Midmorning by the Ice 171 



and although many foundered, the majority simply kept on catch- 

 ing whales by the time-honored methods of searching them out in 

 large ships and chasing them with hand harpoons in shallops. The 

 Hollanders then extracted the valuable products by the best meth- 

 ods they could devise, freighted them to where they were needed, 

 and sold them at the best prices they could get. And although con- 

 ditions on their whalers were generally as deplorable as those on 

 the ships of any other nation before and since, they did make some 

 effort to maintain the health of their crews. 



The average Dutch whaler was of about 350 tons burthen, 112 

 feet long, and of some 28 feet beam. They had steeply raked bow- 

 sprits and three masts, and the towering medieval poop was early 

 done away with. The main well-deck was kept fairly clear and the 

 forecastle, although above decks, was still below the rail and often 

 partially sunk. The after poop was, however, one stage above the 

 well, and since all Dutch ships are shaped somewhat like one of their 

 wooden shoes and have a tremendous sheer, the navigator was raised 

 considerably above the forepiece. Standard squaresail rig of the 

 barque was gradually developed, but the Dutch whalers were early 

 addicted to sundry, odd, fore-and-aft sails, for close and rapid ma- 

 neuvering after their shallops when in pursuit of whales or because 

 they had to duck in and out of narrow bays, fjords, and sounds, 

 where unexpected mountain winds added to sailing hazards, or 

 among ice floes, where the open lanes bear no relationship to any 

 winds. Strangely too, the Dutch, although of riverine-gulfine origin, 

 and often having home ports behind shallow bars, delighted in a 

 deep draft. Hulks of the great whaling period that have recently 

 been dug up in the silt lands of newly drained parts of the Zuider 

 Zee have amazed marine architects by their bulging form and ap- 

 parently tremendous draft. How they ever got into the places where 

 they have been found, unless the whole land has since risen, is some- 

 what of a mystery. 



In later days, of course, the Dutch, Hke everybody else, turned 

 to ships with ugly horizontal lines and upright spars, such as are de- 

 picted in early prints but which were nonetheless most efficient and 

 often speedy sea boats. The most practical, moreover, were those 

 that were ugliest of all, according to the ideas of a born sailor, and 

 which immediately preceded the full-rigged ship and the true clip- 



