"The Arctic sun rose broad above the wave,
The breeze now sank, now whispered from his cave."
|Newfoundland looked more attractive in April than it did when we left,
doing about was pleasanter and we saw everything worth seeing in the
neighborhood of St John's. On board, great changes took place. All
the sheathing was torn off and the ship cleaned inside and out. Her
overhauling was complete. The rigging was set up, the masts were scraped
and oiled and the ship painted. The punts were all cleared away and our
beautiful whale-boats took their place.
The _Aurora_ was peculiar in having two boats, one above the other, on
each quarter. We fished ten boats altogether, four down each side and
two upper quarter boats.
The crew of a whale-boat is six, a harpooner, a boat-steerer and four
men pulling. The harpooner rows until ordered by the boat-steerer to
stand by his gun. In the bow the harpoon-gun is mounted on a swivel, and
fast to the harpoon is the "foregoer." This is a very pliable, untarred
rope, about two and a half inches in circumference and eighteen fathoms
long. It is coiled in a tub, sitting on the port bow of the boat, while
on the starboard side, in a convenient rest, lies the hand-harpoon.
The bollard head, around which a turn of the line is taken, is an
important structure; it stands in the bow, beside the gun. Many a boat
has gone down through the line fouling at the bollard head.
To the "foregoer" or "foreganger," is attached the whale line. The term
"line" means, generally, one rope 120 fathoms long, and there are five
of these carried in each boat, one and a half being stowed amidships and
the rest aft. They are 2 1/2-inch ropes, and tarred. The greatest care
must be observed in coiling these lines, and by the line manager in the
boat as the line runs out.
A struck whale generally starts at about seven or eight miles an hour.
Should the rope, running out at this rate, uncoil unevenly, a kink in it
might foul one of the crew and instantly take him down. This has often
happened.
Each boat has several six-foot lances ready for use when the whale is
exhausted; the idea being, to sever with the long sharp lance some of
the large vessels, thus bleeding the animal to death.
The oars in a whale-boat work on mats on the gunwale, and a thole-pin
is used instead of rowlocks. An arrangement on the oar keeps it from
slipping through the grummet on the thole-pin, when it is let go. The
mat is to prevent noise. A little piggin is used for bailing the boat,
and, when hoisted on a boat hook, is the signal for more lines. The
shaft of the harpoon is made of soft, Swedish iron, so that it can be
twisted in any conceivable way without breaking.
A little barrel of bread and cheese is carried in each boat and this
must not be broached until after the boat has been away from the ship a
considerable time; water is also carried. The great long steering oar is
very important. With it a dexterous boat-steerer can do wonders. He
can sweep the boat around very quickly or can scull noiselessly up to a
whale when the oars or paddles would frighten it away. The steering oar
works on a pin and mat, as do the others.
The whale fisher has many incentives. As he is generally a man who has
to labor for a living, and as he is partly paid by the result of his
work, the capture of a whale means to him a good deal, probably several
pounds. This stimulates him. Again, the sooner he fills the ship, the
sooner he sails for home. While there is not much chance of filling the
ship nowadays, the securing of a good summer catch probably saves him a
weary, cold autumn, fishing on the west side. Last, but not least, the
pursuit of whales is often attended with great danger, which is one
of the principal factors of good sport. The average game hunter is not
exposed to as great risk as the average whaler.
What danger is there in the pursuit of any member of the deer or
antelope family, and what chance has the animal in these days of high
power rifles? Sometimes the whale has no chance for its life and the
destruction of such a huge creature is not exciting, but, generally,
there is danger, as the history of the industry proves. Hunting rhino or
buffalo is better sport than hunting deer because the former may charge
and kill one. The whale hunter may be snatched to instant death by a
foul line, or starved to death in an open boat, and these possibilities
elevate the sport greatly.
One cannot help sometimes being sorry for the animal one has killed, the
excitement of the chase over and the beast lying dead, especially when
only the head is wanted, and when everything else must be left to
spoil. A dead whale means creature comforts to many poor people; and I,
personally, have had more qualms at the escape of a wounded buck than I
have had over all the whales we killed.
Fishing for bottlenose, the year before (1883), the _Aurora_ lost two
men, and the _Esquimaux_ lost one this year. While we were killing our
whales off Hudson Straits, he was snatched out of the boats and never
seen again. A few years before, this man's father was lost from the same
ship.
