become scarce. - -With the advent of steam, the Dundee owners began casting covetous eyes -at Newfoundland. The western ocean passage could be made early in -the year, and the sealing taken in en route to the whaling. It became -necessary to arrange with agents at St. John's, or to build yards where -the cargo of seals could be taken care of, leaving the vessel free to -proceed north. At this time six ships represented Dundee. - - _Arctic_, Captain Guy - - _Narwhal_, Captain Phillips - - _Aurora_, Captain Jas. Fairweather - - _Polynia_, Captain Walker - - _Esquimaux_, Captain Milne - - _Thetis_, Captain Alex. Fairweather - -The _Resolute_, Captain Jackman, could hardly be called a Dundee ship, -and it so happened that the Thetis went on other business this year; but -the above were the usual six. - -The seals forming our cargo from the Newfoundland ice were harps (Phoca -Greenlandica), so called on account of a peculiar mark on each side of -the adult, extending from near the shoulder to near the tail, and hoods -(Cystophora Cristata), so called on account of a large inflatable sac -on the nose of the male. On our trip to Labrador we secured quite a -number of hoods, but on our first trip our cargo was practically one -of harps. Both these species are migratory, coming south in winter and -working north in summer as the ice recedes. As the banks of Newfoundland -swarm with fish, they form a pleasant winter resort for the seals, and -are very convenient to the floes on which they spend February and March. -Harbor seals (Phoca vetulini) and square flippers (Phoca barbatus) are -also found on the coast. - -The breeding ice of the seal is the goal of every master in the trade, -but there are no rules for finding it. One may consider the influence of -currents and winds, and may navigate accordingly only to find the seals -are not found where expected. In our own case, the Captain told me the -day we left St. John's that he had no definite idea of where to go. -Nevertheless we awoke one morning to find ourselves surrounded by -hundreds of thousands. - -[Illustration: 0073] - -Young seals are born on the Newfoundland ice February 15th to 25th, and -are in perfect condition for the market by March 20th, as they have been -well fed by their mothers until then. They are a yellowish white when -born and remain so until they begin to take to the water, when the -longish white hair is rapidly shed and the young one quickly loses its -condition. - -Owing to the exciting nature of the work, a trip to the ice is the -desire of nearly every Newfoundland boy. The great danger is fog coming -down while the men are sealing far from the ship, and next comes the -danger of losing the ship and drifting about on the floes until possibly -death takes place from cold and starvation. - -In 1872 one hundred men perished, fifty going down with the _Huntsman_ -on the coast of Labrador. The _Bloodhound_ and _Retriever_ were lost -the same year, their crews escaping to Battle Harbor after terrible -hardships. - -Scoresby tells us of the classical disaster which occurred in 1774 about -sixty miles east of Jan Mayen. The sealing fleet, consisting of over -fifty vessels, met at the ice edge on March the 29th. - -The whole fleet entered the ice streams and their boats went off -sealing. A storm suddenly arose, destroying five of the ships and -injuring many more, while most of the sealers who were far from their -ships were never seen again, almost six hundred men being lost. One -could not talk to a sealer long without learning of some horrible -accident which had occurred to himself or a friend, and while some of -them were given to romance, there could be no question about the perils -they encountered or about their bravery and endurance. - -Toward the end of February, the sweilers, as they are called, began to -arrive in St. John's looking for berths. As the steamers afforded better -opportunities, the able men got them, while the older ones took to the -sailing craft, where life was not so strenuous. These men were dressed -very much alike and were most athletic; some of them were perfectly -wonderful in the way they jumped from pan to pan, barely touching some -of the smaller ones in passage. The owners did not overfeed the men on -these trips, providing them with sea biscuits and pinnacle tea chiefly, -pork and duff being served only three days a week and salt fish on -Fridays. The water from which the tea was brewed was obtained by thawing -pinnacles of ice. When ice floes came together they rafted one on to -the other and shattered fragments stuck up in all directions. Snow piled -upon these and was frozen. When water was wanted, a body of men with -axes went on the ice and broke off the pinnacles, which were taken on -board and stacked on deck. As water was required these were put into -a tank and steam turned on. Tea was made with this water, and molasses -added in place of cream and sugar. Our water for the cabin use was not -obtained from this source. - -On steamers the crew received one-third of the catch, on sailing ships -one-half. This was made to the Newfoundland men only on the Dundee -ships, the Dundee crew getting paid so much a month, as well as a -fraction of the catch. When a ship was amongst the white coats, as the -young seals were called, the crew lived well, as they ate the livers, -hearts and flippers of the seals. The men carried a supply of livers -and hearts in their belts and ate them frozen or cooked as opportunity -afforded. It is easy to see how little cooking can be done for a crew of -three hundred men on a small ship. I have often seen a man tie a cord -to a liver and drop it into a pot of tea sitting on the galley stove, -drawing it out when warmed up or when the owner of the pot came for his -tea. - -Sailing ships were allowed to leave port on March 1st, but steamers -could not clear for the sealing until March 10th, and the laws were very -strictly enforced. It was not unusual for a ship to have her pans of -seals pilfered by another ship during a fog, and this often led to legal -complications. I have frequently seen our men cut private marks on the -fatty sides of the sculps so that they might be identified afterwards. -Of course, any ship would pick up a pan which had lost its flag. -Sometimes the sweilers had great luck, being gone only a week or two and -coming back with their pockets full. A sculp was worth $2.00 to $3.00, -and as the men received one-third of all taken, it amounted to a good -deal for them, and as it came oft at a season when there was nothing -else being done, it added greatly to its value. - -Ships engaging in this work had to have their hold hulkheaded off so -that, should they encounter bad weather, the cargo would not shift. As -the _Aurora_ was tanked, that was all that was necessary. If the ship -were long in reaching port after taking her seals on hoard, the fat -might break down and the oil flood everything, unless the ship had -tanks. In our case the sculps were on board such a short time that they -were as fresh looking when landed as when taken. The fat was separated -from the skin on shore by a man with a long knife. He drew a sculp over -a board and caught the edge of it with his left hand; using the knife -with his right, in a few sweeps he removed all the blubber. This was -thrown into a sausage machine and afterwards steamed in tanks to extract -the oil, which was refined by exposure to the sun's rays. The oil was -used for machinery and in lighthouses, and the skins were made into -harness, boots, etc., farmers using the refuse for fertilizing purposes. - -When one saw this small army of fine looking, hard working and very poor -men, he could not help being sorry that their forefathers in emigrating -had not gone a little further and settled in Canada or the United -States, instead of on this inhospitable land. Think of how comparatively -easy their lives would have been, and what a return they would have -reaped for their work. Newfoundland meant to every one of them a life -of toil with not much more hope than the mother country could have given -them. Poor soil and a relentless winter mean this as a rule in a country -the mineral resources of which have not been developed. - - - - -CHAPTER IV--NEWFOUNDLAND SEALING - - - "The ice was here, the ice was there, - - The ice was all around; - - It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, - - Like noises in a swound." - - -_March 10th_. At five A. M. all was life on board the _Aurora_. On -awaking, I had coffee, which was in the cabin, and, muffling up well, I -went on deck, as it was bitterly cold. The night was cloudy and dark but -the ship was illuminated with torches, and on each side of the gangway -stood the mate and ice-master, calling the roll. The Newfoundland men -came on board as their names were called, about three hundred in all, -including the quartermasters, who lived down in the quarter-hatch. The -men all wore boots made of untanned seal skin, from which the hair had -been removed. They were very light and serviceable and came up to the -knee. Spikes were driven into the soles to prevent slipping on the ice, -and the decks were preserved from these by rough plank sheathing. -There was great wrangling and disputing, as many of the men had been -celebrating the occasion. - -At six A. M. we cast loose and by degrees broke our way from the wharf. -The scene, when the sun arose, was intensely interesting; all the -sealing ships were out, trying to crush their way towards the narrows, -and, as the harbor was entirely frozen over, this was hard work. Two -ships, the _Resolute_ and the _Polynia_, were behind us, and these last -sent two or three hundred to assist our Newfoundland crew in pulling on -a hawser over our bows, while our Scotch crew on board ran backwards -and forwards across the deck to make the ship roll. This rolling often -helped greatly when the ship put her bows in a crack. Our method was -to go full speed astern for a few yards, and then full speed ahead, the -eight or nine hundred men on the ice pulling for all they were worth at -the same time, and the _Aurora's_ men on board running across the deck -to keep up the roll. As there were thousands of men similarly employed -on and about the other ships, and as they were all singing, the scene -may be imagined. - -The _Nimrod_ and _Neptune_ were moving on, well ahead of us, and when we -got into their wake, the _Aurora_ moved along faster. It was eight -bells by the time we passed through the narrows; there the ice was much -looser, so we all pushed off in our various directions to look for the -breeding haunts of seals. Captain Fairweather kept a little nearer shore -than the others, and by evening there were only a few ships in sight. - -I retired early, as I had been up for many hours, and even the bumping -and thumping of the ship, as she went full speed ahead and full speed -astern every few minutes all night, did not keep me awake. - -_March 11th_. When I went on deck, a wonderful Arctic scene presented -itself. A snow storm was raging and the ship looked as though she had -been fast there for years. She was literally buried in snow, and the -weather was so cold that the snow had frozen on her yards and rigging. -The morning was dark and one could not see very far. Under the starboard -bow the ice was heavy, causing the ship to lie over to port. The wind -was from the southeast and had driven the ice in on us. There was a -great deal of creaking and crunching from moving floes and the wind made -a lot of noise in the rigging. By noon the weather had moderated and the -snow ceased; by night the wind was coming from the northeast and the -ice slackened, the ship being upon an even keel. Of course, snow was not -allowed to remain very long on deck, as our big crew had nothing to do -but shovel it off. - -I looked into the 'tween-decks and saw a horrible mess. The bunks were -full of men, many playing cards, as each bunk held four. They must have -been stifled. For light, lamps burning seal oil were used, and the reek -coming from the main hatch would almost have suggested fire. - -During the night, the ship got under way, and her bumping awoke me -several times. - -_March 12th_. In the morning, we were again beset. Hearing a noise on -deck, I went up. On the poop a lot of duffs were lying about like 64 -lb. shot. A crowd of angry men could be seen on the main deck and facing -them was the Captain. A big Newfoundland man came up the steps and, -breaking a duff in two, held it up and asked the Captain to look at -it. It was an awkward moment and called for immediate action. But the -Captain was a man of action, so he planted a blow between the man's -eyes and asked him to look at that; the man dropped back dazed and the -trouble came to an end at once. - -The Captain told a story at breakfast about a steward once saying -that more tea would not be required for the next voyage as he had been -boiling the leaves from the cabin and giving it to the crew. An order -was at once issued to serve out good tea of the proper strength instead. -Next morning all hands came aft to complain about the black stuff the -cook was serving out, and demanding that proper tea, such as they had -been having, should be served. - -The weather was now fine, and the world very white, the only visible -black being a pond of open water half a mile to the east of us. The wind -was again from the east and the cold intense; in fact, one could hardly -face it on account of small particles of ice driven by it. - -After breakfast I took my rifle and went to the lee side of the open -water. It was perhaps a fourth of a mile long and a hundred and fifty -yards wide. Every little while a few seals would bob up at one end of -the hole and then, giving a few plunges, disappear. I crouched behind a -pinnacle for shelter and, watching past the side of it, soon had a shot. -I fancied I heard the bullet strike, but the seal disappeared; -presently another came. This time I was sure that I saw the water -around bloodstained, but there was a ripple and it was difficult to see -anything lying low on it. I spent several hours at this work and was -perfectly certain I had hit many seals. On one occasion, I saw the side -of one I had shot, with the water breaking over it, but presently it -disappeared. I knew that at this season the animals would float, and as -I was on the lee side, why did they not drift down to me? Cold at last -drove me back to the _Aurora_, and, on relating my experiences, the -ice-master told me that I would find the dead animals at the weather -side of the hole, as the ice, drifting before the wind, would travel -faster than the dead and almost completely submerged seals. So taking -a man with me, I had the satisfaction of seeing seven big male harps -pulled out, the first I had ever killed and the first secured by the -ship. - -During the afternoon the ice eased off and the ship again proceeded. She -was getting along pretty well at bedtime, but not making any particular -course. - -March 13th. It was about five A. M. when the steward came to my room -and lit the lamp. He said we were among the "white coats" and he seemed -greatly pleased. I dressed and, going up, found bright moonlight. The -ship was hard and fast. In every direction I could hear sounds like the -crying of children. I could also see gangs of men on the ice and some -coming on board. The men had been taking advantage of the moonlight to -begin their work, and all were in splendid spirits, as a full ship meant -much to them. - -About six the whistle sounded for all hands to come on board for -breakfast, and after that they were organized into companies, commanded -by their own quartermasters, and proceeded about the slaughter in a well -regulated manner. Each man carried a spruce pole, on the end of which -was a sort of boat hook called a "gaff," and each also had a tow rope. -The method of proceeding was as follows: - -A company would go in a certain direction and then scatter. A man would -kill four or five whitecoats by hitting them on the head with his gaff. -He would pull them together and sculp them, that is, with his sculping -knife he would make an incision on the under surface of the body, -its entire length, through the skin and fat. How the skin, with its -subcutaneous fat, was very loosely adherent to the rest of the body -of the young seal, so with a very few sweeps of the knife the body was -separated and thrown away. He then made a few holes along each side of -the sculp, which was oblong, and through these laced his tow rope. When -the four or five had been thus arranged, he towed them to a selected -pan, where they were piled with the others, a pole was stuck up, bearing -a flag on which was the name of the ship, and this being done, the -sealers moved on and established another pan. - -While the St. John's men were busy with the sealing, the Scotch crew -remained on the ship, throwing the coal overboard. The ship, leaving -Newfoundland, took a lot of coal, as she did not know where she might -have to go or how long she might be away. In our case, we found the -seals at once, so the coal, being of no further use and of no value, -compared with the seals, was thrown overboard. - -I went aloft to have a look at our surroundings. We were in Bonavista -Bay, and in the distance I saw the _Neptune_ sealing. She was a large -ship and took an enormous cargo. It seemed too bad that these should -be the only two vessels in the midst of this harvest. I saw, with the -glass, seals by the thousand; they were principally to the north of us, -and it was evident that we would fill the ship, unless a gale broke up -the ice too soon. Astern, I noticed a patch of ice on which there were -lots of old harps. Getting my rifle and going over to the place, I found -a great many seal holes in the ice. I watched. A seal would stick its -head out of one and, seeing me, would instantly go down again. This was -going on all over the area before me. Sitting down, I decided to take -the first head presenting itself. By watching any given hole, one would -probably very soon have a shot, but it was more exciting to take the -heads as they came up. It was very quick shooting and good sport. Every -time I hit a seal, I killed it, because only the head could be seen. At -this season, the animals, being in prime condition, floated; but getting -one out of its hole was very difficult. If one turned it around and -seized the hind flippers, the fore flippers caught the ice, and there -was nothing to take hold of about its head. I found, that by sticking an -empty cartridge through the nose and catching this at each side, a man -could manage to pull the seal out by throwing himself back. I amused -myself at this game until eight bells, when I went on board for dinner -and found the Captain in splendid spirits. There was every chance of -his filling his ship and being first in, and I questioned whether these -honors had ever been obtained by any Scotch master at the Newfoundland -sealing before. After dinner, I took a man with me who pulled out the -seals and sculped them, hauling them to the ship, which remained fast. -The crew got on well with the coal and soon had several tanks cleaned -out and ready for the nearest pan, and by night we had about 2,500 on -board. I went aloft again and saw our pan flags flying in great numbers, -while the men were very busy several miles away. After dark, the sealers -came on board and reported having killed probably 10,000. Many of the -men had given themselves bad cuts with their sharp sculping knives, but -all were very happy, forward and aft. - -[Illustration: 0093] - -_March 14th_. Every one up at dawn. The ship was alongside a pan when I -came on deck, and the winch was going all the time, while the orders -"Heave away port," "Heave away starboard," were being constantly given, -and every few minutes a bunch of sculps would be hauled on board and -thrown below by the men on deck. When this pan was cleaned up, the -officer in the barrel directed the ship's course to the next, and so it -went, all day long, a portion of the crew working coal as usual. I went -aloft and saw our men, five or six miles away, piling up our cargo. In -the afternoon, I went off: in the direction the men were and fortunately -I had a gaff: with me. I had on very thick clothes and a pilot jacket -over all. When about a mile from the ship, and while walking over a -nice, smooth piece of ice, I noticed that it was bending under me. I -turned and was getting back to the hummocks, when I went through. -Fortunately, the gaff caught on both sides and I only went in up to my -arms, so was able to climb out. The cold of the water was intense and I -had a fright. Before reaching the ship, my clothes were frozen hard. One -great comfort about the _Aurora_ was that she was a steamer, so when any -accidents of this kind occurred, it was a great thing, having the top of -the boiler to retire to. Here one had warmth at any rate. As there was -nothing much separating the top of our boiler from the stoke hole, there -was a deposit of ashes and soot, but a little thing like that did not -much trouble a man fished out of a frozen sea. - -It was cold and dark when the sealers began coming on board and a fog -was settling down, so about nine P. M. we were quite uneasy over some -who bad not turned up. The whistle sounded frequently, and it was a -relief when the last appeared. Some were really very much exhausted and -were given rum. - -We took on board about five thousand seals and the men had killed many -thousand more. - -_March 15th_. A snow storm blowing, so the men could not go to the -sealing, and very little new work was accomplished. However, the ship -managed to reach a lot of her pans, and the Newfoundland men hauled the -sculps from others farther away, so that by night, four thousand more -were on board. Coal was worked energetically all day. - -The barometer was rising at night and the snow had ceased, so the -weather looked more settled. - -_March 16th_. Sealers away when I came on deck, and our own crew very -busy with the seals and coal. The ice showed a lot of leads and there -were seals in the open ponds, so I spent my time at them with the rifle -and had some good shooting. - -At dinner the mate told us we had taken on board over three thousand -sculps and by night two thousand more were added to these. About sixteen -thousand five hundred were now on board. - -I spent some time aloft. The glare from the ice was fearfully trying -as the sun was very bright. Owing to the open character of the ice, we -followed the sealers quite well. We found several of our pans broken -by the weight of seals on them; in every case we saw sharks in the open -water beside the broken pan. Once the ship had her engines going ahead -to keep her bows against the ice, while she took seals on board (I -was looking over the rail aft), when I saw a shark gliding up to the -propeller. It hit him on the side and cut a flap out about two feet -long. He swam about with this mass hanging from him for awhile and then -went back to the propeller, which finished him with an awful gash across -the neck. This was the only one I saw killed. - -The night was clear and the men had no difficulty in getting on board. - -[Illustration: 0099] - -March 17th. It was blowing and the ice was rather tight; there was also -some snow, so the sealers were employed bringing sculps on board, as -pans were being broken. I saw one split in two. Half the sculps had been -lost in the water, and there were numbers of sharks around. A man stuck -his gaff into one several times, and it did not appear to mind. It was -difficult getting the seals on board as the heavy snow squalls prevented -our seeing the leads. However, twenty-five hundred more were secured -from broken pans in our immediate neighborhood. The ship was drifting -south all the time; and the _Neptune_ was still in sight when it cleared -in the afternoon. - -_March 18th._ All hands up early and a good start made. Nearly all the -coal over the side. I watched the men bringing on board pinnacles in the -morning. As they had been sealing steadily for a week and had not paid -much attention to their toilets, sleeping in their clothes, etc., and -as each one had a fringe of frozen livers sticking in his belt, and -the sheathed decks were soaking in oil, the pinnacles had a chance of -acquiring a nutritious quality which must have given body to the tea -manufactured out of them. However, the men did not mind, and as our -cabin supply of water was all right, I did not mind either. - -The ship picked up a lot of pans and added five thousand more to our -collection. Towards evening it became foggy and cold, and we had several -frights about men being lost. One fellow came on board and stated that -he had seen so and so two miles from the ship, unable to proceed. Some -rum was given to him and with a couple of others he started off to bring -the exhausted one in. All were on board safely by nine P. M. There was -no doubt but that often the rum served out found its way into throats -that were far from being too weak to swallow, but such dreadful -accidents have occurred that one acts on the safe side. There was no -abuse of liquor on board the _Aurora_, but the Captain did not hesitate -to supply it when absolutely necessary. - -_March 19th._ A nice day for sealing, as there was no difficulty getting -about to the pans. We brought on board about two thousand, and the ship -was practically full. Now we began to clear out the 'tween-decks and to -throw the men's bunks overboard. They did not object to a few days of -supreme discomfort because they received one-third of the catch. We had -the bunkers filled with coal and a lot of sacks piled upon the poop, and -every available place was cleared out for this valuable cargo. The ship -began to look dirty, as she had scraped off her paint, and the coal dust -and oil bad been liberally applied. - -[Illustration: 0103] - -It began to blow in the afternoon, with snow squalls. All the men were -on board in good time. - -During the day I caught a young seal. It had shed nearly all its long -white hair and the short, silvery coat underneath looked very pretty. -I amused myself plucking the balance of the original coat. The seal -appeared to enjoy it. It was killed accidentally a few days later. - -_March 20th_. Blowing bard with snow squalls. A number of pans were -broken and many sculps lost, but we secured all we wanted; about one -thousand came on board and the 'tween-decks were nearly full. - -March 21st. A fine day, but the ship beset, so we cleaned up and -finished off the 'tween-decks; then we put all on deck that we thought -the ship would carry. This would not have been done had the ship had to -go any distance, but all the time we were sealing we had been drifting -south, so that we were now a very short distance from St. John's. The -Captain and mate would stand on the ice and look her over and then -decide that perhaps she would carry a few more, and so on, until there -was not much of the _Aurora's_ bull above the water. The ice opened -in the afternoon and we laid our course for St. John's, steaming -half speed. The ship was decorated with flags, the men cheering and -singing--at least two hundred of them without shelter; they stood upon -the forecastle head and among the sculps on deck. The wind had died away -and it was a beautiful afternoon. There were plenty of leads and the ice -becoming more open every hour. - -_March 22nd_. During the night we passed through Baccalieu Tickle and -in the morning we were close to the coast. As we steamed through the -narrows, the men climbed the rigging and cheered. We had accomplished -a wonderful thing. The ship was the first in of the year, and was also -full. Soon we were tied up at our old berth on the south side, and our -crew were busy discharging our cargo of about twenty-eight thousand -seals. Each young seal counted one in settling with the crew and each -old seal counted two; of course, an old seal took up much more room -than two young ones, and on a voyage like this, where the ship could be -filled with young, the crew were not anxious to kill old ones. On our -two trips, the _Aurora_ actually killed 28,150, but the crew were paid -for 29,300. - - - - -CHAPTER V--THE LABRADOR SEALING - - - "Now, Brothers, for the icebergs of frozen Labrador - - Floating spectral in the moonshine, along the low black - - shore! - - When the mist the rock is hiding and the sharp reef lurks - - below - - And the white squall smites in summer, and the autumn - - tempests blow." - - -|The work of discharging our cargo began at once--first the sculps -on deck, then those in the 'tween-decks and then those in the tanks. -Thereafter the ship was given a rough cleaning; new berths were erected -in the 'tween-decks and quarter-hatch but not so many as before. The -bunkers and tanks were coaled and then we cast about for a crew. All the -seals taken on this second cruise would have to be shot, so we did not -expect to bring back very many; but the _Aurora_ had her own Scotch -crew under pay, and they had to be fed, so she might as well be at sea -picking up a few seals as lying in the harbor waiting for May 1st. It -was not so very easy finding a crew as they would have little to eat and -could not possibly earn much money. However, at last we were ready and -on Wednesday, April 2nd, sailed. We had heard nothing of the _Arctic_, -and very little of any of the other ships. The _Neptune_ came in after -us with about 40,000, which was a tremendous cargo, but she was a big -ship. There was much more room with our reduced Newfoundland crew, and -we steamed out of the narrows for the second time with the ship very -much more comfortable than on the first occasion. - -[Illustration: 0107] - -I must say the appearance of the _Aurora_ at this time was disreputable -in the extreme. The paint had been scraped off by the ice, and the -filthy sheathing covered the decks, while the fragrant bilge water -flowed from her side in a pellucid stream. - -The Captain told me that he intended following the seals which were -going north towards Labrador and that he expected to fall in with great -herds of year-olds, called bedlamers. We left port after breakfast -and steamed out onto a calm sea, shaping our course north. During the -afternoon we saw patches of ice scattered about and when night came we -slowed down and kept a bright lookout. - -_April 2nd_ was a blustery day with occasional snow showers. There was -no sea, however, to tumble the ship about as there was a good deal of -ice. We were easily able to avoid the fields by steaming around them. -Some were very heavy looking, having quantities of rafted ice on them. -Towards night, it became calm and thick. - -_April 4th_. Steamed dead slow all night as it was thick. In the morning -the sea was calm but still foggy. This was pea-soup day. We always had -pea soup on Fridays; we also always had fish for breakfast; it was salt -cod. The salt was taken out in some way and then the fish was cut into -very small pieces and boiled with broken up sea biscuits and butter, -pepper, etc. I have never tasted anything so good since. In fact, I have -never since tasted anything so good as the food on the whaler after the -first month. There was an absurd arrangement about our meals; it was all -right at sea, but in Greenland, when we walked about during the night -perhaps as much as during the day, it was distressing. Breakfast was -at eight, dinner at noon, and tea at five; there was no regulation meal -between five P. M. and eight A. M. I modified this by having a special -meal at eleven P. M. At that time I took a pot of coffee from the galley -and retired to the pantry for a quiet half hour. - -_April 5th_. The day was fine. A good deal of ice was in sight and -occasional seals could be seen. When one was seen ahead, or a few points -on either bow, the ship bore down upon it. As we came close, the seal -would first raise its head to see what was coming, then raise its body -upon its flippers and stare. - -A number of men with rifles were always on the forecastle head and