i 1 1 IK WIIAI.K f'lSHKRY. 75 



report seeing many whales, and that quite a number were taken by the natives at "different places. 

 At this time most of the whalers were walrusing, but a few that were in the line of whales in the 

 Arctic took one or more. In two or three days they had all gone past and no more whales were 

 seen till the ships were off Point Barrow. 



"From the middle of June till the last of July we were engaged in catching walruses. The 

 past season was rather a poor one for this branch of business, as it was later than usual before the 

 walruses were found in large numbers. We took 2,000, that yielded 1,200 barrels of oil. There 

 does not yet appear any diminution in the number of these^a&imalsj still if the ships continue to 

 catch them as they have done for the last few years it cannot be long before there will be a great 

 decrease. This season a schooner was fitted from San Francisco expressly for walrus catching, 

 and doubtless the fair success she met with will prompt the fitting away of others next year, so I 

 fear the poor walruses are destined to suffer. 



" Early in August we arrived off Point Barrow. We found a number of whalers already there, 

 and some of them boiling. The ice, when we passed up, was some 10 miles off shore, at the Sea 

 Hor.se Islands, and from there to Point Barrow, 70 miles, there was a strip of clear water 20 miles 

 wide, but which will almost be closed up if the wind came a few hours from the west. From Cape 

 Smith to Point Barrow there was a body of ice aground, and on the western edge of the bank that 

 extends to the north from the point there was a wall of ice some 6 miles long and 60 feet or more 

 in height, so high that there were only a few places where it was possible from the " crow's nest" 

 to look over it. This wall, however, was quite narrow, and probably was formed when a pack 

 moving from the west took the ground on this bank, in some 7 fathoms of water, the pressure 

 behind piling the succeeding ice upon that which was grounded. We found the ships anchored 

 near the end of this wall. To the northeast there was an opening m the ice of several miles of 

 greater or less extent, according to the wind, while to the eastward of the point the ice lay in 

 huge floes many miles in extent, and but little separated. Only near the point was there much 

 small ice, and among this there was much that was so large as to make navigation among it unsafe 

 and difficult. The whales were already coming from the east, and would cross the open water 

 near the end of the ground ice and bury themselves in the western pack. 



" On August 15 five vessels started to the eastward, and the next day passed out of sight. 

 One vessel after another would follow, and by the last of the month the whole fleet was to the east 

 of Point Barrow. To the north was an unknown amount of ice, but it was possible, with care 

 and with a favoring wind, to thread one's way along the land among the floes of ice. In this diffi- 

 cult navigation the Koman and Milton came to grief, and returned to the point. Some of the 

 vessels report having gone as far east as Eeturn Reef. The Sea Breeze went no farther than 

 Smith's Bay. The vessels that first went east found whales off Point Tangent, 40 miles from 

 Point Barrow, but farther east very few whales were seen fortunately, as it proved as it is 

 acknowledged that if whales had been found and the fleet been detained a few days to the east- 

 ward New Bedford would again have had to deplore the loss of her northern fleet. 



" Early in September the ships were all back to Point Barrow. The weather was now quite 

 cold, and the ice encroaching fast on our open space. On the 6th of September, in company with 

 bark Mercury, we steered to the southwest and run 80 miles between the ice and land, and then 

 to the west of Herald Island. We found much open ice over the usual whaling-ground. Septem- 

 ber 13 we were in the longitude of Herald Island, but 80 miles to the south of it, and the ice 

 trending to the southwest, so we turned again to the east. Here we spoke bark Cleone,* Captain 

 Nye, who was also working east and reported the Kainbow working up towards Herald Island. 



* Cleone wrecked the same year in Saint La \vn-nr.n Bay, Captain Nye afterwards lost in Mt. Wollaston. 