In approaching a black fish, the eye must be avoided. Going "eye on" is
a serious matter, as the whale is not such a fool as it looks, and the
tremendously powerful tail can smite with terrific force. The lifting
power of the tail has not been much studied; but a chance to observe it
occurred on the _Nova Zembla_ some time ago when the mate got his
boat over one. Those who saw the accident say that the tail was lifted
without any apparent effort, throwing the boat many feet up and breaking
the bottom out of it. Fortunately the occupants were spilt out, and fell
clear of the danger zone, because the fish struck the boat again and
reduced it to match wood.
A week after our arrival, the _Aurora_ had been pretty well cleaned and
greatly changed in appearance. A small spruce tree was fastened to each
masthead, the end of each yard-arm, and to the point of the jib-boom.
Every one now had an easy time until the actual sailing day. Quite a
number of vessels of all sorts had arrived, as the ice had disappeared
from the coast; amongst them was the Allen steamer _Newfoundland_, from
Halifax, bringing us English mail. The Greely relief ship _Bear_ had
also come in.
_May 1st. Thursday_. The _Aurora_ was receiving finishing touches. We
were lying at the south side but our launch had steam up and took us
across when we wanted to go.
_May 2_. Taking a gun, I went with Dr. Crawford, of the _Arctic_,
straight up the hill from the ship and found on the other side a growth
of little trees so dense as to be practically impenetrable in places.
I shot a hare crossing a little open place, and saw a splendid big hawk
flying about, but it never came within shot. Returning with the hare,
the Captain stopped me just as I was going on board. A hare was too
unlucky, so I gave it to a man on the wharf. Captain Guy was standing
on the _Arctic_ and, seeing this, came on shore and cut the hare's feet
off, throwing them on to the _Aurora_; he was ever fond of a joke. The
most unlucky parts of this unlucky animal in no way interfered with our
prosperity, however.
_May 3rd._ As the _Lough Garry_ had come in I went on board. She was
an ordinary iron or steel steamer of about 1,000 tons and had been
chartered to take 500 tons of coal north for the relief expedition. She
was not fortified or specially prepared in any way for the work, but
still she managed to get along very well as far as her services were
required. Going on board, I encountered the mate, who recognized me, he
having been the mate of the _Thetis_ who had given me the information
I sought about whaling while in Dundee the autumn before. He showed me
over the ship and told me many interesting facts about a whaling voyage.
The _Esquimaux_ sailed this day and the _Narwhal_ had already gone. The
desire to find Greely was certainly starting us all north a couple of
weeks before the usual time.
_May 4th. Sunday._ The _Bear_ sailed. She was unlike any other ship
going north this year, because she had her black funnel forward of the
main mast and her crow's-nest on the foremast. The _Arctic_ had her
funnel in the same place, but her crow's-nest was on the mainmast. Their
rigs also differed. These are small matters, but we soon could recognize
any of the ships a long way off by their little peculiarities. During
the day I went on board the _Polynia_. She was ready for sea and lying
in the harbor. Captain Walker, who had command of her, was a naturalist
and sportsman and it was a pleasure meeting him. She proceeded north
before morning.
[Illustration: 0151]
May 5th. Spent some time on board the _Arctic_. She was ready for sea
and looked clean and nice with her spacious decks and cabins--very
unlike a whaler. Her lines were graceful, and she had powerful engines,
but she could not have stood as much in ice as the _Aurora_. Captain Guy
told me about killing a whale with an old Eskimo harpoon buried in its
blubber. He gave me this interesting souvenir of my voyage and told
me about Captain McKay of Dundee killing a whale in which he found a
harpoon with which the fish had been struck forty-two years before. This
iron is now in the Dundee Museum.
_May 6th and 7th_. Took my last look at St. John's and made my cabin
comfortable. I had now been in it for three months, so knew exactly what
was required.
There does not seem to be any connection between a whaler and Florida
water; but still I venture to say that there was not a sailor on our
ship who had not from one to half a dozen bottles of this commodity.
Some were for trade with the Eskimos and some for their sweethearts at
home. The Captain had laid in a quantity of colored handkerchiefs and
such things, which the men were permitted to purchase afterwards from
the slop-chest for purposes of barter. The slop-chest was the ship's
shop and was superintended by the second mate. One could purchase a
wonderful lot of useful things from this institution.