of -this number I was generally one. If some one did not try too long a shot -and frighten it, we always killed the seal. We had a large number of -punts on board and one was towed astern in the daytime and with it every -seal was picked up. They all counted. Some days we had very good sport -and I enjoyed it. - -_April 6th. Sunday_. Huff day. We had plum pudding on Sundays and -Thursdays. The puddings were not round, but oval. The steward made -delicious sauce out of condensed milk and, of course, we had the -Spartan sauce with everything. The Captain was very consistent in his -observation of Sunday--no unnecessary work was done on that day. If -there were whales, we fished, but I never saw a man kept at work on -Sunday if it could be avoided. This day we did the usual shooting from -the forecastle head. The temptation to shoot first was dreadful. I dare -say we picked up fifteen or twenty seals. This was a sad Sunday because -of the death of our canary. I was in the cabin when Jack, the steward, -discovered the fact. He immediately took the seed box out of the cage to -the pantry, filled it and brought it back. Captain Fairweather came down -shortly after to breakfast and immediately noticed the absence of -the bird, as it was always hopping about and making a noise. Jack was -called. A look of surprise came over his face when asked about the -canary and he immediately climbed on to the seat and, looking into -the cage, said, with tears in his eyes, "Oh, Sir, the poor wee bird is -deid;" adding, as he pulled out the drawer, "Well, it is not for want -of plenty to eat." I don't think for a moment that the bird died of -starvation, but Jack wanted to simplify the post-mortem inquiry by -eliminating that possibility. Our steward was a remarkable man and -eminently qualified by nature for his position. He could produce a look -of absolute innocence or of sympathy at a moment's notice; his _suaviter -in modo_ would have fitted him for the diplomatic service; and as a -dreamer he was without a peer. - -[Illustration: 0111] - -There is a great knack about dreaming. To make a reputation and keep it -up even on a whaler requires the judgment of a Delphic priest. - -It was the presence of Jack, the steward, that gave the atmosphere of a -home to the _Aurora's_ cabin and we all liked him. - -_April 7th._ I saw a most interesting thing today. It was an old dog -hood; to call it Cystophora Cristata might give the describer some -relief; but it would convey no idea of this angry-looking creature as -he reared up and gazed at us. How we all resisted firing until he had -exhibited himself, I don't know; but when he was looking perfectly -terrible and fifty yards away, a dozen copper-nosed bullets found their -billets about his head and neck. He was 7 1/2 feet long and a tremendous -size around the shoulders. The bag on his head, when fully distended, -must have stood eight or nine inches, and extended from the muzzle to -four inches behind the eyes. The hood is only found on the male. It is -considered ornamental by the females of the same species, but horrible -looking by all other animals, I am sure. The beast added about 400 -pounds to our little cargo, but the animal, skin and all, certainly -weighed seven or eight hundred. During the day we killed quite a number -of hoods, but the first was the largest. We did not make much of a run, -but dodged about and picked things up. A young hood is rather -blue-looking on the back and white underneath. - -The engine slowed down at night, as usual. - -_April 8th_. This was one of the most lovely days, with bright sunshine, -and there was dazzling ice in every direction. To the east of us we saw -a beautiful barque under canvas; she was playing our game, dodging about -and picking up seals. As she was not a steamer, and had a small crew, -she was consequently inexpensive to work; there was no reason why she -should not pay her owners well, especially if she got amongst the hoods, -five or six of which would yield a ton of oil. We kept out to her, and -finding she was the _Maud_ of Dundee, I was sent on board to hear the -news. I was hospitably entertained by the captain, who gave me some -old Dundee papers, but those I brought from the _Aurora_ were much -more recent. When I returned, I saw a funny thing happen. We had a -Newfoundland cook, Jack; he had a triangular face with the base up; a -tuft of hair grew from the apex and was the only decoration. With his -long shaved upper lip, he had an amusing look and he was a character. - -The ship was bearing down towards ice upon which there was a young hood. -It had been injured and made no effort to escape. Thinking it dead, no -one fired and we were almost on to it when Jack, looking over the side, -saw it. He had not killed a seal that season, so, seizing a gaff, he -leaped on to the pan and we all cheered. As Jack lit on the ice, it -broke in two. The seal slid gracefully off its half, but Jack's half, -almost submerged, swung around under the ship's quarter, where the -propeller was threshing away. Jack paused for a moment between Scylla -and Charybdis, and then giving a wild leap, he disappeared in the sea -as far from the propeller as he could jump. It was most amusing to see -this big man give his wild leap; he was fished out by the punt astern. A -small matter, like a man being half drowned, always amused these simple -people so much. - -I have said that the Newfoundlanders were not over-fed on this trip. We -had, for cabin use, numerous quarters of Dundee beef lashed in our -tops. They kept splendidly up there. One morning the steward reported -a quarter of our Dundee beef stolen. One of the Newfoundland cooks was -sent for at once and I heard the conversation between the angry Captain -and the astonished cook. I heard the cook report every morning how he -was on the track of a thief: "Begorra, sor, I have my eye on him;" or, -"Begorra, sor, I could put my hand on the man," and so on until we got -back without the thief having been turned over; I heard afterwards that -the cook certainly could have at any moment put his hand on the man who -took the beef. - -_April 9th_. This was one of the most interesting days I spent. At -breakfast, I heard the captain and the mate discussing blinks, that -is, reflections. For instance, an ice blink at sea would mean a sort -of whitish reflection in the sky over an area of ice, or a water -blink would be a dark reflection in the sky over a dark area. We were -surrounded by ice and were approaching a dark blink. Was it water or -seals? Before breakfast was over, the report came from the crow's-nest -that the seals were ahead. I went aloft and saw an extraordinary sight. -The ice ahead of us appeared to be positively black with seals. They -covered acres and acres. We steamed right up to them and then about -twenty men, with rifles, went on to the ice and a lot of others followed -to sculp and haul the sculps to the ship. This ice was not solid but -made up of thousands of pans all detached. They were generally touching -in places, but two or three sprawls would bring any individual seal to -some sort of a hole through which it could escape; therefore, it had to -be killed instantly or it would disappear. The shooting began at once, -the men kneeling down and opening up at the nearest animals. Just as -fast as they could consume ammunition, they fired at seals close at -hand, and, as these disappeared, at those farther away. There was far -too much shooting for much result. Presently they began to get closer. -A would kneel down and fire as fast as possible so as to use as much -ammunition as he could before B would pass him. B would then rush -past and begin shooting, and so on. Now, with regard to this rushing -about,--we were travelling on pans of ice of all sizes, some a few feet -square, some as large as a table, some twenty times that size, but we -certainly had to watch where we were going. When the men scattered, they -shot better, but it was much more dangerous, as the express bullets were -singing about everywhere. I had two men who took me off to one side and -who gave me the best shooting I ever enjoyed. The seals were inclined to -bask in the sun and enjoy themselves; so, if we went about it quietly, -we could easily stalk a pan and advance to within fifty or seventy-five -yards; then, if we shot carefully and only hit heads, we would not -disturb the others. Should we wound one, it would not only go down -itself but would frighten the others on the same pan. I shot off a -number of entire pans by quietly getting close and then picking them -off. - -The seal, properly hit, just drops its head, while the others hold -theirs up for you. This was warm work and the barrel of the rifle -became so hot that I had constantly to put it on the snow to cool off. -I watched some of the Newfoundland men shooting when we started and -saw several of them miss every shot. All they did was to endanger their -fellow men and wound an occasional seal; of course there were some crack -shots among them, but it would have paid well to have tested the ability -of all before serving out rifles to them. As there was not a cloud -in the sky, we were greatly sunburnt and several had a touch of -snow-blindness in spite of wearing colored glasses. We probably picked -up three or four hundred seals, and had there been about eight or -ten men who understood the use of firearms, they would have killed a -thousand easily. - -The sealing cap worn by the Dundee men was very suitable. The peak was -covered with lamb's wool dyed black, so when turned down it absorbed a -great deal of the glare. Wool had to be wound around the metal work of -the colored glasses we wore on account of the cold. - -_April 10th_. Nothing makes one rest like a hard day's work in the open -air. My shoulder was black and blue with firing and my ears rang with -the noise while my eyes smarted and my face burned, but I slept like a -log until seven bells. - -The ship had not moved all night. We were off the coast of Labrador, but -out of sight of land. There was a great deal of ice everywhere and -by dawn we were steaming north as fast as possible in the effort to -overtake our game. By noon the seals were in sight and we went through -the same performance as the day before. I did not attempt it with -the main body, but with two good men went off in a slightly different -direction. The express was certainly a good rifle, and its trajectory -very flat, when we consider the powder. I examined a great many wounds -that day and in every case found the bullet had expanded well if it had -hit anything hard. These seals were nearly all bedlamers and we did not -kill any hoods either of these days, although we had picked up quite a -number coming up the coast. This was a shorter day, and we did not kill -so many. It was quite late when the ship took the last of her men on -board, for they had become scattered. One man had fallen in several -times and was very much exhausted. However, I was able to make him -swallow some rum and he soon revived. A sailor is very feeble and -dissolution near at hand when a little rum cannot be coaxed down with a -spoon or other suitable instrument--even then I would not advise leaving -the bottle close to him while looking for the spoon, lest, during his -unconscious struggles, he should spill it. - -[Illustration: 0121] - -_April 11th_. We were always on the lookout for the _Arctic_, but saw -nothing of her. Before leaving St. John's we heard that the _Thetis_ had -been sold to the American Government for the Greely relief expedition, -so she would not appear among the sealers that year. Captain -Fairweather's brother was master of her, so he was disappointed. - -We kept north in our effort to overtake the seals, the barometer falling -a little towards evening, and a swell coming in from the southeast. We -were well on the outer or eastern edge of the ice, as the Captain did -not want to take any chance of being jammed among heavy floes coming -down the coast. During the evening we had a most wonderful sunset. -The sky was red not only to the west, but nearly all over, and the -reflection on the ice was magnificent. The frozen sea is fascinating -when the sun goes down and before dark; also by moonlight, or bright -starlight. - -During the day the glare is too great but a moonlight night on a frozen -sea is the grandest sight possible. The weird sounds caused by the ever -restless ice are a fitting accompaniment. On this Friday night, the -sounds caused by the ever increasing sea, crunching the pack up, were -rather startling at times, but we kept pretty well out of it, so we were -safe. There was quite a little motion on board, owing to the swell, and -we steamed easy ahead all night, going full speed at daybreak, and by -noon had the satisfaction of finding our seals. We went oft, but not -quite as usual. The roll of the sea had crunched the pack up and broken -all the large sheets of ice, so we were obliged to jump from one pan -to another while they were rising and falling on the long swell of the -Atlantic. There was nothing sudden or uncertain about the motion. The -long heavy rollers lifted one up and lowered one down, and when between -them, one could not see very far. Now occurred a sort of stalking that I -have never seen described, i. e., running after a large wave and keeping -perfectly still when the following wave overtook one; then repeating -the stalk, always running in the trough between the two waves. In this -manner I did some efficient work and shot a great many seals. - -Most of the time was spent watching where to put my feet; but, on -feeling the rise coming, I stood perfectly still and watched the seals. -I was regaled with accounts of men who had been injured and cut in two -by this sort of thing; but we did not meet with the slightest accident -and every one was picked up by sundown. The ship managed to follow -through the ice pretty well, picking up a few seals here and there, -as they had been sculped, so that we added several hundreds to our -collection. - -[Illustration: 0125] - -_April 13th. Sunday_. The day was fine and we picked up occasional seals -but did not find a herd. It was a complete day of rest for all hands. -The ice to the west of us looked very heavy and the Captain was careful -to avoid it. We lay to at night, but by daybreak on Monday morning we -were dodging north again. - -_April 14th_. I had my first shot at a walrus, sea-horse, as it is -called. Shortly after breakfast the usual rifles were on the forecastle -head when the officer in the crow's-nest called down that he saw a -walrus. The ship was kept down on it, and presently we all saw the big -animal with his long white tusks. In this case, they were very long and -could be seen from a great distance. He was on a pan with open water -all around, so we steamed straight at him. As we approached, he raised -himself higher and higher on his flippers and disappeared after having -received a fearful fusillade, at less than a ship's length. I would have -liked the chance of examining his skin just to count the hits and see -the effect. We heard the thud of striking bullets, but the walrus gave a -plunge and was seen no more. - -We did the usual amount of sealing from the ship, but had not any men on -the ice. Two or three times we had several punts out, but they did not -pick up very many. - -_April 15th_. We dodged back and forth amongst the floating ice, keeping -a little closer to land but not seeing much of interest. There was -a very large floe which bore evidence of great rafting; between the -hummocks on it there was fresh water, regular ponds with connecting -channels. I was on this floe, as we shot a few seals on it, so tasted -the water, which was sweet and good. I have often seen quite big ponds -on floes fast to bergs, and we took water on board sometimes from these. - -For the next few days we steamed south without seeing anything of -interest. The weather was cold, but fine, and the ice less as we neared -St. John's. We were careful after dark and generally steamed slow. The -crew were employed in cleaning up. - -April 19th. Saturday. Arrived at St. John's in the morning and took our -usual berth. Our entire catch of seals for the two trips was 28,150, -but the crew were paid for 29,300 as there were some large old seals and -they counted more. - -There was great news for us on our arrival. I have already mentioned the -sale of the _Thetis_ to the American Government. We now received orders -from Dundee to take the place of the _Thetis_ and proceed to Davis -Straits. The gear removed from this ship was being sent out to us by an -Allan boat. We were to keep our eyes open for the lost Greely, as a -reward had been offered by the United States for any whaler picking him -up. - -[Illustration: 0130] - -I certainly never intended going on a long trip when sailing, and the -Captain told me I could leave if I wished, but there was a fascination -about the whole thing that I enjoyed. - -The _Aurora_ had been getting more comfortable all the time,--the first -awful experience of a fearful Atlantic winter passage with the ship -loaded, to the scuppers, then the crowded ship at the first sealing, and -the much pleasanter trip to Labrador. - -Now I could see that the ship would be very comfortable with only her -own crew, and the deck clear of boats, as it would be on the next part -of the cruise, so I decided to go. It took a very short time to put our -seals out, and, as it was Saturday afternoon by that time, all the work -ceased until Monday morning. - -[Illustration: 0134] - -I heard an amusing story about a man being nearly drowned in a tank of -oil. A sealer came in and four of her tanks nearest to the boiler had -the sculps break down into oil, owing to the heat. When the crew were -discharging cargo it was the custom for a man to jump into a tank and -throw the sculps out. Coming to the first of these tanks, and looking -in, some sculps could be seen, and, never suspecting that these were a -few floating on the surface, the man jumped in and disappeared under, -but was presently fished out, every one thoroughly enjoying the incident -except, of course, the leading man. - - - - -CHAPTER VI--SOMETHING ABOUT THE GREELY RELIEF EXPEDITION - - - "But 'tis not mine to tell their tale of grief, - - Their constant peril and their scant relief, - - Their days of danger and their nights of pain; - - Their manly courage e'en when deemed in vain." - - -|One of the interesting things about our trip to the Arctic Seas was -the possibility of seeing Greely or of possibly finding him or something -about him. I shall here give a brief outline of what had been done up -to this time towards rescuing the gallant explorer and his intrepid -followers. - -Every one I met in Newfoundland appeared to know a great deal about -Greely, because he had started from there three years before in a St. -John's ship, and because both of the previous relief expeditions had -been in St. John's ships, and a great many of the Newfoundland men had -been with them, and several of our crew at the sealing had been on the -_Proteus_. One heard the Greely expedition and its relief discussed -every day. The consensus of opinion was that as the navy had the matter -in hand now, they would succeed. The Newfoundlanders, being a maritime -people, could not understand how soldiers could be expected to make a -success of a voyage of discovery or relief, and the two previous relief -trips had been unfortunate. The _raison d'etre_ of the Greely expedition -was briefly as follows: - -At a certain scientific conference held in Europe a series of -circumpolar stations had been decided upon, from which, owing to their -proximity to the revolutionary axis of our globe, interesting and useful -observations could be made of physical phenomena. As these observations -were to be made at the same time in a great many different places, they -would probably prove of greater interest and value than those supplied -intermittently by expeditions. Now the United States was to have two -stations, one at Point Barrow on the Behring Sea side, and one at Lady -Franklin Bay on the Davis Strait side. A young officer in the American -army, Lieutenant Greely, had volunteered for and been selected to take -charge of the Lady Franklin Bay expedition. The steamer _Proteus_, a -Newfoundland sealer, had been chartered to convey the party north. She -was a Dundee-built ship, about the size of the _Aurora_, and her captain -and crew were St. John's men. They left St. John's on July 7,1881, -having on board Lieutenant Greely and twenty-four men, with supplies for -three years. They made the most unprecedented time going north. Crossing -the dangerous Melville Bay in thirty-six hours and getting to within a -few miles of her destination on August 4th, a few days later she landed -the explorers, and having successfully accomplished her mission she -returned to her home port. - -Melville Bay, the bugbear of many Arctic voyages, is a very different -thing when crossed in June by whalers from what it is in July and -August; but the whalers must reach their northern station by the end of -June, so cannot wait for the ice to drift south. - -It was arranged that a relief expedition should go north in 1882 and -another in 1883, while the third in 1884 should convey the party -back. Now these two previous relief expeditions formed the topic -of conversation in St. John's when the inhabitants became tired of -discussing seals and politics, and I soon heard a good deal about them. -For the first, in 1882, our friend and late neighbor, the _Neptune_, -had been chartered. She was splendid in every way and did as much as any -ship of the period could have done towards making the thing a success; -but the orders were to leave two hundred fifty rations at Littleton -Island and two hundred fifty at the furthest point reached if the ship -failed to get to Lady Eranklin Bay, and that should they fail to reach -the Bay, the balance of the stores were to be brought back to St. -John's. A private in the army had been selected to take charge of this -expedition. As he had been accustomed to obeying orders to the letter, -he deposited the two hundred fifty rations at Littleton Island, and two -hundred fifty at Cape Sabine, the most northern point reached. Then, as -they were unable to reach Lady Franklin Bay, he carefully brought back -all the balance of the cargo of food sent up for the starving Greely, -twenty days' provisions only having been left in the Arctic and this -according to orders and probably--"Well, though the soldier knew some -one had blundered." - -The authorities were a little anxious now about the brave lieutenant, so -they began to make preparations for the 1883 relief, and this time -they chartered the _Proteus_ and also sent a small navy ship called the -_Yantic_, a craft rather unfitted for Arctic work. The _Proteus_ was -commanded by Captain Pike (the St. John's man who had made such a record -taking Greely up) and had her Newfoundland crew. This expedition was in -charge of a soldier, Lieutenant Garlington, as the Government wished it -all to be an army affair. Owing to an accident, a sergeant selected to -go on the _Proteus_ was disabled, and Lieutenant Colwell, U. S. N., -was added to the expedition in his place. This was fortunate, as things -turned out. One of our quartermasters on the _Aurora_ during the first -sealing trip had been one of the crew of the _Proteus_, and he gave me a -lot of interesting information about it. They left St. John's about the -end of June and had a nice passage to Disco. In fact, they found the -road so open that they reached Cape Sabine in about twenty-five days. -As they were in a hurry to reach their destination, Lady Eranklin Bay, -little time was spent here and no stores were landed. When the ship -moved out into Kane Sea she was caught almost at once in heavy polar -ice. The officers soon realized that the ship's position was serious, so -began to take supplies out of the hold. While so engaged the side of -the ship burst in and she filled. The pressure of the ice kept her from -sinking for a few hours, then some change of wind or tide opened the ice -and down she went. A great lot of provisions and stores had been thrown -overboard on to the ice, much being lost in so doing. After the ship -went down her crew took their own boats and the soldiers took theirs. -Colwell, with the help of both parties, succeeded in landing a lot of -provisions and stores at Cape Sabine, and here he cached five hundred -rations. It was said that many of the soldiers did not know how to row, -and that some members of the crew of the _Proteus_ behaved very badly -after the loss of the ship. They probably did not consider that the -saving of government supplies was any of their business, and some of -them even are said to have looted these supplies. After a rest at Cape -Sabine, the entire party proceeded south to meet the _Yantic_, the -supporting vessel. Very little attention had been paid to her, as she -was slow and ill adapted for the ice, and it was thought that she -probably would never attempt Melville Bay. However, she had crossed this -and was following them well, and the series of misunderstandings and -misinterpretations of orders which prevented the _Proteus_ people going -south from meeting the _Yantic_ coming north, makes a most remarkable -story. - -[Illustration: 0140] - -Lieutenant Garlington and his party, being separated from the crew of -the _Proteus_ for a time, crossed over to Littleton Island and left -a record of the loss of their ship. They then joined the others and -proceeded to Cape York. It was here decided to push on to the Danish -settlements as they did not think the Y antic would come as far north -as Cape York. In the meantime, the _Yantic_ had passed up to Littleton -Island and picked up Garlington's record. She then zigzagged about -looking for the boats, and passing Cape York on her way down without -calling, she proceeded to Upernavik. As the boats were not there, her -captain decided to push on home as the season was getting late, so -sailed to Disco. The boat party at Cape York having decided to go south -divided. Lieutenant Colwell, taking a whale boat and crew, struck across -Melville Bay, and after a most difficult and dangerous passage succeeded -in reaching Upernavik the day after the _Yantic_ had left. He followed -her, however, for a week, and overtaking her at Disco, brought her back -to Upernavik, where the balance of the _Proteus_ people had arrived, and -from there they returned to St. John's. Now the result of all this had -been, in 1882, the deposit of ten days' provisions at Littleton Island -and ten days' provisions at Cape Sabine, the remainder being brought -back. In 1883 the _Proteus_ had not deposited anything during her life, -but after her destruction Lieutenant Colwell had succeeded in caching at -Cape Sabine five hundred rations or twenty days' supplies saved from the -_Proteus_. The _Yantic_ had been up to Littleton Island and back without -leaving anything behind. Another year had passed and now the rescue of -Greely became imperative. The affair had been handed over to the navy, -and Commander Schley was taking command. The Dundee ship _Thetis_ and -the sealer _Bear_ had been bought and added to the navy. A collier, the -_Lough Garry_, had been chartered to take coal up for the expedition, -and the _Alert_, given by the British Government, was also going. At -the same time a reward was offered for any whaler picking Greely up. The -relief ships, except the _Alert_, were coming to St. John's and would -sail about the same time as the whalers, and as we all knew a good deal -about the circumstances, we were certainly all deeply interested in the -outcome. It was generally believed among our people that Greely would -now be at Cape York or Carey Islands, and the _Aurora_ stood as good a -chance as any other ship of getting there first. Commander Schley -had charge of the expedition and would sail on the _Thetis_, while -Lieutenant Emory would command the _Bear_, of which ship Lieutenant -Colwell would be an officer. - -The whalers going to Davis Strait were-- - -Arctic, Narwhal, Aurora, Nova Zembla, Cornwallis, Polynia, Esquimaux, -Triune, Jan Mayen, Wolf of St. John's. - - - -CHAPTER VII--THE BOTTLENOSE FISHING - - - "The Arctic sun rose broad above the wave, - - The breeze now sank, now whispered from his cave." - - -|Newfoundland looked more attractive in April than it did when we left, -doing about was pleasanter and we saw everything worth seeing in the -neighborhood of St John's. On board, great changes took place. All -the sheathing was torn off and the ship cleaned inside and out. Her -overhauling was complete. The rigging was set up, the masts were scraped -and oiled and the ship painted. The punts were all cleared away and our -beautiful whale-boats took their place. - -The _Aurora_ was peculiar in having two boats, one above the other, on -each quarter. We fished ten boats altogether, four down each side and -two upper quarter boats. - -The crew of a whale-boat is six, a harpooner, a boat-steerer and four -men pulling. The harpooner rows until ordered by the boat-steerer to -stand by his gun. In the bow the harpoon-gun is mounted on a swivel, and -fast to the harpoon is the "foregoer." This is a very pliable, untarred -rope, about two and a half inches in circumference and eighteen fathoms -long. It is coiled in a tub, sitting on the port bow of the boat, while -on the starboard side, in a convenient rest, lies the hand-harpoon. - -The bollard head, around which a turn of the line is taken, is an -important structure; it stands in the bow, beside the gun. Many a boat -has gone down through the line fouling at the bollard head. - -To the "foregoer" or "foreganger," is attached the whale line. The term -"line" means, generally, one rope 120 fathoms long, and there are five -of these carried in each boat, one and a half being stowed amidships and -the rest aft. They are 2 1/2-inch ropes, and tarred. The greatest care -must be observed in coiling these lines, and by the line manager in the -boat as the line runs out. - -A struck whale generally starts at about seven or eight miles an hour. -Should the rope, running out at this rate, uncoil unevenly, a kink in it -might foul one of the crew and instantly take him down. This has often -happened. - -Each boat has several six-foot lances ready for use when the whale is -exhausted; the idea being, to sever with the long sharp lance some of -the large vessels, thus bleeding the animal to death. - -The oars in a whale-boat work on mats on the gunwale, and a thole-pin -is used instead of rowlocks. An arrangement on the oar keeps it from -slipping through the grummet on the thole-pin, when it is let go. The -mat is to prevent noise. A little piggin is used for bailing the boat, -and, when hoisted on a boat hook, is the signal for more lines. The -shaft of the harpoon is made of soft, Swedish iron, so that it can be -twisted in any conceivable way without breaking. - -A little barrel of bread and cheese is carried in each boat and this -must not be broached until after the boat has been away from the ship a -considerable time; water is also carried. The great long steering oar is -very important. With it a dexterous boat-steerer can do wonders. He -can sweep the boat around very quickly or can scull noiselessly up to a -whale when the oars or paddles would frighten it away. The steering oar -works on a pin and mat, as do the others. - -The whale fisher has many incentives. As he is generally a man who has -to labor for a living, and as he is partly paid by the result of his -work, the capture of a whale means to him a good deal, probably several -pounds. This stimulates him. Again, the sooner he fills the ship, the -sooner he sails for home. While there is not much chance of filling the -ship nowadays, the securing of a good summer catch probably saves him a -weary, cold autumn, fishing on the west side. Last, but not least, the -pursuit of whales is often attended with great danger, which is one -of the principal factors of good sport. The