Fatalities to Whalers. 103 



season passed without the destruction of many 

 vessels. The water below the ice in Melville Bay 

 could indeed unfold a sad tale. Many is the stout 

 ship, manned by a daring crew and commanded by 

 a skilful and brave master, that has perished, 

 crushed into innumerable fragments by the insati- 

 able and ponderous floes rapidly closing upon the 

 unlucky and doomed vessel, swallowing her so 

 rapidly as barely to allow time for the escape of 

 the crew. 



It is very remarkable that these frequent casual- 

 ties are seldom or ever attended with loss of life. 

 The real danger to be apprehended on that score 

 is from insufficient food and exposure in a rigorous 

 climate. After the mishap has taken place, if there 

 are no vessels in company, the shipwrecked crew 

 must needs find their way to the nearest Danish 

 settlements, and this can only be done by means of 

 boats or sledges ; in the latter case only when the 

 ice is of sufficient thickness to render travelling on 

 it perfectly safe. 



In the year 1830, which, as has already been 

 mentioned, was fatal to twenty of our whalers, two 

 vessels, the " Princess of Wales " and the "Letitia," 

 were destroyed by the ice passing completely through 

 their broadsides, and literally cutting them longitu- 

 dinally in two. The " Resolution," of Peterhead, 

 had the whole of her counter pierced, and eventually 

 sank ; the " Laurel " and the "Hope" were squeezed 