_May 8th_. After breakfast, all being ready, the _Aurora_ sailed for the
whale fishing. In Scotland, a fish means a salmon, but in Greenland,
a black whale is always spoken of as a fish, never anything else. We
sailed out of the narrows and turned north. It was blowing a little from
the southeast, so there was some swell. We got square sails on the ship
presently, and with this breeze on her quarter, made good time, the
engines going full speed.
Our intention was to try the bottlenose whale fishing off Resolution
Island at the mouth of Hudson's Straits, for a few days, then go over to
the Greenland side and follow the usual route. As there were many bergs
coming down and quantities of field ice at this season, we kept rather
well away from the coast, along which it came. At night the canvas was
taken off the ship and a bright lookout kept for ice. For the next three
days we steered north. The weather was fine and the sea smooth. Going up
the Labrador coast, we saw some heavy floes, but kept well to the east
of them and did not sight land. We did not see anything of interest, so
it was rather monotonous.
_May 12th_. It was a lovely morning when I came on deck, with the wind
from the southeast. We had our fore and afters set and were steaming
full speed. Astern of us was the _Nova Zembla_ and we were towing her,
an act of brotherly love.
I had seen the ship in Dundee and was struck by her beauty. She and the
_Jan Mayen_ were very handsome little ships, and she looked far better
at sea than in dock. We towed her part of the day. During the afternoon,
the wind died down and the evening was beautiful; not a breath of air,
but some swell rolling in from the southeast and the surface of the sea
like glass. The people to-day were employed coiling lines in boats and
arranging fishing gear as we might see the bottlenose whales any time.
[Illustration: 0155]
May 13th. A beautiful calm day. The men were getting ready the
whale-boats and filling the bunkers. We were well off Cape Chidley, the
northeast corner of Labrador, in the morning. In the evening a school of
bottlenose whales was seen, and six boats were lowered away. Two of the
boats immediately filled as they had been out of the water so long, but
the others pulled after the whales. I was oh the bridge watching the
sport. It was splendid. The ship and boats rising and falling on a
rather heavy swell, the surface of the water like oil, the boats
freshly painted, and the harpoons glistening in the sun, presented an
interesting picture of the sea; while the school of very lively little
whales rolling about like porpoises and then disappearing, to come up
suddenly, gave it animation.
The boats had several shots, but they were quick and difficult. One,
however, was captured by Alex. McKechnie, the second mate, and after
a short play, killed and brought alongside. This beast (Hyperoodon
Rostratus, or the northern sperm whale) is small, but of remarkable
appearance, having a long round beak, which protrudes from the lower
part of its large head. Its oil is very good; that flowing from the
cancellous bones of the head solidifying on deck at a comparatively high
temperature, and when solid, looking like spermaceti. Many of the men
took bottles full of this oil for use in future sprains and bruises.
Late in the evening another whale was killed by Thors, and, from the
numbers we saw around, there was no reason why the _Aurora_ should not
have picked up a profitable cargo in this neighborhood, but the desire
for the valuable whalebone took us to the north.
_May 14th._ We were off Frobisher's Bay and after the little whales
again, and another was captured. I was not in the boats at all at this
fishing, as the movement of the whales was so fast that they capsized
boats frequently and only experienced oarsmen were wanted. I was told
that more men lost their lives at this than at the right whale fishing.
We learned afterwards that the _Nova Zembla_ picked up seven here, while
the _Arctic bagged seventeen_. The whale killed in the morning by McLean
was over twenty feet long. The other two were smaller. The heads were
brought on board so I had a good look at them.
I saw white stalactites of spermaceti hanging from them to stalagmite
incrustations of the same on deck, and I noticed that the oil was free
from smell.
The neighborhood of Resolution Island was notorious for its awful
currents, and the rise and fall of tide about the western end of
Hudson Straits made navigation on these comparatively uncharted waters
exceedingly dangerous.
[Illustration: 0159]
I once heard Captain Guy tell of a narrow escape he had in the
neighborhood of the upper Savage Islands. From the barrel, he saw a rock
ahead, and ordered the lead cast. Three fathoms was found, so he backed
off and anchored. In a few hours he was astonished to find an island
where the submerged rock had been, and he afterwards learned from a
reliable source that the rise and fall of tide at this place was over
forty feet. Caribou were abundant on the north coast of the straits, and
musk-ox were also found. Sometimes whalers coming down for the southwest
fishing, in the autumn, killed numbers of both. The caribou was the
barren land variety, and some of the heads were enormous. In this
species the beam was long and straggly, and the palmation was not very
pronounced.