NAURATIVE OF A VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN. 467 



In making this contract, I should have been fully 

 justified in acting according to tlie best of my judg- 

 ment for the benefit of the owners, without consult- 

 ing the will of the crew ; but as it was their first 

 proposal, and in a great measure their own act, and 

 particularly as each individual was more or less in- 

 terested in the blubber given up, and might have 

 been induced, on arrival, to have demanded wages 

 and perquisites on it, the same as if it had been 

 taken home, I judged it a matter of prudence to 

 prociu'e each man's written acknowledgment to the 

 contract, whereby the decision of the case as to their 

 claim for wages on the blubber given up to the 

 John, would be placed within the power of the 

 owners, without any one having the means of ques- 

 tioning that decision. 



The acquiescence of the John's crew was only 

 necessary, to sanction the master's conduct in lea- 

 ving the fishing country with half a cargo before 

 the usual period, whereby, for the advantage ob- 

 tained from us, they sacrificed their chance of fur- 

 ther success in the fishery of the season. 



As the foregoing agreement was not sufficiently 

 explicit and binding on the part of the masters and 

 owners of the Esk and John, the following contract 

 being drawn out, was signed hj^ myself and Mr 

 Jackson. 



Gg2 



