1 82 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



was the imminent risk of having their vessels crushed in the 

 ice, or of finding themselves frozen in for the winter, hundreds 

 of miles away from the nearest outpost of civilization. 



As if to compensate for such severe climatic drawbacks, how- 

 ever, the right and bowhead whales hunted in these frigid 

 waters were rather more timid and sluggish, on the whole, than 

 those found in warmer seas. This was particularly true of 

 the bowhead, a relatively stupid and slow-moving animal which 

 was less difficult to approach and to kill than any other species 

 of whale. 



But this greater ease of capture was not so marked as to 

 permit any significant modification of vessels or equipment. 

 Some appreciable differences in materials, provisions, and work- 

 ing and living conditions were necessitated by the cold and the 

 ice J but aside from these changes, the methods, processes, and 

 general background of Arctic whaling were essentially similar 

 to those of the other branches of the industry.^^ 



21 The classic account of Arctic and Northern whaling was written by an 

 Englishman as early as 1820. See Scoresby, William, "An Account of the 

 Arctic Regions." The best American material was gathered by Clark, A. H., 

 in "Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States," V, pp. 73-102; and 

 by Holmes, L., in "The Arctic Whaleman," 



