260 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



Arctic and her sister vessels had for nine years suc- 

 cessively got through this middle ice in as many 

 hours. 



The crew of the Arctic consisted of fifty-five men, 

 a fourth part of whom were Shetlanders, most of the 

 remainder being Scotsmen, principally Highlanders. 

 They carried eight harpooners, including the mate, 

 second mate, and specksioneer (the officer under 

 whose direction the whale was cut up). There were 

 eight boat-steerers, including the boatswain and skee- 

 man, the latter being the officer who superintends 

 between decks the stowing away of the blubber in 

 tanks. The word is derived from the Dutch 

 " Schieman," the captain of the forecastle. There 

 are also eight line-managers. 



When all the boats were away whaling there only 

 remained on board the captain, doctor, engineer, 

 ship-keeper, cook, and steward. The men were paid 

 by a combination of wage and share in profits. 



At this period the vessels left Scotland in the first 

 half of May, earlier or later according to whether 

 they took part in the sealing or not. They all 

 stopped at the Shetlands to complete the crew and to 

 obtain fresh provisions. Then a course was made 

 for Cape Farewell, the south point of Greenland, 

 where the whalers commenced the so-called south- 

 west fishery in the Frobisher Straits area north of 

 the Labrador coast. Then they followed the plan 

 outlined above for the Hull whalers, working their 

 way through the ice in Melville Bay to the north 

 water, thence to Lancaster Sound and Prince Regent 



