208 THE WHALEMAN J OR, 



facility and comfort the ship afforded was most 

 cheerfully offered by Captain Jernegan to Cap- 

 tain Norton and those of his officers on board 



with him. 



We soon exchanged the burdensome and un- 

 wieldy deer-skin clothes, which had so long iden- 

 tified us with arctic natives and arctic life, for the 

 lighter and more agreeable dress of the sailor. 



In supplying our company with such articles 

 of clothing as we needed, (indeed, we were ab- 

 solutely destitute, having nothing but what we 

 stood in,) the officers and sailors of the respective 

 ships most generously contributed to relieve our 

 present necessities. They rejoiced in the oppor- 

 tunity of effecting the deliverance of their fel- 

 low shipwrecked mariners, and considered it one 

 of the most joyous events in their lives that they 

 had done something towards augmenting the 

 sum of human happiness, and thus becoming the 

 means of kindling anew, in many minds, aspira- 

 tions and hopes which had well nigh become ex- 

 tinguished. 



Thus, after a series of sufferings and painful 

 reminiscences, — the loss of our ship, with five 

 of our number at the time of the wreck, and one 

 frozen to death while traveling, — having expe- 

 rienced the dreadful rigors of a northern winter 

 and life among the natives, amid untold filthiness 



