374 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
exchanged, and amongst much interesting information 
as to sperm-whaling the American skipper gave the news 
that a Norwegian whaler, the Jason, under the command 
of Captain C. A. Larsen, was also on the way to the 
Antarctic. 
The ships searched diligently for the bowhead whale 
in the northwestern part of Weddell Sea, but found none. 
Other whales, especially tinners, hunchbacks, bottle-noses 
and grampuses, were common enough ; but none of these 
yield any quantity of the valuable bone, and they were 
not worth securing. The ships do not seem to have gone 
beyond 65° S., so that they did not enter the Antarctic 
regions properly so-called. The Balaena was never within 
six miles of any land except at the Danger Islands off 
Joinville Land, and what scientific work could be done 
had to be done afloat. There was little opportunity al- 
lowed for scientific work, however, for the expedition 
was purely commercial; the skippers had no mind to 
waste time that could be turned to money, and as whales 
could not be found, the crews were set to work to fill the 
ships with the skins and blubber of seals, which were 
killed by thousands on the ice. A glimpse of the life on 
board may be given in the words of a member of the 
expedition : 
“ It was with the produce of seals that we were des- 
tined to fill our ship, and till February 17th we were 
literally up to the neck in blood. All the sails are stowed ; 
the captain sits in the crow's nest from early morning 
till late in the evening; the two engineers, relieving one 
another, take charge of the engines; the cook or the 
steward is on the lookout on deck or on the bridge ; and 
the doctor takes + he helm ; unless he can manage to get 
away in the boats, in which case some other non-com- 
