400 The Story of the New England Whalers 



cake of ice for the less familiar breath of a whale. 

 It was (and it is yet) the custom to send the 

 small boats cruising among these cakes of ice 

 in search of whales. They pulled in among 

 the cakes wherever they found room for their 

 oars, and they followed the narrow leads or 

 cracks in the main field itself. 



The boats were lowered for this kind of work 

 and sent cruising under sails and oars, hither 

 and yon, on August n. Some had the luck to 

 strike and kill whales which they were towing to 

 their ships, while others were in pursuit of whales, 

 when the wind suddenly shifted to the southwest, 

 and the ice began to close in on boats and ships 

 alike. 



Some of the boats managed to pull clear, but 

 many of them were caught in the leads through 

 the pack. The crews of these boats were obliged 

 to clamber up on the ice and by means of lines 

 hoist the boats up where temporary safety might 

 be found. Then they began the slow work of 

 tracking the boats across the ice toward the 

 ships. In the meantime the ice was closing in 

 around the ships. In haste the men on board 



