SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY, 1806. 59 



experience the same adverse weather. After crossing Melville 

 Ba}% on June 26th, one of the few days on which the vessel was 

 not enshrouded in fog from morning till night, she saw three 

 Whales, one of which was captured. About this time a fearful 

 gale was experienced from the N.E., lasting four or five days 

 which left the ice in a hopeless condition. Under the circum- 

 stances Capt. Milne turned his attention to small game and 

 secured, towards making up a cargo, five Narwhals, twenty-one 

 Walruses, thirty-seven Bears, seventy-four Seals, twenty Rein- 

 deer, and three Wolves. 



The 'Esquimaux' saw several Whales, but the heavy ice 

 baffled all attempts at their capture, and the only result of her 

 voyage was eighty Seals, twenty-one Walruses, twelve Bears, and 

 two Narwhals. 



The ' Nova Zembla' was more successful, securing two small 

 Whales. From the station in Cumberland Gulf the brig 'Alert' 

 brings the produce of three good Whales and 3890 Seals, con- 

 sisting of 20 tons of seal and 45 tons of whale oil, and 45 cwt. of 

 bone. 



The total produce of the Whale Fishery in the past season 

 was 12 Right and 9 White Whales, also 43 Walruses ; these 

 yielded 149 tons of oil and 135J cwt. of bone. The oil may be 

 valued at £18 per ton, or £2682; and the bone at £'2000 per ton, 

 or a£l3,525 ; the total being about £ 1 6,207, compared with £23,958 

 in the previous season. 



I see it announced in the Newfoundland papers that a 

 company is being formed at St. John's to hunt the Fin Whales 

 in the adjacent seas from that colony, in the same way as has 

 been so successfully practised by the Norwegians off the Fin- 

 marken coast. 



I cannot close these notes without a passing tribute to the 

 memory of my old friend Capt. David Gray, of Peterhead, of 

 whose career I gave some particulars in my notes for 1892. 

 After retiring from the sea, Capt. Gray was tempted to make one 

 voyage more, and commanded the 'Windward' in 1893, the last 

 voyage she made before her purchase for the use of the Jackson- 

 Harms worth Expedition. From that time he suffered greatly, 

 bearing with characteristic bravery a painful complication of 

 troubles arising from gout, and finally passed away at his 



