192 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



Bacstrom 1 made two voyages to Spitsbergen for 

 the purpose of killing the black whale fish (1779 and 

 1780). The first yoyage was in the whaler Sea 

 Horse, the second in the Rising Sun, a vessel of four 

 hundred tons, with a crew of ninety men, armed with 

 twenty nine-pounders mounted on the main deck; 

 with nine whale boats. Bacstrom was surgeon. 

 They left London at the latter end of March, 1780, 

 calling at Lerwick, where there were twenty or more 

 English " Greenlanders " at anchor. It was 

 customary to call at Lerwick to take aboard fresh 

 provisions for the voyage. The custom at this time 

 was to sail thence to 79 or 80 north and then make 

 fast to the ice. In June they killed seven large 

 whales, and went with them into Magdalena Bay to 

 cut the blubber up into small bits to fill the blubber- 

 butts, which is called making-off. After this they 

 sailed north to 82 and beyond, the season being 

 exceptionally open. They saw no whales here, so 

 put the ship about for Smeerenburg Harbour, where 

 they saw plenty of Finners, White Whales and 

 Unicorns, " which is a sign that the season is over 

 for killing the Black Whale, which then retires to the 

 northward." 



They landed at Smeerenburg and saw the remains 

 of some brickwork, which had been a furnace, 

 obviously the remains of the old Dutch cookeries. 

 According to the Russian trappers who were 

 encamped in the vicinity, " In winter time the Black 



1 S. Bacstrom, " Account of a Voyage to Spitsbergen in the 

 year 1780." The Philosophical Magazine, July, 1799. 



