WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 181 



the wind and the low glass there must be a heavy sea outside 

 the fiord, and we are heavily laden with coal on deck ! 



The evening passes with snatches of Spanish songs, and 

 bits of sailors' chanteys, and we have one bottle of rum 

 between us all as a libation for a successful voyage and a 

 " full ship." 



Then, alas, we strike the rough sea outside the fiord, 

 and roll and pitch as only small whalers can. But still the 

 three cousins trill away at songs, bravely, bravely, though 

 they grow more pale. Then they retire one by one to their 

 minute cabins ; turn their keys and shut themselves in their 

 bunks and hide discomfort. How they live without any air 

 is a wonder and after two days they turn up again, smiling. 



A word here about our little whaler, the Fonix, and her 

 build. She is just a handy size for dodging in and out 

 amongst the ice, and she is said to be strong. She was built 

 in 1884 for bottle-nose whaling, and for use in the ice ninety- 

 two tons register, two pole masts and a funnel, one hundred 

 and forty horse-power, eight and a half knots in calm water, 

 over all one hundred and ten feet, with broad beam, her sides 

 are sheathed with greenheart and oak two feet thick ; her 

 ribs are eleven inches by twenty inches broad, with only 

 five and a half inches to six inches between them at bows. 

 The forefoot has a five-foot thickness of timber and the usual 

 belts of iron round the stem or cut- water, to protect it when 

 ramming ice. 



Between 3rd and 6th July we are all seedy, there is no 

 gainsaying it, the writer perhaps makes the best pretence 

 not to be so, and is rather envied ; and several of the crew 

 are down, it is not nearly so bad though as last year on the 

 St Ebba, where, out of a crew of fifteen seasoned hands, 

 the skipper, first mate, and writer, were all that could stand 

 a watch for three days after sailing. That was, however, 

 in a pucca gale. Still, on the Fonix, we managed a game of 

 chess or two between the appearance and disappearance 

 of our senors, and worked a little at Spanish and strummed 

 mandoline and guitar Gisbert playing the mandoline, 

 the writer accompanying him on the guitar, whilst all well 

 enough joined in the words. 



