264 WHALING 



Not every story that is told in New Bedford of Captain Jim 

 Dowden is to his credit. By certain accounts he was a heavy- 

 handed, rough-hewn old son of Adam. But I submit, though 

 he turn in his grave in wrath at any imputation of heroism, that 

 he spoke like a man. 



Again the captains met. The pack ice, Captain Frazer 

 reported, reached all the way to Icy Cape. The Arctic winter 

 was hard upon them, and their vessels were held fast. They had 

 freshly in mind the fate of the crew of the Japan — eight of her 

 men dead, and the rest of them gaunt from terrible suffering. 

 On the other hand, the fleet represented large investments — the 

 twenty-two vessels that hailed from New Bedford were worth, 

 with their outfits, more than a million dollars, not counting 

 their oil and bone — and the presence of whales promised a good 

 catch in the month and a half of the season that remained. 

 But there appeared to be no hope of extricating the vessels; and 

 not daring to risk the winter, all hands began in haste to prepare 

 to abandon them. 



Lest the ice that was forming on the clear water should cut 

 through the light planking of the whale-boats, they sheathed 

 the bows with copper; and into the boats they began to pack 

 such things as were absolutely necessary for their flight. 



On September 12th, the captains met for the last time, and 

 after deciding definitely to abandon their vessels on September 

 14th, they composed and signed a statement of their reasons: 



"POINT BELCHER, ARCTIC OCEAN 

 ''September. 12, 1871, 



''Know all men by these presents, that we, the under- 

 signed, masters of whale-ships now lying at Point Belcher, after 

 holding a meeting concerning our dreadful situation, have all 

 come to the conclusion that our ships cannot be got out this year; 

 and there being no harbour that we can get our vessels into, and 

 not having provisions enough to feed our crews to exceed three 

 months, and being in a barren country, where there is neither 

 food nor fuel to be obtained, we feel ourselves under the painful 



