THE YARN OF A HULL SKIPPER. 
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conclusion, but on the whole I think it will be better. 
Ten or fifteen clays of summer-time become very 
precious in these latitudes, and are worth a sacrifice. 
At this moment we have just brought up astern of 
the u Heine Hortense,” and are getting our hawsers bent, 
ready for a start in half an hour’s time. My next 
letter, please God, will be dated from Hammerfest. I 
suppose I shall be about fifteen or twenty days getting 
there, but this will depend on the state of the ice about 
Jan Mayen. If the anchorage is clear, I shall spend 
a few days in examining the island, which by all 
accounts would appear to be most curious. 
I happened first to hear of its existence from a very 
intelligent whaling Captain I fell in with among the 
Shetlands four years ago. He was sailing home to 
Hull, after fishing the Spitzbergen waters, and had 
sighted the huge mountain which forms the northern 
extremity of Jan Mayen, on his way south. Luckily, 
the weather was fine while he was passing, and the 
sketch he made of it at the time so filled me with 
amazement, that I then determined, if ever I got the 
chance, to go and see with my own eyes so great a 
marvel. Imagine a spike of igneous rock (the whole 
