NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 335 



On the 13th the weather was bright and clear, with a fresh cold wind. The survey- 

 ing parties were engaged in sounding the cove and Cascade Harbour, delineating the coast 

 line, &c. ; the sounding boats' crews found it very cold work on account of the wind. 



At 8 p.m. a whaling schooner (the " Emma Jane ") came into the cove from Island 

 Harbour, Royal Sound. Her captain (Bailey) said that a barcpae called the " Roman," 

 Captain Swain, was in the neighbourhood, and that there were two other schooners 

 engaged in the fishery hereabouts, viz., the " Roswell King," Captain Fuller, and the 

 " Charles Coldgate." The Kerguelen whale and seal fishery would appear to have 

 dwindled very considerably since the time of Sir James Ross. At the time of the 

 Challenger's visit (1874) it employed a barque, two schooners, and a party of 

 twenty-nine men on Heard Island. The barque and schooners belong to New 

 London, Connecticut ; the schooners remain at Kerguelen, whilst the barque (the 

 "Roman") keeps up the communication with America, bringing out supplies and 

 taking back the season's oil and seal-skins. The "Roman" arrives at Kerguelen every 

 year in September, and meets the two schooners (" Roswell King" and " Emma 

 Jane ") at Island Harbour, Royal Sound. They then start for Heard Island, and 

 remain in its vicinity until the Elephant Seal season is over, — about the middle of 

 December, — after which they return to Kerguelen, when the " Roman" leaves for America, 

 and the schooners hunt for whales until the end of June. Just now, another schooner 

 (the " Charles Coldgate ") had come to the island fishing on her own account. The men 

 engaged in the fishery are Americans and Portuguese, the latter from the island of Brava, 

 one of the Cape Verde group. They sign articles for three years, and are relieved, so 

 many annually, by new hands brought out in the " Roman." 



The 14th was squally and misty, with a considerable swell outside, so much so that 

 the steam pinnace, which had started with a surveying and exploring party to the west- 

 ward, was obliged to return, being unable to face the sea. The surveying operations 

 were limited to completing the soundings in the cove. 



On the 15th equal altitudes were obtained, which gave rates for the chronometers, 

 and boom boats were got in ready to start for either Christmas Harbour or Royal Sound, 

 as the weather permitted. 



On the 16th the ship left Betsy Cove at 7 a.m., but had scarcely got outside when 

 the wind freshened considerably, so that with two boilers sufficient headway could not 

 be made, and it was therefore necessary to make sail to single-reefed topsails and 

 courses, and work out of Accessible Bay under sail and steam. At 9.30 a.m. the land 

 was cleared, and sail shortened to single-reefed topsails, and the fires banked ; but at 

 10 a.m. the weather was so misty that the land was completely obscured, and the 

 wind having now freshened to a gale, the ship was laid to under triple-reefed fore 

 and main topsails on the port tack until the wind should moderate, and the mist clear 

 off, sounding from time to time, and obtaining no bottom at 50 fathoms. The sun Mas 



