OLD WHALING DAYS. 13 



sea, producing wondrous phantasies, and inspiring admiration 

 and awe. Never before had I seen such marvels of nature 

 in the Arctic Circle. The scene was grandly sublime, and 

 impressed all not actively engaged in securing the whales. 

 At daylight we had all three killed and alongside the ship. 

 We began to flense, but the operation took a long time, the 

 men being weary with their night's work. At such times 

 men were not allowed to give up until they fairly dropped. 

 A fresh northerly wind springing up, we ran for a place 

 called Cape Hooper. Here we made off our blubber, or 

 plainly speaking, cut it up and stowed it in the casks, which 

 took three days. We sent our boats towards the coasts to 

 look out for whales coming south along the land. This is 

 called by the men " Rock Noseing," and is about six miles 

 pull from the ship, and a cold and hazardous duty. All 

 hands were generally called before daylight. They got 

 their coffee and manned their boats for the day. If not 

 successful they had to return to the ship in the evening, and 

 hope for better success another day. By the time the crew 

 turned in, they were very tired with their dreary search 

 throughout the day. This business was generally done 

 in the latter part of the year, when the nights were dark, and 

 the weather treacherous, and unsafe for ships to stay out 

 among the icebergs and broken masses of ice. The harbour 

 we were in was one of many anchorages at the back of 

 islands, or small bays sheltered from the sea. Such places 

 are numerous, and well-known to those visiting them, but 

 a stranger could not find his way to them, as there are no 

 charts or any other guide but previous experience. Each 

 ship generally sent six boats away, with provisions to last a 

 couple of days, leaving one or two boats on board, in case 

 of a fish rising near to, as sometimes turned out to be the 

 case. The remainder of the crew were employed in 

 watering, bending sails, and other necessary jobs for the 

 passage home. 



