Memorials of the Sea

the Results, comparatively and ge

great inconvenience of a family residence at Whitby, whilst my Father was sailing from, and returning to, London; and the incidental forma

orted and pining mother. But the conditions submitted to my Father were equally acceptable. It was designed that the co-partnery should consist of the holders of eight equal shares, of 1000l. each; that Messrs. Fishburn and Brodrick, the designed builders of the shi

ho were justly esteemed for their honourable and generous dealing by their Captain, had due and respectful notice given th

, with casks and all other stores, was 6321l. 3s. 4d. The provisions for the voyage, together with insurance, and the advance wages usually paid to the men, amounted to

iderable detail before me, being comprised in a regular series of journals kept by myself. For young as I was when the Resolution commenced her career of adventure

uous sheet of ice extending beyond the reach of vision from the mast-head,-where several whales, (chiefly old ones, with their cubs or calves,) were met with. Four of them-comprising two old and two cubs-were harpooned during the day. The little ones, of but trifling value, were captured; but both the "mothers" escaped. One of them had been so energetically assailed as to receive four harpoons,-a condition from which the capture generally results,-when she made a most determinate advance beneath and beyond the ice. She ultimately escaped, carrying away with her a spoil (a painful and deadly boon, indeed, to herself) of a harpoon, with twelve

remember to have received from my Father, of the Divine hand and Providence in respect of the successes obtained. It is comprised in this brief but appropriate Collect:-"O most merciful Father, who of Thy gracious goodness hast crowned our labours

being only 62 tuns, and the greatest catch among the rest of the Whitby fleet being eight whales, yielding 139 tuns of oil. Hence

uce of rather more than 600 tuns of oil, derived from the capture of eighty-seven whales. The entire proceeds of my Father's enterprises in eight voyages, in

ht fish, yielding 646·4 tuns of oil; whilst the united cargoes of the most successful ship of each year, amounted but to 138 whales, 1228 tuns of oil; this select

ed with the general body of competitors, no one, out of many hundreds of different commanders, shoul

asionally exceed, his successes, it is remarkable that no one, within any of the periods of the Henrie

ome the produce of only two whales in number less, and the exact same quantity (1617 tuns) of oil. But, in this comparison, my Father was at great disadvantage from the inferior size of his ship,-the Aurora, of Hull, which Mr. Sadler commanded in several of his most prosperous voyages, being of the burden of 366 tons, and the Resolution only of 291. This difference of capacity was very important, enabli

ime of the Resolution's enterprises. I may merely notice, that Mr. Kearsley, of the Henrietta (trained under my Father), was the most successful of the other W

ptain Marshall's, though deprived of the chance of one year's adventure in which he remained on shore, amounted to 2691 tuns. Had the full nineteen years been completed, his successes would, probably, have been the greatest. But the services, and the qualities required for them, differ so materially, as not to permit, in fairness, of an arithmetical comparison of the mere quantities of produce. For success in the fishery of Davis' Strait, at the time under consideration, was a far more easy undertaking than in that of Greenland. This fact is satisf

amount of the cargoes he obtained, but also in the shortness of the time occupied in his voyages; for whilst the general average of Greenland voyages of this period (as indicated, at least, by the extensive enter

n gross amount of value, and in profits divided amongst the partners, in this prosperous whale-fishing adventure. This, by reason of a com

MEN

s.

ge, including Outfit o

econd Voyag

Third Voya

urth and Fi

Sixth 5

Seventh

Eighth

,65

EIP

(20s. per ton on the ship's measurement,

cond Voya

Third 6

th and Fift

Sixth 7

eventh 8

ighth 81

Receipts ￡

penses 3

ofits ￡1

the increased cost of shipping, the value of the ship (augmented by the charge of outfit for the ninth voyage in the table of expenses) was scarcely at all deteriorated. Hence we

eration for myself), concluded. For on the very day on which I completed my twenty-first year, he, at a Board of the co-partnery, specially summoned, formall

ng and highly remunerative occupation. At the very period of his retirement, indeed, the opportunity of a new and

rding to our usual plan, to adduce a few incidents or circumstances, illustrative, mainly

nt and Recovery of

though the incidents of whaling enterprise may, for the most part, possess such general characteristics as to admit of some classification among themselves, they are at the same time novel, when considered

with the results. And, I may add, every accident or occurrence of this kind, which claimed my Father's directing consideration, was,

