THE WHALER'S FISHING-GROUND. 381 



IV. THE WHALE-FISHERY. 



The whale-fishery is chiefly carried on by the British, 

 the Americans, and the French. In the northern waters 

 British ships are most numerous ; and these " hail " 

 chiefly from the ports of Hull and Whitby, Peterhead, 

 Dundee, and Aberdeen. Formerly, sailing-vessels were 

 employed ; but screw-steamers have now come into use, 

 and are far more effective, being better able to force their 

 way through the drift-ice, or against a contrary wind. 



They usually put to sea about the beginning of May, 

 and after passing Cape Farewell, the extreme southern 

 point of Greenland, occupy two or three weeks in what 

 is called the south-west fishing, in the neighbourhood 

 of Frobisher Strait, to the northward of the coast of 

 Labrador. Afterwards the whalers keep up the east 

 side of Davis Strait and Baffin Sea to Melville Bay, 

 which is notorious in the annals of arctic navigation as 

 the scene of disastrous wrecks. The ice-floes congregate 

 here in great numbers, and the passage through them is 

 always difficult and often dangerous. But, supposing it 

 successfully accomplished, the whaler makes for the fish- 

 ing-ground at the entrance of Lancaster Sound or off 

 Pond Inlet. Here he remains until July, and then he 

 strikes up Lancaster Sound as far as Prince Regent 

 Inlet. In August and September the whales are followed 

 as far as the Gulf of Cumberland, until the approach of 

 winter, with its thick darkness and its snow-storms, 

 warns the whaler that he must retrace his steps. He 

 reaches home about the beginning of November. 



The whaling-ships are stoutly built, doubled and forti- 

 fied by thick planking and iron bolts both externally and 



