24 OLD WHALING DAYS. 



severe than the previous one, and although all hands had 

 been up so many hours and heavily worked, they were very 

 sprightly, the excitement having stimulated them. This 

 gale lasted twelve hours, and we were glad the ice had not 

 much room to give it force in the first place, or else few of 

 the ships would have stood the pressure of ice upon them, 

 which was very heavy, and made us quake. For several 

 days we were firmly jammed. The ice was ploughed up 

 many feet around us, and the outlook was not very promis- 

 ing. At last a general calm came, and we were 

 liberated once more, and started again. We made but 

 little progress, and several times had to make fast for a few 

 hours. Eventually we got as far as the Sabine Islands, 

 about thirty miles distant. 



The season advancing, and there being no prospect of a 

 passage through the Bay, a consultation was held by the 

 captains. It was determined to retrace our way back and 

 seek a south passage. Being the last of July, there was no 

 sign of water to the northward. We ought to have been in 

 Pond's Bay, on the west side, before the middle of June or 

 thereabouts. All hands were called to tow to the south- 

 ward, the ice opening in that direction, and in less than 15 

 hours we were in the south water. With a breeze of wind 

 we could work the ships. It had taken us five weeks to get 

 where we had been. We all pursued different directions, 

 some trying every bight, and others making progress to the 

 southward, until we arrived off Cape Dyer in 66 north 

 latitude. The ice being loose and broken up, we worked 

 our way in a dense fog. It cleared up, and we found we 

 were not far from the west land, off Dyer's Cape. We ran 

 to the northward, with a nice breeze, in clear water, the ice 

 being about ten miles distant from the land in some parts, 

 and more in others. We arrived off Cape Hooper, came to 

 a block, and knocked about among the loose ice in the hope 

 of seeing whales, although the time was too soon for them 



