ch. xiv] Early Spitsbergen Voyages 125 
and the mainland of Spitsbergen. On the 4th June they 
killed their first whale. 
At first the English were quite ignorant of the art 
of whale-killing, and this, the most important part of 
the business, was left to two dozen Basques who were 
shipped for the voyages and ordered M to be used very 
kindly and friendly, being strangers, and leaving their 
own country to do us service." 
In the middle ages a whale frequented the Bay of 
Biscay (Balaena Biscay ensis) rather smaller than the right 
whale, but differing very little in other respects. It is 
now extinct. The fishermen of Biscay and Guipuzcoa 
had been engaged in pursuing this whale from time 
immemorial, and the dangerous occupation had trained 
a most expert and daring race of sailors along those 
coasts. They did not use ships in their whaling. There 
were atalayas or watch-towers on the heights above the 
little fishing towns, whence signals were made that 
a whale was in the offing, and instantly the boats started 
in pursuit. The King and the Church shared the profits. 
Fernando III of Castile and Leon in about 1220 decreed 
that "si mactaveris aliquant ballenam dabis mihi unam 
tiram a capite usque ad caudam sicut forma est/' The 
churches received part of the whalebone, and in the 
church at Lequeitio there is a most interesting record of 
whales caught, with occasional notes of happenings, ex- 
tending over a century. A whale figures in the coat-of- 
arms of St Jean de Luz, Fuenterrabia, Guetaria, and 
Motrico. When the Muscovy Company began to send 
fleets to Spitsbergen, it was the custom to enter one or 
two boats' crews of Basques from St Jean de Luz or 
San Sebastian to attack and kill the whales, while the 
rest of the crews got the gear ready on shore for boiling 
down. But it was not long before the English had 
learnt their lesson from the Basques and become expert 
harpooneers. 
Captain Joseph found as many as 17 foreign ships on 
the Spitsbergen coast. All submitted to his superior 
force, some were ordered away, and a few were allowed 
to fish on the condition of surrendering half their catch 
to the English ships. 
Baffin showed the same diligence in observing for 
