CHAPTER XXIII 



AND SO — HOME 



I T was on October tenth that we broke out 

 the Stars and Stripes at our main gaff and 

 squared our yards for home. Everybody 

 cheered as the flag went fluttering up, for every- 

 body was glad that the end of the long, hard 

 voyage was in sight. Behring Straits which 

 when we were about to enter the Arctic Ocean — 

 sea of tragedy and graveyard of so many brave 

 men and tall ships — had looked like the portals 

 of inferno, now when we were homeward bound 

 seemed like the gateway to the Happy Isles. 



The four whales we had captured on the voy- 

 age had averaged about 1,800 pounds of baleen, 

 which that year was quoted at $6,50 a pound. 

 We had tried out all our whales except the last 

 one and our casks were filled with oil. Our en- 

 tire catch was worth over $50,000. The officers 

 and boatsteerers made a pretty penny out of 



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