72 OLD WHALING DAYS. 



least by them. Such selfish beings are not often found. 

 Their portion of rum, which had been grappled from the 

 wreck when the ice had been cleared off the deck, was 

 distributed to each boat's crew. They preferred to drink it 

 and make beasts of themselves rather than take it on board 

 another ship, although it would have been kept for their sole 

 use. When the ice began to slack they went on board of 

 the vessel which was allotted to them ; all the men belonging 

 to the Princess Charlotte were put upon full pay, ex- 

 cepting these. 



The scene now presented a far different aspect to what it 

 did four days ago. All was animation, getting the ships into 

 position as the ice slacked. We then began to track and tow 

 to the northward in a narrow channel between the floes, but 

 no open water was to be seen from the mast-head, the gale 

 having filled it up for miles beyond. Three days elapsed 

 before we reached open water. The change was hailed 

 with delight, and the usual three cheers were given. 



With a fine breeze all sail was set, and the ship was 

 headed towards the West Land, which we made on the north 

 side of Pond's Bay. Here we fell in with the other vessels 

 which had succeeded in getting clear of the ice before it 

 closed upon us off Cape York. Some had got several 

 whales, which made the prospect look cheerful. We 

 transferred the second mate of the Princess Charlotte 

 and his boat's crew to the Emma. We captured four 

 whales before we came to the land floe off Pond's Bay. 

 All the other vessels made fast to the floe except ours and 

 the Eclipse, of Peterhead, who stood off amongst the 

 loose ice in the offing. Here we killed four more whales, 

 and proceeded south to Coutts' Inlet. The whales being 

 very scarce here, and not seeing any ships coming south, we 

 returned north again. There we found the ships with as 

 many fish as they could carry, some had six or seven along- 

 side. The last run ^of whales had taken place twelve hours 