nt, during my youthful training as a seaman and a fisherman. The one

n pursuit.[I] On its second visit to the surface the boat came up with it, and a harpoon was securely struck. A convulsive and terrible heave of its ponderous tail, which succeeded the wound, struck the boat at the stern,

ulse of humanity, cut his line with the view of yielding him succour. But no sooner was the sacrifice made than, to the great mortification of all in the boat, it was found to be useless;

ce: happily they were so far in time that the object of their anxious solicitu

m his comrades in the boat, he was found to be in a deplorable condition. His clothes

ntion, in guidance and precedence of the ship's surgeon, in a system of treatment which

and his person dried with warm towels, and then industriously rubbed, by two or three hands at a time, with well heated coarse cloths and flan

me measure awakened, he was covered with dry under clothing, and placed, amid an abundance of warm blankets, in my Fa

tressing feeling of chilliness, two of his comrades were requested to accompany him; where, one on each side, their abundant healthfu

an was anticipated. He was so far restored, within a few days, as to be able to engage in his usual

eatment of Men having suf

from the fast-boat. Other harpoons, and several lances, were then struck, and no doubt remained with the pursuers but that it would speedily become their prize. But this expectation signally failed. A tremendous and convulsive throe of the whale produced an

e long length of line run out from the first fast-boat, whilst two, myself in one of them, retur

y of the absent men. At one the next morning the mooring was cut, and the ship being got under way, was worked on short tacks to windward, in the supposed direction of the boats. At three we

d at every unoccupied interval all hands were engaged in the one object which sympathy urged-the straining of their eyes in the hope of discerning the boats of their comrades through the obscurity of the snow. The obscurity was not attenuated; the storm raged, and the sea increased, whilst a foreboding gloom appe

minutes we had the undescribable satisfaction of seeing them alongside. Aided by those on board with ropes and hands, they were all,

od or adequate extra clothing, to cold and storm,-the thermometer, which had been as low as 13 degrees, being still 8 or 10 degrees below freezing,-and many were partially frost-bitten, and some stiff and half-paralyzed with the severity of the weather. In this case, he wisely considered, that sudde

tending the recovery, when the repelled circulation begins to be restored in the affected parts, had removed the risk of mortification taking place. Others were variously exercised, as they were able to make muscular efforts of themselves, or with the assistance of others. Those who were capable of the exertion were made to run about the deck, chasing, or being chased, one by another. And soon apprehending, as most of them did, the wisdom of the measures adopted, they not only entered into them hearti

ndulgence of the inclination, to allow him to compose himself for half an hour, "for he was sure," he said, "that he should dream of the situation of the ship." After a few minutes' repose, which they were induced to

re to cold and hunger, might have been adduced had I particularly noted them. One other case, though of no

nited crews of two or three boats, which proved a tedious and severe labour. We were absent from the ship from fourteen to sixteen hours, without food or shelter from the inclement gale, sometimes lying inertly on our oars waiting for the rising of the harpooned whales, or for the hau

as boiling on the fire, which, with the usual supplies of bread and beef, was distributed in ample quantity among the half-starved party now returning; and a more grateful or more salutary instance of administered refreshment I do not remember ever to have enjoyed. The heat of this beverage, supplied as it was so liberally to all, had the most happy

V.-The Cr

British Arctic whalers, and adopted generally by our discovery ships, d

on for the directing or "look-out" officer, is absolutely necessary. In seas covered over with numerous masses of ice, or in positions where the navigation is at once en

crow's nest hitherto made use of; a shelter tolerably effective when the ship was sailing by or near the wind, but altogether useless when going with the wind abaft the beam. It was not very safe either, as accidents from sleepiness, or the giving way of the very inadequate seat, sometimes happened. Besides, when top-gallant sails were set, this contrivance was all but useless. But a far inferior sort of protection than this was in frequent or ordinary use at the time of my first experience in the Arctic seas. For years, I remember, we had nothing more for sheltering behind but bits of canvas on either side of the top-gallant rigging and round

of the ship was often neglected, the discovery of many whales sufficiently within v

top-gallant crow's nest. It was in May, 1807, I believe, in which the first of these was built. It was placed, in the first instance, at the top-mast head,

e entrance is by a trap-hatch at the bottom. Arrangements are made for the depositing (sheltered from the weather) of various pieces of useful apparatus, such as speaking-trumpet, telescope, signal-flag, perhaps a rifle for shooting narwals, compass, e

