172 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



Frankendaal of Amsterdam. It is a description of 

 more than ordinarily interesting whaling voyage 

 of the period, since they were beset in the ice from 

 the loth June to the 27th November. Practically 

 contemporaneous with this is the account taken from 

 the journal of Jitrgen Roper? published at Altona 

 in 1778. The titles of these works sufficiently indi- 

 cate their contents. 



It was customary when there were exceptional 

 circumstances attending a whaling voyage at this time 

 for an account to be published on the vessel's return 

 home. Among these are the accounts of voyages by 

 Jac. Janssen on the Frau Elizabeth of Hamburg in 

 1769, by Marten Jansen on the Witte Paard in 1777, 

 and by Hidde Dirks Kat in 1777 and 1778. To this 

 period may also be referred the earlier voyage of 

 Johann Michael Kiihn, published in 1741 . It is im- 

 possible to quote from all these voyages. The titles 

 are given in the Bibliography at the end of the book 

 (p. 318). Doubtless a diligent search through the 

 various Dutch libraries would yield further references 

 to voyages of this period. 



Posselt's book (note p. 181) gives a good account 

 of the conditions under which the German whale 

 fishery was carried on towards the end of the 

 eighteenth century. Posselt was Prediger zu St 

 Johannis auf Fohr, a small island off the Schleswig- 



1 Wahrhafte Nachricht von den im Jahre 1777, auf den Wall- 

 fischfang nach Gronland aufgegangenen und daselbst verung- 

 liickten fiinf Hamburger Schiffen, gezogen aus dem Journal des 

 Kiipers Jiirgen Roper, auf dem Schiffe genannt Sara Cecilia, 

 Kommandeur Hans Pieters, Altona, 1778. 



