122 WHALING FLEET. 



Wrangell Island for a considerable distance three separate times, 

 and once cruized along the entire shore I made the south- 

 west cape to be in n. lat. 75° 20' and b. long. 178° 15', and the 

 south-east cape in lat. 71° 10' and long 176° 40' w The cur- 

 rent runs to the north-west from 1 to 3 knots per hour. In long. 

 170° 10' w. we always find the ice-barrier from 50 to 80 miles 



further south than we do between that and Herald Island 



In such shoal water the currents are changed easily by the wind." 



Captain Long, in a letter dated January 15th, 1868, thus sum- 

 marises his opinion of the currents in Behring Straits : — 



" The currents here have been found variable : in the spring and 

 summer the current is always found setting towards the north ; 

 in the autumn and winter months, from information derived from 

 natives of the coast and whalers that have wintered in Plover 

 and St. Lawrence Bays, the current is found setting towards the 

 south. The barque Gratitude was wrecked in lat. 82^° N." (? 72^° n.), 

 " long. 168°, about 40 miles from Cape Lisburn, in the early part 

 of July, 1865, was seen in the month of August near Herald Island, 

 170 miles in a n.n.w. direction from the position in which she was 

 wrecked. 



" The Ontario was wrecked in September, 1866, in lat. 70° 25', 

 and during the following winter was seen by the natives drifting 

 through Behring Strait to the south, and was afterwards seen on 

 shore in lat. 64° 50' n. 



The following account of the wreck and abandonment of the 

 whaling fleet off Wainwright Inlet, in September 1871, is taken 

 from the ' Hawaiian Gazette : ' 



" The fleet passed through Behring Straits between the 18th 

 and 30th of June. In July the main body of the ice was found 

 about lat. 69° 10', with a clear strip of water running to the north- 

 east along the land. In the second week in August most of the 

 ships were north of the Blossom Shoals, and some as far as Wain- 

 wright Inlet. Here they remained fishing until August 29th, 

 when a south-west wind set the ice inshore very fast, and at length 

 the ships were all jammed close together. On September 7th the 

 barque Boman was crushed by the ice like an eggshell, in forty-five 

 minutes, and on the 8th the barque Awaslionks was crushed. On 

 the 9th the weather was calm, and the water around the ships froze 

 over. Not having provisions to last over three or four months, a 

 meeting of the Masters was held on the 13th, when it was deter- 

 mined to abandon the ships, which was done at 4 p.m. on the 14th, 

 and reached the barques Arctic, Midas, and Progress, on the 16th ; 

 the distance traversed in the boats being about 70 miles. In all, 