average game hunter is not -exposed to as great risk as the average whaler. - -What danger is there in the pursuit of any member of the deer or -antelope family, and what chance has the animal in these days of high -power rifles? Sometimes the whale has no chance for its life and the -destruction of such a huge creature is not exciting, but, generally, -there is danger, as the history of the industry proves. Hunting rhino or -buffalo is better sport than hunting deer because the former may charge -and kill one. The whale hunter may be snatched to instant death by a -foul line, or starved to death in an open boat, and these possibilities -elevate the sport greatly. - -One cannot help sometimes being sorry for the animal one has killed, the -excitement of the chase over and the beast lying dead, especially when -only the head is wanted, and when everything else must be left to -spoil. A dead whale means creature comforts to many poor people; and I, -personally, have had more qualms at the escape of a wounded buck than I -have had over all the whales we killed. - -Fishing for bottlenose, the year before (1883), the _Aurora_ lost two -men, and the _Esquimaux_ lost one this year. While we were killing our -whales off Hudson Straits, he was snatched out of the boats and never -seen again. A few years before, this man's father was lost from the same -ship. - -In approaching a black fish, the eye must be avoided. Going "eye on" is -a serious matter, as the whale is not such a fool as it looks, and the -tremendously powerful tail can smite with terrific force. The lifting -power of the tail has not been much studied; but a chance to observe it -occurred on the _Nova Zembla_ some time ago when the mate got his -boat over one. Those who saw the accident say that the tail was lifted -without any apparent effort, throwing the boat many feet up and breaking -the bottom out of it. Fortunately the occupants were spilt out, and fell -clear of the danger zone, because the fish struck the boat again and -reduced it to match wood. - -A week after our arrival, the _Aurora_ had been pretty well cleaned and -greatly changed in appearance. A small spruce tree was fastened to each -masthead, the end of each yard-arm, and to the point of the jib-boom. -Every one now had an easy time until the actual sailing day. Quite a -number of vessels of all sorts had arrived, as the ice had disappeared -from the coast; amongst them was the Allen steamer _Newfoundland_, from -Halifax, bringing us English mail. The Greely relief ship _Bear_ had -also come in. - -_May 1st. Thursday_. The _Aurora_ was receiving finishing touches. We -were lying at the south side but our launch had steam up and took us -across when we wanted to go. - -_May 2_. Taking a gun, I went with Dr. Crawford, of the _Arctic_, -straight up the hill from the ship and found on the other side a growth -of little trees so dense as to be practically impenetrable in places. -I shot a hare crossing a little open place, and saw a splendid big hawk -flying about, but it never came within shot. Returning with the hare, -the Captain stopped me just as I was going on board. A hare was too -unlucky, so I gave it to a man on the wharf. Captain Guy was standing -on the _Arctic_ and, seeing this, came on shore and cut the hare's feet -off, throwing them on to the _Aurora_; he was ever fond of a joke. The -most unlucky parts of this unlucky animal in no way interfered with our -prosperity, however. - -_May 3rd._ As the _Lough Garry_ had come in I went on board. She was -an ordinary iron or steel steamer of about 1,000 tons and had been -chartered to take 500 tons of coal north for the relief expedition. She -was not fortified or specially prepared in any way for the work, but -still she managed to get along very well as far as her services were -required. Going on board, I encountered the mate, who recognized me, he -having been the mate of the _Thetis_ who had given me the information -I sought about whaling while in Dundee the autumn before. He showed me -over the ship and told me many interesting facts about a whaling voyage. - -The _Esquimaux_ sailed this day and the _Narwhal_ had already gone. The -desire to find Greely was certainly starting us all north a couple of -weeks before the usual time. - -_May 4th. Sunday._ The _Bear_ sailed. She was unlike any other ship -going north this year, because she had her black funnel forward of the -main mast and her crow's-nest on the foremast. The _Arctic_ had her -funnel in the same place, but her crow's-nest was on the mainmast. Their -rigs also differed. These are small matters, but we soon could recognize -any of the ships a long way off by their little peculiarities. During -the day I went on board the _Polynia_. She was ready for sea and lying -in the harbor. Captain Walker, who had command of her, was a naturalist -and sportsman and it was a pleasure meeting him. She proceeded north -before morning. - -[Illustration: 0151] - -May 5th. Spent some time on board the _Arctic_. She was ready for sea -and looked clean and nice with her spacious decks and cabins--very -unlike a whaler. Her lines were graceful, and she had powerful engines, -but she could not have stood as much in ice as the _Aurora_. Captain Guy -told me about killing a whale with an old Eskimo harpoon buried in its -blubber. He gave me this interesting souvenir of my voyage and told -me about Captain McKay of Dundee killing a whale in which he found a -harpoon with which the fish had been struck forty-two years before. This -iron is now in the Dundee Museum. - -_May 6th and 7th_. Took my last look at St. John's and made my cabin -comfortable. I had now been in it for three months, so knew exactly what -was required. - -There does not seem to be any connection between a whaler and Florida -water; but still I venture to say that there was not a sailor on our -ship who had not from one to half a dozen bottles of this commodity. -Some were for trade with the Eskimos and some for their sweethearts at -home. The Captain had laid in a quantity of colored handkerchiefs and -such things, which the men were permitted to purchase afterwards from -the slop-chest for purposes of barter. The slop-chest was the ship's -shop and was superintended by the second mate. One could purchase a -wonderful lot of useful things from this institution. - -_May 8th_. After breakfast, all being ready, the _Aurora_ sailed for the -whale fishing. In Scotland, a fish means a salmon, but in Greenland, -a black whale is always spoken of as a fish, never anything else. We -sailed out of the narrows and turned north. It was blowing a little from -the southeast, so there was some swell. We got square sails on the ship -presently, and with this breeze on her quarter, made good time, the -engines going full speed. - -Our intention was to try the bottlenose whale fishing off Resolution -Island at the mouth of Hudson's Straits, for a few days, then go over to -the Greenland side and follow the usual route. As there were many bergs -coming down and quantities of field ice at this season, we kept rather -well away from the coast, along which it came. At night the canvas was -taken off the ship and a bright lookout kept for ice. For the next three -days we steered north. The weather was fine and the sea smooth. Going up -the Labrador coast, we saw some heavy floes, but kept well to the east -of them and did not sight land. We did not see anything of interest, so -it was rather monotonous. - -_May 12th_. It was a lovely morning when I came on deck, with the wind -from the southeast. We had our fore and afters set and were steaming -full speed. Astern of us was the _Nova Zembla_ and we were towing her, -an act of brotherly love. - -I had seen the ship in Dundee and was struck by her beauty. She and the -_Jan Mayen_ were very handsome little ships, and she looked far better -at sea than in dock. We towed her part of the day. During the afternoon, -the wind died down and the evening was beautiful; not a breath of air, -but some swell rolling in from the southeast and the surface of the sea -like glass. The people to-day were employed coiling lines in boats and -arranging fishing gear as we might see the bottlenose whales any time. - -[Illustration: 0155] - -May 13th. A beautiful calm day. The men were getting ready the -whale-boats and filling the bunkers. We were well off Cape Chidley, the -northeast corner of Labrador, in the morning. In the evening a school of -bottlenose whales was seen, and six boats were lowered away. Two of the -boats immediately filled as they had been out of the water so long, but -the others pulled after the whales. I was oh the bridge watching the -sport. It was splendid. The ship and boats rising and falling on a -rather heavy swell, the surface of the water like oil, the boats -freshly painted, and the harpoons glistening in the sun, presented an -interesting picture of the sea; while the school of very lively little -whales rolling about like porpoises and then disappearing, to come up -suddenly, gave it animation. - -The boats had several shots, but they were quick and difficult. One, -however, was captured by Alex. McKechnie, the second mate, and after -a short play, killed and brought alongside. This beast (Hyperoodon -Rostratus, or the northern sperm whale) is small, but of remarkable -appearance, having a long round beak, which protrudes from the lower -part of its large head. Its oil is very good; that flowing from the -cancellous bones of the head solidifying on deck at a comparatively high -temperature, and when solid, looking like spermaceti. Many of the men -took bottles full of this oil for use in future sprains and bruises. -Late in the evening another whale was killed by Thors, and, from the -numbers we saw around, there was no reason why the _Aurora_ should not -have picked up a profitable cargo in this neighborhood, but the desire -for the valuable whalebone took us to the north. - -_May 14th._ We were off Frobisher's Bay and after the little whales -again, and another was captured. I was not in the boats at all at this -fishing, as the movement of the whales was so fast that they capsized -boats frequently and only experienced oarsmen were wanted. I was told -that more men lost their lives at this than at the right whale fishing. -We learned afterwards that the _Nova Zembla_ picked up seven here, while -the _Arctic bagged seventeen_. The whale killed in the morning by McLean -was over twenty feet long. The other two were smaller. The heads were -brought on board so I had a good look at them. - -I saw white stalactites of spermaceti hanging from them to stalagmite -incrustations of the same on deck, and I noticed that the oil was free -from smell. - -The neighborhood of Resolution Island was notorious for its awful -currents, and the rise and fall of tide about the western end of -Hudson Straits made navigation on these comparatively uncharted waters -exceedingly dangerous. - -[Illustration: 0159] - -I once heard Captain Guy tell of a narrow escape he had in the -neighborhood of the upper Savage Islands. From the barrel, he saw a rock -ahead, and ordered the lead cast. Three fathoms was found, so he backed -off and anchored. In a few hours he was astonished to find an island -where the submerged rock had been, and he afterwards learned from a -reliable source that the rise and fall of tide at this place was over -forty feet. Caribou were abundant on the north coast of the straits, and -musk-ox were also found. Sometimes whalers coming down for the southwest -fishing, in the autumn, killed numbers of both. The caribou was the -barren land variety, and some of the heads were enormous. In this -species the beam was long and straggly, and the palmation was not very -pronounced. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII--THE CHIEFTAIN DISASTER - - - "We have fed our sea for a thousand years, - - And she calls us, still unfed, - - Though there is never a wave of all our waves - - But marks our English dead." - - -- Kipling. - - -It may be of interest to recount here the story of the _Chieftain's_ -mishap, which was the worst accident of the year. - -The _Chieftain_ was one of the Dundee whaling fleet. When we left she -was fitting out for the Greenland sealing and bottlenose whaling. - -Leaving Dundee on March 6th, under the command of Captain Gellatley, she -lost four of her boats, on May 26th, in a fog. - -These made their way to Iceland. One, in charge of the captain, landed -at Primness. A second, in charge of Alex. Bain, a harpooner, arrived at -Tonsberg, having lost overboard her boat-steerer, David Buchan. A third -landed at Ramfarhofu with all alive. The fourth was picked up, and in -her there was but one survivor. When this boat left the ship there were -three men in her. One died and was duly committed to the deep; another -fell into a lethargy which continued so long that McIntosh, the -survivor, though hardly able to move his benumbed legs, crawled to the -bow of the boat to find out what was the trouble, but found him dead. - -Fearing lest he might yield to the temptation of using the body for -food, by a great effort he succeeded in heaving it overboard. The boat -was picked up on the fourteenth day off the Iceland coast by a passing -ship; but McIntosh was compelled to have both legs amputated as -mortification had set in. It is terrible to think of what this brave -fellow must have endured drifting about in a small boat over this lonely -and stormy sea, half frozen and with hardly any food. - -The following is the account given by Captain Gellatley of the cause of -the accident, and of his experiences during the awful trip to Iceland. - -A school of whales was observed on Monday, 26th of May, and the -afternoon being fine, four boats went out in pursuit--one under the -command of Captain Gellatley; the second under the charge of Thomas -Elder, the second mate; John Taylor, specksioneer, was in charge of the -third; and Alexander Bain, harpooner, of the fourth. - -In the course of a short time the captain's boat got fast to a whale, -and also the specksioneer's. The second mate assisted the captain. After -some time the whale was killed and towed to the ship, which was reached -about three o'clock in the morning. By this time a dense fog had settled -down, and after his crew had breakfasted, Captain Gellatley set out to -look for the three boats, giving directions that if the fog continued -the vessel should be kept in her position, so as to enable them to find -her; but that she was to bear down towards the boats if the mist lifted. -Knowing the bearings of the boats, Captain Gellatley came up to them -after rowing for fully two hours, and found that the whale was still -alive and causing great trouble. Three additional harpoons were fired -into it, and in the course of the forenoon it was killed, and the four -boats started in the direction of the ship with the whale in tow. In the -meantime the weather cleared, and the ship was descried at a distance of -about five miles; but in the course of half an hour the fog again came -down, and it was so dense that it was impossible to see more than a -few yards ahead. Though they pulled from half past ten o'clock in the -forenoon until half past four in the afternoon they failed to find the -_Chieftain_, and no answering signals were returned to their blasts of -fog horns. It was then resolved that one of the boats should proceed -eastwards and another westwards for some distance, but they returned -without having been able to discover the whereabouts of the ship, -notwithstanding the most diligent search. At one time a sound like a -whistle was heard in one direction and again in another, and the men got -utterly fatigued by their protracted search, a fresh breeze springing -up and adding to their discomfort. About eight o'clock in the evening a -number of the men confidently declared that they heard a ship's whistle -sounding in a northeasterly direction, and the second mate was sent -away in the hope of finding the ship. Some time later Captain Grellatley -decided to follow in the same direction, and accordingly the whale was -buoyed and a lance with a handkerchief tied to the end of the handle was -stuck into the carcass for identification. The three boats then followed -in the course taken by the second mate, but they could never catch up to -him, though they repeatedly heard the blast of his fog horn. Throughout -the night the search was continued without success, and on the morning -of the 28th, the crews being fatigued, the three boats were made fast to -one another and a deep sea anchor thrown out for the purpose of stopping -their way and allowing the men to rest. In the course of the morning -James Cairns, an ordinary seaman, accidentally fell overboard, but he -was promptly rescued. On the 28th matters began to assume a serious -aspect. The crews had then been two days absent from the ship, and their -slender stock of food--a small keg of provisions and a six pound tin -of preserved meat in each boat--had become exhausted. In consequence of -their privations the men became affected with stupor, and with the view -of dispelling this the captain ordered the anchor to be hauled in and -the boats to be rowed towards the ice. This exercise had a beneficial -effect, and it seemed as if it were to result in a happy rescue, for a -barque was noticed sailing away to the windward. Signals were made -in the hope of attracting attention, but the crews were doomed to -disappointment, the fog, which had temporarily cleared, having again -fallen and obscured everything from sight. The weather, too, became -boisterous, and the boats were in imminent danger of being crushed by -the ice. To save the boats from destruction it was found necessary to -row out from under the lee of the floes, and during this time Captain -Gellatley narrowly escaped being drowned. Whale-boats are all steered by -an oar, and while the captain was steering, his oar was struck by a wave -and he was knocked overboard. Fortunately he was rescued before he had -been long in the water, but he suffered much from having to remain in -his wet clothes during the remainder of the time he was in the boat. All -the men were by this time complaining of the benumbed condition of -their hands and feet, and by the morning of Friday, 30th, it was hardly -possible to keep them awake. That morning the wind shifted to the -westward, and as all hope of falling in with the _Chieftain_ had been -given up, it was decided, as the only chance of saving their lives, -to endeavor to sail to Iceland, which was calculated to be about two -hundred miles distant. Each of the boats possessed a compass, but there -was neither mast nor sail, and in their place a couple of boat-hooks -were erected by way of a mast, with the ramrod of the gun as a yard, and -the line cover, a piece of canvas about five feet by three feet, had to -do duty as a sail. Thus equipped, and with a supply of frozen snow and -pieces of ice to quench their thirst, the crews of the three boats set -out on their perilous journey, the master giving the directions for -steering. They left the ice about five o'clock in the morning, and -were soon scudding along at a rapid rate, there being a strong breeze -blowing. About eight o'clock the boat which was in advance was seen to -shorten sail, and when the captain came up he was informed that David -Buchan, while steering, had been knocked overboard and drowned. An -attempt was then made to tow this boat; but the sea was running so high -that this jeopardized both. It soon became apparent that the boats would -be swamped if they continued in tow, and the captain was obliged to cast -the second one adrift, telling the crew they must either hoist sails and -make for Iceland along with him or run back for the ice. They preferred -to hold on their course, and the sail was again hoisted. The weather -continued moderate until between four and five o'clock in the afternoon, -when it shifted to the northward and began to blow hard. A heavy sea -arose, and through the night it was with the utmost difficulty that the -captain kept his boat afloat. At times she was nearly filled, and the -men had to keep almost constantly bailing out the water. The stormy -weather continued throughout the whole of Friday night and Saturday, and -it was found necessary to throw the whale lines overboard to lighten -the boat. In the meantime the condition of the men was becoming more and -more alarming, and the captain was forced to employ various devices to -prevent them from falling into a state of stupor, which would soon have -proved fatal. To use the oars was an impossibility on account of the -heavy seas and the rate at which the boat was sailing, and accordingly -the captain persuaded the men to hold up their oars by way of exercise. -This had the desired effect for some time, but by Sunday morning, the -fourth day they had been without food, they were all ready to give up -in despair. Captain Gellatley had been steering constantly from -Friday morning till Sunday morning, and the fatigue, combined with the -privations he endured in common with his crew, began to tell severely -upon him. Only those who have had to steer such a boat in a seaway can -understand the irksome and laborious nature of the work, and to this -must be added the fact that he had to sit in a cramped position the -whole time, his legs being bent under him. The captain stated that a -peculiar sensation came over him, a haze gathered before his eyes, and -an attack of dizziness obliged him to call the boatswain to take his -place. After a brief space the boatswain, who was almost prostrated, had -to relinquish the task, and the boat was then hove to, and a deep sea -anchor, made up of a grappling iron and other articles, was thrown out, -with fifty fathoms of line, by which means the boat's head was kept -towards the sea. The weather was then moderating, but the waves -continued to break over the boat, and it was as much as the men could do -to keep her afloat. A few hours later and the gale sprang up afresh, and -as there were still no signs of land, the crew resigned themselves to -the fate which they deemed to be inevitable. From this state of despair -they were ultimately aroused by the news that the land and a schooner -were in sight, the sailmaker being the first to make the joyful -announcement. This intelligence reanimated the despairing men, and -signals were made to the schooner, but without succeeding in attracting -the attention of the crew. A direct course was then steered for the -land, but owing to the gale ten hours elapsed before it was reached. -A new difficulty was then encountered, there being no visible -landing-place along that rock-bound coast. A number of the islanders, -however, had noticed the boat, and by means of signs they directed the -crew to steer for the only available landing-place, a narrow passage -with perpendicular rocks on either side, and a horizontal rock forming a -sort of bar. The tide was then ebbing, but under the guidance of Captain -Gellatley, the boat was safely steered into the narrow harbor. By the -assistance of the islanders the crew, who had almost lost the power -of their legs, were take to a farmer's hut adjoining, where they were -hospitably entertained with such cheer as the house afforded; and the -black bread and whale blubber which were set out before them proved -a feast to the famishing sailors. The point at which they landed was -Brimness, about ten miles distant from Langanaes, and after they had -recovered somewhat the islanders made arrangements for transporting -them on horseback to the nearest port. However, the Norwegian smack, -_Jemima_, of Elekkefjord, hove in sight, and on being signalled, the -captain, Bernard Olsen, readily agreed to take the crew to Seydisfjord, -where a steamer was shortly to sail for Scotland. On their arrival at -Seydisfjord on the 8th of June, the governor had them conveyed to a -hotel, and a messenger was dispatched for a doctor, who arrived in -the course of two days, his journey requiring twenty-four hours to -accomplish. Under his treatment Captain Gellatley and his crew made a -satisfactory recovery, and on the 12th they left Seydisfjord on board -the mail steamer _Thym_, for Granton. - - - - -CHAPTER IX--A GREENLAND SETTLEMENT - - - "The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone - - Boldly proclaims the happiest spot his own; - - Extols the treasures of his stormy seas, - - And his long nights of revelry and ease." - - -|We were now crossing Davis Straits and felt that the whaling voyage had -fairly begun. Reference was seldom made to the places already visited, -but those we expected to see were discussed, and stories told of -previous experiences there. Nothing was spoken of but Greenland and its -settlements. - -The weather was very cold and on Thursday, May 15th, snow squalls -reminded us of our latitude. The wind was fair, however, and the ship -made good time under steam and some canvas. - -_Friday, May 16th._ The morning was fine and the men of the watch were -employed coaling the bunkers; coal dust was thick in the 'tween-decks -and the tarts we had for tea were black with it as the galley opened -oft the Tween-decks. In spite of their color, however, they were better -tarts than any I ever tasted on shore. - -As we expected to be on the Greenland coast the following day, a few -remarks about the country may not be out of place. - -The west coast settlements had prospered under the fostering care of the -Moravian missionaries and the Danish Government and were divided into -two districts, the northern and the southern, Holstenborg, to which we -were bound, being the northern settlement of the southern district. The -most northern settlements of the northern district had native governors, -but the southern had Danish, and inspectors supervised the work of -these. - -One or two ships from Copenhagen visited the coast every year with -supplies, taking back oil and skins. - -We have all sung about the icy mountains of Greenland, and most of us -have in a vague way connected the country with whales, without having -any idea of how great this whaling industry was some years ago. In the -appendix it will be seen that Great Britain alone sent one hundred -and fifty-nine ships to Greenland waters in 1819, and, of course, the -Norwegians and Dutch, the Danes, Germans and others also profited by -the fisheries. Many words in the modern whaler's vocabulary are of Dutch -origin, as these hardy people were conspicuous among the most daring -followers of this dangerous trade. - -Greenland has a past, but its history, viewed through the mists -of centuries, and always more or less traditional, is anything but -distinct. - -The country was discovered toward the end of the tenth century; and a -banished Norwegian, called Erick, wintered at what is now called Erick -Sound, shortly after. The unscrupulous Erick, in order to promote -colonization, called the new country Greenland. A fleet of twenty-five -sail started for the country with colonists. Many were lost, but about -half of them settled there and were joined by others, forming quite a -colony. - -[Illustration: 0173] - -Christianity was introduced about 1121 and a bishop was appointed. By -degrees the colonists in the south formed other colonies, churches were -built, and the people prospered for a time. - -Grant tells us in his history of Greenland that there were about one -hundred hamlets on these coasts. The colonies on the east coast have -disappeared. Some ruins have been found, but where are the people? -Nothing has been heard definitely from them since 1408, when the east -Greenland trade ceased. Some think that black death destroyed -them, others say that polar ice, coming down, closed the coast from -intercourse with the parent country, so that they starved. According to -one Kojake, who has written on the subject, they became eaters of human -flesh, owing to a famine, but afterwards they are said to have relished -it. That they were nice about it is evident when we read that they only -consumed old people, forsaken orphans and unnecessary persons. A rumor -reached Norway in 1718 about a vessel having been wrecked oft the coast -of Greenland and of the crew having been eaten voraciously by savages. -The word voracious suggests relish, and possibly these savages were -descendants from the good, old Norwegian stock, who ate unnecessary -persons only a few hundred years before and who had a bishop in 1121. - -_May 17th. Saturday_. We expected to sight the land, so were on the -lookout. The weather was cloudy and there was a southeast breeze, so -everything was set and drawing. The clouds lifted about noon and in the -distance the snow-covered mountains of Greenland could be seen. At first -it was difficult to tell which was mountain and which cloud. By and by, -however, the forbidding coast grew distinct. - -Our objective point was Holstenborg and the mate was in the crow's-nest -examining the shore for the Danish colors. Some small bergs were -scattered over the water and a narrow shore floe was fast to the coast. - -To the north of us the Knights Reefs ran far out to sea and on these -some larger bergs had grounded. The ship was slowed down and all her -canvas stowed. Finally the engines were stopped, and after a little -while, the captain ordered the ship put about as he could not pick up -the settlement. I heard the order given and was greatly disappointed as -I longed to see an Eskimo. - -Just then the mate called out that he saw a kayak coming off, so the -ship lay to and waited. I repaired to the fore top and presently saw two -kayaks coming toward us. There was quite a splash on, but the sun had -now come out and the scene interested me intensely. - -The little boats were almost submerged and the occupants were wet and -glistened in the sunlight. - -When they came alongside, I saw that the kayaks were about 15 feet long, -with little knobs of ivory decorating bow and stern, and were about 18 -inches wide at the widest part and covered with skin. - -One Eskimo sat in each. The edge of the hole in which he sat was raised -a couple of inches and over this he had pulled his skin coat, wrapped -a lash around it and made it water-tight. The paddle was trimmed with -ivory and the dusky faces of the almond-eyed navigators were all smiles -as they looked at us and showed their white teeth. A whale boat was -lowered and each canoe lifted in, Eskimo and all, then they left their -boats, shook hands with every one around and went on to the bridge, -where they remained until the ship was at anchor off the village. - -Holstenborg consisted of a church, which was also a schoolhouse, a shop -where the deputy governor lived, and the governor's house. There were a -number of native houses--awful places, built of turf. A long low passage -led to the door of each. As the weather was comparatively warm, this -passage was generally very wet, and when the door of the house opened, -the smell was overpowering. Inside sat women at work with their needles, -or dressing skins. When the ship came to anchor off the shore floe, a -boat-load of ladies came on board. A Greenland belle was a well dressed -person. Her hair was folded several times and then wound about with a -ribbon, so that it stood up upon the top of the head; the fold of the -hair above the ribbon was rather fanshaped, and the color of the ribbon -indicated whether the lady was married, single, or a widow. Possibly -there were degrees of wrapping, and shades of the color, indicating the -number of times she had been married, and the depths of despair into -which her various bereavements had reduced her. This simple record of -her past was an excellent arrangement in a country where there were no -society papers,--a sort of personal totem carried on the head, so that -he or she who ran might read. Of course, in lower latitudes, where high -civilization and divorce courts exist, shortness of hair would render -some records so incomplete that the Greenland method is never likely to -supplant the present ready references to be found amongst interested and -observing neighbors. A bodice