252 cruise of THE NEPTUNE 
sailing from there for Scotland must have struck an iceberg, as 
no tidings have since been had of her. This, or being crushed 
in the ice or being wrecked by striking sunken rocks upon these 
uncharted coasts, is the usual fate of the whaling vessels, and 
some such loss, entailing excessive hardships and often death 
upon the crews, is almost an annual occurrence in these arctic 
waters, so that a high rate of remuneration is necessary to com- 
pensate for the risks. 
Since 1898 the Scotch steamer Active has made annual voy- 
ages to Hudson bay, and has established two stations, one on 
the north side of Hudson strait and the other first at Southamp- 
ton island, but later removed to repulse bay. walrus hunting 
was the first object of this undertaking, with whaling as a 
secondary consideration. Success appears to have crowned this 
enterprise, as in addition to a few whales, a goodly number of 
walrus are taken annually, and the profits of these are enhanced 
by the furs obtained from the natives, and by mica from a mine 
worked on the north shore of Hudson strait. 
Whaling in Hudson bay appears to have reached its height 
about 1870, after which the disappearance of the whales from 
the more accessible waters led to a diminution of the catch, and 
many of the American whaling vessels were transferred to the 
Arctic whaling waters reached from the Pacific, which were 
also discovered and made known by the British ships in search 
of the ill-fated Franklin. At present only one of the American 
whalers is in Hudson bay, and none of them have visited cum- 
berland gulf for some years past; the only connection with the 
industry now on that coast is the small and unprofitable station 
at Cape Haven, on Cyrus Field bay, owned by a firm in 
Boston. 
The movements of the whales appear to depend largely upon 
the ice of these northern waters, and that in turn is modified by 
the currents and configuration of the seas, so that a short geo- 
