PERILS OF POLAR WHALING 



Bv CAPTAIN BRADLEY S. OSBON 



• — 



^tf U"E had spent nearly a month at Hobart Town, in 



\^\g Van Diemen's Land " recruiting" ship," that is, 



H taking in water, wood and provisions, and giv- 



^B ing the boys a chance to stretch their legs, 



d I after being confined on shipboard for nearly 



J P six months. Then we weighed anchor for the 



^al^^K Antarctic Ocean, which was reported to be 



alive with a new species of whale, expecting to 



return to port in perhaps less than three months, " chock 



a block " with oil and bone, to refit for our homeward 



voyage. From master to cook, no one on board had ever 



been in these waters, and but little was known of them by 



navigators or geographers. Certainly the whalemen were 



as ignorant of the ground to be covered as a Fijian is of 



an ice trust. But in those days it was the whalemen who 



were the explorers, the missionaries, the civilizers of the 



Pacific Ocean islands, and the hydrographers of the almost 



unknown seas. 



The " Junior " was almost a new ship, having been en- 

 tirely rebuilt before starting on this voyage, and was as 

 stout as live oak, locust treenails, and copper bolts could 

 make her. She was provisioned for a four years' cruise, 

 and was commanded by a splendid navigator and kind- 

 hearted gentleman; with three excellent mates, four good 

 boat steerers, a cooper, a carpenter, a blacksmith, and as 

 sturdy a crew as ever hoisted a topsail or manned a whale- 

 boat. In fact, if ever any ship with its crew was fitted for 

 such a cruise it was the " Junior." 



It was not long after we left Van Diemen's Land, and 

 pointed our prow southward, that we fell in with the 

 proverbial Antarctic weather, and the conflicting currents 



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