HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERY. 107 



when they must sever themselves from their vessels.* As a stricken 

 lamil.v t'oels when the devouring flames destroy the home which was 

 their shelter, and with it the little souvenirs and priceless memorials 

 which had been so carefully collected and so earnestly treasured, so 

 feels the marioer when compelled to tear himself from the ship which 

 seems to him at once parent, friend, and shelter. In these vessels lay the 

 result of all the toil and danger encountered by them since leaving home. 

 Their chests contained those little tokens received from or reserved for 

 friends thousands o^' miles away, and nothing could be taken with them 

 save certain prescribed and indispensable articles. With heavy hearts 

 they entered their boats and pulled away, a mournful, almost funereal, 

 flotilla, toward where the vessels lay that were to jnove their salvation. 

 Tender women and children were there who, by their presence, sought 

 to relieve the tedium of a long voyage to their husbands and fathers, and 

 the. cold north wind blew pitilessly over the frozen sea, chilling to the 

 marrow the unfortunate fugitives. 



The first night out the wanderers encamped on the beach behind the 

 sand hills. A scanty supply of fire- wood they had with them and such 

 drift-wood as they could collect sufSced to make a fire to protect them 

 son^.ewhat from the chilling frost. The sailors dragged boats over the 

 hills, and by turning them bottom upward and covering them with 



*The following protest was written on the 12fcb of September, and signed by all the 

 captains on the following day before abandoning their vessels : 



"Point Belcher, ArcHc Ocean, Sept. 12, 1871. 



" Know all men by these presents, tliat we, the undersigned, masters of whale-ships 

 now lying at Point Belcher, after holding a meeting concerningonr dreadful situation, 

 have all come to the conclnsion that our ships cannot be g^t out this year, and there 

 being no harbor that we can get our vessels into, and not having provisions enough to 

 feed our crews to exceed three mouths, and being in a barren country, where there is 

 neither food nor fuel to be obtained, we feel ourselves under the painful necessity of 

 abandoning our vessels, and trying to work our way south with our boats, and, if 

 possible, get on board of ships that are south of the ice. We think it would not be 

 prudent to leave a single soul to look after our vessels, as the first westerly gale will 

 crowd the ice ashore, and either crush the ships or drive them high upon the beach. 

 Three of the fleet have already been crushed, and two are now lying hove out, which 

 have been crushed by the ice, and are leaking badly. We have now five wrecked 

 crews distributed among us. We have barelj^ room to swing at anchor between the 

 pack of ice and the beach, and we are lying in three fathoms of water. Should we be 

 cast on the beach it would be at least eleven months before we could look for assistance, 

 and in all probability nine out of ten would die of starvation or scurvy before the open- 

 ing of spring. 



" Therefore, we have arrived at these conclusions : After the return of our expedition 

 under command of Capt. D. R. Frazer, of the Florida, he having with whale-boats 

 worked to the southward as far as Blossom Shoals, and found that the ice pressed 

 ashore the entire distance from our position to the shoals, leaving in several places 

 only sufhcient water for our boats to pass through, and this liable at any moment to 

 be frozen over during the twenty-four hours, which would cut otf our retreat, even by 

 the boats, as Captain Frazer had to work through a considerable quantity of young 

 ice during his expedition, which cut up his boats badly." 



(Signed by the masters.) 