was worn, made of some cheerful colored -stuff procured at the shop or from whalers. Tight fitting trousers, made -of bay seal skin and extending down to the knees, came next, and very -gaudy boots of colored skin. Down the front of each leg of the trousers -was a stripe 1 1/2 inches wide, of colored skin, and the boots, -especially around the tops, were very ornate. Many of the girls were -good-looking, and on their arrival a ball commenced in the 'tween-decks -which lasted while they were there; fiddles and concertinas supplying -the music. These instruments were played by whalers and Eskimos equally -well, and they knew the same airs. Most of our visitors had articles -to barter and they wanted bread in return more than anything else, but -accepted colored handkerchiefs and other trifles. - -Slippers and tobacco pouches were their principal stock in trade, but -there were some down quilts, prettily bordered with the green necks of -the eider duck. Captain Fairweather and myself spent a pleasant evening -with the governor and his deputy, and it was interesting to hear the -music of civilization played on a piano by the wife of the latter. - -Coming away, they gave us a lot of quaint ivories made by the natives, -from walrus tusks, such as brooches, pipes, paper knives, etc., etc. - -_May 18th. Sunday_. I went on shore early, and seeing a lot of snow -buntings, spent some time looking for their nests, but without result. -On the sunny sides of the rocks the snow had gone; there was some dead -grass, but indeed the country was, for the most part, covered with it. -There were several pairs of ravens about, but I could not find their -nests, so I borrowed a pair of skies, and ascending a hill close by, -enjoyed the exhilarating sport of sliding down its snowy slope. During -the afternoon I made a house-to-house visitation in the native quarter -and saw much of interest. The older portion of the population I found -at home, but the youth and beauty of the place had gone on board the -_Aurora._ About dinner time I came on board and acquired a further -collection of Eskimo ware, including ladies' clothing, for which even -my bed curtains were bartered. It was late when I retired for the night, -surfeited with the pleasure of my first long day in Greenland. - -_May 19th. Monday_. I wrote letters home this morning and sent them on -shore. During the summer they arrived via Copenhagen, having gone by the -Danish mail ship which visited the settlement every year. - -By breakfast time we were under way. It was a beautiful day. There was -a breeze from the southwest, so the ship soon had all her canvas set and -we stood away, clear of the land. - -The Knights Reef, running out to sea north of Holstenborg, had to be -weathered. On the heavy ice around there, we saw a number of walrus, -but did not disturb them. By noon we were sailing up the coast amid floe -ice, so the canvas was taken off and we steamed slowly through it. A -sharp lookout was kept for whales, as we were then on a very good ground -for spring fishing, sixty miles from Disco and sixty miles from Riffkol -being the neighborhood where the ships in olden times killed fine -cargoes. - - "With Riffkol hill and Disco Dipping, - - There you will find the whale fish skipping," - -is an old saying amongst whalers. - -[Illustration: 0184] - - - - -CHAPTER X--POLAR BEAR SHOOTING - - - "The shapeless bear - - With dangling ice, all horrid, stalks forlorn, - - Slow paced, and sourer as the storms increase, - - He makes his bed beneath the inclement drift, - - And with stem patience, scorning weak complaint, - - Hardens his heart against the assailing want." - -_May 20th. Tuesday._ We were quite close to Disco in the morning. -However, the Captain decided not to go into the settlement, Godhaven, -where many other ships lay, but to go west, as the straits appeared -tolerably free from ice in that direction. Accordingly, about noon, we -turned our bows westward, having a solid looking floe to the north of -us and open water to the south. This was all good fishing ground and -we might have picked up a big whale, but we did not see a single spout -while we were in the neighborhood. - -Birds were getting numerous, now that we were amongst the ice, and the -edge of the floe was lined with little auks in some places. They were -important-looking fellows, like diminutive penguins. - -Disco looked wild and forbidding as we steamed away from it, with snow -lodged in all the sheltered places. - -The island rose to a height of about three thousand feet and much of the -coast on the west side of it was precipitous and exposed, so that there -were always bare rock faces, which gave a patchy appearance to that -place. - -To the north of us, many big bergs could be seen, which had come -originally from Waggate Straits. Two tremendous ones were at one time -aground in this place, in very deep water. They were described by -Crants, who tells us that they were there for years. - -We had steamed for some distance to the west, along the floe edge, when -the lookout called down that he saw a bear on an island of ice, a few -points on our starboard bow. I heard him, so immediately went for my -rifle. A boat was lowered and we rowed to the island. George Matheson, -one of our harpooners, and myself immediately landed, and the boat left -us, intending to row around the island so as to intercept bruin, should -he attempt to swim to the main floe. - -As this was the first wild bear I had ever seen, I was unfamiliar with -their ways, but learned afterwards that unless the hunter came suddenly -upon one, or unless it had cubs, it would almost invariably retreat and -probably take to the water. Of course, it might not know the whereabouts -of the hunter, and in that case it would be as liable to go in his -direction as any other. - -This particular animal was an exception to all rules; for before we had -gone very far we found that he was coming straight toward us. Owing to -the nature of the ice, he could not always be seen, but occasionally he -would stand up and take his bearings, when we could see each other. I -was an active youth, George was a heavy man in excellent condition, -and if it came to running, he would have had no chance with me, and no -sensible bear would pass him to pursue me. - -[Illustration: 0188] - -Realizing these things, I had no misgivings, so knelt down and put out -a box of ten cartridges. The har-pooner, seeing my preparations, said: -"For God's sake, don't shoot." He had had experiences with wounded bears -before, which he did not wish to repeat. It seemed to me, however, that, -between the two of us, we had things our own way as we had had such -splendid practice at seals a short time before and our hands were in, -so, when bruin stood up to have a look at us, less than a hundred yards -away, I fired and hit him in the head. - -I was intensely pleased as it was my first bear and also the first seen -that year by any of the ships. - -We had, as spectators, the entire crew, as the ship was not far away -and every one on board was watching. A bear is considered lucky, -considerable trouble being taken to pick one up. As they looked very -yellow in the white ice, they were easily seen. Curiosity, no doubt, -drew this one to us, as we were kneeling down and not moving when he -stood up to look. Had we moved, he would probably have gone away. I kept -the skull, the entire occipital portion of which was shattered, although -the skin wound was small, as the copper-nosed bullets only expanded well -on striking something hard. - -The boat came back for us and, after skinning the prize, we went on -board. As there was much heavy ice to the west, we steamed back towards -Disco, and a lead, opening to the north, later in the day, gave us a -chance of going a few miles in the right direction. - -_May 21st. Wednesday_. We had come rather close to the land by morning -and were off Disco Fiord. There was very heavy ice coming down and -numbers of bergs about, so navigation was exceedingly difficult and -dangerous, and we made little or no progress until noon, when the ice -slackened and let us go ahead, the wind blowing from the north and -loosening it. In the evening it was very cold, with snow squalls. - -I got an ivory gull this day (P. Eburnea) and also a glaucous gull -(Larus Glaucus). The ivory gull positively looked like ivory as it stood -on the ice, and the glaucous gull, with its great spread of snow-white -wings, was beautiful. - -[Illustration: 0192] - -We were sorry that the ship did not stop at Godhaven, or Lieveley, as it -was generally called, because of its importance as a point of departure -for expeditions. They generally obtained dogs there, and whalers, for -a century and more, had made it a port to call, but this was a race for -the north and no time was to be wasted. We managed to work on our course -all afternoon and during the night, as the wind had slackened the ice. - -_May 22nd. Thursday_. During the night, the ship had made considerable -progress, so at noon we were off Hare Island. After tea, we were hooked -on in a pool of water for several hours. I took my gun and went out for -a stroll, killing a number of little auks (Alca Alle or Roach) and a -Richardson's skua. These latter were called, by the sailors, boatswain -birds, because of the long feathers in the tail, resembling a -marlinspike. - -As at this time we had the sun night and day, it made me exceedingly -restless. About ten P. M. we were fast again, so, taking my gun, I shot -some black guillemot (U. Grylle), these birds being very numerous. I -returned to the ship about midnight, when it was blowing rather hard. - -_May 23rd. Friday_. The wind had died down by morning and the day was -beautiful. We were off Nugsuak Peninsula. There were many tremendous -bergs about and the floe was heavy. In the dim distance we saw a ship -and made our way towards her. To the east of us was the entrance to -Hmanak Fiord, one of the largest on the west coast of Greenland. From -where we were, all fiords looked alike, and it was impossible to tell -islands from mainland. It resembled a sea of ice out of which protruded -rocks and hills, which, excepting on the steep places, were covered with -snow. - -Black guillemot and little auks were everywhere in thousands, and it was -pretty to see rows of the latter along the ice edge. They stood -shoulder to shoulder, facing the water, and were very indifferent to our -presence. - -By night we had made little progress and the new ship was still -far away. We had been about with the whalers enough by this time to -recognize any of them a long way off by their rigging, smoke or funnel, -so, long before we reached this new vessel, we recognized that she was -a stranger, and she turned out to be the _Cornwallis_. When we left -Dundee, she was outfitting for the Greenland fishing, that is, for -the voyage we ourselves originally intended taking, after leaving -Newfoundland. - -The high price of whalebone, however, had induced her owners to send her -to Davis Straits instead. By tea time we were hooked on within a quarter -of a mile of her, and after that meal the Captain sent me on board to -see whether there was any mail for our ship. Climbing on board, I was -amazed to find my friend Armitage there, with a yellow beard and sea -boots; I would not have recognized him. He was greatly surprised to -see me because he believed that I had gone from Newfoundland to the Jan -Mayen fishing, not knowing of our altered arrangements. The _Cornwallis_ -was an old barque, formerly in the South American trade. She had had -engines put in, and been fortified for Arctic ice. After I sailed from -Dundee, Armitage, in going around the docks, saw her. He went on board -and, finding Captain Nicol, arranged to sail with him later in the year. - -Sending back to the _Aurora_ mail and papers, also some fresh mutton, -which had been sent out to us, I remained on the _Cornwallis_ and heard -the news. I saw her peculiar and useless engines. Captain Nicol said -they spoilt her for sailing and she steamed badly. - -_May 24th. Saturday._ It was a beautiful Arctic day when I came on deck -before breakfast. Ahead of us, the world was white, not a break to be -seen anywhere, astern some open water. The _Cornwallis_ was lying on -our port side a few hundred yards away, so that about eleven I went on -board, and, with Armitage, started off to look for something to shoot, -among the hummocks, three or four miles north of where we lay. We spent -hours tramping over the ice, but did not see a track, so we returned to -our ships about six P. M. This hummock belt extended east and west and -had been caused by the rafting of great floes. It was quite smooth from -the ship to the hummocks and also on the other side of them. Half a mile -beyond the ridge, however, there was a great berg which appeared to be -aground. - -When I returned on board the _Aurora_, the Captain told me to go below -and have my tea and then to go with the mate back to where I had been, -because he had seen a bear close to us all the time we were there. It -certainly was curious that neither of us had seen him or his tracks. -When we were about a mile away from the ships, I saw Armitage hurrying -after us. I was anxious to wait for him, but the mate insisted on -pushing on, as it would be a fearfully unlucky thing for a member -of another crew to shoot a bear first seen by us. After a little, we -reached a crack in the ice, about two feet wide, so we stepped across -and hurried on. Armitage, coming up shortly after, was unable to cross -as the crack was then eight or ten feet wide and extended indefinitely -in each direction. So the situation righted itself, and my friend -returned to the ship while the mate and I kept on to where the bear had -been seen and there we found tracks in abundance, but no bear. After -an hour's searching, we were returning to the ship when we saw her jib -hauled up as a signal for us to go ahead again, the game having been -spotted by the lookout in the crow's nest. Returning to the hummocks, -we saw the bear strolling from behind the berg beyond. He was coming -straight towards us, so we got down behind the rafted ice and awaited -his approach. It was decided that I should have the first shot as the -mate had killed so many. I allowed the bear to get about a hundred and -fifty yards away before firing, and then put a bullet into him. I don't -know where it hit, but he came down, to be up again at once and to keep -on coming. The mate fired and down he went again, and we kept it up -until the bear was hit many times. Sometimes he fell, sometimes he bit -at the place, and by the time he reached the ridge he was very lame and -badly shot up. He had gone some distance to the west of us, so I stood -up on a slab of ice and finished him, as we thought, by putting a bullet -in his shoulder and dropping him in his tracks. We hurried up our side -of the ridge until we arrived at where he was. Then, climbing over, I -was surprised to find him sitting up. This time my bullet finished him. -Our shooting was nothing to be proud of, and went to show how careful -one should be with bears, because if not hit right, they take a lot of -lead. This was about the only one of those killed that took more than -one or, at the most, two shots. - -[Illustration: 0198] - -As neither of us had a hunting knife, we had a long job skinning him -with pocket knives. Then we started for the ship, towing the skin, but -when we reached the crack in the ice, it had opened about twenty-five -yards, so we were fairly caught. The mate, with his usual ingenuity, -loosened a pan of ice, and on this we crossed, using the butts of -our rifles as paddles. Arriving at the other side, we were met by two -sailors, sent from the ship, as we were being watched from the barrel, -and they took the bear skin in charge while we made our way on board. As -it was late, we retired as soon as we had had something to eat. - -_May 25th.. Sunday._ In the morning, Armitage came on board and saw the -bear skin. He had never seen a polar bear on the ice, so was very much -disappointed that he had not been with us. - -Both ships unhooked about ten A. M. and stood north through a lead. -We moved along fairly well and by evening were hooked on close to each -other in a hole of water with a good ice edge. - -The _Bear_ and _Triune_ were now in sight, the latter having come from -Dundee direct. We were off Svartin Huk, a great peninsula, but I only -knew this by consulting the chart glued to the cabin table. - -The _Cornwallis_ was the "lame duck" of the fleet. Steaming in open -water, she had not more than half our speed, and in heavy ice she could -do little, as her power was so weak. Of course, she could wriggle her -way around floes and along tortuous leads fairly well, especially if -some of the better ships had just been through ahead of her and broken -the trail. The _Cornwallis_ was the only one of the ships coming -direct from Dundee which carried a surgeon, but there were three on the -Newfoundland fleet. - -_May 26th. Monday_. We both moved a few miles north this day, but the -ice was very heavy and the conditions for advance unfavorable. Some -distance astern, we saw the _Bear_, but she was not making much headway -and we all three were tied up by noon. - -A ship, when anchored to a floe, has her bows against it and a cable out -to an ice anchor on one bow or on both, according to the weather. From -the jib-boom a rope ladder always hangs, so that one can easily get on -to or leave the floe. There is generally a man on the ladder when the -ship approaches the ice, and as she touches, he drops off! and, with an -ice drill, makes a hold for the ice anchor. - -Bringing Armitage, we went to a crack up which looms were flying, and -had a pleasant afternoon shooting them. They were fast-flying birds, and -the knowledge of the fact that they would not be wasted gave zest to our -sport. Shooting guillemot rising off the water would not be much fun, -but picking off single birds as they passed was good practice. - -The looms we saw in such thousands were, I believe, Uria Brunichii. - -The ships were tied up when I turned in. - -_May 27th. Tuesday_. The ice was slack, so we kept in a northerly -direction, making good headway. We left the _Cornwallis_ and, following -a good lead, passed the _Narwhal_, which had been the leading ship for -some days. - -During the evening, the _Bear_ came after us, but we were able to keep -ahead. Captain Fair-weather decided to give Upernivik a wide berth, as -he once had had an unpleasant experience with the rocks of that charming -Greenland summer resort, so we kept going north all night. - -There was a wonderful amount of life on board a whaler, on account of -the crew being so large. In the 'tween-decks, one generally found a -number of men at work, picking oakum, spinning rope yarn, or other -yarns, and weaving sennet. The carpenter and his assistant were found at -work in one place, the cooper busy in another, while the sailmaker -sat and sewed. On the deck, in some sheltered corner, one found the -blacksmith at work, and there were always jobs being done in the engine -room. But it was easy work, none of the dog's life one saw on other -ships. - -There are said to be runic monuments in the vicinity of Upernivik, -and one on Woman's Island is said to bear the date of 1135. The early -travellers, who are supposed to be responsible for these records, are -also said to have visited Lancaster Sound. - -When one considers that Baffin circumnavigated the bay which bears his -name, in 1616, in a craft of fifty-five tons, and when one examines a -Viking ship of a thousand years ago and finds it a substantial clinker -built boat, a hundred feet long with fine beam, one sees no reason why a -twelfth century vessel could not make her way to Lancaster Sound. - -_May 28th. Wednesday_. We had a day racing with the Bear. She managed to -pass us just before we reached Browns Island, and hooked on to the floe -some distance from us. After a little, the _Narwhal_ joined us, and -later the _Cornwallis_. Armitage and I went off in our dingey and had -a few pleasant hours shooting looms. We shot a lot of them, which -were divided between the two ships. It took me some time to overcome a -prejudice and to become accustomed to seeing looms on the table in -any shape or form, but they were really much better than any ducks we -killed, because they were not at all fishy and our cook understood about -skinning them. They tasted rather like roast hare. - -During the afternoon, the weather was thick and it was snowing. The -coast of Greenland, at this point, was fringed by hundreds of islands -of all sizes and shapes. They were everywhere and some had names while -others had not. One navigated there by rule of thumb, only moving when -landmarks could be seen, and avoiding visible dangers. Occasionally, -something one did not see, destroyed the ship, as there were hundreds of -uncharted rocks. In approaching a settlement, a native generally came on -hoard and pointed out the way, but the coast was a dangerous one and the -ships only kept close to it in order that they might avoid the terrible -middle pack. - -[Illustration: 0204] - -_May 29th. Thursday._ We were bumping along towards the west when I -came on deck, as the ice looked slacker in that direction, but we had to -return shortly after breakfast and, after thrashing around for most -of the morning, we managed to strike a good lead and gain a few miles. -There was no shooting, as the ship did not stop. - -The _Cornwallis_ kept near us all day, and the _Narwhal_ was not far -away. As we were now on the edge of the notorious Melville Bay, it -became interesting. Greely's famous thirty-six hour passage was not -going to be repeated by us, that was evident. I recalled Cheynes' -account of its dangers, but we were so comfortable on board the -_Aurora_, and meals were served with such regularity, that it was only -possible to realize the danger by watching floes crunch into each other -as they were pressed together by irresistible forces. We hooked on at -night with little in sight but floes and bergs. - -It is a wonderful thing to see a berg ploughing its way through a frozen -sea, slowly but surely, overcoming all obstacles, provided, always, that -the water was deep enough to keep its mighty base from grounding. On -this day there were dozens in sight. They were in every direction -and one could easily understand the hopelessness of a sailing ship's -position, beset in these waters, with a gale driving bergs down upon -her. - -_May 30th. Friday_. We were lying, hooked on to the floe, in the -forenoon, when I looked over the side and saw a beautiful male King -eider duck (S. Spectabilis) sitting on the water within ten feet of the -Captain's port. The Captain was in bed, as he had been in the crow's -nest for days, nearly all the time. His port was open and I did not want -to wake him, so, taking a gun, I went on the ice and, firing from there, -killed the bird without the report being heard in the cabin, and the -dog, Jock, went out and brought the bird in. It was the first King eider -I had shot and it looked beautiful in its spring plumage. The striking -thing about the bird was the enormous frontal processes bulging high -above the bill and brightly colored. These were soft and shrank rapidly -as they dried, losing their color. The plumage was a mixture of black, -white, pearl gray and sea green, making a gorgeous whole. The first bird -one sees of a beautiful species always excites more admiration than the -others, and so I was delighted with this and carefully skinned it. - -The evening made no change in the conditions and we remained fast all -night. - -_May 31st. Saturday_. All the ships were stuck in the morning. The -_Cornwallis_ and _Narwhal_ were some distance astern, the _Arctic_ near -the shore, the _Nova Zembla_ and _Polynia_ close together to the west -of us. There were an immense number of bergs, some of them, no doubt, -aground, as there were many islands and rocks. We were lying off -Tassuisak, a not very populous place, and I was in hope that some -natives, seeing the ships, would come off. - -[Illustration: 0208] - -During the afternoon, we got under way and poked about without moving -much further north. When we were crossing any open places, the ship -steamed very slowly and a man was kept forward, on the lookout for -submerged rocks. - - - - -CHAPTER XI--MELVILLE BAY - - - "And hark! The lengthening roar continuous runs - - Athwart the rifted deep, at once it bursts - - And piles a thousand mountains to the clouds." - - -_June 1st. Sunday_. Owing to a change of wind the ice had loosened and -during the night we managed to push on to Berry Island. The _Bear_ and -_Thetis_ appeared upon the scene during the afternoon, and we saw the -_Bear_ strike a sunken rock. We hooked on to the small island with -several of the other ships, the _Bear_ being on our starboard side, and -the _Narwhal, Arctic and Thetis_ on the port. I saw Commander Schley -going on board the _Bear_ and examining her with a water telescope. His -boat passed very close to our quarter and the Captain spoke to him as he -went. - -The ships were all lying close to the shore floe with this low island in -front of them, and it looked as if they might be there some time, so -I went on shore with the surgeon of the _Arctic_. There was a camera -sitting on the ice near the _Thetis_, so the ships were evidently being -photographed. We wandered about the inhospitable place for a time and -came on board. The perpetual daylight made me very irregular in my -movements, coming and going at all hours; my day was regulated by my -meals. Those who had watches to keep slept and got up with their usual -regularity. - -_June 2nd. Monday_. The day fine, and we were still tied up at the -island. I took a gun and went on shore after breakfast, but there was -not much to shoot. In a little valley I saw a quantity of dead grass -sticking out of the ice. On going over and examining, I found a number -of _human skeletons_. Wherever there was a big bunch of grass, there -I found an ice-covered skeleton. Probably they were Eskimos. When I -returned to the ship there were a number of natives on board. They came -from Tassuisak and had some seal skins to trade. - -Some of our men had visited the _Arctic_. She had been in Godhaven, so -had much trade and our men procured some of it. Afterwards I bought a -kayak model from one of these. It was very beautifully made. The skin -tobacco pouches and slippers made by natives in Godhaven looked nicer -than any I saw from other settlements. - -The southern Greenland towns were better than those further north, but -the whalers seldom called at any further south than Holstenborg. I went -on board the _Bear_ for awhile during the evening with Dr. Crawford -and met Lieutenant Emory. During the day I saw several very beautiful -glaucous gulls. They are called burgomasters by the sailors. - -_June 3rd. Tuesday_. Immediately to the north of where we lay there were -a great many icebergs. They presented a very fine appearance with the -sun shining on them. The _Thetis_ and _Bear_ started off amongst these -bergs. We tried to move out to the west, but did not accomplish much; -for when evening came we were no further north than when we started. -In the distance and to the west of us we saw a berg on the top of which -there was a black spot. What could it be? From the crow's nest the -telescope revealed nothing but a black spot on the icy slope. - -There was a narrow lead going in this direction, so the mate and myself -went with a boat's crew to solve the mystery. We were able to take a -whale boat a long distance through the lead, and then we walked the rest -of the way. I had brought a rifle in case there should be a chance of a -shot. On getting up to the berg we found that it was not fast, but that -owing to its great depth in the water it had a motion independent of its -floe. On one side there had been a great slide, and up this we proposed -going. - -Just at this place the motion of the berg had ground up a lot of ice -at its base, and also some of the floe, so that one had very unstable -footing to jump to and from in crossing the surrounding fissure. - -However, we all managed without mishap and ascended the slide to within -six or eight feet of the top. I was then pushed up this little cliff and -found that, with the exception of the place we had come up, the sides -were sheer precipices. It was necessary to traverse a snowy undulation -before the black object came into view. The mate joined me with some of -the others and it was exciting for a few minutes, but disappointing when -we found only a big black stone which the berg had picked up probably -during its glacial days. - -The islands of ice often turn over owing to the frost splitting them -when the weather is cold. This frequent alteration of their centre of -gravity makes them very undesirable neighbors, especially in the -autumn. While it was disappointing finding only a stone when we expected -something wonderful, yet the view from the summit was magnificent. - -Immediately around little but ice could be seen, with here and there -some black threads of water and many great bergs scattered about. - -In the distance the coast of Greenland looked bold. It had been rather -high all the way up from Upernivik, but Cape Shackleton, rising to -a height of thirteen hundred feet, looked very imposing, being -precipitous. There was a great loomery on its cliffs, which was probably -the home of the thousands of those birds which we saw every day flying -along the cracks, or about the pools of open water. There was much less -trouble getting down the berg than getting up, but we were all tired -when we reached the ship as we were not accustomed to long walks. - -_June 4th. Wednesday_. The morning was fine, and many ships were in -sight. During the night we had passed Cape Shackleton. To the south we -saw the _Thetis_, evidently in the rips off Horse Heade, with the _Bear_ -astern of her. The _Nova_ _Zembla_ and _Triune_ were several miles to -the west, and caught in the pack, while all the other ships were -together. During the morning the _Thetis, Bear_ and _Polynia_ came up -and joined us in our feeble attempt to push along. - -Later in the day the weather turned cold and cloudy, but no storm came, -and the ice was very tight at bedtime. - -_June 5th. Thursday_. A beautiful day with sunshine and blue sky. -Nearly all the ships were anchored to the ice or stuck in our immediate -vicinity. We were hooked on in a large lake and close to us there were -a number of great bergs. During the morning I took the dingey and rowed -amongst them, as there was no floe ice near. - -The silence was very impressive, the only sound being that made by the -splashing of water as it trickled down the icy sides of the bergs, or -the cry of some seabird. I traced the base of one of these hoary giants -a long way into the depths, but the water of the Arctic sea is by no -means clear, owing to the vast numbers of animalculae which inhabit it. - -I shot a big bag of little auks here, but was careful not to do any -shooting whilst close to the bergs, as the concussion might have -brought down ice. During the afternoon the floe opened a little, and the -expedition ships came close to us, but the _Nova Zembla_ and _Triune_ -still appeared to be held in the pack. We all watched like hawks for -a chance to reach the Duck Islands, now only a few miles ahead. Greely -might have been there. - -[Illustration: 0216] - -_June 6th. Friday_. This was one of the most exciting days we had--eight -of us all on edge and each trying to get ahead of his neighbor. This -friendly rivalry added zest to the trip. We were quite close to the Duck -Islands, which made the starting point of the Melville Bay passage. - -The day was glorious and we spent most of it fast to a floe. The -exciting thing was when late in the evening a crack occurred near the -Arctic. It was not more than a mile or two across the floe to the open -water at the Duck Islands, and this crack appeared to extend the whole -way. When it was wide enough the _Arctic_ and _Aurora_ immediately -entered, but before we had gone any distance, the ice closed astern -of us, preventing any of the others entering. For a short time we were -caught, and it looked like the nips, then the floe seemed to swing, -closing behind us and opening in front, so that we steamed away with a -cheer, leaving the others barred out. The _Bear_, after a short time, -succeeded in breaking a way for herself and the _Thetis_, and all the -rest followed like ducks. - -I was aloft for a time watching this game of follow the leader and -keenly interested in this Arctic race. We entered the patch of open -water about midnight, and steaming across made fast to the ice at the -islands. - -_June 7th. Saturday_. It was wonderful how little we slept when there -was excitement. I enjoyed it' so much that I was afraid of missing -anything by going below, but after the race we had just finished, as -we had all hooked on, I felt that it was safe to turn in as there was -nothing but dense pack ahead. The _Arctic_ and _Aurora_ were lying very -close to the _Bear_, and the _Thetis_ was not far off. We were on the -west side of the Middle Duck, the rest of the fleet being on the other -side. It was evident that there were no explorers here to be rescued, -for the approach of the fleet was rather imposing and they would have -seen it. - -After a rest, taking a gun I made my way on shore. We were too early for -eggs, but there were plenty of ducks and the shooting was rather -good. Numbers of phalarope (Lobipes Hyperboreus) were about. They were -graceful little birds and no doubt bred here later. Coming back for the -dingey I rowed out to a point of ice past which there was a flight -of ducks, but was astonished to find the birds so shy in such a quiet -place. Perhaps the sight of the ships invading this sanctuary made them -a little nervous. I managed, however, to add considerably to my bag. -There did not appear to be any loosening of the ice, so none of the -ships made any effort to move. I went on board the _Arctic_ during the -afternoon and received a supply of apples from Captain Guy. The surgeon -returned with me and spent the evening on the _Aurora_. As our boiler -required some repair this was attended to during the day and it made a -wonderful difference to the temperature of the cabin having no heat in -the engine room for a few hours. - -_June 8th. Sunday_. A peaceful day and perfectly calm with some fog. All -the ships were hooked on to the floe. Crawford of the _Arctic_ came on -board and we took our dingey and went to one of the islands. Some men -from the relief ships were there. They were shooting with eight bores, -the first time I had ever seen guns of that calibre; I saw them make -some long shots. We secured a few ducks, eider and long tailed. - -During the afternoon we went on board the _Bear_, and again met -Lieutenant Emory and his officers. Lieutenant Colwell showed us the -ship. The arrangement of the berths in the cabin was splendid; they were -curtained off by drawing out poles, and by pushing these in the sleeping -quarters were reduced in size, and the saloon enlarged. - -I should say that the _Bear_ was the fastest ship of the fleet, except, -perhaps, the _Arctic_, which had powerful engines. The only thing -against the _Arctic_ was her great length which made it difficult to -turn her about in small water holes, and to manouvre amongst the ice as -some of the others were able to do. - -The _Wolf_ and _Narwhal_ had moved off and were caught in the pack by -bedtime. - -We were then on the threshold of Melville Bay, the reputation of which -was most unsavory. - -Perhaps the most interesting occurrence there during historic times was -the loss of nineteen ships and a total of L140,000 damage to the fleet -on June 19th, 1830. This event has been called the Baffin's Bay Fair, -because the one thousand men who suddenly found themselves homeless upon -the ice, made the best of their circumstances and enjoyed themselves -immensely. - -Before the ships went down they secured quantities of liquor and food -and afterwards established comfortable camps. There was an abundance of -wood from the wrecks, so they made bonfires around which they danced. -The curious part of it was that no lives were lost, and that the entire -party ultimately reached home safe. - -There is an interesting oil painting of this event in the museum at -Peterhead. - -_June 9th. Monday_. We seemed permanent fixtures now and felt that we -owned the place in spite of the ducks. I took the dingey with a boy and -pulled off to a long point of ice on the west side of the island not far -from where we lay. We were able to hide behind a heavy piece of ice with -the boat and I shot a number of ducks in the handsome plumage of that -season. Then landing, found numbers of old nests made of feathers and -down. They had been driven into crevices of rock by storms and one could -have collected a quantity of down. While on the island I saw and heard -my first finner whale. He was making a great noise as he breathed. -Finners have little oil and short bone, so they are not pursued. They -are also very quick in their movements and consequently dangerous. This -one came up several times in different water holes about the islands and -then disappeared. - -At dinner we were discussing vegetables and all agreed that the best on -board the ship were the tinned carrots. They were simply boiled and put -up in pieces six or seven inches long. They were absolutely as fresh and -sweet as the day on which they were prepared. We called them Carnoustie -carrots, as they had come from that place. Our Dundee meat was excellent -at this time. We had a good supply of it, and very seldom saw salt beef -or salt pork on the cabin table during the voyage. - -The steak for breakfast was served on a sort of metal basket; a handle -crossed the middle of this and on each side there was a lid. The steak -was under one lid and fried onions under the other. We also had hot -rolls every morning, although ship's bread was always on the table. - -_June 10th. Tuesday_. Early in the morning the _Aurora_ unhooked and -for a little while managed to push her way northwest. The _Wolf_ and -_Narwhal_ had gained by moving on. There was always a chance of a lead -opening and letting one through. We had reached the Duck Islands first, -by taking the lead while the others hesitated. We now entered the pack -further than we wished to and then spent some time trying to extricate -ourselves. - -There was always danger of being beset in the pack and carried down the -straits again; in it there was no safe anchorage, as it might twist and -turn in any direction, and a low temperature might even freeze the ship -up, whereas following the shore floe gave one a lead of open water every -time the pack floated off, and should it be driven in the ship could -generally find a bay or indentation in which she was fairly safe. - -In consequence of this the captains became nervous when they found -themselves beset in the pack. At night we were almost out of sight of -the islands. The _Wolf_ and _Narwhal_ were not far from us. - -_June 11th. Wednesday_. Before morning we managed to work north some -distance. The _Wolf_, _Narwhal_ and _Arctic_ were close to us. The -relief ships during the day were joined by the _Triune, Cornwallis and -Nova Zembla_. - -We all made some headway, but in the afternoon we were so nearly caught -once or twice that we steamed back towards the islands and arrived -almost at our old anchorage by the following morning. - -_June 12th. Thursday._ In the morning a lot of us were back at the old -anchorage again, but the _Arctic_ was still to the north, close to the -_Thetis and Bear_. The _Wolf and Narwhal_ were out in the pack to the -west of us, but in the afternoon these last joined us. During the day I -shot a lot of ducks, all eider and king eider, afterwards landing on a -floe from which a peninsula ran out having a narrow isthmus covered with -very high hummocks. Crossing this isthmus to the peninsula beyond, I -came upon the perfectly fresh footprints of a bear and two cubs, leading -from the water to the big hummocks over which I had come and over which -my route back lay. Having only a sixteen bore and number four shot, this -discovery was disquieting for a time, as a bear with cubs might fight. -However, she did not materialize. - -All the other ships were closer inshore during the evening, while we -moved west a little. During the night we moved off up a lead. - -[Illustration: 0224] - -_June 13th. Friday_. We were hard and fast, the _Cornwallis, Triune, -Esquimaux and Narwhal_ in sight close inshore. The _Arctic and Wolf_ out -with the expedition ships. They were apparently beset. We lay frozen up -all day, with not even a duck to shoot. The Sugarloaf, a high mountain -on the Greenland coast, showed up well and made a good landmark. - -_June 14th. Saturday_. The day began with a heavy snow storm, but -shortly after breakfast it cleared off. The ice opened to the west, -so we steamed in that direction, leaving the fleet of older ships -apparently fast inshore, and we did not see any of them again for a -long time. We made very little headway at first, but found the ice slack -after dinner and managed to push through it. - -Later a series of good leads opened up and we worked a long way north. -When I turned in, the relief ships with the _Arctic and Wolf_ were in -sight ahead of us. - -We passed a curious pillar of rock called the Devil's Thumb; it was a -long way off. Every one took off his hat to it as was the custom. - -Steering amongst ice was sometimes very dangerous for the man at the -wheel, because the ship going astern was liable to bump her rudder -against the ice. This, of course, sent the wheel flying around. We had -a man hurt in this way by receiving a blow from the wheel during the -afternoon. - -_June 15th. Sunday_. We had good leads all the morning and were never -blocked for any length of time. By breakfast time we overtook the -_Arctic and Wolf_ with relief ships. Then we all hooked on to a heavy -floe in an open pool of water. Very shortly we were off again, but it -looked dangerous, so we tied up. The _Wolf_ was the first to be free. -She entered a lead and it closed behind her, exactly as it had done with -us at the Duck Islands. However, later in the day the pack drew off and -we all steamed along the edge of the shore floe, the _Thetis_ bringing -up the rear. This was an exciting race, and no one turned in while the -water remained open. The _Wolf_ had the lead, the _Arctic and Aurora_ -being together. Occasionally some of us would diverge a little, but we -were in line pretty well all the time. - -_June 16th. Monday._ I turned in when I found the way blocked and all -the ships tied up, as everything seemed frozen solid, except the pool -in which we lay. Seven bells awoke me to find things as they had been. -Captain Fairweather shot a Sabine gull after breakfast and I shot some -looms, which were picked out of the water by Jock the dog, who retrieved -very well. I went on board the _Wolf_ with the Captain, and saw Captain -Burnette. During the evening the Arctic steamed off and we followed -with the _Wolf_, but the lead closed so we all were caught. The Aurora. -managed to push out into the loose ice in a little while, but the Wolf -remained and the Arctic was fairly in the nips. - -The evening was fine and we saw land to the north and dozens of bergs to -the east of us. There was a crack running into the floe for two hundred -yards close to our ship. It was probably twenty-five yards wide at the -entrance. A great many looms flew up this and returned when they found -it a blind lead. The dingey was lowered and the Captain and myself had a -few hours' shooting and secured a great many. They were tied in bunches -and hung upon the chains connecting the quarter davits. - -_June 17th. Tuesday_. All were frozen up. I tried stalking a seal, as -there were several in sight, but I could not get near any of them. The -_Arctic_ was still nipped, the _Wolf_ was with us and the relief ships -a little way east. During the evening we were all moving around, except -the _Arctic._ - -We were ahead and the _Wolf_ next, the _Bear_ bringing up the rear. -Later the _Thetis_ fell back, for she could not keep up. Cape York was -in sight and all four of us were rather close together. - -With the _Aurora_ leading, we kept this up all night, every one greatly -excited. In the small hours we were all up to a barrier. Among the -Arctic ice it would have been useless to roll the ship as we had done at -Newfoundland, the young ice on that coast being very different from the -Arctic floe met with in Melville Bay. - -_June 18th. Wednesday._ The race for Cape York and the north was far -too exciting to permit of sleep, so for the following few days I never -undressed, but kept going up and down all the time. If we stuck I lay -down, and when the engine started I went up. - -At one A. M. we were with the _Wolf_ and relief ships, pounding away -at the floe which separated us from the open water at Cape York. The -_Aurora_ was the first to break through, when we all gave a great cheer -and shouted, "The north water!" I immediately went forward, and sitting -on the jib-boom, realized that I was the nearest white man to Greely, -possibly the nearest to the pole. I sat there for a long time as we were -steaming fast towards the land through open water. - -As we neared the shore the _Bear_ passed us. She was a faster ship and -she reached the shore floe some minutes before us. - -Seeing a party land on the ice from the _Bear_, we turned off southwest. -As the _Thetis and Wolf_ were coming up, the Captain went on board the -former and bade the commander good-by, and good luck, then we crept off -to the southwest with the _Wolf_. The _Bear_ having spoken the _Thetis_, -steamed west after us, the weather being rather thick. - -Finding the ice heavy to the west, we tried a lead to the north, but -were beset for some time. - -[Illustration: 0230] - -The fog was so thick that nothing could be seen ahead. We saw nothing -further of the _Thetis_ as she remained at Cape York to pick up the -party landed by the _Bear._ - -I turned in for a time during the night, as the ship was beset by heavy -ice. We had now completed the passage of Melville Bay without accident -and nearly every one on board felt that the greatest danger of the -voyage was over, so we would work our way to the west and look for -whales. In the race from St. John's to Cape York we had been beaten by -the _Bear_ only, and that by just a few minutes. The _Arctic, Thetis -and Wolf_ were all close, but in the last lap the _Aurora and Bear_ were -neck and neck almost to the winning post. - - - - -CHAPTER XII--CAPE YORK TO CAREY ISLANDS - - - "And now there came both mist and snow - - And it grew wondrous cold, - - And ice, mast-high, came floating by - - As green as emerald." - - -|I noticed a rather curious phenomenon while coming up the Greenland -coast, but thinking that there was probably some simple explanation, -made no note of it. One evening while in the passage at the foot of the -stairs I heard a peculiar whistling. It was like the noise one sometimes -hears when standing beside a telegraph pole. The steward was in the -pantry and I drew his attention to it. The sound was very distinct in -the pantry, and not noticeable in the saloon, which was on the same deck -but a little further aft. The steward said he had heard it before and we -concluded it was due to a vibration of the taut rigging conducted down -the mizzenmast to this particular place. The engine was silent at the -time, otherwise the noise of machinery would have drowned everything -else. - -I listened to the peculiar whistle several times after and always heard -it very distinctly in the pantry. The steward had sailed Arctic waters -for years, but he made no comment on this subject and never mentioned -having heard it on other ships, nor did any; one else on board the -_Aurora_ speak of it at all; in fact, we were probably the only two who -noticed it. - -Years after I came across the following passage in "Old Whaling Days," -by Captain Barron: - -"From latitude 69 N. to latitude 74 N. on the east side and in Melville -Bay, not far from the land, a strange phenomenon is heard resembling a -very weird whistling in a high note and gradually dying away to a very -low one. It is only heard when it is calm, and most distinctly when in -a boat or in a ship's lazarette which is nearly level with the water. On -deck it is seldom heard." The above interested me as it describes what -I noticed. Captain Barron believes it to be connected with the Aurora -Borealis, which he states can be heard but not seen when the sun shines -on a summer's night in the Arctic. - -_June 19th. Thursday._ The engine starting up brought me on deck. The -fog had lifted and the _Arctic and Wolf_ could be seen astern, while the -_Bear_ was to the north of us. Some time after we were steaming through -a nice lead into open water ahead. I was on the bridge, where the second -mate was in charge, and the Captain was in the crow's nest, which he -seldom left. Presently we noticed the lead very narrow, being little -wider than the ship. A moment later we were among crunched up ice and -within twenty or thirty yards of the open water and the ship was slowing -up owing to her progress being impeded by the ice. The Captain called -down, "Get over there, some of you men, and push that ice out of the -way with poles." We were almost through, and it looked as though a few -pieces pushed away would relieve the situation. Specksioneer Lyon and -twenty others were immediately over, and began pushing. Almost at once -Lyon called up, "It's coming together, sir," and sure enough we were -caught between two points of great floes coming together and the -_Aurora_ was in the greatest danger of being lost within the next few -minutes. The Captain immediately came down and began giving orders. All -boats were provisioned and lowered away. I rushed to my cabin and was -rolling up my blankets, when he brought the log, which he asked me to -put with my things. I took my bundles on deck with a rifle and gun, and -by this time the ship was so squeezed that my door would not open or -shut, and she had a heavy port list. As the _Arctic and Wolf_ were -a short distance astern of us, there was no danger to life and I -thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of being shipwrecked so comfortably. -With a bump the ship righted herself greatly and presently, after -straining and groaning, she slipped up considerably. Her water line was -now above the crunching ice and she was for the time being tolerably -safe. This all happened in a very short time and it was a wonderful -escape. I went on to the ice forward with the mate and engineer; and -while there the ship slipped up higher still, so that she was almost out -of the water. - -[Illustration: 0236] - -The surgeon of the _Arctic_ paid us a visit at this time and took the -two photographs here reproduced after some retouching. The first one -shows the ship in the nips; in it I happened to be in the foreground. In -the second she has slipped up and is almost out of the water. The mate, -engineer and myself were on the ice in front at the time. Sailors were -a little superstitious, and did not like their ship being photographed -while in distress, so these pictures were very hurriedly taken. For some -hours the _Aurora_ rested in this position and we knew that eventually -the ice would open and let her into the water. Our principal anxiety was -about the stem post and rudder; but these fortunately escaped injury. -Our propeller had only two blades, so when the ship was sailing or stuck -in the ice the propeller was always stopped with the blades up and down. -While in this position the whole thing could easily be unshipped, and -we carried an extra one. As looms were flying about in numbers along the -floe edge just in front of the ship I shot a big bag of them. They fell -into the water, but drifted against the ice edge where I picked them up. -The _Arctic and Wolf_ were pretty tightly caught astern of us, but they -had not to abandon the ships as we had. During the afternoon the pack -was tighter than ever and it made weird sounds at times. We had -our meals on board and were all very happy at our wonderful escape, -especially the Captain, who was determined to take home a cargo of -whales in his own ship instead of returning as passenger on one of the -others. During the night a crack occurred under the bows. This opened -by degrees, letting the ship down. We hoisted up our boats and the -shipwreck was over. When whalers go into Melville Bay they generally -arrange a quantity of provisions so that it can be easily reached in -event of their suddenly having to leave the ship as we had done. - -_June 20th. Friday._ After our escaping from the nips, we steamed in a -northerly direction, with the _Arctic and Wolf_ a heavy fog came on. I -was very tired, so went and lay down. - -As the engine room was aft, a person in any of the staterooms could -easily hear the bell there being rung from the crow's nest. How long I -had been lying down, I don't know, but something awoke me. I knew, from -the sound of the engine, we were going fast ahead, but I heard the bell -ring, "stop her," and then immediately full speed astern. Knowing that -something was wrong, I rushed on deck; it was very thick and I heard -some one say, "O my God, we are lost!" and just then on the starboard -side of the ship, I saw a great berg towering above us. We just missed -it! All was well! We steamed dead slow for awhile and I realized that -those who "went down to the sea in ships" could have a great deal of -excitement in two days. About an hour after this a steam whistle blew -right ahead. The fog instantly lifted a little and there was the Arctic -shooting across our bows. We both stopped, and the Captain went over to -her. When the Captain came on board again the fog was gone and we were -off Conical Rock. The ice was loose here and the two ships kept together -until we passed Cape Dudley Diggs. Here we drifted farther apart, but -were within sight of each other all the way to Wolstenholm Island. - -During the night we arrived at the island, but found that the _Rear_ had -been there ahead of us, so we directed our course towards Carey Islands, -the ice being loose, but the weather pretty thick. - -June 21st. Saturday. Heavy fog and plenty of ice, so our speed was slow. -Sometimes it cleared a little and we could see for several miles ahead. -There were numbers of birds about, principally guillemot and eider -duck. They probably had headquarters at Wolstenholm, and Carey Islands. -Natives repaired to Wolstenholm at this season of the year and collected -eggs; but Carey Islands were in the middle of the Sound and, I fancy, -left pretty well undisturbed. During the afternoon it became very thick, -and for a time we stopped steaming, as we could not make out the leads -and there was some heavy ice about. Late in the evening it cleared a -little and we ran in to Carey Island. The _Arctic_ was ahead of us, and -the _Wolf_ in the distance. I wrote some letters in the evening as I -thought there might be a chance of sending them on board the _Bear_. -Our Captain had decided to go from this place to the whaling ground, and -leave the Greely part of it to the expedition ships, as the owners would -not thank him for risking the vessel in higher latitudes and possibly -missing his chance for whales in Lancaster Sound. The _Arctic_ had a -boat on shore, but saw nothing of explorers or records. The _Bear_ left -the islands after midnight, but was not near us, so I had no chance of -sending my letters. This was the last we saw of the relief ships. -They picked Greely up within twenty-four hours at Cape Sabine. We knew -nothing of it until later, when we heard the news from some of the -slower ships, which met the expedition returning with the rescued, -and their story was as follows: June 22nd. After the _Bear_ left Carey -Islands, she joined the _Thetis_ and they proceeded to Cape Sabine, -where they arrived during the evening. From records found on Brevoort -Island near Cape Sabine, they knew where the explorer was, and he was -picked up by Lieutenant Colwell of the _Bear_ almost at the place where -he, Colwell, landed after the loss of the _Proteus_. Of the twenty-five -who left with Greely a few years before, but seven were now alive, and -the story they told of starvation and death was in tune with others we -have all read of Arctic exploration and was doubly impressive when told -to us, situated as we were in the dreary regions where the tragedy -had been enacted. Greely had done his work well. His two years at Fort -Conger had been well spent. Lockwood had attained latitude 83 deg. 24' in -1882, beating all previous records. Most valuable magnetic observations -had been made and the interior of Grinnell Land had been explored. The -orders to abandon Fort Conger were carried out in 1883 and then their -troubles began. Relief had not come, depots of provisions had not been -established, and in a very dejected state they had arrived at Cape -Sabine, where they established their final camp, the history of which -supplies Arctic literature with its blackest chapter. - -[Illustration: 0242] - -On June 22nd Schley arrived at Cape Sabine. No Arctic expedition had -ever done so well by this date, its first year. A week or two later -there would probably not have been one survivor. This relief expedition -had been perfectly successful in its gallant dash and had arrived not a -minute too soon. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII--CAREY ISLANDS TO LANCASTER SOUND - - - "Here winter holds his unrejoicing court; - - And through his airy hall the loud misrule - - Of driving tempest is forever heard. - - Here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath, - - Here arms his winds and all-subduing frost. - - Moulds his fierce hail and treasures up his snows - - With which he now oppresses half the globe." - - -_June 22nd. Sunday_. It was blowing very hard from the south, and there -was much ice, so we had a difficult time picking our way. The weather -was also bitterly cold. Again birds were very numerous. We were making -our way to Princess Charlotte's Monument on the west side, and it was -slow work. The _Arctic_ was ahead of us and not moving on any faster. -We felt the loss of the relief ships. They were always a cause of some -excitement, and there was a chance of finding Greely so long as we kept -going north. Now that that interest was removed, I consoled myself with -the knowledge that we were nearing the magnetic pole, and would soon be -steaming up Lancaster Sound, the highway to the northwest along which so -many brave men had gone never to return. During the afternoon it became -more squally, and when I turned in we were making little headway, but -the wind was going down. - -_June 23rd. Monday_. We were steaming in tolerably open water when I -came on deck. The _Arctic_ was ahead. Birds were numerous--some geese -with hundreds of eider and guillemot. After breakfast we saw land ahead, -that is, to the west, and during the afternoon were within a mile or so -of it,--Princess Charlotte's Monument. There was much loose ice to the -south and a straight floe edge to the north of us, and to this we hooked -on two hundred yards to the east of the _Arctic_. We did not care to -go closer to the rocks lest the ice should come in on us. I saw Dr. -Crawford take the _Arctic's_ launch and go ashore to look for eggs. -Returning a couple of hours after, steam went down and the _Arctic_ was -obliged to unhook and go after them. It appeared that the boiler was too -exposed and the cold so intense that they simply could not keep steam -up. The launch had been keeping under the lee of the floe as much as -possible, and when steam went down she began to drift away from this -into rough water. For a few minutes things looked bad for her, as she -was a wretched sea boat with her heavy boiler and engine. During the -night we unhooked and worked our way towards the south. - -_June 24th. Tuesday._ Day fine, but blowing from the south. A lot of ice -on the coast, and to the south and east all was white. We were now where -whales might be seen and preparations were made. Foregoers and lines -were tested, harpoons examined, guns cleaned and fired to make sure -they would work, lines coiled away in boats, and every one was on the -lookout. We never heard of Disco or Cape York now. All was Lancaster -Sound and Pond's Bay, with weird tales of cold days spent rock-nosing -off Cape Kater and in Cumberland Gulf. All these preparations did not -hurry matters in the least. The king of this country decided that we -should remain for a day or two where we were, and so in the evening we -were hooked on almost where the morning found us. - -June 25th. Wednesday. About noon the wind died down and the currents, -setting south, took the ice off the coast so that we were able to crawl -along a little; but a few hours later we made fast to the land floe off -Cape Horsburgh, as the pack was drifting in again. We saw many walrus -here, but did not like to spend time at them, as we wanted to be the -first ship up the Sound. At tea time we moved along a little further -and by bedtime we tied up again. Some of our tanks were pumped out and -cleaned, ready for the anticipated oil. There were a number of seals in -sight, but they were left alone, as the time was precious. - -June 26th. Thursday. As the ship was hard and fast I took a rifle and -went after some seals which were to be seen a mile away. Before going -very far I found myself climbing over hummocks of old ice which had -drifted down Jones Sound, and it was very difficult walking. On one side -of a hummock the snow would be perfectly smooth and frozen hard, while -on the other side it would be so soft that one at once went through the -surface and had to clamber along in several feet of it. - -Again, one would come to a perfectly rotten and honeycombed piece of ice -underneath which there was a foot or two of water, and below the water -could be seen the solid old floe; this made walking so difficult that I -returned to the ship without getting a shot. - -[Illustration: 0248] - -_June 27th and 28th_ were uneventful. We moved little, and Cape -Horsburgh was in sight all the time, but on: - -_June 29th, Sunday,_ we had a good lead along the shore floe and were -steaming fast through it when I came on deck. A number of bears were -seen about noon, but the wind was from the south and the ice was coming -in, so we hurried along. As there were a number of them, they were -probably attracted by some dead beast. - -Barron tells of seeing once about one hundred bears around a dead whale. -He also tells of men being devoured by these creatures. - -In the days of muzzle-loaders there was more risk than there is now, -because if one came suddenly upon a bear with cubs and missed his shot, -there might not be time to load again. - -Late in the evening we were off: Cape Warrender and were steaming -amongst loose ice at bedtime. Several narwhals were seen during the -afternoon, but we paid no attention to them. - -_June 30th. Monday._ Steaming up the Sound towards a solid floe at -breakfast time with many white whales in sight. We steered south along -the ice edge, and seeing an Eskimo standing on it, we sailed up to -him. He was a very uncouth looking individual after the smartly dressed -gentlemen on the Greenland side. His clothes did not fit and he was -otherwise careless about his appearance. He had in his hand a narwhal's -tusk, and as we came close we heard him singing "Bonny Laddie--Highland -Laddie." This he had probably learned from his parents, they having -learned it from the whalers in sailing-ship days. In old times it was -customary to lower the boats and tow the ship through the leads to -the above tune. I was told this, so it may be true. The native came on -board. He was much more like an American