44 NEWFOUNDLAND 



the land 'fore a' met two young men. They told me that 

 swoiles had been driving by into White Bay for seven days 

 and seven nights. They themselves had hooked seventeen 

 whitecoats out o' the slob (shore ice). One told me also 

 Captain Toomey was anchored under the island, so I went 

 straight back to my ship and was pretty well done up, as 

 I hadn't had a bite to eat for twenty-four hours, and had 

 fell in twice and was 'most froze. By-and-by Captain Bill 

 comes to me, and asks me if a' would take a teller to 

 Captain Toomey, as none of the other men liked to go. 

 So after a few hours' sleep and a feed, a' starts again, and 

 after a rare job delivers ma letter to Captain Toomey. 

 ' Your Captain, Saunders,' says Toomey to me, ' is of the 

 same mind as I am. Those seals that's bin passin' is only a 

 patch o' the southern pack, the main body is away north in 

 the Straits' (Belle Isle), so when I gets back to my ship, the 

 Captain he up anchor and were off to the Straits and 

 the Labrador, and we didn't take nar' a seal. When we 

 come back to St. John's we finds all the other vessels 

 had filled wi' seals up in White Bay. So it show's there's 

 such a thing as being too clever," concluded the old man 

 sententiously. 



I thought he'd finished his seal talk for the time being, 

 but Jack supplied a sequel by remarking, "Bob, sing us the 

 song the sealmen used to make 'bout that trip." 



"Oh, that's rot, that's nothing." 



"Well, let's have a bit of it anyhow, Bob," I suggested. 



After some further persuasion the old hunter began to half 



sing and half recite the following lines in a cracked voice : — 



" Come all you jolly Ice-men 

 That ploughs the ragin' Main, 

 I'll tell ye of the Vanguard, 

 Likewise our Captain's name. 



