202 • HOBARTOWN BOATS. 



This city having considerable whaling trade, there 

 is a corresponding interest taken in everything per- 

 taining to that pursuit. For instance, all the boats 

 that ply about the city front, large or small, are in 

 the form of a whale-boat. Regattas are held, under 

 the patronage of the colonial government, at which 

 various prizes are distributed to the victorious crews 

 of the successful boats : and now for a word about 

 these boats. Daring the voyage we had two of them, 

 one of which was purchased from the Flying Childers, 

 when we were off the coast of New Zealand, in ex- 

 change for tobacco — the other we procured in Ho- 

 bartown. The former had taken a prize at the 

 regatta ; and, therefore, I think we may be said to 

 have had fair specimens of the manufacture. These 

 boats are longer, sharper, higher, and heavier than 

 ours; they are built of hard wood — there being no 

 wood in this country comparable to our cedar for the 

 construction of whale-boats. Being heavier, they are 

 of course more difficult to pull, and, although higher 

 and sharper, some peculiarity in the model renders 

 them so wet and uncomfortable, that, to use the words 

 of those who had often got wet jackets whilst in 

 them, " They do not ride a sea, but pass right through 

 it." One advantage they possess in the polished 

 smoothness of their surface, which enables them to 

 glide through the water with scarcely any perceptible 

 noise, and approach the whale before he has an 

 inkling of its whereabouts. Many of these Ilobar- 

 town vessels totally discard boats manufactured by 

 the artizans of that town, whilst others vastly prefer 

 them to the American boat. From experience, I 

 should say that the latter craft, viewed in every light, 



