32 CRUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 
Accompanied by Dr. Borden, two seamen and six Eskimos, we 
left the ship on the morning of the 15th June, being transported 
to Cape Fullerton over the shore-ice by dog-teams to where the 
boats were found hauled out on the ice close to its edge. The 
morning was quite cold and boisterous, and not at all pleasant 
for a boat cruise. Our boats and the four belonging to the era 
were soon loaded and launched. A fair wind allowed us to sail 
northward through a narrow lead of open water between the 
shore-ice and the moving pack, which completely covered the 
sea outside. Early in the afternoon we reached the other boats, 
manned by natives, hauled out on the ice and covered in for 
cooking operations. A cup of hot coffee soon reduced the chill 
received in the boats. The journey was then resumed, but in a 
short time the ice closed in on the shore, obliging us to haul our 
boats on to the solid ice, where they were propped upright, and 
soon roofed with cotton covers stretched over light wooden 
frames. This turned each boat into commodious and comfort- 
able sleeping quarters, and soon the evening meal was being 
cooked over the oil stoves. The ice remained tight on the coast, 
and it was only with great difficulty that the boats were forced 
through it a few miles to Whale point, where we remained 
hemmed in the next day. 
At Whale point a small house was erected some years ago as 
a station by one of the American Whalers. It is situated on the 
summit of the point, and a ladder leads to the roof, where a 
small platform served as a lookout station for whales swimming 
in the ice-laden waters of roes Welcome. This is a favourite 
camping ground for the Aivillik natives in the early summer, 
whales, seals and walrus being then plentiful in the adjoining 
waters, and the barren-ground caribou numerous within a short 
distance of the coast. 
According to Captain Comer, more whales have been killed 
within sight of Whale point than in all the rest of Hudson 
bay; on this account, and from the ease with which it might be 
