58 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



1 Hope' had the misfortune to break her shaft, which spoiled her 

 fishing, and the 'Vanguard' and 'Ranger' were badly nipped by 

 the ice; the 'Wolf was crushed by rafting ice on March 12th 

 eight miles N.N.W. of Fogs Head ; and the ' Windsor Lake' met 

 with a similar fate on March 27th ; both vessels became total 

 wrecks, but their crews were saved. 



None of the Dundee vessels went to the Greenland sealing, as 

 the market value of produce was not sufficiently tempting ; there 

 were about seventeen Norwegian steamers out, and they are said 

 to have done very well, but I have no statistics ; they nearly all 

 took part in the Bottle-nose fishery also, which proved very 

 successful. 



The Whale fishery has now become restricted to the port of 

 Dundee, and the only representative of Peterhead in the Arctic 

 Seas was the brig ' Alert,' which brought home a cargo of produce 

 from the Cumberland Gulf station (this will be referred to further 

 on) ; but Dundee sent out eight vessels, five of which — the * Active', 

 ' Balama,' ' Diana,' ' Polar Star,' and ' Terra Nova ' — went to Green- 

 land; the ' Balgena' returned clean, and the ' Diana,' which broke 

 her shaft on May 28th, only obtained thirty-nine Bears and a few 

 Seals; the 'Eclipse,' 'Esquimaux,' and ' Nova Zembla' went to 

 Davis Strait. 



The state of the ice in the Greenland Seas was found to 

 be very unfavourable; it was exceedingly heavy; the weather 

 proved mild and open, accompanied by almost incessant fog, but 

 otherwise it was pleasant. The ' Arctic ' killed her first Whale 

 on May 13th, two others in the middle of June, and a fourth in 

 July. The ' Polar Star' and the 'Terra Nova' had one Whale 

 each, and several others were seen by the vessels, but could not 

 be approached. 



In Davis Strait the weather is described as the most un- 

 favourable ever experienced by those who took part in the 

 fishery ; at the very outset of the voyage strong north-easterly 

 gales prevailed, which blew for several weeks without ceasing, 

 and the record of the voyage is a succession of gales and fogs. 

 The 'Eclipse ' encountered the ice very early, off Cape Desolation ; 

 and it was not until May 4th that she reached Disco, meeting with 

 no "Whales on the east side. Towards the end of May the steamer 

 headed for the middle ice fishing-ground, where she continued to 



