70 WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 



or third harpoon is usually resorted to, as being more effective 

 and less risky. 



At midnight we turn in with regret from the pink light 

 and calm sea, for Henriksen the master, and the writer, have 

 much to talk of about whales in other seas ; but a few hours' 

 sleep we must have if we are to be steady in the morning. 



You turn in " all standing " on a whaler, you have no time 

 to dress when the call comes ; so much time is saved out 

 north-east. At three A.M. perhaps you tumble out, there is 

 enough daylight to read by all night, but between eleven 

 and twelve, and three o'clock, you are pretty safe to have 

 a nap, for you cannot then see a whale's blast beyond a 

 mile or two. 



We are now (five A.M.) going N.E. a lovely smooth sea 

 nothing more idyllic we think than at five in the morning to 

 be steadily pegging away over the silky swell seventy miles 

 north of the Shetlands into the sunrise on a warm morning, 

 watching the circle of horizon for a blow. One man is in 

 the crow's nest on our short foremast, another at the wheel, 

 and you lie your length on the bridge, on the long chest used 

 for the side lights, which of course are never used here, with 

 glass in hand, watching. The gun is ready in the bow, and 

 the harpoon and line are all in order. There is no hurry for a 

 blow, you have to-day, and to-morrow, and the next day 

 before you to hunt in, food and fuel for a week, and the wide 

 sea to roam over in what direction you please, towards which- 

 ever cloud castle you choose, and if rough weather comes, 

 you are confident your little ninety-five-foot whaler will ride 

 out anything, if she is not pressed. 



It is turning out a beast of a morning for whaling. Oily 

 calm but a lumpy swell, making us crash about, and never a 

 blow in sight ; I have been handling gun for practice, an 

 excellent opportunity in this swell from the N.W. crossing 

 the swell from N.E., the gun muzzle yaws a bit and our feet 

 are apt to be insecure on the little platform in the bows, and 

 there is nothing to hold on to but the pistol grip of the gun. 

 We pursue our north-easterly course, then go at forty-five 

 degrees, say ten miles N., then say ten miles N.E. again, a 

 simple way of keeping our position on the chart. Of course 



