COMMUNICATE WITH A WH.ALER. 139 



itself badly spnmg. With these tioiibles, the 1824. 

 worst of all was the apprehension we enter- October. 

 tained on two separate days^ for the safety of 

 the ship, as she took repeated and heavy seas 

 as often over the taifrel as the how. Our 

 people felt severely their close confinement 

 below, owing to the unwholesome air which 

 they were obliged to breathe, and our sick list 

 in consequence contained daily from four to six 

 names. 



The wind continued variable all the 17th, 

 with a great swell from the southward. 

 On the 18th, at night, it freshened from north- 

 east, and we had a good run. 



On the morning of the 19th a strange ship, 

 which we had seen on the preceding evening, 

 joined us, and the master, Mr. Valentine, 

 came on board : she was the Achilles, of Dun- 

 dee, and had but t^o fish. 



Mr. "V^alentine informed me that he had 

 been exposed, for nearly a month past, to a 

 continuance of the worst weather he had seen 

 in thirty-four years' experience, in these seas, 

 and that the past season had been the most 

 severe he had ever known. Many ships had 

 not killed a sins^le fish, and the Phoenix, which 

 had only fifteen, was abour the fullest of any. 

 The ice had been shifted from its usual position 



