CHAPTER XVII. 



IN A STEAMER AGAIN SUCCESS AT SEALING HISTORY 

 OF JAN MAYEN'S ISLAND SEALING GROUNDS MODE 

 OF KILLING SEALS THICK ICE. 



IN the year 1864 I went mate of the s.s. Polynia, with 

 Captain Gravill. This time we were to prosecute the 

 seal fishery in Greenland, and, if not successful, to proceed 

 as far north as possible in search of whales. We were well 

 manned, provisioned, coaled, and in every way fully equipped 

 for that expedition. Not a single thing was wanting. Our 

 orders were that if we got seven or eight thousand seals to 

 return to Dundee, discharge, re-coal, and again proceed to 

 Greenland. On leaving Shetland, we continued our course 

 until we sighted Jan Mayen's Island, and cruised among the 

 ice in search of seals. The sealing grounds range from lat. 

 68 N. to lat. 74 N. and long. 2 W. to 16 W. 



About the 24th March is the time for them to have young 

 ones. Sometimes they are in one large body ; at other times 

 in two. Late one afternoon we came to a large stream of 

 ice, on which were a quantity of seals with their young ones, 

 about a day old. All hands were soon on the ice. The old 

 seals took the water when they saw us coming. We had 

 twenty-four Minnie rifles, and the others had clubs. The 

 young seals were quite helpless. At first we refrained from 

 killing them, but shot the old ones as they made their 

 appearance in the water. If they did not soon shew them- 

 selves, a man would nip the young ones to make them cry, 

 the mother would then appear and was shot. Then we 

 killed the young ones as they would have died of starvation. 



