THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY OF 1890. 125 



ships being 13J tons of Bottle-nose oil, the yield of eighteen of 

 these animals killed by Capt. David Gray, of the * Eclipse,' and 

 worth £25 per ton. Capt. Gray saw only two Whales, one of 

 which he got fast to, in lat. 79° 39' N., long. 4° 16' E., but the 

 harpoon drew, and altogether there were only six Whales seen 

 by the whole of the vessels ; these were in the early season, and 

 not one was met with in the South Ice. 



The reason of the want of success both in the Seal and 

 Whale fishery in the Greenland Seas was the enormous accumu- 

 lation of ice; this was in consequence of the exceedingly fine 

 weather which prevailed during the whole season, calms and 

 light easterly winds prevailing with severe frost in the spring, 

 during which time the young ice continued to accumulate, there 

 being no wind to break up and disperse it ; the usual southerly 

 drift was absent during the whole season. Mr. E. Gray con- 

 stantly mentions, in his Log, the vast numbers of Little Auks 

 which frequented the ice edge, the open floe-waters which usually 

 form their feeding places, being probably frozen over. This 

 disastrous termination to the Greenland voyage will be productive 

 of serious consequences to the owners of the vessels, most of 

 which will probably succumb to the series of bad years which 

 they have experienced or pass into the hands of other owners. 

 The Norwegians had a successful season with the Bottle-nose 

 fishery, some fifty vessels killing about 2000 of these animals. 



I have mentioned the death of Capt. Adams, of Dundee : 

 this took place immediately after the arrival of the * Maud ' in 

 August last; he was landed seriously ill at Thurso, and died 

 before reaching Inverness. Capt. Adams was one of the best 

 known and most successful whaling captains sailing from 

 Dundee. He had been twenty years in command, and during 

 that time had killed about 190 Whales, all, I believe, in the 

 Davis Straits fishery. It was with Adams that Capt. A. H. 

 Markham made a whaling voyage to Baffin's Bay and the Gulf 

 of Boothia in 1873 ; he then commanded the ' Arctic,' but left 

 that vessel after the voyage of 1883, and joined the ' Maud ' in 

 1886, which he continued to command till his last voyage. 



The large number of Whales seen in Davis Straits will 

 probably attract an increased fleet from Dundee in the coming 

 season; but the continued want of success in the Greenland 

 Seas is likely to produce a contrary effect in that direction. 



