VOYAGE OP THE ' ECLIPSE.' 65 



Against strong northerly winds we now commenced to work 

 our way back again to the " barrier." On the 24th, while plying 

 northwards against a strong breeze, a short sharp sea or heavy 

 " wind-lipper" running, a whale was discovered about a hundred 

 yards from the ship, apparently lying asleep — a black object 

 resembling in size and shape a fisherman's buoy was all that 

 appeared abo.ve water. Perfectly motionless, it had no apparent 

 inclination to rise to the sea, the short sharp waves washing freely 

 over it. On the nearer approach of the ship, apparently awakened 

 by the noise, it first rose fully six feet above the water, then sank 

 quickly out of sight. At the distance of only a few yards I easily 

 recognised it as the upper jaw of a Greenland Eight Whale, and 

 that part which originally attracted attention must therefors have 

 been the tip of the animal's nose. When, where, and how the 

 whales sleep is an interesting question which I do not jjropose 

 discussing here : certainly it is a rare occurrence to see one asleep 

 at the surface, especially in stormy weather. An anxious look-out 

 was kept for two hours afterwards, without anything further 

 being seen. 



Reaching lat. 80° on the 26th, the ice was found to have 

 undergone a remarkable change for the better, floes and fields 

 were lying about quite unbroken in the sea. The same evening 

 a whale was seen, which we succeeded in capturing. Falling 

 over on its side during its death-struggle, it bent its body 

 forwards until its caudal extremity was within some twenty feet of 

 its chin. While in this strange position it spun round the centre 

 of a circle, of which its body lay along by far the greater part of 

 its circumference. In addition to the particulars regarding the 

 capture, size, &c., of this and the other whales we captured, to be 

 found in a Table appended, I may state that the tail of this one 

 measured, transversely, 17 ft. 6 in. ; antero-posteriorly along the 

 median line 5 ft. ; and that the smallest girth of the rump, 

 5 ft. 6 in., was obtained at the anterior commencement of the 

 lobes of the tail. 



During the following week we captured five whales ; of these 

 the smallest was that killed on May 28th. In proportion to its 

 length — about 30 ft. — its head seemed remarkably short, 

 certainly not more than one-fourth of the entire length; its skin 

 was decidedly bluish black, almost azure-blue. Including those 

 which we captured, we saw perhaps twenty whales, nearly all of 

 small size. Except coming out below the ice, feeding and 



