ADVENTURES IN THE “SNOWDROP 55 81 
running down the coast of Yetorup with a fresh 
westerly breeze; the weather was perfectly clear, 
the stars shining brightly. When abreast of “ Jap 
Bay ” we sighted a steamer’s lights in the bay, and 
immediately after a gun was fired, and we could 
make out the vessel standing towards us. We thought 
we were being chased, and gave the schooner all the 
sail we could get on her, easing off the sheets to her 
best sailing point. On came the steamer, still ap¬ 
parently following us. We then ran off and jibed 
over, standing up to the north-eastward. To our 
relief, this manoeuvre shook off our pursuer, as we 
thought, and she passed away out of sight to the 
southward. An explanation was forthcoming later 
on; she had not even seen us. It was customary in 
those days for a Japanese vessel carrying mails to fire 
a gun whenever she arrived at or departed from a 
port, and this steamer had been following the practice 
on leaving Onebetsu for Hakodate just as we hap¬ 
pened to be passing. 
We continued hunting a short time after this 
incident, and then made up our minds to return to 
Hakodate. We had 143 large and a number of 
small skins on board, and we expected to arrive at 
our destination about August 24. We had been 
on the hunting-grounds for eighty-two days, out of 
which sixty-five had been foggy. One reason of our 
early return was that my companion A. wanted to 
make sure of getting home to England early in 
December, whilst I had determined to refit and 
return, and hunt through the winter if feasible. 
Our troubles, however, were not yet over. Fate 
in the form of a typhoon lay in wait for us. We 
had been running before an increasing gale all day, 
6 
