WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 39 



lines, and guns, and testing them, and a lot of small work with 

 wood which we will do ourselves down the fiord opposite 

 Henriksen's home, a sheltered nook with fir-trees round, 

 five miles from Tonsberg. Knarberg they call this little bay 

 or arm at Kjolo, in Nottero, where long ago Viking ships were 

 built, where Henriksen's father sailed from, and his father 

 before him in the days before steam. Now we revive 

 the past glories with a split-new up-to-date six-cylinder 

 Diesel motor- whaler ! 



We slide down the fiord before the wind and rain and 

 squalls, smiling with pleasure at our freedom from the wharf- 

 side. With a foremast tackle the port anchor is heaved up 

 and hung over the side the chain stopped by a patent catch ; 

 it is the first time we have gone through the manoeuvre in the 

 St Ebba, so even anchoring is full of interest. And in a few 

 minutes more we swing to windward in the narrow Knarberg 

 and drop port anchor and swing to starboard and drop 

 starboard anchor, drop astern and lie where all the winds 

 can blow and never move us. 



One anchor might have been enough. But, as Henriksen 

 said to his young brother : " Styrmand, you remember, father 

 always put down two anchors, we will do the same." 



Then we open out the foresail and spread it over the boom 

 above the main hatch, and our little crew gets to work, 

 sheltered from the rain, shifting and arranging our goods 

 and chattels below, laying timber balks over the tanks under 

 our main hold so as to form a flooring to support the weight 

 of casks and spare gear, furnace, anvils, lance shafts, etc., 

 that must lie on top. 



A glow comes up from the red-painted ironwork on to the 

 faces of the crew that is almost like the effect of sunlight. 



Our whaling lines we have to stow away carefully ; it 

 takes eight men with a tackle to lift one hank of line on deck, 

 one hundred and twenty fathoms of five-inch rope. And 

 there are stacks of fascinating harpoons, large and small, 

 to be arranged. 



We have adjusted the compass to-day by bearings, a 

 long process requiring a specialist down from Tonsberg. 

 The operation gave us a good chance to test our engines 