he look-out for whales. Being perched, too, on the most elevated part of the mast, there is nothing to interfere with his view of the whole area of the circle of vision, having, in clear weather, a diameter of twenty to twenty-two geographical miles. So supported, and so effectually protected, with the means of sitting, and

but has, no doubt, contributed greatly both to the safety of ships navigating the Arctic ices, and, in resp

gh you. The ascent, by the ordinary rigging and ratlings, conducts you to about three-fourths of the elevation of the top-mast; you then step into midships, upon a series of battens extending betwixt the top-mast backstays; and, finally, when approaching the c

ty in preparing an empty Boat f

ry, my Father stood quite unrivalled. We have elucidated this characteristic in a former section, in respect to the

some, perhaps, below. On reaching the ice it is usual to suspend a couple of boats, or more, by their davits, at the quarters of the ship, to be ready for sealing, or any occasion

o be met with. It happened, however, on the occasion alluded to, (as I find it noted in my log-book, kept at the time,) that a whale made its appearance very near to the ship. It was in the morning, early, whilst my

r pleaded, "as there was not a boat in readiness for the fishery." "But a boat might have been got ready," was the confidently asserted rebuke. That this could have been done, however, within the short period of time in which a solitary whale might be expected to remain within sight, se

was unhesitatingly objected to as an impossibility, he undertook to prove his assertion. A boat then hanging at the larboard quarter, empty, except as to oars, he selected f

may be mentioned, are taken on board from their winter storehouse, in coils made up by the ropemaker, in the shape of a short drum, each coil weighing a little more than a hundred-weight, and measuring 120 fathoms in length. They are so coiled, in regular layers, commencing with that of the slender square or cylindrical centre on which they are wound, that they may be either unwound, by reversing the original motion of the coil from the exterior, or by taki

in the places appropriated for them in the 'tween decks, and whale-lines in the gunroom,-the time for commencing was note

ay in different compartments of the boat, with the interior cavity of each upward. The inner end of the line of one of the coils, in the most favourable position for running, was rapidly "spliced" to the "foreganger" of the harpoon by my Father, whilst the officers about him were set to the splicing properly together of

made. And it was questioned whether lines so disposed, for being run off the ropemaker's coils, would be safe to trust to their running clear in the case of actual service. This matter was soon settled by a most satisfactory experiment. As a whal

they performed, after the word was given to start, with a hearty goodwill and their utmost activity; and the experiment was admirably successful. The whole of the

in attacking and killing a

us enterprise in the fishery, to take part himself in the adventure. The sp

ir, or flinging it with fearful impulse right and left, and so keeping the surface of the sea around it in perpetual commotion and foam. The display of its fins and tail was so terrific and dangerous, that few of those in command of our boats were hardy enough to approach it. But, under this violent action of the fish, and the inaction of our men, the risk of losing the hoped-for prize became

e-hunter quietly assumed a station, in parallelism, nearly, with the direction of the animal's extended length, and within a few fathoms of its broadside. The boat-steerer,-as the custom is,-he gu

-"Give way, my lads; give way!"-he was in a moment placed within reach; and then, at long arm's length, whilst leaning over the boat's bow for distance' sake, he plunged his well-sharpened harpoon deep into the writhing creature's side.

, advanced incautiously, at an unfavourable moment, and too far within the range of the enemy's destructive members, as to subject himself and comrades to a formidable peril. The tail of the fish was again reared into the air, in a terrific attitude ove

from one to two tons), struck the very spot on which he had previously stood. The effects of the blow on the boat were extraordinary. The keel was broken; the gunwale, and all the planks, except two, were cut through; and it was evident that the boat w

r for the conveyance to the ship of the drenched and shivering sailors, threw the principal burden of the exploit of capture on my Father. F

ially on receiving a fresh and painful wound, remained mainly at the surface. Its natural energies, but yet little acted on by the exhausting influ

y this inward stab, being at length suspended, the favourable moment is again improved. Another lance,-darted in as quickly as the stroke of the tiger's paw,-penetrates, for the second time, the vast viscera of the whale; whilst the active agents of the attack escape, as before, unscathed. The deadly thrust is quickly repeated; and, as the capability of exerting instant violence is diminished, the deeply stricken lance is worked actively up and down whilst still within, so that every movement effects an additional wound, and the work of death is the more speedily and mercifully promoted. Thick jets of blood now issue from the blow-holes, and the sea, through the wide space of disturbed waters, is tinged by the overflowing streams; whilst boats, oars, and men, are thickly sprinkled with the sanguinous dye. Lanced, now, on both sides at once, with these formidable instruments of destruction, the dangerous energies of this vast animal become soon overpowered, and it now yields itself passively to its inevitable fate. One effort alone remains. The instinctive impulse or spasm of expiring vitalit

