OLD WHALING DAYS. 123 



account for being so near, as by our calculation we ought to 

 be forty miles from it. Taking a gun with me, I pulled 

 towards the supposed land, and found it to be a large sconce 

 of heavy ice, covered with gravel, sand, and large stones, 

 some of which would weigh upwards of a ton. This piece 

 of ice must have been attached to the land under a perpen- 

 dicular cliff. This may account for large stones being 

 carried hundreds of miles away during the glacial period. 



On my return I reported what it was to the captain, who 

 considered it best to make fast to it until the weather 

 cleared, when we could ascertain our position. When 

 all was secure, the crew were soon off for a run, and found a 

 large pool of fresh water. All hands were soon employed 

 filling up our fresh water casks, as we had been compelled 

 to melt berg ice for our use. This large piece of ice, or as 

 it might be termed a floating island, was about one mile in 

 circumference, and twenty-four feet thick. Shortly after we 

 had got our fresh water on board the weather cleared, and 

 the west land was in sight about thirty-five miles away. 



We cast off, and began to work our way to the S.W., 

 amongst the ice, which was slack in that direction, and 

 reached the west water. Some land ice lay between Cape 

 Broughton and Brodie Bay. We ran along it for a few 

 miles, and fell in with four or five ships which had crossed 

 over to the northward of us. They also had been detained 

 by the fog. In a few days we got as far as Cape Kater. 

 A fine breeze had set the loose ice off. There we found 

 four more vessels made fast to the land floe. One of them 

 was killing a whale. We thought surely we should have an 

 opportunity of securing one or two, but before we were able 

 to get to the floe a fresh breeze sprang up from the 

 eastward, and began to break it up. In a short time it was 

 a pack, and the ship which had killed the whale was 

 tight beset, and was with great difficulty liberated a few 

 days later. This forced us to work our vessels further 



