50 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



diameter and 6 to 10 feet thick. In this manner we worked, tugged, and pulled, never resting for 

 a moment, until at last we had the line clear and above the ice, when it became a comparatively 

 easy matter to reach the vessel. 



After getting on deck we found one of the George Peabody's and one of the William T. Mer- 

 chant's dories aboard of our vessel, while one of our own boats, which had held on to her trawl 

 too long, had to seek a refuge on board of the Lizzie K. Clark. After our dories were taken in, we 

 had a better chance to view the scene, which certainly had a decidedly arctic appearance. As far 

 as the eye could extend from aloft, in a southern and eastern direction, an almost unbroken mass 

 of drifting field ice was all that could be seen. Here and there, however, a small streak or pond 

 of water added a little diversity to the otherwise monotonous appearance of the frozen ocean. 



All of the forenoon and the first hours of the afternoon the ice kept drifting by us, being car- 

 ried along with the current. But our anchor held fast, though the strain was great on our cable 

 as the heavy masses of ice came tip against the bows and went grinding, gritting, and groaning 

 along the vessel's side. After a while a moderately sized open space was seen ahead, and as it 

 approached us the men belonging to the Peabody and Merchant anxiously watched it, being very 

 desirous to reach their respective vessels, which were not far oif; in this they succeeded . 



A moderate breeze sprang up in the afternoon and the Lizzie K. Clark, getting into one of the 

 clear streaks, got underway and worked up abreast of us, when she forced her way through the 

 ice, passing close alongside, dropping our dory, which came aboard. 



Meanwhile we had hove short on our cable, and seeing an open place to windward, were all 

 ready to break out our anchor as soon as the opening came near enough to us. We waited only 

 a short time before we got under way, after which we stood back and forth along the weather edge 

 of the ice, watching for the trawl buoys to make their appearance, and as fast as they did, sent n 

 dory to haul the trawl. 



This area of clear water was of considerable extent, and, since the current did not run so 

 swiftly as before, we had a very good chance to work. However, the ice was down on us again 

 before we got all the gear, but the men stuck to their work without flinching, and since there was 

 a fine sailing breeze the vessel could force her way through the floe very well. It was nine o'clock 

 in the evening when the last dory came aboard; the others had finished hauling their gear before 

 dark. The ice was all around this boat during the evening, but we kept near her, though it 

 required close calculation to keep track of her in the darkness. The men in her got the whole of 

 their gear, and, notwithstanding the unfavorable appearance of things in the morning, we lost 

 only one skate of trawl. When, at last, all hands were safe on board and we were seated at the 

 supper table, the incidents and anxieties of the day became the subject of an animated conversa- 

 tion, and each one had a yarn to spin in relation to his experience during the day. 



In the mean time the crews of the other vessels had not been idle : for, taking advantage of any 

 favorable circumstances, they had endeavored, like ourselves, to haul their trawls. Three of the 

 Alfred Walen's crew had a narrow escape from what promised much suffering if not death. The 

 work was so difficult that the three men went in one boat. When the area of clear water, which 

 I have before alluded to, came along they started out to get their trawl, the vessel still remaining 

 at anchor. They were caught in the ice, and although they held on to the trawl, which was the 

 only thing they could do, the floe carried them adrift, and their chances to reach their vessel again 

 were looking slim, when, late in the afternoon, the Lizzie K. Clark spoke the Walen, and the 

 skipper of the latter requested Captain Murphy, as his (Murphj's) vessel was under sail, to go to 

 their assistance. The Clark immediately kept off, but as she had to force her way through the 

 jce, it was just growing dark when she reached the drifting boat, and past 9 o'clock when she got 



