AUlt lli(3 young 8iiddlc-ljack 8e;d fishing is over — usually about 
the middle ot April — the fleet separates ; most of the Dundee 
vessels returning home to discharge their cargo, and coal up for the 
Davis Strait Whale fishery, from which they return about the 
end of October. For some years past, two or three ships belonging 
to Dundee, instead of returning home with the other vessels, have 
come South to hunt the Hooded Seals between Iceland and 
Greenland. It is reported that in future years, unless the Dundee 
vc.ssols secure larger cargoes than of late, they Avill not return homo 
from the scaling, but that a coaling-station will be established for 
them at Ifekjavik, in the south of Iceland ; whence, after filling u]), 
they will proceed direct to the Davis Strait Whale fishery. 
I he Seal and Whale fishing fleet consists of line screw- 
steamers from to 522 tons register, and about seventy- 
horse power. J hey are specially construciod for ice navigation, 
having iron stem-plate.s, “ with iron ice-plates carrieil rouiul the 
bows, and iron side-plates. They are strongly fortilied, and 
staunchoil inboard ; while the outside planking is covci’cd with a 
doubling ot iron-bark [the hardest wood known, imjmrted from 
Australia] from the load-line down to the bilge. The stem has 
considei'able rake, so that they can charge the ice at full speed, rise 
to it si.K or eight feet, and then come down upon it with crushing 
force. ith such vessels as these, m.anned by jiicked crews, and 
commanded by officers possessed of a life-long experience of ice 
na\ igation, voyages are annuall}' made which the}’ themselves arc 
the last to talk about ; but should they chance to become known, 
as happened in the past season with regard to Captain Adams 
of the ‘ Arctic,’ their skill and daring excite universal 
admiration. Dr. Ilae, writing of Caphiin Adams’ voyage of 1881, 
jioints out that he visited throe of the most dangerous openings of 
the Arctic Sea, “as far as, or further than, any of our grand and 
expensive Government expeditions, and brought his ship safelv 
home all, too, in one season. In one of these channels Belcher 
abaiuloned his two ships ; in another, Franklin’s ships came to 
grief; and in the third, after a gallant struggle of three seasons, 
Sir John Boss left his little vessel, the ‘Victory,’ to her fate;” and 
yet these feats of daring and seamanship arc repeated year after 
year, as the ice permits, in .search of the Bight AVhales of Davis 
