VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
125 
sailing towards England ; we stood towards her to 
avail ourselves of this opportunity of informing our 
absent friends, that we were well, had been in ice 
for more than two months, and had taken very few 
whales. A boat was despatched with this news ; 
and on its return we found the ship to be the 
Vigilant of London, which was homeward bound, 
having had good success, in taking fourteen whales ; 
we also learned that in the boat hanging over its 
stern was a coffin containing the remains of one of 
its boat-steerers, who the day before had been 
killed by a whale while he was performing the 
dangerous service of lancing it. This, among the 
many dangers attendant on the Greenland fishings 
confirms and clearly shews the advantage that would 
be derived from the use of shells and carcasses ; 
which, by judicious management and proper applica- 
tion, will at once remove the most dangerous part 
of the scene by lacerating the vitals, and this in 
perfect security, at a distance beyond the reach of 
the most enraged fish. In the evening we saw a 
shoal of seals sporting upon the surface of the 
ocean: this the sailors called a wedding: and at 
night we caught a large one, as it was sleeping 
upon a piece of ice which we were passing. 
The wind having continued a steady 
]3j.0g2e all the night, and the ship having 
kept a northern course, it was calculated (for we 
had not seen the sun to take an observation,) that 
we had attained about the 76® of latitude. Here 
the ice exhibited a wonderful change in its appear^ 