tractable. Here, again, we are led to reflect on the economy manifest in respect to the hugest of the animal creation, whether on earth or in the ocean, whereby

ng an element in which man cannot exist, and diving to depths where no other creature can follow, with the capabilities, too, of abiding there for an hour together, is attacked by man on its own ground, not only in the tranquil Pacific, but in

man over the inferior creation, Divinely yielded, we have the authority of this adoring appeal of God's inspired servant:-"What is man, that thou art mindful of him!" "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is t

length of the largest of the lamin? of whalebone, viz. 11 feet 9 inches. According to the general averages, as given in the "Account of the Arctic Regions," (vol. i. pp. 449-478,) this specimen would be about 56 feet in length, and must have yielded about 20

nterprise.-The nearest Ap

ive of, Captain Buchan's, in 1818, there was no advance beyond the 81st parallel. The highest latitude reached was by Captain Phipps, in 1773, who advanced to 80° 48′. Captain Buchan's farthest was about 80° 34′. And up to

mation as not satisfactory. As to the defectiveness in authority of mere recollections, or even of the notes of ordinary observers, in respect of adventures of this kind, I have a curious example in the "Account of a Voyage to Spitzbergen," by a Greenland Surgeon, who sailed in the Resolution professionally, on the very voyage on which my Father made his greatest advance northward. The

rved was only 81° 12′ 42″, and the statements as to the nature and position

was made in the ship Resolution, in the voyage of 1806. Occupying, young as I was, the responsible office of chief-mat

6° N., and, pressing northward at every available opening, we reached the latitude of 77° on the 7th of May. Several ships were then in sight. On the 10th, a gale setting in from the S.E., we were enabled to make conside

ng in latitude about 78° 46′, within sight of Charles Island, on the western coast of Spitzbergen, he entered upon a new and apparently dangero

considerable fleet actually fell into, of the loss of the fishing season by a helpless besetment. There were indications, however, which my Father's experienced eye alone discerned,-of open water to the northward. The bright reflection of the snow-covered ices in the sky, constituting the phenomenon of the "ice blink," most certainly pointed out the continuous encumbering of the navigation for a considerable way in advance; but, when elevated to the very top of the mast, he could p

ience then certified that the movement could only arise from a swell, and that the swell must proceed either from the main ocean, southward, or else from some immense interglacial lake, or what is technically called "a sea of water," northward. That it did not come from the southern ocean, the distance to which he had penetrated, and the unmixed brightness of the ice-blink in each of the southern quarters, conv

lumps and masses consolidated therein,-was urged by all the variety of aids that were known to be applicable. These aids, beyond the available force of occasional favourable winds, consisted in the cutting of tracks or channels with ice-saws, where the thickness was too great to be broken, or, where thinner, in breaking the ice under the bows by boats suspended beneath the bowsprit, whilst their crews rolled them violently, from side to side, as in "sallying;" in making canals, by well-laden boats being run across extensive planes of ice, where their weight, with that of their crews, might be sufficient to break the resisting surface; in "warping" through encumbered channels, or amid lumps of more ponderous ices; in "towing" with boats, or "tracking" by men on the ice, during calms, along any clear channels of water which might ha

ink I never saw equalled. Not only was he always at his post directing, instructing, stimulating his men when progress was being made or attempted, but often looking out when the hands in general slept, or continuing his superintending toils, watch after watch, when portions of the crew had, al

of extraordinary tenaceousness and compactness, as well as of formidable extent, we reached a region, in the 80th parallel, of incomparably greater openness tha

stretch east and west, or E.N.E. and W.S.W. more nearly, to an extraordinary extent, and to be bounded to the northward as well as to the southward by packed ice of undeterminable extent,-the two bodies of ice

ls, two walruses, and two bears. This cargo, by far the largest, I believe, of the season, yielded 216 tuns of oil, and almost eleven tons of whalebone. The fishery, in consequence of the peculiar position of the ice, and the unusual inaccessibility of the best fishing stations, proved generally bad. Judging from the returns in my possession, comprising the successes of twenty-f

