42 
GREENLAND VOYAGE. 
The ship being moored to a large sheet of ice, 
capable of preventing her from drifting to any 
considerable distance, the fat of the whale was 
stripped off; the whalebone and jaw-bones being 
also removed, the carcass was then liberated. 
This being the first capture, these operations oc¬ 
cupied about six hours, instead of three or four 
hours, the time in which they ought to have been 
completed. Our prize was about 45 feet in 
length: the longest of the whalebone measured 
9 feet 6 inches; the produce iu oil was calculated 
at 13 tuns. 
We had scarcely finished, before w r e found the 
ice, with a strong north wind, so rapidly closing 
around us, that an immediate escape became im¬ 
portant. The sails were instantly set, and the 
ship got under-way, and, after five hours very dif¬ 
ficult sailing among rather dangerous ice, we es¬ 
caped into a pretty open sea. Within half an 
hour after we reached this situation, a strong and 
sudden gale came on from the NE. on which the 
thermometer fell from 26° to 12°, almost imme¬ 
diately. 
The day following was windy, with intense 
cold, and thick frost-rime. Captain Johnstone, 
of the Aimwell of Whitby, breakfasted with me. 
Neither himself, nor any other ship he had met 
with, had yet taken any whales: he had indeed 