Indian than a Greenland Eskimo. -Before he had been many minutes on board he was taken aft and relieved -of his tusk by the second mate, getting in return some trifle: the -gentleman belonged to Navy Board Inlet, on the south side, and not far -away. - -The Captain had had a lot of paddles made for some of the boats. It was -possible to approach whales with very little noise when the paddles were -used, so we tried them frequently for narwhal hunting. As there were -numbers of these creatures in sight, we had a couple of boats out after -them. A sharp lookout was kept from the crow's nest for whales coming up -the Sound. We hooked on to the ice about two miles from the south shore, -and put a boat out on either side of the ship and about a hundred yards -away. These boats were hooked on by laying the long steering oar on the -ice. Our narwhal hunters had no luck, so they came on board. - -_July 1st. Tuesday_. We were fast to the ice with a boat on each side -all day. The Captain had a long interview with the native on the subject -of whales. He seemed to understand maps well, and was able to point out -where he had seen fish; from what I could make out, a good number had -been in the Sound. I spent the afternoon in a boat with the Captain -trying to get a narwhal. We saw dozens and came pretty close to several -lots, but did not get one good shot, although we fired several times. - -The harpoons we used for this work were much smaller than the regular -whaling harpoon and were made of the same tough Swedish iron. - -Before turning in I spent an hour on deck and heard narwhals and white -whales breathing about us all the time. Everything looked propitious. - -_July 2nd. Wednesday._ I had a dream during the night that we had -succeeded in killing a narwhal and that our youngest harpooner, Gyles, -had killed it. Dreams were often recounted at the breakfast table, so -I told this, and, as luck would have it, before dinner Gyles killed our -first narwhal. My night visions were subsequently treated with -great respect, except by the steward, who felt, no doubt, that I was -infringing a little on his rights. A coldness sprang up between us such -as only professional jealousy can create, and which evinced itself the -following day when he did not ask me to help him to pick the raisins for -the duff--Thursday being duff day. The forenoon success gave quite -an impetus to the narwhal fishing, but no more were captured, as the -elusive beasts always went down just as we were almost within shot. - -The narwhal (Monodon Monoceros) is to me the most beautiful of the whale -species. The one captured by us was twelve feet long without the tusk. -This measured four feet in length and about four inches around the base. -It ended in a rather sharp point and had a spiral groove running from -right to left. The horn, or rather tooth, protrudes from the upper jaw -of the male, generally on the left side. It only protrudes from the -female head as a freak. On the right side a small undeveloped horn is -found embedded in the skull of the male, but two undeveloped teeth are -found in the female. The narwhal is the only vertebrate animal in which -bilateral symmetry is not the rule. The body is whitish, marbled with -blackish brown, and about four of them yield a ton of oil. With an axe I -easily split the cancellous skull and removed the embedded tusk. We saw -hundreds of white whales this day (Delphinapterus leucas). These are -cousins of the narwhals, but generally a little larger. The _Aurora_ had -great luck the previous year up Prince Regent's Inlet in getting a -good catch of them. This was managed by driving them ashore. They were -skinned and the skin made into leather. Each side counted as one skin. - -They go in schools like porpoises, but generally only three or four -abreast, therefore, it takes a large school a considerable time to go -past. They are peculiar in having no dorsal fin, and their yellowish -white colour makes them rather conspicuous. - -_July 3rd. Thursday._ 'Before breakfast a bear was seen in the water -and shot by McLean from a boat. Bears are always lucky and we knew that -something better would soon come. While at breakfast a female narwhal -was killed. It must have been fourteen feet long. I removed the two -little embedded horns. Narwhals were very difficult to capture with the -appliances in use at this time, the harpoon gun being only effective -at ten or fifteen yards. As the beast generally went down when one was -about twenty yards away, a long shot had to be taken with a very clumsy -gun. Very little of the narwhal showed above water, just the top of its -head and back. Of course there was a good sized animal immediately under -the water, so that a harpoon might miss the back and still lodge in the -whale. It was very cold and we had several snow showers. The bear was -skinned and the skin salted and put in a barrel, no attempt being made -to dry or otherwise cure any of the bear skins taken during the voyage. -They were kept green. - -_July 4th. Friday_. During the night there was a fall of snow and a -breeze from the east had driven some loose ice up the Sound, and pieces -were constantly breaking off the floe. These drifted down the Sound with -the current; but when there was wind from the east much of this broken -ice would drift up and surround us. We were dodging about under canvas -in the morning, and the wind, which was bitterly cold, was going down. -During the forenoon we sailed up to the floe edge and hooked on about -eight miles from the south side, putting two boats on the bran, that is, -one on each side of the ship. The loose ice had drifted away, and as -the afternoon was very fine the Captain decided to try the unies, as the -narwhals were called, and I went with him. One does not generally see -very many unies together, but they were in fours and fives all over the -place this afternoon and very shy. Just as the boat would get within -twenty-five yards or so, off they would go. The Captain made a long shot -at one and got fast. For a few minutes the line ran out rapidly, but -the shot had been a long one and the harpoon drew, so we came on board -disappointed. - -Paddles were used instead of oars, as they made less noise. On the -fishing ground we avoided noise as much as possible and for this reason -the ship seldom steamed, but kept her fires banked and moved about under -canvas. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV--OUR FIRST WHALE - - - "Hoist out the boat at once and slacken sail." - - -_July 5th. Saturday_. A beautiful day. After breakfast I was in a bran -boat on the starboard side of the ship and one hundred and fifty yards -away, when I heard a commotion on board, and in less time than it takes -to tell, all our boats, except the upper quarter ones, were in the water -and hurrying off: towards us. Our steering oar was holding the boat to -the ice, so it did not take long to get away, and we pulled hard for -several minutes before the boat-steerer whispered: "Avast pulling." At -this time the boats were scattered along the ice edge a hundred yards -apart. A whale had been seen coming up the Sound. We knew that it would -continue up under the ice, and failing to find a hole through which it -could breathe, it would turn and come to the surface near the edge of -the ice and close to some of the boats, and that unless we had very bad -luck, it was doomed. In a few minutes we saw it a quarter of a mile down -the Sound; it looked like two black islands, one the head and the other -the back. It lay there for several minutes and we could distinctly hear -it breathe. We saw the spout, then it sank slowly and disappeared. -The excitement was now' intense. The next time it would be beside -a boat--which boat? Would it come up under us or beside us? Perfect -silence was observed and the suspense of waiting for the first whale, I -shall never forget. Probably ten minutes passed, when up came the fish -almost beside the boat in which George Matheson was har-pooner. As he -was already standing by his gun, no order was given, and one sweep of -the boat-steerer's oar gave him his shot. The gun went off, the foregoer -sprang into the air and every man shouted: "A fall! a fall!" The -whale hesitated a few seconds before going down, and Matheson put in a -hand-harpoon also. He was not ten feet from the whale when he fired, -and almost touching when he put in the hand-harpoon. The fast boat now -hoisted its jack and the fish went down and started towards the south -side of the Sound, past the ship's stern. We pulled in this direction -for all we were worth, the boat nearest the fast boat standing by it so -as to supply more lines if necessary. When we had pulled hard for ten -minutes, we slowed down, the boats keeping some distance apart, and -shortly after, fifty yards from us, the whale came up. Immediately a -second boat, the mate's, got fast, the huge creature going down at once, -and away we went again. When our quarry next appeared, about fifteen or -twenty minutes later, the nearest boat immediately began lancing, and -presently we were at it. Unfortunately we all had our backs to the scene -of action, except the boat-steerer and harpooner. The heavy blast, every -time it breathed, sounded uncomfortably close. In a few minutes the -boat-steerer called, "Back, all!" and we immediately backed water, the -whale hitting the water once or twice with his tail and going down; -again we were off, but not so far this time. When he next appeared he -rolled about a good deal and we were afraid to go close, so the second -mate fired a Welsh's rocket under one of his flukes and then we all -backed off. The rocket was fired from a harpoon gun. It had a charge of -powder in its trocar-shaped head, and a fuse running down the shaft. -When this exploded the whale plunged fearfully and lashed the water with -his huge horizontal tail. After this he was quiet and the water shot -from his blow-hole was blood-stained. We now closed in again, and lances -were plunged into his neck and churned up and down. Breathing became -labored, and after a final flurry, his spirit passed and his blubber and -bone were ours. What a cheer we gave! What a feeling of exultation! How -near I felt to happy, unconventional, primitive man at that moment! As -the whale was lying on its back with the flukes hanging out, a round -hole was cut in each of these, through which a piece of rope was run and -the flukes reverently folded across his breast; with a knife all lines -attached to harpoons were cut free so that the fast boats might haul -them in. The tail was fastened to the bow of a boat, and, getting in -line, we all proceeded to tow the fish back to the ship, which, by the -way, made no effort to help us, as the weather was fine and there was -nothing in sight. Arriving alongside, the tail was fastened forward and -the head aft along the port side. We went on board, and after dinner, as -I sat smoking with the Captain on the cabin skylight, I could not help -feeling that the life of a whaler was the only one for me. - -[Illustration: 0260] - -At 1.30 P. M., all hands were called to flense the whale alongside. By -means of tackle made fast to the lower jaw, called the nose tackle, the -mouth could be opened and the tongue and the bone removed. The right -whale (Balaena Mysticetus), of which this was a specimen, supplies -practically all the whalebone. It grows from the sides of the upper jaw, -three hundred blades hanging down on each side. They are ten and twelve -inches wide where inserted into the gum, and narrow as they descend. The -inner edge is frayed and the outer unbroken. These frayed inner edges -form a sort of sieve through which the water passes when the whale shuts -its mouth, but through which the whale food cannot pass. - -The bone from each side is brought on board generally in one piece, -sufficient gum being taken with it to hold the lamellae together. This -is divided with a wedge into smaller pieces of about a dozen lamellae -each, and subsequently each lamella is slit off with the wedge and freed -from gum and oil. The longest blades are those in the centre on each -side and they vary in length according to the size of the animal--twelve -feet being large. The size of a whale is estimated by the length of the -longest blade, "a twelve-foot fish" being one in which this measures -twelve feet. The bone is about a quarter of an inch thick and tears -easily into long pieces. It is an albuminous substance, containing -calcium phosphate, and can be moulded when heated by steam, retaining -its shape if cooled under pressure. - -[Illustration: 0264] - -The busy part of a whaler during flensing is the deck between the main -mast and foremast. Between these masts is the blubber guy, a stout -wire rope to which blocks are strapped, and through these are rove -the tackles which haul the long strips of blubber on board as they are -pulled off the whale. - -The specksioneer and all the harpooners except the mate get on to the -whale or into the mollie boats in attendance; they have spikes on their -boots to keep them from slipping; and they remove the blubber and bone -with their knives and spades. The mate of a ship is a busy man, but the -mate of our whaler flensing was, I think, the busiest person I ever saw. -Acting under the captain's directions and from his own initiative, he -was everywhere, giving orders and seeing them carried out. - -In removing the blubber the first thing done is to start cutting a -ribbon of it around the neck, called the kant. This piece, probably two -feet wide, when pulled upon, turns the carcass, and from it, running -towards the tail, the long strips are cut and hauled on board. First -the piece around the neck is well started. Then with spades a strip is -started. As this is hauled on by the capstan the men with spades cut -along each side and it is simply peeled off. When the piece raised up is -several hundred pounds, it is cut off, hoisted on board, and the tackle -refastened. When the exposed part has been flensed, the neck piece or -kant is again pulled on by the windlass, which turns the whale over -a little, and so on. When all the blubber has been removed, the head -tackle is cut out and the carcass, or kreng as it is called, sinks -as soon as the tail is cut off. The tail is taken on board and used -afterwards for chopping blubber on. The blubber as it comes on board -is cut into smaller pieces by the boat-steerers and thrown into the -'tween-decks by the line managers, from which it is taken a day or two -later, cut small and put into tanks. Flensing a fish is a very cheerful -occupation and the ship is certainly oily, but there is no unpleasant -smell. As soon as a whale is killed, the fulmar petrels (P. Glacialis) -come in swarms, and they gorge themselves with fat until they cannot sit -up; then they become dreadfully ill and begin all over again. There was -always a current where we flensed and this current would carry away a -stream of overgorged birds, too full to do anything but drift. I sat in -a boat one day and amused myself catching the birds as they paddled past -until I had numbers in the boat. I found it better, however, to leave -them in the water, or to let them stagger about among the men's feet at -work. This was a ten-foot fish and would probably yield thirteen tons of -oil. The following is a copy of the scale used long ago by whalers:-- - -[Illustration: 0271] - -Of course there are exceptions to this old rule. - -The afternoon clouded up while we were so busy, and by the time we had -finished, it was blowing. When I turned in there was some snow and it -was much colder. - -[Illustration: 0269] - -_July 6th. Sunday._ I found the ship with the main yard aback, dodging -about in a rather choppy sea. The sky was cloudy and it looked like -winter. Three ships were in sight down the Sound, all under canvas. We -were quite close to the south side, as the captain believed that -fish would come up that way, and it proved that he was correct. After -breakfast a whale was seen blowing among some loose ice to the north of -us. Six boats put off in pursuit, while the ship followed. Two of the -boats kept straight to the ice while the other four, including Jack -McLean's, in which I was, kept around it. The sea was quite choppy and -the air cold, but we warmed up with the rowing. - -The boats going straight to the ice were able to pass through and -entered open water beyond before we got around to it. The fish came up -and gave the second mate a long shot just as she was going down; but a -harpoon easily enters a whale's bent back so he got fast and "A fall! a -fall!" was joyfully shouted by us all. As we passed the fast boat we -saw her jack flying proudly and her bow enveloped in smoke as McKechnie -tightened the line around the bollard head. Gyles was standing by, so -with the other boats we pulled in the direction the fish had gone, and -as we were getting close to more loose ice, those of us who were rowing -and consequently looking astern saw the fast boat--which had been well -down by the bow--right herself and we knew that the iron had drawn. We -pulled away however in the hope of again getting fast, but this whale -was only seen once more, a long way off, and after a hard row through -loose ice we gave up. The ship had followed and she now picked us up. -As the wind had gone down we sailed back towards the south side and made -fast to the solid floe, getting our bran boats out before tea time. We -picked up the fast boat on the way, she having her lines on board. The -weather looked very settled at bedtime and the unusual exertion of the -past two days made me sleep well. - -[Illustration: 0273] - -_July 7th. Monday_. Summer had returned by morning and the making off -had already begun when I came on deck. We were lying almost opposite the -mouth of Admiralty Inlet and fast to a nice straight floe edge with not -a bit of loose ice any place. There was more life on deck at the "making -off" than there was at the flensing and every one was busy. The blubber -had been cut into pieces two or three feet square and put down the main -hatch. These big cubes of a faint orange color were taken on deck with -the winch, and any pieces of adherent flesh being removed they were -cut into blocks of a few pounds each. Along each side of the deck stood -uprights; on the top of each was a plate with spikes called a clash, -and beside each stood a harpooner with a long sharp knife. A block of -blubber was lifted by a man with clash hooks and stuck on the clash -spikes, with the skin up. The harpooner cut the skin off and the piece -was then thrown into a heap in front of the speck trough. The speck -trough, which was about two and a half feet square, was placed across -the deck over the hatch; forward of this stood the boat-steerers and in -front of each was a block of whale's tail resting on the opened back lid -of the trough. Each man had a chopper, and as the pieces of blubber from -the heap were thrown to them, they chopped them into little bits and -swept them into the speck trough, from which they were conducted to the -tanks through a canvas tube attached to an opening underneath. A man in -the 'tween-decks directed this tube to the tank he desired to fill. The -bone was stowed down the quarter hatch. It was always important to keep -the ship clean and get the blubber away, as there was no regularity -about the appearance of fish. A number might come at once, and several -being killed, the crew could be blocked with work, while again there -might not be another seen for a month. - -When the making off was over, the decks were scrubbed down. - -_July 8th. Tuesday._ The _Arctic, Esquimaux and Narwhal_ were all in -sight to the north of us. During the forenoon we lowered away for a -fish, six boats going after it. We saw the spout near the ice edge and -were ready for its return, but it came not, probably finding a breathing -place somewhere and after resting coming out north of us. We waited a -long time and had a tiresome row back. The native picked up by us when -we first came had been landed near the south shore, where he had his -dogs. Now we saw three coming along the floe and we picked them up, -sledges, dogs and all. They belonged to Navy Board Inlet. Hardly were -they on board when all hands were called and the boats were away, as -spouting had been seen astern. I was in one of the four boats between -the ship and the south coast, and we must have sat there half an -hour before anything occurred; in fact, we thought the fish had gone -elsewhere. The men were all pretty restless, when suddenly the water -broke two boats from me and the report of a gun was followed by the -cry--"A fall." I saw the whale throw its tail straight up as it went -slowly down; then it started north and we pulled past the ship in that -direction and scattered out to wait its reappearance. In the usual -length of time the fish appeared in our midst and another iron was put -in. Away we went again in the best of spirits. Of course, the fast boat -in each case remained and moved only as towed by the whale. I was in -Watson's boat, and at the whale's next appearance we were almost on -the top of it and he immediately lanced, but the game stood very little -tickling of that sort and was soon off. Again it came up beside us, and -this time very breathless as it had such a short breathing spell before. -Three boats were at once busy with lances, and in a very short time -we registered a kill. When the lines were cut, and the flukes and tail -attended to, we returned to the ship, pulling to the shanty, "A-roving, -a-roving, since roving has been my ruin," and having the whale in tow, -we were very much elated by our afternoon's work, but there was a great -surprise in store for us. Arriving on board, the whale was made fast and -I went down to have some coffee. When I came up I found that the crew -of the first fast boat, having taken their line to the ice to facilitate -pulling it in, had utterly failed to get it beyond a certain point. -Thinking it had fouled something at the bottom, they were ordered to -come on board and take their line in with the steam winch. This was -done, and when after great pulling the very tight line was almost in, -behold, there was a dead whale at the end of it. One must be on board -a whaler to appreciate a pleasant surprise like this. It is not so much -the extra money, as the satisfaction of success. What had happened was -this. - -The first harpoon fortunately struck deep in the shoulder of whale No. -1, which immediately sounded in shallow water and broke its neck. No. 2 -was not a fast fish at all when we first saw it. Now, we had a fish on -each side, and as soon as the crew had refreshed themselves with supper, -the work of flensing started with a will. When things were well under -way I turned in, very tired, and when I tumbled out four hours after, -one fish was on board. The men were now ordered to turn in for four -hours, except, of course, the lookout and a few nondescript people like -myself and the engineer. I learned another thing about the ways of the -Arctic this morning; directly the crew had turned in, the clock in the -companion was put forward an hour, and when two hours had passed it went -on another hour, then all hands were called and our second whale taken -on board. This fish was flensed in about three hours, the crew turning -in, except a boat's crew on the bran and the lookout. The _Esquimaux_ -came steaming towards us during the night, which annoyed us greatly, as -the fish were coming up the south side and we thought our berth rather -good. She steamed past and hooked on five or six hundred yards south of -us. The Aurora immediately unhooked and passed her, while she repeated -the performance mid a storm of abuse from both barrels. Our Captain was -afraid to go closer to the shore, so we remained where we were. When -we hooked on first, the natives had left us, going north to the other -ships. We now saw a number of well loaded sledges coming up the south -coast. It was evident that they would board the _Esquimaux_ first, so -we would lose the chance of bartering with them. Consequently, we sent a -boat off to pick them up and bring them on board. Our opponents saw what -we were doing, so sent a boat also. As it had a shorter distance to go -than ours, it picked up the whole caravan and brought it back. Our boat -noticing a sledge far away with two people in it, waited for them and -brought them to the Aurora. It happened that these two old natives -owned all the barter on the other sledges, and as we kept them on -board, everything had to be turned over to the Aurora by the other ship, -greatly to their disgust. The Captain obtained from them quite a lot of -narwhals' tusks and bear skins. The incident amused us very much. - -_July 9th. Wednesday._ Two boats on the bran and the balance of the crew -washing down the ship. I had my first ride on an Eskimo sled. Giving -a native a plug of tobacco, he removed from his sled all the movable -things and I got on. Then addressing a few remarks to his dogs, off they -started. As the ice was smooth I enjoyed it at first, but we came to a -hummocky place where it was not so pleasant. I did my best to stop the -dogs, but they followed their leader, and finally I tumbled off and -returned to the ship, the dogs going on probably home. The runners of -the sledge were made of whales' jaws with bone cross pieces lashed to -them. When I went on board I found a boat just starting for a bear to -the north of us. I don't think I ever saw one any distance from the -water; this was along the floe edge and several miles away. Between us -there was a peninsula of ice on which there were some hummocks. I landed -here to try a stalk and the boat rowed around. For a time I did very -well, the bear wandering aimlessly and slowly about, but before I got -within three hundred yards of him, he had seen me and was off to the -water. I fired several times, but without effect. He plunged in and -started to swim across from the peninsula to the main floe. The boat had -by this time doubled the cape and bruin had a bullet in his head before -he had gone very far. We hauled him on to the ice and skinned him. The -men cut some steaks for themselves, but I never had the pleasure of -trying polar bear, as the Captain did not care for carnivorous animals -as a food. - -A great many white whales were now around. I wished we could have driven -a school of them up a fiord the way they drive the potheads up the -Shetland voes. When we returned we found that a narwhal had been killed, -but we did not like to disturb the right whales by hunting these very -much. - -As the ship was generally hooked on to the floe which extended across -the Sound, her bow was pointed up and her stern down, consequently -astern nearly always meant down the Sound, as the current setting in -that direction held the ship in that position. - - - - -CHAPTER XV--FLOE EDGE FISHING - - - "Look through the sleet and look through frost, - - Look to the Greenlands' caves and coast. - - By the iceberg is a sail - - Chasing of the swarthy whale; - - Mother doubtful, mother dread, - - Tell us, has the good ship sped?" - - -_July 10th. Thursday._ We moved from our neighbor, the _Esquimaux_, and -dodged north under canvas, hooking on five or six miles away. The Sound -was frozen completely across this year, and during our stay, the ice -never opened. Probably we could have forced our way in had we been bent -on exploration, but the ice floe edge fishing was very desirable and -suited us exactly. - -All hands were employed making off when I came up and we had a busy day -getting two whales into our tanks. Although they were not very large, it -took many hours and every one was tired when it was over. - -The Sound being frozen over was a great disappointment to me as it -prevented our going up Barrow Strait, or visiting Beechy Island, where -Sir John Franklin spent his last winter. There I was, within a few miles -of the place consecrated to the memory of those heroes and doomed to -return home without seeing it. Up this waterway, Sir James Ross and -McClure had passed to make their great discoveries of the magnetic polar -area and the northwest passage. There had been, at one time or another, -nearly all the Arctic explorers, of whom I had ever heard. - -As the clock in the companion had been moved about so much lately, and -as there was not a watch, on the ship, going, our ideas of time were -vague in the extreme. - -_July 11th. Friday._ The weather was fine, and during the afternoon, -positively warm. The boats spent the day on the bran, but there were no -whales in sight. An interesting phenomenon was, however, in evidence, -namely, refraction. Byam Martin's Mountains looked wild and precipitous, -and the coast line appeared as a continuous high cliff, quite unlike the -land we had been beside for the past week. What I found most interesting -was to watch the _Narwhal_, which was lying not far off. At one moment -her hull stretched up, making her look like an old line of battle ship, -while her masts shrank down, then the hull would close down like a -concertina and the masts would stretch up to the sky. Pieces of ice and -little hummocks became great white chimneys and big icy mountains. I saw -a row of white masses far above the ice. They looked like puffs of smoke -from a battery, the guns being pointed up. Presently a white lump would -appear on the ice underneath each puff and in a minute they would become -connected and look like a row of top-heavy white pillars. The middle -part would then become attenuated until it resembled a white thread -and then the tops of the pillars would settle down and disappear. The -changes were kaleidoscopic and one could watch them by the hour. When -the sun was warm, we often had this phenomenon, owing to the different -densities of the various atmospheric strata. - -_July 12th. Saturday._ Hearing "All hands" during the night, I tumbled -out of bed, picked up my bundle of clothes, ran on deck and got into a -lower quarter boat that was being lowered. Probably within sixty seconds -after being asleep I was pulling for dear life towards some loose ice -north of us, beyond which a whale had been seen. When we reached the -ice, we rested and put on some clothes. The fish was just as likely -to come up where we were as at any other place, so we did not want to -frighten him by disturbing the ice. After a wait of ten minutes, we saw -and heard the blast of a fish to the northeast. It had turned and was -going out again. We pulled through the ice with difficulty; it cannot be -pushed about by a whale boat, but we kept on in the direction in which -the whale was last seen. However it did not come up again where we could -see it, and so we returned to the ship. It was very cold coming back and -had begun to blow. - -The sky was much overcast during the afternoon, and as it was blowing -hard, the boats were taken in before bedtime. - -_July 13th. Sunday._ There was a regular little gale this day, so we -kept in open water, with the main yard aback and the fires banked. We -received news of the Greely party from the _Arctic_ as she had spoken -some of the slower ships and heard it from them. - -During the afternoon quite a choppy sea was on and ice was coming in as -the wind was blowing up the Sound. We dodged out through this ice and -then sailed north, sighting nearly all the other ships of the fleet. -Sundays were stormy days in this place, and to sit on a ship all day, -listening to her strain, and to the wind howling through the shrouds, -was not pleasant, especially when we were only killing time and -accomplishing nothing. When I turned in, we were still under canvas. - -_July 14th, Monday_, was a gloomy day. We were hooked to the ice, with -a boat out on each side. The crew were busy filling the bunkers and -then cleaning up, also overhauling some fishing gear. The blacksmith was -employed straightening out harpoons. The iron of which they are made is -soft and tough. It bends and twists every way but does not break. - -I amused myself polishing little tusks which I had taken