CHAPTER VIII. 



A CAPTAIN'S ANXIETIES AND CARES FIRST VOYAGE AS AN 



HARPOONER TALES OF THE PRESS-GANG DURING THE 



WAR WITH FRANCE. 



I HAVE been requested by many of my friends to give a 

 further account of my adventures in that inhospitable 

 country which came under my observation after my 

 apprenticeship. 



It would not have been wisdom to relate my experience 

 as an officer in that book which contains the history of my 

 boyhood days. Some people may think that a person's 

 mind cannot recall events dating so far back, but I will 

 explain how that is possible. 



During my apprenticeship I was obliged to keep a log, 

 and was taught to take notes of particular events which 

 frequently occur in that cold region. 



My master from the first took great pains in teaching me 

 the appearance and marks of the land which I have before 

 stated, as there are no charts to guide you among the 

 numerous sunken rocks which abound on both sides of 

 Davis's Straits, especially on the west side, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Cumberland Gulf and Frobisher Straits, of 

 which places I had some experience as mate of the barque 

 Emma, in 1857 and 1858 and afterwards. 



A person who admires scenery has many opportunities of 

 observing it from the crow's nest of a whaler, especially 

 when the ship is not on whaling grounds. There his mind 

 is centred upon his occupation, and his eyes ache with the 



