50 WHALE-FISHERY. 



at Amsterdam Island *, furnished with the needful 

 articles of provisions, clothing, spirits, fuel, &c., and 

 were left by the fleet on the 30th of August 1 633 f . 

 About the same time, another party, likewise con- 

 sisting of seven volunteers, were landed in Jan 

 Mayen Island, and left by their comrades, to endure 

 the like painful service vdth the former. On the 

 return of the fleet in the succeeding year, this last 

 party were all found dead |, from the effects of the 

 scurvy ; but the other which was left in Spitzbergen, 

 nine degrees fiuther towards the north, though they 

 suffered exceedingly from their privations and un- 

 usual hardships, all survived^. Encouraged by this 

 partial success, for it appears that the melancholy re- 

 sult of the experiment at Jan Mayen was as yet un- 

 known to the Spitzbergen fishermen, it was proposed 

 that another party sliould repeat the experiment in 

 the ensuing winter. Accordingly, other seven vo- 

 lunteers were landed as before, supplied with every 

 supposed necessary, and quitted by their comrades, 

 on the 11th of September 1634. Before the close of 

 the month of November, the scurvy made its appear- 



* Amsterdam Island lies on the N. W. of Spitzbergen, in 

 lat. 77^ 44' N. long. 9« 51' E. 



t Churchill's Collection, vol. ii. p. 413. 

 X Idem, vol. ii. 415,-425. 

 § Beschryving der Walvisvangst^ vol. ii. p. 26,-31. 