out of the -female narwhals' heads. We were very restless, knowing that the _Arctic_ -had more whales than we had. We heard from her that all the ships had -fish a few days before. - -_Tuesday._ Two narwhals were killed, male and female. I was in a boat -with the Captain, but we did not get any. We used paddles instead of -oars, as we could approach more quietly with them. - -_July 16th. Wednesday_. We were still hanging on to the ice with a boat -on the bran on each side. Again we pursued narwhals and secured another -fine male with a four-foot horn. There were such crowds of these -beautiful creatures that I wished the Captain would turn all hands after -them, but he was afraid of disturbing any whales which might be around -so we did not pursue them vigorously. Some white whales passed us, but -we were not far enough up the Sound for white whaling. - -Narwhals are playful creatures and very noisy. The first thing any whale -does on coming up is to blow most of the air out of its lungs, and this -in a very noisy manner. For its size, the narwhal makes more noise -than the others. Before going down, they generally take a deep, noisy -inspiration. Nearly all the time we were in Lancaster Sound, if calm, we -could hear whales of some kind puffing and blowing around. I often saw -narwhals raise their tusks out of the water, and when black whales were -taking a final header, on starting for a long dive, they generally threw -the tail up in the air in a graceful manner. We did not like to see one -going tail up, as it meant that probably we had seen the last of that -particular fish. - -_July 17th, Thursday,_ was a fine day with mirage in the morning; the -effects were wonderful. A small piece of ice, miles away, would look -like a berg. About noon we made out that the _Polynia_ had a fish and -this was more than we could bear. We decided that there was a Jonah on -board and circumstances pointed strongly to one of the crew. A suit -of his clothes was procured, with his cap, half a pound of powder was -packed into it with a fuse attached and it was run up to the main yard -arm. The Captain went below and turned in, but rifles and ammunition -were supplied and we had a lively practice at the effigy for a time; -then the fuse was touched off and bang went Jonah. This performance -cleared the atmosphere forward completely, every one believing that the -spell was broken and that we would now find fish. In the cabin, Jack, -the steward, greased the horseshoe and that made the after guard feel -better, and to crown it all, a bear was killed during the evening, in -the water near the ship. Personally, I felt greatly encouraged by these -ceremonies, and went to bed feeling that at any moment "A fall! a fall!" -might be heard. - -If some misfortune happens to a whaler--such as having his harpoon gun -passed to him through the rigging, instead of around it, or if his boat -should start away from the ship stern first and not be brought back, -hooked on, hauled up and lowered again--then he would go after a whale -certain that he would miss it, whereas, should he dream the night before -that he had got fast to a fish, then he would approach it with the -utmost confidence. - -_July 18th. Friday_. I had an undisturbed night and awoke to find it -blowing and the ship under sail. Going on deck, I found the topsails -aback and much loose ice about. After breakfast, all hands were away -after a whale seen among the loose ice. This was a hopeless kind of -rowing, so we scattered about, following different leads. We saw the -fish blowing in several different places, but could not get near it, so -came on board. During the afternoon, the wind went down and the loose -ice drifted out again, so we hooked on to the solid floe about three -miles from the south side and a boat was put on each side, as usual. -Numbers of narwhals around during the afternoon, induced a boat to -follow them, and a big female was secured with a calf. The undeveloped -tusks of the latter were hollow like cigarette holders. - -_July 19th. Saturday_. I had not been asleep long when I heard "All -hands!" and, rushing up, went off in my usual boat, the lower quarter -boat on the starboard side. I heard that a fish had been seen spouting -down the Sound. In a few minutes, we all saw it off the south shore, a -mile from the ship. We gave way with a will and soon had the boats in -open order along the floe, where we thought it had passed under. Our -patience was rewarded when it came up between the mate and Watson. Mr. -Adam, being the nearer, swept down on its quarter and, as it made a back -to sound, he gave it both gun and hand in the shoulder. This was a big -fish and a fine chase began. I had seen the mate strike and I knew -the irons would not draw. Straight down the Sound we went, the wounded -animal taking out much line. - -Sometimes a fish goes deep and does not travel very far, but this one -was a traveller. We pulled for about twenty minutes or more and then -halted, the whale coming up ahead of us and going down again at once. -The mate's boat had signalled for more lines by putting a piggin on a -boat-hook, and another boat had stood by and bent on. Before long, the -wounded one came up and another iron was put in; it was well puffed -after its run and stayed up long enough to get some lances stuck in. A -lance, cutting any large vessel in the neck or thorax, would cause it -to bleed to death very quickly, but none of these lances touched vital -parts, for the whale went down in a very lively way with four or five -sticking in it, and it must have stayed down fifteen minutes, travelling -fast all the time. When it reappeared, we were on to it at once, and -it soon began to blow blood and give other evidences of approaching -dissolution. Its plunges were dangerous and the reports caused by -striking the water with its tail, were very loud. We always backed well -off during one of these demonstrations, but were on to it at once when -they ceased. There was much more danger from the flukes than the tail, -as we were touching its sides with the boats. After one or two terrific -blasts of blood and water, and a great flurry, it turned up its toes, -and after the usual formalities, the long tow to the ship began. -Shanties were sung with vigor and we pulled with a will. As I had not -had anything to eat since ten P. M., the day before, and as we had been -working hard all night, I was ready for breakfast when we reached the -ship. The fast boats had come on board, taking their lines in with the -winch. After breakfast all hands were called and it took many hours to -flense this big fish, the bone of which was 10 1/2 feet. I examined the -flukes after the blubber had been removed from them; they were like huge -hands with nicely proportioned fingers. I entered in the log the death -of the fish, and a little picture of its tail. This is the custom. In -the log there was a paper model, which was held on the page with the -finger and traced around the edge with a pencil. Then it was shaded, -according to the ability of the artist, and the name of the harpooner -was written above. On each side was stated whether killed by gun or -hand, or both, and below was written the length of the bone. Should the -harpoon draw, and the whale be lost, half a tail was sketched. - -[Illustration: 0289] - -During the flensing, one of our firemen, Bob Graham, appeared at the -engine room door with six pieces of rope yarn tied together, and to the -free end of each he had fastened a piece of blubber, just big enough to -pass comfortably through the throat of a mollie (as fulmars are called), -either way. Graham was an ingenious fellow and remarkable for his -fertility of resource; he was always amusing himself by devising little -surprises to make life pleasant for others. He threw this affair into -the sea and the six pieces of fat were instantly swallowed by the same -number of mollies. All went well until it became evident that the birds -were not of the same opinion as to the direction of their next move. -This performance seemed to me cruel at first, but after watching it for -a little while, I decided that the exercise was good for the fulmars -and did not hurt them. Of course, there were little disappointments -connected with it, but then creatures, higher in the social scale, have -their disappointments also. It is just possible that the bird which -played the game out and eventually swallowed all six pieces and -the string, may have had regrets, but from what I have seen of this -particular species, I don't think it suffered much. - -When the flensing was over, every one was tired, and the men were -ordered to turn in, excepting the lookout, all having been busy during -the day. As whaling was a very irregular sort of life, it was the custom -to sleep while one could, and as I had done a lot of rowing during the -previous twenty-four hours, I sought my cabin. Our specksioneer, George -Lyon, was an old man, but he was absolutely indefatigable, and when -this order was given, he decided to go on the bran instead of to bed. -Accordingly, he raised a crew of volunteers, but being short one man, he -thought of me. There was one way of always bringing me on deck and -that was to go to the companionway and shout down the word "bear." This -George did and I at once appeared, rifle in hand. Seeing the boat being -lowered, I tumbled in, and in a minute we were away; I then asked where -the bear was and the specksioneer said that we might see one; so I -knew his trick. We went some distance south of the ship and, hacking the -boat up to the ice, laid the steering oar on it, which held us there, -then we talked and smoked. - -About midnight all was quiet, except for the heavy breathing of the -narwhals and white whales in the sea, and of those who slept in the -boat; it was easy enough to sleep, sitting at an oar. I was awake, the -boat-steerer was standing on the ice, and the man in the ship's barrel -was scanning the Sound for fish, when suddenly, without the slightest -warning, there was a great commotion in the water, at the side of our -boat, and up came a whale with a fearful blast. This first blast of a -whale, which has been holding its breath for a long time, sounds very -loud, when one is within ten feet of it. It reminds one of a train -coming suddenly out of a tunnel. The boat-steerer instantly pushed the -boat well off, getting in at the same time He then said "Give way," -which we did. The whale was moving very slowly, and one sweep of the -boat-steerer's oar brought us around to it, then I heard the orders, -"Stand by your gun!" and "Avast pulling!" I would have given anything -for one look; but the lives of all the crew depended upon each man doing -as he was told, so I sat perfectly still and leaned well away from the -line running up the middle of the boat. Presently there was a bang, and -the line began running out, while every one called "A fall." I was now -in a boat, fast to a fresh whale, which was an experience the average -amateur rarely had. As the harpooner took a turn of the line around the -bollard head in the bows, and paid the line out through his hands, the -bow of the boat was dragged very low and the stern tilted very high, but -the speed we travelled at was not so great as I had expected. The whale -came up between the boat and the ship, and we were being towed down the -Sound. All the boats were away from the ship in a minute. We called out -the number of lines out, and they had no difficulty in finding about -where the whale was, and being ready for it when it came up. A second -iron was put in when it appeared and off it went again. The water being -absolutely free from ice, the chase was an easy one, as a boat could -generally go faster than a whale. All I had to do was to sit quiet and -keep well away from the line. As there was no ice to endanger the boat, -the line was put several times around the bollard head and kept very -tight, so we were towed much faster than if it had been loose. After the -whale was killed and all the lines cut free, we were called on board to -have or lines hauled in, after which the ship unhooked and steamed off -to pick up her boats. The sky was very much overcast when we brought -the whale alongside, and the tired crew, after getting some food, had to -flense at once, as a change of weather might have been serious. - -The _Aurora_ now looked as a successful whaler should--a big whale in -the 'tween-decks and another alongside tons and tons of blubber lying -about everywhere, and the passage between the engine room and skylight, -and the bulwarks, piled with bone. - -Before the flensing was over, it had commenced to blow and it was quite -rough by the time we had finished. Then we unhooked and ran down the -Sound a little way, while the crew turned in for a watch. As our main -yard was aback, it required very few men to handle the ship. All night -we were dodging about. - -_July 21st. Monday_. For some time, the clock had not been watched. Had -it been, it would have conveyed little information, because, when it -suited, it was put backward or forward. When a man going to bed saw by -the clock that it was midnight, and when he arose and saw by the same -clock that it was six, he probably felt refreshed. In the end, of -course, it would tell on him if the full amount of rest registered had -not been obtained; but for a time it worked very well. It certainly took -a long time to make off our two whales, and it gave us a substantial -feeling to be able to say, "Five fish on board." When the decks were -cleared up, the crew were ordered below, excepting the lookout, but -shortly after, it came on to blow hard and the sky was much overcast. -Later, some rain fell, so we unhooked and lay off the ice edge with the -main yard aback. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI--WHALING IN LANCASTER SOUND - - - "White, quiet sails from the grim icy coasts, - - That bear the battles of the whaling hosts, - - Whose homeward crews, with feet and flutes in tune, - - And spirits roughly blithe, make music to the moon." - - -_July 22nd. Tuesday._ During the night the rain changed into snow and in -the morning it was blowing a gale. In fact, it was a wild, winter's day. -We were amongst loose ice, with our main yard aback and there was no -open water to be seen anywhere. During the day the snow ceased but the -wind kept up until late in the afternoon, when we found ourselves in a -triangular pool of water, the sides of the triangle being about half -a mile long and the base, three or four hundred yards. The ship was -anchored to one side and she lay parallel with the base and twenty or -thirty yards away from it. This hole appeared to have been formed by -large floes. It was quite free from ice and afforded us an ideal harbor. - -_July 23rd. Wednesday_. All hands turned out shortly after four in the -morning as a whale was seen at the apex of this triangle. One boat had -been left fast to the ship's stern. This went in pursuit and the others -lowered away, the one I was in being ordered to remain fast to a line -from the ship's stem. Long before the boats reached the whale, it -sounded and did not appear again, so they came on board, all but the one -I was in. Our bows were towards the ship's stern and the boat's side was -twenty yards from the ice edge. We had been there about an hour when, -with a great commotion, a tremendous whale came up between the ship and -the ice edge. Its head was alongside our boat before we realized what -had happened; and by the time we had slipped the line the leviathan had -passed us, as it was going fast. We could almost have touched him with -the oars, but by the time we turned the boat and were under way, down -went the fish to look for another breathing place elsewhere and we -returned to our berths. Had the bow of the boat been the other way, we -could have fastened the whale easily. - -At eight bells, we came on board for breakfast. Just as I entered the -cabin, I heard the rushing on deck and, going up, found two boats off -after a whale. It had simply come up to breathe and, having breathed, -it went down again and disappeared from our harbor. One boat remained at -the apex of the triangle and the other returned; and, on the way, a fish -came up a hundred yards in front of it. They pulled hard and took a long -shot as it humped its back going down. They got fast and the whale went -off! under the ice. From the barrel, a small water hole could be seen -half a mile away, and to this several ran, carrying a rocket gun -which could be fired from the shoulder. Before they had gone very far, -however, the harpoon drew and, as there was no use firing rockets into a -free fish, they came on board again. It was now blowing pretty hard and -very cold, but we still kept a boat at the apex of the triangle and one -beside the ship. Now occurred a very exciting race. A whale came up half -way along one side of the hole, and was travelling slowly towards the -base. The boat at the apex followed, the one by the ship did not move, -and every man on board was watching what would happen. Reaching the -base, the whale halted to take a few long breaths before going down, the -boat rapidly neared, the whale humped its back and the boat had to fire. -From where we were, we saw the harpoon fly up into the air with -the foregoer wriggling after it, then it fell, missing the whale as -completely as if it had not been fired at it. I was sorry for that -harpooner. He was a big man from Aberdeen, with a yellow beard, and he -was a nervous wreck when he came on board. This fearfully bad luck was -maddening, and we were all on edge; for, though the place was swarming -with whales, we never got one. Had we got fast to half a dozen, we would -have lost them all through lines being cut by the ice, or fouling. - -By the evening, the wind had gone down and the ice was slacker, the -whole east side of our pool moving away. - -_July 24th, Thursday_, was a beautiful day after the storm and we had -open water astern once more. We unhooked after breakfast and steamed -slowly towards the south side again, and while steaming, we sighted a -whale down the Sound. The ship was anchored to the ice and the boats -distributed in the usual way. This whale did not come up after being -first seen until it was at the ice edge, when one of our boats got fast. -It then went under the floe--a most unusual proceeding when it had lots -of open water. We were along the ice edge, nearly a mile from the fast -boat, and wondering what would happen next, when, in a very small hole, -150 yards from my boat, up came the head of the whale. The hole was not -many times larger than the head. The under surface of the lower jaw was -towards us. It had a very white appearance. The head turned around very -slowly presenting a wonderful sight. Gyles, the harpooner, in whose -boat I was, seized a rocket gun and, running to the hole, fired, and the -head went down as slowly as it came up. Presently the fish appeared in -the open water and was immediately harpooned again. Its experience under -the ice, or Gyle's rocket, had affected it so that it did not remain -down but soon came up again and submitted patiently to the lancing -operation which ended its life. This removed the gloom caused by the -awful luck of the previous day. We had now more than three tons of bone, -and that alone would be a fair voyage. The flensing began just as soon -as the crew had food and was not finished until bedtime. - -_July 25th. Friday._ Every one was cheerful. Some of the hands were -cleaning bone, two boats were on the bran, and one after narwhals, as -there were many of them about. - -I painted the figurehead, as the _Aurora_ was looking a little -dissipated with her out-stretched arm unhooked. This was only in -commission when in port; consequently, it looked younger than her -seagoing arm, which was a fixture across her breast and which had stood -the brunt of many gales. - -_July 26th. Saturday._ All hands were "making off" the fish. They were -at it early and had finished by noon, and then there was a general clean -up for Sunday, but strict watch was kept. There were only white whales -and some narwhals around. The tusks we took from those we killed and -those we had bartered for, always lay on the after grating, which -covered the well down which the auxiliary propeller went; there was -never enough motion to roll them off. - -July 27th. The usual Sunday gale was blowing and we were dodging about -under canvas all day. I was out on a yard during a snow squall and found -it very exciting. This was my first attempt at taking in sails when -there was much wind. We spoke the _Narwhal_; she had seven whales and -reported the _Arctic_ as having eight and all the rest well fished. -Towards evening we sailed to our favorite fishing ground on the south -side. - -July 28th. Monday. All hands were away after a whale at six A. M. We -had a long pull, and lost her for a time amongst the loose ice. Rounding -tins, however, we reached her again and the mate got fast, McLean -putting in a second. We passed both boats and were in at the kill. When -we had backed off once for a flurry, I looked around and saw Watson -lancing. I thought the flukes would have smashed his boat, he took such -awful chances. This whale rolled about a great deal, and bristled with -lances which she had torn from the men's hands by rolling. She was also -dreadfully tangled up with lines which had caught on the lances. There -is sometimes danger from being caught under these lines and cut in two. -When a dead whale is lying on its back, the abdomen lies very low in the -water, and, when freshly killed, sinks with a man when he walks along -it. As we were a long way from the ship, she came after us and we soon -had the whale alongside. The capstan was used for taking on board the -big blanket pieces. At the order, "Heave away capstan," a shanty was -struck up by the men marching around. - -[Illustration: 0301] - -They sang so loud that we could often hear their weird songs coming over -the water from other ships similarly engaged. Our friends, the fulmar -petrels, were always with us upon occasions of this kind, and all that -were in the Sound, I think, spent the day with us. - -The outer skin of the whale is about as thick as stiff paper, and black. -It peels off readily, and the men cut book markers out of it. Under this -comes a layer, nearly an inch thick, of rather gelatinous stuff, which -the Eskimos eat raw, then the blubber between this and the superficial -fascia, by which the body heat is preserved. It took us practically all -the rest of the day to flense. - -_July 29th. Tuesday_. We had a visit from two natives; they were -prosperous looking people with a good sled and dogs. I admired the -protection from the sun which they wore. It was a piece of wood with a -slit cut in it. This was very efficacious, but unbecoming. We learned -from these people that many whales had been seen by them this year. They -had some bear skins with them for trade, and some walrus ivory. This was -much inferior to the narwhal ivory, which was very fine and was worth, -at this time, I think, one pound ten per pound, that of the walrus being -only worth half a crown. I had a long walk with a gun but did not see -anything. - -_July 30th. Wednesday_. All hands "making off." I tried to skin a -fulmar, but could not do it, it was so fat. I wanted a skin badly, but -this was too much for me. All the birds we killed were fat, a provision -of nature against cold. The men said, however, that they could not wear -oil soaked clothes in cold weather. - -I was in the "crow's nest" a good while. It was most difficult to see -anything at a distance owing to the mirage. During the afternoon I tried -to shoot some narwhal near us. I shot at their heads with a rifle from -the boat, and although they had sometimes been killed with the rifle, so -little of the head showed when the beast was lying on the surface, that -I fancy they must have been shot from the ship, which stood high. - -_July 31st_. Immediately after breakfast, four boats were away after a -whale. I remained on board and watched from the barrel. It was a long -pull and the whale got away amongst loose ice without giving the boats a -chance. We captured a female narwhal in the afternoon. - -_August 1st. Friday_. Lovely day but very cold. In the morning I was -sitting on the after grating, scraping a bear's skull, when a hundred -yards or so astern of us arose a whale with the usual blast. The -water was like a mirror and the fish lay there for several minutes and -breathed heavily. No one spoke or moved. There in front of us was a fine -whale, its jet black head and back showing up well and reflected on the -absolutely glassy surface of the sea. When it slowly sank with its head -towards us, we knew it would go under the ice, but we would not lower -away until we were sure it was under. I was leaning over the after rail, -peering into the water, when I saw the whale coming slowly under where -I was standing. I first noticed a large, gray bow coming towards me; -it was the under jaw, and as it passed beneath the vessel I could see -distinctly the large round, dark spots on the huge lower lip. It passed -a very short distance under our keel. There was no movement of either -flukes or tail. I watched the great horizontal tail in the hope of -seeing some movement. Only the man in the "crow's nest" and I alone saw -the fish passing under the ship, and as soon as we were sure that it was -safe, the boats went away as noiselessly as possible and we waited for -the result with bated breath. It came up almost beside the ship and -Jimmy Watson put in both gun and hand harpoons, then came the joyful -shout "A fall," and we started down the Sound. As the fish was well -fastened, it was safe to snub the line around the bollard head of the -boat; there was no fear of the irons drawing and it made a heavy drag -on the whale. The line, in running out, passes through the hands of the -har-pooner before going around the bollard head. Of course, he wears -several pairs of mittens, but these are generally torn to pieces. Our -friend shortly came to the surface rather exhausted, as the line had -been well snubbed, but Thor put another iron into him. This smarted and -one could have heard his tail strike the water miles away. He lashed it -with such force that no boat could go close; and before a rocket could -be fired into him, he was off. This time the drag was very heavy, for -he had two boats. It did seem absurd that this huge monster, more than -sixty feet long and forty around the waist, could be conquered by having -those little bits of harpoons stuck in with their little threads of -lines attached, but whales of this species are clumsy and stupid and -turn very slowly, and it is this inability to turn fast that proves -their undoing. Upon appearing the next time, a rocket was instantly -fired into a vital place and the final flurry came at once and made -lancing unnecessary. The row back was a pleasure, and our joyful -shanties could be heard for a long distance. We were alongside by -midday, and after dinner, flensing commenced. I amused myself again with -the fulmars. Getting a boat, I laid my left elbow over the side so that -I could look between it and the gunwale. Every time a fulmar came under, -I darted my right hand over, catching him by the neck and taking him on -board. When I had a great flock of them, I put them on the poop, around -which there was a base board about four inches high, and above this the -iron railing. The birds had eaten so much blubber that they could not -get over the base board. One had to be careful of bites, as they had the -curved, pointed bills peculiar to the albatross, shearwater and -other birds of this tribe. It is curious that the great albatross and -diminutive storm petrel, the wren of the sea, should belong to the same -species. In a very short time, I saw the advisability of throwing my -flock of pets overboard. We did not go below for supper until the fish -was flensed. - -_August 2nd, Saturday,_ was cold and cloudy, but no wind. We were -hooked on with two boats on the bran; all hands making off during the -afternoon. - -_August 4th. Monday_. Three of the four boats were after a whale among -some loose ice to the north of us. One boat got fast and all immediately -lowered away. When we reached the ice, navigation became difficult and -the fish came up where we could not touch it. Several boats came out of -the ice and tried to row around. Ours was one of these; then we found -that the harpoon had drawn and the whale had vanished. We pursued some -distance down the Sound and had nothing for our trouble but exercise. - -_August 5th. Tuesday_. Much loose ice in the Sound, caused by wind -during the night. Narwhal were abundant, and two boats went after them -with no result. Later the ship unhooked and steamed east looking for -open water. I spent a long time in the "crow's nest," and, as there was -no mirage, got a beautiful view of the south coast--very wintry at bed -time. - -_August 6th. Wednesday_. The rushing of feet overhead brought me to the -deck on a gloomy cold morning, and before I had time to add anything to -the clothes in which I slept, we were a mile from the ship. A whale -had been seen some distance to the north and four boats pursuing it. We -paused and put on some more clothes to keep out the keen Arctic air, -and then we went off again, as the whale had come up. Long before the -leading boat got near, it had disappeared, but we were not discouraged, -so kept on, and this hard work continued until we were far from the ship -and getting amongst pans of loose ice. The whale we were following was -a fast traveller and we were ultimately obliged to give up the chase and -return. The row back was long and wearisome, and when I reached the ship -I had my long delayed breakfast and retired, but the moment I turned in -to my berth, the rush above told of more whales in sight, so I went on -deck. A fish had been seen blowing a long way down the Sound and six -boats were away, but bed appealed to me more than another long pull, -so I returned to it and remained there until the following morning. Our -boats did not get a shot but had a long chase and did not return until -very late. - -The day was cold and the density of the atmosphere uniform, so I was -able to see all the other ships distinctly with the glass. Some swell -had broken up the edge of our floe and some pieces had been driven up -the Sound, so it looked more icy than any day since the time when all -the whales came. During the afternoon we hooked on to a large floe. The -_Polynia and Esquimaux_ were near us, but to the south; the _Arctic_ was -some distance down the Sound. Swarms of white whales were about us in -the open places. - -_August 7th. Thursday_. The loose ice was gone. We had unhooked during -the night and steamed west to the fast floe. I went up to the barrel and -the Captain went down to get his pipe. While gazing at distant things, I -heard a noise on deck and, looking over, saw all hands lowering away for -two whales astern of us. I must have been looking in another direction -when they appeared, because the first I knew of it, was the noise below. -Our boats lay about half on each side and were playing the usual waiting -game. The Captain came up to the barrel and I went down, but too late to -enter a boat, as they had all gone, except the two upper quarter boats. -This was a great disappointment to me, as I had assisted in killing -every whale we had taken on board. After a while, one fish came up on -the south or port side and was fastened by the farthest south boat. The -whale went under the ice, but came out nearer the ship and was fastened -again. This proved the worst whale we had seen. It did not go down again -but rolled about so much and slapped the water with its flukes to such -an extent that the boats were rather afraid of it. This went on for a -long time, when the Captain called out that he would kill it himself, so -he came down and ordered the port upper quarter boat launched. All boats -had their gear ready, whether we