99 



PROCEEDINGS IN CAPTURING THE WHALE. 



BUT it is now time to give a short sketch of the 

 method practised in capturing the whale. The first 

 object is to fit out a ship adapted for the trade ; 

 and constructed, therefore, in such a manner as 

 to possess a peculiar degree of strength. Its ex- 

 posed parts, accordingly, are secured with double 

 or treble timbers ; whilst it is fortified internally 

 with ice beams and cross bars, and externally with 

 iron plates, c. so disposed as to make the pressure 

 on any one part to be supported by the whole fabric. 

 A ship of about three hundred and fifty tons is 

 deemed- the most eligible, with a crew of about 

 fifty men ; six or seven very light and swift boats 

 are required for the immediate pursuit ; and one of 

 the essential requisites is the crow's nest, or hur- 

 ricane-house, invented by the elder Scorseby, a 

 species of watch-tower, made of hoops and canvass, 

 placed on the main-top mast for the use of the 

 master or officer on watch, to shelter him from the 

 blast, where he may be called to sit for hours at 

 the temperature of zero, and whence he can discover 

 all the movements of the surrounding ice or fish, 

 and give directions accordingly. 



The whaling vessels, in going north, usually touch 

 at the Shetland Islands, to complete their water, pro- 

 visions, c. and leaving the land generally about the 

 beginning of April, they arrive within the Polar 

 Seas before the end of that month. As soon as they 



