^6 EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAR NORTH 



The waters of the Pacific were noticeably darker than those 

 of the shallow, muddy seas which we had left. The officers 

 took great pleasure in relating yarns describing incredible 

 achievements in arctic navigation, especially in the presence of 

 the Count, who was an experienced navigator, and who had no 

 patience with the rule-of-thumb methods of many of the old 

 whaling captains. For example, "there was old Captain Silas 



B who, when he left the whaling ground, headed straight 



for the American coast, from this he shaped his course for 

 Behring Straits. When he decided by the log that he had 

 passed this, if the thick weather or darkness obscured the land, 

 he steered for "seventy-two" (Amukta) Pass and, if he sighted 

 no land there, he turned toward San Francisco as soon as he 

 struck blue water!" 



The run of two thousand miles to the Golden Gate was a 

 stormy one. During one of the gales the order to "heave to" 

 came too late, and one of the quarter boats was swept away as 

 if it had been held by pack thread instead of lashed as securely 

 as hemp could hold it. There was no place for me to sleep 

 except on the cabin sofa which extended athwart ships. If I 

 was awakened during the night and found my heels two feet 

 higher than my head, to which the blood had rushed, I knew 

 that we were sailing on the other tack! When the ship came 

 about I had to tack also. The vessel was very small and the 

 North Pacific, or the Arctic itself, in October, has no mercy on 

 such craft. The mal de mer claimed both the Count and my- 

 self for its own. The change from the simple diet and active 

 life of the northern voyageur to the more palatable though less 

 wholesome food, and the confinement on shipboard for two 

 months, greatly reduced our strength. 



When the weather permitted, the crew was employed in 

 washing and bundling whalebone. The crow's nest was taken 

 down, and the top-gallant and royal yards returned to their 

 proper place which the lookout box had occupied while the 

 vessel had been in Arctic seas. 



Day by day the temperature rose, until the 26th, which was 

 the warmest experienced that year. On that day the worn fur 

 garments of both officers and men went over the rail, and 

 creased and wrinkled clothing which had been packed away for 

 twenty months was substituted. 