egion which, as far as conclusive records go,

rrupted progress in this high latitude quite unparalleled. On the 23d-24th, at midnight, an altitude of the sun, below the Pole, carefully taken with a fifteen-inch sextant by Ramsden, gave the latitude 81° 12′ 42″. We continued our progress until (early the following morning) we had reached the longitude of 19° E., when our latitude, as estimated from the recent observation, was 81° 30′ N. T

ccupied the most northern position of any individuals in the world! The sea began to freeze and threatened our detention. We had made no progress in the fishery, nor could we find any whales. The sea

d, at noon, in lat. 80° 50′ 28″; at next midnight, as we have noted, in 81° 12′ 42″. At the succeeding noon, after above eight hours sailing on our return, we again obse

f 1827, indeed, went beyond my Father's greatest attainment a distance of seventy or eighty miles; but this advance was wholly gained by travelling across the ice. For wit

ring enterprise. It falls not, indeed, within the object of the present Memorials to take up again a question which is discussed in detail in a communication of mine to the "Edinburgh Philosophical Journal," and published in the number for July 1828; but it may suffice to say, that the opinion offered just above has now the sanction of the gallant conductor of the enterprise himself, who, in a letter published by the late Sir John Barrow, i

difficulties of the undertaking, I am led, not only to an increased conviction of the practicability of the enterp

as braved a t

e and the

h

or flag o

ial point of the world

otional Habits, a

come matter of personal notice, and observation with myself,-so as, in ce

of the Rev. John Wesley, of whose character and principles he was a great admirer. Holding the system of that eminent servant of Christ as auxiliary to the Church,-he became much attached to it, so that, for a considerable extent of his life, whilst by profession a churchman, he

s resident at Whitby, and into friendly intercourse with the officiating ministers

talented Mr. Drew, to whose brief memoir, published in the "Imperial Magazine," which he edited,

l services, and having much friendly intercourse with their members; for it extended to several instances of su

I accompanied him during his command of the Resolution of Whitby. On these occasions, the crew, summoned by the tolling of the ship's bell, were assembled in the cabin, where my Father conducted the service according to the form comprised in the Liturgy of the Church, and afterwards (for some voyages at least,) read

, which he suggested to me, as fitting to be copied, of commencing his sea-journal with an appropriate prayer, supplicatory of the Divine guidance and protection, and of inserting at the conclusion of a successful fishery, a fitting collect of thanksgiving. The insertion of the latter, in a foregoing section, may claim the addition here of the form, as modified out of a collect in the Liturgy, for

ic attempt by my Father,-an acrostic on my own name,-strikingly c

because it was a practice that I had constant opportunities of observing, but because of the admirable contrivance (applicable, I think, to the condition of many invalids,) adopted for rendering

as to be turned up, flat against the side, when not in use. Being hung on an oblique plane, it became, when let down for reading, parallel to the position of the reader with his head, face upward, lying on a pillow. The distance from t

ng the margins of the book, and the centre wire the middle. These wires for the adjustment of distance were made to slide, by loops at their ends, upon two other strong wi

rs, fortunately preserved, which were written to me at the period embraced by the present chapter, whilst, as a youth, I was att

h the custom to visit and take our pleasure on the Sabbath-day, which ought to be strictly observed, as the wise Author of all things has appointed. He has appointed one day in seven to Himself, that we may rejoice therein and serve Him, as he has commanded us in the Holy Scriptures, desiring us therein to search for wisdom, (as Solomon sought, and was blessed

and warnings, the section of the letter now quoted thus concludes:-"Hearken to the advice of a Fath

have studied all arts and sciences, until he be as great a proficient as Crichton, yet, without religion, he will, at the latter end of his life, have, with Sir John Mason, to exclaim,-Seriousness is the greatest wisdom, Temperance the best physician, and a Good Conscience the best estate. Therefore, m

t and devotion, was seldom without some manifestation. If whales were pursued when incidentally seen on the sacred day, they were not sought for, nor were boats sent out on watch, as on other days, nor was ordinary work ordered or permitted to be done. During his latter voyag

TNO

btained from the two fisheries, in consequence of the additional expenses of the Davis' Str

he "Account of the Arctic R

casion (in the way of illustration generally) to fill up the picture, in regard to some particulars of well known and

ublished in the second volume of its Memoirs. It was subsequently set forth in a

uring a considerable portion of two sessions, I feel it a matter of grateful duty here, by the way, to say, that I obtained a larger measur