66 OLD WHALING DAYS. 



board a ship in Hull Roads, but were told if they did so 

 that violence would be resorted to. The warning was not 

 heeded, and, in consequence, the lieutenant who led the 

 party lost his life in the scrimmage. He was buried on the 

 east side of Drypool Churchyard, and the inscription on the 

 gravestone states he was inhumanly murdered. The press- 

 gang was chiefly composed of the lowest class of seafaring 

 men utterly void of any tender feeling. It is no wonder that 

 men who had been months in such a desolate region should 

 resent such treatment. Some captains (weather permitting) 

 would land the greater part of their men at Tunstal or 

 Easington on the Yorkshire coast, or inside of Spurn, and 

 the poor fellows, if they escaped capture, would have to steal 

 to their homes like thieves in the night. It is a great blessing 

 that England has dispensed with such resources to obtain 

 men for the Navy. Other devices were resorted to in order 

 to frustrate such unwelcome visitors. A revenue cutter 

 hove in sight off Flambro' Head when Captain Scoresby was 

 returning home with a full ship. When he saw it in the 

 distance, he let four or five feet of water into the hold 

 through a large brass tap which some whalers had in their 

 counters on purpose to fill their casks for ballast. This was 

 kept running, so that the pumps could not gain upon it, and 

 when the officer boarded the ship he was told she made so 

 much water that the crew would not be able to keep her 

 afloat if he took any away. The officer sounded the pumps, 

 and was satisfied in finding when they stopped pumping the 

 water rose in the hold. He took his departure. The tap 

 was at once turned off, and the water pumped out. This 

 clever trick saved his men from being forced on board His 

 Majesty's ships. It was also related that some men were 

 smuggled into the Custom House dressed as women. 

 Others were taken there in casks in order to avoid the press- 

 gang. Once inside the gates they could not meddle with 

 them. Another incident took place during the war. Two 



