286 
GREENLAND VOYAGE. 
that we could indulge, depended on our vicinity 
to this coast; and the Trafalgar and Fame, being 
both beset, (the latter having also got hemmed in 
by the ice, whilst pressing in-shore for the recov¬ 
ery of her boats), had claims upon our attendance 
in this very place. These were important rea¬ 
sons why we should persevere to the utmost limit 
of time, which the needful regard to personal safe¬ 
ty, and the preservation of our own ship, would at 
all warrant. 
The resolution to which these considerations 
gave rise, proved a most important one to every 
person interested in the prosperity of our voyage, 
as the proceedings and occurrences of this day, the 
15th of August, will sufficiently illustrate. 
About four in the morning, the weather being 
calm and foggy, I had notice given me, that some 
animals of the whale tribe had been heard “ blow¬ 
ing hut it was feared that they were not the 
species of which we were in search (the mysticc- 
tus), but the “ razor-hack,” or some other kind 
of whale, the capture of which we had not the 
means of accomplishing. On sending a boat, how¬ 
ever, to ascertain the species, we were most agree¬ 
ably surprised with the exclamation, so delightful 
to the ear of a whale-fisher, of “ A fall—a fall!” 
Fortunately the weather cleared up at this inte¬ 
resting crisis, and the boat that had been sent out 
