Departure and 'Return of Whaling Fleet. 7 



Labrador. Afterwards the whalers proceed up the 

 east side of Davis' Straits and Baffin's Bay, to Mel- 

 ville Bay, that dreaded and in many instances fatal 

 locality. If successful in making a passage through 

 this hazardous bay, the ship emerges into the north 

 water, when her course is altered to the westward 

 as much as the state of the ice will admit, until she 

 arrives on her fishing-ground at the entrance of 

 Lancaster Sound or off Pond's Inlet. Here the 

 fishing is prosecuted with energy until July, when 

 the whales are sought for up Lancaster Sound as 

 far as Prince Regent Inlet. The whales, whose 

 habits are most migratory, are then followed, dur- 

 ing the months of August and September, as far 

 south as Home Bay, and even as far as the Gulf of 

 Cumberland, when the approach of winter warns 

 the captain of the danger of remaining too long 

 in those sterile and inhospitable regions of snow and 

 ice. The return of the whaling fleet may be looked 

 for about the beginning of November. Occasion- 

 ally ships may arrive at an earlier date, as in the 

 case of the "Arctic," which in 1871, in consequence 

 of unparalleled success, returned to Dundee during 

 the middle of August, and in 1873 was home by 

 the middle of September. These are, however, 

 rare and exceptional occasions. As a general rule, 

 they seldom return until five or six months after 

 their departure. 



The ships engaged in the whale fishery are all 