used them or not. A crew of irregulars -was called, the Captain as harpooner, myself next, the sailmaker next, -third engineer, cooper, etc. The Captain went up at once and, driving -a lance into the whale's neck, began churning it up and down. The fish -allowed itself to sink a few feet, and the bows of the boat glided -over it as the Captain held on to the lance. Then coming to the surface -again, it tumbled the boat over on its starboard side and instantly gave -a great blast from its lungs. My oar came out of the water, so I let it -go and, grasping the seat with my right hand and putting my left on the -whale's back, I got the full charge of blood and water over my side and -shoulder, as I was almost over the blow-hole, and such was the force, -that my thick pilot coat was soaked with-blood, and also the thick coat -underneath. I saw the sailmaker, who was in front of me, turn around; -his face was green, in spite of the tan. He was almost in the water. The -boat, fortunately, slid off the slippery neck and a serious accident was -averted. The great danger would have been from being caught between -the whale and the many lines it had wound around itself. After this, -a couple of rockets were put in and the most troublesome fish of the -season gave up its ghost. As all this happened beside the ship, we were -saved the usual tedious tow, and in an hour flensing was commenced. -It was six when we had all on board. The second whale did not -reappear--probably finding a breathing place in the floe. The sky was -overcast at bedtime and there was a bitterly cold wind. Having the -engines aft made a great difference to the temperature of the cabin, as -the bulkhead between the pantry and engine room was always hot. - -_August 8th. Friday_. We were off Cape Hay when I came on deck and -sailing east under topsails. This cape was a wonderful place for looms. -They bred there in thousands; but we did not land or go very close, so I -had no chance of seeing much. - -Quite a number of the ships had already left the Sound, among others the -_Arctic_. Her captain, having secured thirteen black whales, had decided -to try his luck in Repulse Bay, Fox Channel, where he had had former -success. Owing to the amount of ice in the Sound and on the west coast, -he had come to this decision. Consequently he had sailed to Hudson's -Straits, passing from Frobisher Bay through Gabriel Straits and -encountering the dreadful current for which the neighborhood is noted. -Ice was met with about Salisbury Island, and beyond this he was unable -to take his ship, so he returned to Cumberland Gulf and from there home -without adding to his cargo. - -Lancaster Sound was beginning to look and feel like winter, the weather -being very frosty. The mountains on the south side, which are about -two thousand feet high, were very white, as a number of snow storms had -passed over them. We were anticipating with pleasure a visit to -Pond's Bay and the points usually called at on the west coast. One can -generally take a ship by Navy Board Inlet through Eclipse Sound to Ponds -Bay, but this year the ice precluded such a trip. - -We kept under sail, to save our coal, and ended off Wollaston Islands at -the entrance of Navy Board Inlet, without having seen any whales. Here -we hooked on to a large floe. - -_August 9th. Saturday._ After breakfast all hands were called to make -off. It was a very cheerful performance, our men being in good spirits. -The day was bitterly cold, but work kept them warm. Ice formed where the -sun did not strike the water as there was hardly any wind to disturb it. - -By dinner time the whale was made off and during the afternoon the watch -employed cleaning up. We remained hooked on all night. - -Sunday was a bitterly cold day and blowing a little, so we went further -down the sound under topsails. About ten A. M. we sighted a whale and -sent four boats in pursuit. I was in the second mate's. After a long -chase the mate got fast. There was much ice about, so it was dangerous -work for the fast boat, as it was impossible to avoid the pieces when -being towed, and should the boat strike a floe it would be smashed at -once and all hands would have to jump. - -When the fish came up first there was no boat near, but on coming up a -second time Watson got in an iron and we had a very lively run down the -Sound. With two harpoons in, there was a considerable drag on, and in a -short time she reappeared and a boat was soon lancing. - -Our boat had been delayed by pieces of ice, so that it was late when we -arrived on the scene. However this was a very vital whale and difficult -to kill. I saw our specksioneer Lyon's boat almost smashed by one of the -flukes during a flurry. - -The perfectly fearless old man was so absorbed in his lancing operations -that he did not notice the fluke coming, and but for the quick action of -his boat-steerer, an accident would have occurred. - -The ship had followed us, so we had no towing when the battle was over, -as she picked the boats up, taking the whale with her to a floe where -she anchored. Two more boats had been lowered away when they heard "A -fall" called. One had gone to help the mate with more line, and the -other had taken part in the chase. - -After having something to eat, flensing was the order of the day, -our cheerful crew singing with great spirit to the orders "Heave away -capstan" and "Heave away windlass." This, our tenth whale, was a heavy -one and it was late when we got it all on board. - -The ship remained at the floe all night, drifting with it down the -Sound. - -_Monday, the 11th_, was a wintry day, bitterly cold and an overcast sky. -During the afternoon we had some snow squalls. We dodged about under -topsails, but did not see even a narwhal. It was evident that our chance -of catching white whales this year in Prince Regent Inlet was small. We -anchored to the ice off Cape Liverpool at night. - -_Tuesday, August 12th_, all hands were engaged making off in the morning -and doing a general clean up during the afternoon. - -[Illustration: 0315] - - - - -CHAPTER XVII--LANCASTER SOUND TO DUNDEE - - - "To claim the Arctic came the sun, - - With banners of the burning zone - - Unrolled upon their airy spars. - - They froze beneath the light of stars, - - And there they float, those streamers old, - - Those Northern Lights, forever cold." - - -|The neighborhood of Cape Byam Martin was considered good whaling -ground, so we spent the next few days cruising off it and the coast -further down, but without seeing anything of interest. Even seals were -scarce. It was remarkable how few we saw north of the Arctic circle. - -By going aloft, one could always see, in some direction on the ice, a -black dot, which represented a seal, but after the tens of thousands -seen on the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, they were scarce -indeed; in fact, I never shot one during the whole northern trip. - -We found Ponds Bay that paradise of the old whalers so full of ice that -we were unable to visit the natives, which was a great disappointment -to us all. It was a bad year for seeing much of the land as there was so -much ice coming down. - -From the ship, the line of the shore looked straight, except off the -bay, but there were great fiords running into the land for miles. One of -them, known as "Hell's Kitchen," had been a noted place for whalers. Two -branches of it, named respectively, "Morris" and "Cooney" extended far -into the country, one of them having been navigated by Captain Guy for -about forty miles. - -Ponds Bay was a celebrated place for salmon fishing, the whalers often -getting wonderful catches there, thereby improving their menu greatly. -At this time, the weather was very wintry, frost and snow reminding us -of where we were, and by the night of Sunday, the 17th, we were only off -Cape Bowen. - -Monday was a beautiful day and we were fast to the shore floe, a long -way from the land. The Captain decided to improve the shining hour by -having the ship painted, so the boats were put upon the ice and the men -employed, cleaning and painting. The _Aurora_ was comparatively new, so -it was very easy cleaning her, as her woodwork was good and she had been -well kept up. Even washing her down with the alkaline solution used gave -her a nice appearance. By evening, a great deal had been accomplished -and inside she looked very neat. - -The little auks were numerous about here. One of our firemen killed -three with a broom handle and I shot a fine bag. There was a good flight -of ducks along the floe edge and I had several shots at them. As the -birds were young, they were worth having, being free from the fishy -flavor peculiar to their parents. - -[Illustration: 0319] - -_August 19th._ We finished painting the boats, but left them on the ice, -excepting two from which the lines had not been removed. - -Our fishing, so far, had nearly all been floe edge. We had not entered -the middle pack very far, where the whales were sometimes numerous at -this season. The enormous amount of ice made the Captain think twice -about pushing his ship, with her valuable cargo, into it, and so we kept -quietly down the coast, occasionally going out a little where the ice -was loose, but remembering Sir Leopold McClintock's winter in the middle -pack with the _Fox._ - -The southwest fishing, to which we were now going, was generally -prosecuted in the autumn. The ships lay at anchor in some harbor, and -every morning the boats rowed out and watched for whales. It was cold, -dreary work and very unpopular with the men; but whales killed late in -the season were often large and well worth looking for. - -_August 20th. Wednesday_. The boats were hoisted up this day and, with -the Captain, I went on the ice to look at the ship. It was cold and I -had on half-boots, a thick double-breasted monkey jacket, with leather -gauntlets and a leather sealing cap. We walked to where the painting had -been done and there admired the ship. She looked well, sitting rather -down by the stern. All the crew, practically, had been standing on this -ice for the last two days and nothing had happened: I went rather close -to the edge and the piece I was standing on gave way and I went down at -once, but on coming up, with one or two strokes, reached the ice edge. -It took some seconds for my clothes to soak as I had so much on, and by -that time, one of the men, Jock Fairly, came with a boat hook, by -the help of which I was pulled out. My clothes were so completely -water-logged that, without assistance, getting out would have been -impossible. Again the gentle warmth of the top of the boiler proved a -comfort. - -_August 21st. Thursday_. Hooked on, with a stiff breeze blowing and the -sky overcast. Ducks were flying in great numbers past a point half a -mile away, so, taking the dingey, I went off to it. There was no shelter -and, although every bird must have seen me, the silly things would not -leave the ice edge, but would just swing out far enough to make my shots -effective. This shooting both barrels into the "brown," as the ducks -passed, was not so much fun as getting them in pairs, but one soon -picks up a good bag, and as I was shooting for the pot, a bag was what I -wanted. When I came on board, the birds were tied in bundles and hung up -on the davit guys above the quarter boats. - -August 22nd. During the afternoon, a bear was seen, so we went off in a -boat to capture it. As there was no solid ice, the beast had to get out -of and into the water so many times that he could not escape, and he was -killed from the boat by the mate. I landed and tried to stalk him, but -he left my pan and I could not follow him. - -Two ships were in sight southeast of us. One of them was the -_Cornwallis,_ which we had not seen for some time. I was anxious to get -near her as Armitage was on hoard, but she was a long way off. We always -knew the other, the _Esquimaux_, by her mizzentop, as she had once been -a full-rigged ship, although now a barque. - -On Saturday, the wind blew a gale, which kept us dodging under the -canvas; but by Sunday the weather had improved. - -During the morning we sailed up to the shore floe, as we saw some -natives there, and picked them up. They had tusks and dog skins for -trade. We took them, with their dogs and sledges, on board. One of them -was a good-looking, pleasant native, called Enu. He added greatly to -my Eskimo vocabulary during the next few days, and he told me that deer -were plentiful in certain places and that salmon abounded. We steamed -south all day, after picking up the natives, the weather being cold but -fine. - -_August 25th. Monday_. Steaming down the coast and the weather quite -fine. During the afternoon, a black spot inshore indicated the mouth of -a river. The shore floe at this point was a mile wide, but the ice was -smooth. A boat and the dingey with a net and ten men were sent to try -to catch some salmon. A number of men were sent to haul the boats across -the floe to the open water of the river mouth, and the natives came -also. Mr. Adam took the boat and I took the dingey. We had a boat's -sail, plenty of coal, two ship's kettles, coffee, sugar, salt, biscuits -and tins of mutton. Arriving at the open water, our helpers returned -to the ship, and the natives, after turning their sleds upside down, so -that the dogs could not run away with them, came with us in the boats. -We rowed into a river, which was about thirty or forty yards wide at the -mouth, shallow and placid. We went up a short distance and camped on the -right bank. Above our camp, the river was a nice-looking little salmon -stream; but below, it was more pretentious looking on account of its -width. The net was drawn, with no result. It was tried in another place -without getting a fin. Then, as it was growing late, we returned to -camp. Tying two oars together, with their blades crossed, we laid the -end of the long steering oar between these and this gave us an excellent -frame for our tent, completed by throwing the large square boat's sail -over it and tucking two of the corners underneath. Then a fine coal fire -was started, a kettle of coffee made, and an excellent hash prepared, -by mixing tinned mutton, sea biscuits, snow, pepper and salt. We enjoyed -this thoroughly and I sat by the camp fire afterwards and listened -to these men tell tales of happenings in former years. Thus, on the -unhospitable shores of Baffin Bay, I had my first experience of camp -life. After awhile I noticed that in spite of my clothing, my back was -cold, so I turned it to the fire. Then my face was nearly frozen, so -I turned back. In the excitement of starting, I had thrown a rug into -the boat and not thought of blankets. Now I began to wish I had brought -some, for I spent a miserable night, waking up very often with the cold. - -_August 26th._ At last the tedious night came to an end, and breakfast -thawed us out and made things look more cheerful. The day was fine, so -the _Aurora_ was safe, and preparations were made for further fishing. -Had the morning looked threatening, the ship would probably have -signalled us to come on board. I am a keen fisherman, but the net did -not appeal to me very much; so I decided to see what the country looked -like and, taking Enu with me, went up the river. The bitterly cold night -had caused some ice, so the men waited for a higher sun to dissipate -this before we left camp. I found the country flat, as a whole, with low -hills in the background. The native gave me to understand that beyond -these hills was the caribou country, but one dared not risk going far -from the ship, and so my chance of bagging a barren land head was small. -Little gulches led away from the river, on the exposed sides of which -there was no snow, but boggy ground and bad walking; while on the shady -sides the ground was frozen and covered with patches of snow. I saw some -places on the river which made me long to try the fly, and I am sure -good sport could have been obtained. After a very tiresome walk of some -hours, during which I did not see a bird or beast, I returned to camp. -On coming close, I saw a man walking from the river with a salmon in -each hand, the first two caught. They had tried a number of places and -had caught only these, so they sent them to camp for dinner. One was put -in a big ship's kettle to boil, and the other split and cut into pieces -which were hung around the fire on stakes made from driftwood. Each -salmon weighed about ten pounds, the flesh being very red, and while -they did not compare with those from home rivers, we considered them -excellent, as they were the first fresh fish we had had on the voyage. -Leaving camp, I went down to the boat and found they had just taken a -splendid haul; the net was shot several times and a grand total of 108 -fish counted out. Dinner was ready when we reached the fire and some -more fish were staked out to cook. - -This delicate repast over, our things were carried down to the boats and -we made our way back as we had come. Seeing us from the ship, help had -been sent to bring the boats across the ice. - -Many of the whalers fish for salmon every year and sometimes catch great -numbers. The best place is, as stated before, a river flowing into Ponds -Bay. Here several thousands are often taken. - -The Eskimo dogs had eaten their harness and gone away, excepting two -lame fellows, and the natives made these pull them to the ship. - -[Illustration: 0327] - -_August 27th. Wednesday._ Enu, with his menage, left for home, and after -breakfast we unhooked, and stood along the floe edge. From the "crow's -nest" I saw with the glass a number of Eskimo sledges travelling north. -They made no attempt to come near us, but kept close to the shore. At -noon we were going among some loose ice, so hooked on. I had a very -pleasant afternoon at the ducks and secured a good bag. All the birds -killed were young eider. In fact, on the voyage, I only killed three -varieties of duck, eider, king eider and long tail. - -_August 28th. Thursday_. Two sledges with natives came off. There was -a very hungry woman with them. I saw her picking at everything soft -on board. She found the side of a box in which plug tobacco had been -packed, and picked it up; there were some leaves of tobacco adhering to -it. I saw her picking pieces of them and eating them. - -[Illustration: 0331] - -Dividing the 'tween-decks from the lower forecastle, there was a -partition with a door. Just outside of this door stood a barrel into -which the cook threw refuse from the gallery, which was just within the -forecastle. I saw this polar American beauty put her arm into the barrel -and bring forth a duck's skin, which had a tremendous coating of fat. -She seized the skin with both hands and pulled the fat off with her -teeth, devouring it greedily. When she came to the neck, she chewed it, -bones and all. There were some most interesting children on board and -they thoroughly enjoyed the coffee and biscuit with which they were -supplied by the Captain's orders. We got some dog skins and small -articles from these people, but they had already been visited by some of -the ships and their bear skins and horns taken. - -_August 29th_. On Friday the natives left us early. We unhooked and -sailed east, with a breeze from the south. We saw a bear and cub on the -ice, so lowered away and went after them. Both took to the water, and -we had to go around a large island of ice before we could reach them. I -landed on this, and running across, tried a shot at them in the water, -but they had gone too far and were behind hummocks of ice, so that I -could not see them. The boat then overtook them and the mate shot both. -As nothing more was seen among the loose ice we steamed to the floe edge -and hooked on. I bagged a few ducks in the evening. - -_August 30th. Saturday_. We steamed down the coast and hooked on off -Cape Raper. Two natives came on board, and we bought a live fox from one -of them. It was young and blue, and spent the rest of the voyage walking -about the funnel casing, where its home was in a lime-juice box. The -natives left during the afternoon and we remained at the floe edge all -night. - -It was a beautiful calm Sunday and the last day of August on which we -arrived at Cape Kater. The _Cornwallis_ very soon afterwards came in and -I went on board at once. - -They had had a most unsuccessful voyage as the ship had been spoiled for -sailing by having an engine put in which was of no use. They had killed -a whale and picked up a dead one, having one ton of bone from the two. - -Poor old Captain Nichol was very much depressed. Every one said he was -a fine sailor; that his blood was tar and his flesh rope yams. They told -us that the other ships had done well, the _Nova Zembla_ having eight, -the _Polynia_ six and the _Esquimaux_ ten whales when last seen. - -Armitage came on shore with me and we visited some native habitations. -They were tents made of skin, and the sun beating on them made them warm -inside; but as there was not a particle of ventilation, the odor was the -worst possible. We saw in them the stone lamps in which the seal oil was -burned, moss being used as a wick; sometimes old tins served the purpose -instead of stone. - -[Illustration: 0335] - -This country is generally called Baffin Land. There is, however, no -reason to believe that it is not divided up by channels into many -islands. No doubt passages exist connecting Davis Straits with Fox -Channel. - -Much of the coast line is uncharted, especially north of Fox Land. -Fiords running south from Eclipse Sound have been visited by whalers, -but not explored; possibly they could be traced to Fury and Hecla -Straits. - -Whaling stations have several times been established on the west coast, -at Exeter Sound and Cumberland Gulf--the first party wintering at the -latter place in 1852, to the detriment of the natives. - -These improvident people with modern rifles would kill all the game -they could shoot, use what they required at the time and waste the rest, -whereas in old times they could just secure enough for their wants. - -Again, children were brought up formerly in a hardy way, and taught how -to wrest a living from the inhospitable country. Now by loafing around a -settlement they acquire some of the pernicious habits of civilized men, -and learn to depend upon the European and his ship, forgetting that -these might be withdrawn at any time. - -[Illustration: 0339] - -Monday was spent wandering about, but without seeing anything of -interest. The _Cornwallis_ was still hooked on when we left Cape Kater, -on Tuesday. We kept away from the coast to look for a berg from which we -might water. The weather was clear and frosty, and at night the aurora -borealis was very beautiful. - -_September 3rd. Wednesday._ We found a floe fast to the base of a very -large berg, and on this there was a lake of fresh water frozen over. The -ship being made fast, a hole was drilled in the ice and our water tanks -filled. - -On the berg there was a white fox, but no shooting at it was allowed -lest the concussion should bring down masses of ice. By evening we moved -away and made fast to a floe far from our dangerous neighbor. The cold -was intense and bay ice formed around the ship. - -I heard the thunder of splitting bergs several times during the night; -they sounded like avalanches among the Alps in the springtime. At this -season, especially on very cold nights, bergs often split and turn over -owing to water freezing in crevices formed by the warm summer sun, and -for this reason they are avoided as much as possible. We now spent five -days dodging about under canvas with fires banked. Part of the time we -were off Cape Hooper and part off Home Bay, but we did not see a single -whale. - -The weather was for the most part fine, but bitterly cold. If a mist -arose at night the ship presented a curious spectacle in the morning, -her rigging being coated with ice. - -Our handy tradesmen during this period made some pretty things. The -carpenter presented the Captain with a neat model of a ship, while the -cooper turned out a tobacco box which was a work of art. - -_September 8th. Monday_. We bore up for home. What cheerful news it was! -Passage sails were bent, boats taken in and placed on skids, bunkers -were coaled and all was life and bustle. Every one was happy. The voyage -had been a success, and we had not had a serious accident. - -The "crow's nest" was sent down, nautical time adopted and the watch -set. To crown all, a fresh breeze sprang up, and with everything set and -steaming full speed we started down the Straits. - -By bedtime we were in a heavy fog, so the canvas was taken off and -the engines slowed down. During the night the phosphorescence was very -beautiful. Pieces of ice thrown away by the propeller looked like balls -of fire, while the water immediately around the stern seemed all aflame. - -For the next two days we had fog, so made little progress at night. -During the day the men were employed washing lines and stowing them -away. Guns and harpoons were cleaned and greased and the ship was -thoroughly washed. - -On the 11th, we had a strong gale with a dark and cloudy sky. It was -strange to be at sea and feel the motion of the ship after weeks of -smooth water amidst the ice. After this the sea was smooth, and we had -fog all the time until, off Cape Farewell on the 15th, the day being -fine, the ship was hove to and painted outside. A dense fog came down -that night, and we did not make another observation until off the -Scottish coast. - -On Saturday, September 20th, the fog was very dense and we steamed -slowly until noon, when it lifted for a short time and showed us the -island of St. Kilda. I was sorry we could not land here as it was a -wonderful breeding place for the fulmar petrels; but home was in sight, -and Captain Fairweather did not want to linger on a rock-bound coast, so -we steered north and on Sunday morning, the 21st, we were off the Butt -of Lewis. - -It was thick at times during the morning, but cleared in the afternoon -and gave us a view of the Orkneys. The Captain decided to go north of -Orkney, as he did not like the Pentland Firth with so much fog about. At -night the weather was perfectly clear. - -_September 22nd. Monday._ On deck in the morning every one was looking -pleasant, and the ship neat. We were crossing the Moray Firth and coming -close to the Aberdeen coast. A fishing boat from Fraserborough was -hailed and an assortment of fish purchased for breakfast. These were -paid for with tobacco, and the pay was liberal. The first question asked -by us was, "Is England at war?" This being answered in the negative, -greatly pleased those of the crew who were naval reserve men. Eight -bells struck and my last breakfast on board the _Aurora_ was served. -After breakfast we passed Peterhead, formerly a great port for whalers, -and then we steamed south close to the coast. The yellow fields of grain -and stubble, the cottages and the trees, looked to our snow-dazzled eyes -like Fairy Land. We passed Aberdeen and Stonehaven. We were close enough -to see Dunottar's grim ruin, then Montrose, and in a short time our -pilot was on board with all the news, and we were at home. - -Of the Davis Straits ships in 1884 one was lost, the _Narwhal_; but now, -with the exception of the _Active and Aurora_, the weed-grown ribs of -the entire fleet rest beneath the waters of the cold northern seas and -the records of their crews' escapes and hardships would fill volumes. - - - -APPENDIX - - -Notice of arrival of whalers in _Dundee Advertiser_ of September 23rd: - - -DUNDEE ADVERTISER, SEPTEMBER 23RD, 1884. - -The Esquimaux--The Loss of Two Men. - -The _Esquimaux_, Capt. Milne, arrived in the Tay last night from Davis -Straits, and will be docked with this morning's tide. The Esquimaux was -unsuccessful at the Newfoundland seal fishing, only 1,900 seals having -been secured; but she has brought a fair cargo from Davis Straits, -consisting of 11 whales, which will yield 140 tons of oil and 6 tons -of whalebone. Two fatalities have, unfortunately, occurred during the -voyage. Early in the season a young man named Allan Smith, a native -of Dundee, was dragged overboard by the line catching him after a -bottle-nosed whale had been struck, and he was never seen again. It is -a painful circumstance that Smith's father was lost from the same ship -several years ago. Another of the crew was lost during the passage home. -He accidentally fell overboard, and a boat was sent in search of -him. After some time he was picked up in semi-lifeless state, and all -attempts to restore animation failed. - - -Dundee Advertiser, September 23rd, 1884. - - -DAVIS STRAITS WHALE FISHING--ARRIVAL OF AURORA. - -The steamer Aurora, belonging to Messrs. Alex. Stephen & Sons, arrived -at Dundee yesterday afternoon from the Davis Straits whale fishing. -The _Aurora_, commanded by Capt. Jas. Fair-weather, has had a very -successful voyage. At Newfoundland 28,150 seals were secured during the -two trips, the _Aurora_ being the only one of the Dundee fleet which was -fortunate in securing a good catch. On the 8th May she left St. John's -for Davis Straits, and on reaching Disco fell in with the _Thetis_ and -_Bear_, on their way north in search of the Greely Expedition. The three -ships thereafter kept in company until they reached the north -water, when Capt. Fairweather steamed across to Lancaster Sound. An -impenetrable barrier of ice blocked the Sound, a circumstance which told -in favor of the fishing, as a large number of whales were secured at -the edge of the ice. The crew were successful in capturing ten, and also -three bottle-noses, which will yield 105 tons of oil and about 5 tons of -whalebone. As the season advanced the fishing was prosecuted along the -west coast of Davis Straits, but without success, owing to the immense -quantities of ice, which seemed never to have been driven out of the -Straits this year. The frost came on unusually early and very severe, 12 -to 14 degrees being registered in August. Capt. Fairweather bore up for -home on the 8th Sept, and experienced a good deal of foggy weather in -crossing the Atlantic. He confirms the news previously received of the -catches of the fleet, and mentions that the _Polynia_ is the only vessel -which has added to her cargo, which now consists of 6 whales, equal -to 60 tons of oil. The _Triune_ sailed for home on the 6th Sept. Capt. -Fairweather has brought home a fine specimen of the Sabine gull, a bird -rarely to be met with in Davis Straits. It ought to be mentioned that -the crew of the _Aurora_, after receiving the news of the _Chieftain_ -disaster from the pilot at the mouth of the river, subscribed the sum of -L20 185s. to the fund. - -Whalers sailing from Dundee in 1884: - -[Illustration: 0345] - -A list of Greenland and Davis Straits ships sailing from Holland, from -Dr. Lang's book: - -[Illustration: 0346] - -Ships at Greenland and Davis Straits, with number of whales killed: - -[Illustration: 0347] - -The above list shows how the trade changed in a few years from London to -Hull, and it also shows how Scotland increased her fleet, while England -reduced hers. - -In an old work--"McPherson's Annals of Commerce," is found the following -list of ships sent to the whaling: - -[Illustration: 0348] - -Whaling was now confined to Dundee Peterhead, and remained so until -1900, when Peterhead sent her last whaler to sea, and since then the -industry has been carried on by Dundee alone. - -In 1733 a bounty of twenty shillings a ton on ships over two hundred -tons was given by the English Government, and in 1719 this was doubled -to induce competition with the Dutch. - -[Illustration: 0349] - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Voyage to the Arctic in the Whaler -Aurora, by David Moore Lindsay - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC *** - -***** This file should be named 51910.txt or 51910.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/9/1/51910/ - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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