133 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



miles from Point Barrow ; saw quite a show of small whales in the sea ; 

 took four which made about 100 barrels. As that was a fair sample, 

 and not having the right boys to whale in that ice, where the ther- 

 mometer stood only 8 above zero, I went back to the westward. Ships 

 that had from 40 to 50 men, (clad in skins), and officers accustomed to 

 that particular kind of whaling, did well. In going back, the fourth 

 mate struck a whale which made about 70 barrels. From the 28th of 

 September to the 4th of October we saw a good chance to get oil, bad 

 the weather been good and a well, hardy crew. We could not cut and 

 whale at the same time. We took four whales which would bave made 

 500 barrels had we had good weather to boil them. On the 4th of 

 October we put away for the straits, in company with the Seneca, John 

 Howland and John Wells — a gale from northeast, and snowing. Ou the 

 evening of the 7th it blew almost a hurricane ; hove the ship to south 

 of Point Hope, with main-topsail furled ; lost starboard bow boat, with 

 davits — ship covered with ice and oil. On the 10th, entered the straits 

 in a heavy gale ; when about 8 miles south of the Diomedes, had to 

 heave to under bare poles, blowing furiously, and the heaviest sea I 

 ever saw ; ship making bad weather of it ; we had about 125 barrels of 

 oil on deck, and all our fresh water; our blubber between decks in 

 horse-pieces, and going from the forecastle to the mainmast every time 

 she pitched, and impossible to stop it; ship covered with ice and oil; 

 could only muster four men in a watch, decks flooded with water all 

 the time; no fire to cook with or to warm by, made it the most anxious 

 and miserable time I ever experienced in all my sea-service. During 

 the night shipped a heavy sea, which took off bow and waist boats, 

 davits, slide-boards, and everything attacked, staving about 20 barrels 

 of oil. At daylight on the second day we found ourselves in 17 fathoms 

 of water, and about 6 miles from the center cape of St. Lawrence 

 Island. Fortunately the gale moderated a little, so that we got two 

 close-reefed topsails and reefed courses on her, and by sundown were 

 clear of the west end of the island. Had it not moderated as soon as 

 it did, we should, by 10 a. m., have been shaking hands with our 

 departed friends." 



Another difficulty of North Pacific navigation is mentioned in a letter 

 from Capt. William H. Kelley, of the bark James Allen, of New Bed- 

 ford, to the Hawaiian Gazette, in 1874.* He says : " One of the per- 

 plexities of the navigator cruising in the Arctic Ocean is the singular 

 effect northerly and southerly winds seem to have upon the mariner's 

 compass. Captains have noticed this singularity for years, and no solu- 

 tion of the matter, as far as I have learned, has yet been arrived at. 

 Navigators have noticed that with a north or northeast wind they can 

 tack in eight poiuts, while with the wind south or southwest in from 

 fourteen to sixteen points. All navigators know that for a square rigged 

 vessel to lie within four poiuts of the wind is an utter impossibility, the 



*See New Bedford " Shipping List," January 5, 1875. 



