BAY ICE FISHIKG. 269 



the fisliers pursue it under great disadvantage. 

 The fishers cannot push their boats towards it but 

 with extreme difRculty; while the whale, invaria- 

 bly warned by the noise of their approach, possesses 

 every facility for avoiding its enemies. 



In the year 1813, I adopted a new plan of fishing 

 in bay ice, which v.as attended with the most for- 

 tunate result. The ship under my command, (the 

 Esk of Whitby,) was frozen into a sheet of bay ice, 

 included in a triangular space, formed by several 

 massive fields and floes. Here a number of small 

 whales were seen sporting around us, in every little 

 hole or space in the bay ice, and occasionally they 

 were observed to break through it, for the purpose 

 of breathing. In various little openings, free of ice, 

 near the ship, few of which were twenty yards in 

 diameter, we placed boats ; each equipped with a 

 harpoon and lines, and directed by two or three 

 men. They had orders to place themselves in such 

 a situation, that if a fish appeared in the same 

 opening, they could scarcely fail of striking it. 

 Previous to this, I provided myself with a pair of 

 icc-shocs, consisting of two pieces of thin deal, six 

 feet in length, and seven inches in breadth. They 

 were made very thin at both ends ; and, in the cen- 

 tre of each, was a hollow place exactly adapted for 

 the reception of the sole of my boot, with a loop of 

 leather for confining tlie toes. I was thus enabled 

 to retain the ice-shoes pretty firmly to my feet, 



