PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
59 
There is a church within the fortress ; and, as a substitute for 
a bell, is suspended at the door, part of a broken crow-bar; and 
at the entrance of the commandant’s apartments is the stocks (for 
the punishment of the soldiers), which, from their greasy, polish¬ 
ed appearance, I have reason to believe are kept in constant use. 
There are three forts for the protection of the bay, of which this 
is the principal; there is one on a high point on the island of St. 
Catharines, and another on the island where our boat landed after 
upsetting, called Great Rat Island. About 1| leagues below the 
chief fortress, on the starboard hand going into the bay, behind a 
rocky point, are the houses for the accommodation of those em¬ 
ployed in the whale fishery, as well as the stores, boilers, and 
tanks to contain the oil. The crown has the exclusive privilege 
of fishing here. About 500 men are engaged in it. About the 
same number of whales are taken annually in the bay, where they 
come to calve, and are then perfectly helpless. None but small 
boats are engaged in taking them. The oil is deposited in an 
immense tank, for the purpose, formed in a rock, and is from 
thence transported to Portugal and elsewhere. 
To this place, after the return of Mr. Shaw from town, I 
went to endeavour to procure a quantity of jerked beef for 
the use of the crew, having heard of the arrival of a vessel 
with a cargo of it. On my way I met a small vessel four days 
from Rio Janeiro, and went on board to learn the news. The 
captain informed me, that two days before he sailed, an Ameri¬ 
can corvette, mounting 11 guns of a side, had arrived there, a 
prize to the Montague; she had been in company with a large 
frigate, and was captured off the Albrothas shoal: the Montague 
was left in pursuit of the frigate. He also informed me, that the 
day before he sailed, a British frigate and tw r o brigs of war had 
arrived from England ; that two American schooners had been 
captured and sent in there ; that a Portuguese brig of war had ar¬ 
rived from the Cape of Good Hope, and brought intelligence that 
a British 60 gun ship was to sail the day after her for Rio Janeiro, 
and that several British ships of war were daily expected from 
England. He stated also, that news had been brought that the 
