WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 137 



Till we came to the end of the breakwater, the distress fog- 

 horn signals continued. As we swung round it they ceased ! 



Out to sea for a mile or so we steered, looking vainly for 

 liglits to the horizon and the S.W. and saw nothing. Then 

 looked behind us, and there, on the most unlikely place in 

 the world, were the lights of a ship, on the breakwater rocks, 

 close to the fixed shore light ! 



Round we turned, going our best speed, and stopped when 

 we had got as close as we thought advisable in the darkness, 

 shoved over our flat dory and rowed off with a lantern in 

 the bow. 



The steamer was rolling gently on the rocks ; we rowed 

 close and the writer in the bow hailed them on board and 

 offered a tow off into the harbour. The crew we could 

 see, and they preserved silence for some time. 



4 ' Hullo ! " we shouted. ' ' On board there, were you sending 

 up distress signals ? " A reluctant " Yes " and " Who are 

 you ? " from the gloom on deck, where there was a little 

 light that showed some Dutch courage going around. And 

 we answered, and asked in turn : " Where's your skipper ? " 



" Below with owners." 



" Well, tell him to speak " pause then came the skipper's 

 " Hullo ! what do you want ? " 



" What do we want ! " we repeat very angrily. " Weren't 

 you firing rockets and blowing yourself inside out with 

 distress signals ? " 



No answer. 



" Were those distress signals ? " we ask again, and there's 

 a reluctant " Yes " and still another " What do you want 

 and who are you ? " 



"We're St Ebba, whaler, motor ship, two hundred horse- 

 power, and tons of cable, come to tow you off into harbour 

 half-an-hour will do it there's an hour of flood yet and 

 you can float that distance. 



A long silence. . . . Then: " We don't want help you've 

 come along for salvage." I was dumbfounded. 



I need not prolong the interview ; the crew said they'd 

 like to be taken off, they'd got their bags ready, but their 

 skipper wouldn't let them. 



