78 VISIT TO SPITZBERGEN 



on the 1st June and arrived at Aberdeen on the 4th. 

 There we had to take in various stores, water, etc., and 

 did not get away till the morning of the 7th. We had a 

 fair wind to start with, but it dropped towards the after- 

 noon, and then we had a succession of head winds, cahns, 

 fogs, etc., so that we did not sight the cost of Norway 

 (Bremangerland) until the afternoon of the 9th. That 

 night we were blown off again with half a gale, and then 

 had a repetition of calms, etc., so that we did not get 

 into Christiansund until the 13th. We sailed again the 

 next day, having got a coast pilot, and on the 20th reached 

 Svolvaer on one of the Lofoten islands. There we took 

 another pilot as far as Tromso, and then a third to this 

 place, where we arrived on the 26th, being a victim to 

 head winds and calms the whole way ; most provoking 

 when time has been an object. The next day Birkbeck 

 set to work about getting a jagt to accompany us to 

 Spitzbergen. Luckily there was one nearly ready, and 

 still more luckily, though she was built for the purpose, 

 she has never yet made a voyage, so we shall be spared 

 the sickening stinlc of putrid blubber. She is to be (and 

 I think will be) fit by the day after to-morrow, when I 

 hope we shall sail in company for the Sound. Arrived 

 there we shall go on board her and leaving the yacht in 

 a safe place proceed to do as best we can. The accom- 

 modation on board the Semmoline is as you may suppose 

 not very luxurious. She is about 40 tons, one cabin only, 

 large enough for four people to lie down in, but not high 

 enough to stand up in. The fo'castle allows of four 

 hammocks being slung ; we have ten men as crew, so 

 where the fifth who is not on watch will sleep I don't 

 know, or Ludwig (whom I mean to take on board) either ! 

 but I suppose they will manage it somehow. There is a 

 small stove in the after cabin, at which we must cook, 

 and we have two whale-boats to be manned by four men, 

 — one of whom is a harpooner, — each. It will be 

 roughish work, but we shall enjoy the comfort of the 

 Sultana all the more when we get back. I am not at all 

 sanguine as to my success in things ornithological ; our 



