188 WHALE-FISHERY. 



When a ship approaches a considerable field of 

 ice, and finds whales, it is usual to moor to the lee- 

 ward side of it, from which the adjoining ice usual- 

 ly first separates. Boats are then placed on watch, 

 on each side of the ship, and stationed at inter- 

 vals of 100 or 150 yards from one another, along 

 the edge of the ice. Hence, if a fish arises any 

 where between the extreme boats, it seldom escapes 

 unhurt. It is not uncommon for a great number of 

 ships to moor to the same sheet of ice. When the 

 whale fishery of the Hollanders was in a flourishing 

 state, above 100 sail of ships might sometimes be 

 seen moored to the same field of ice, each having two 

 or more boats on watch. The field would, in conse- 

 quence, be so nearly surrounded with boats, that it 

 was almost impossible for a fish to rise near the 

 verge of the ice, without being within the limits of 

 a start of some of them. 



3. Fishing in crowded ice, or in open packs. — In 

 navigably open drift ice, or among small detached 

 streams and patches, either of which serve in a de- 

 gree to break the force of the sea, and to prevent 

 any considerable swell from arising, we have a 

 situation, which is considered as one of the best 

 possible for conducting the fishery in; consequent- 

 ly, it comes under the same denomination as those 

 favourable situations, in which I have first attempted 

 to describe the proceedings of the fishers in killing 

 the whale. But the situation I now mean to refer 

 to, is, when the ice is crowded and nearly close; so 



