, 1884-07-27
~GREENH0RNS AFLOAT.
Fitting Out a Whaling Vessel on
False Pretenses.
signing Articles for an Arctic voyage
The FeRsts Of seawesd, His
cult, Coffee, and UncoOkcd
Seal Meat.

the schooner Age, bound for Hudson bay
and Cumberland inlet. They told US We wers
to call at one Of the company's stations
in Hudson's straits, where II boss and
five men. had wintered, and we
were to bring away whatever oil,
bone, and seal skins they had taken
by the help OF the natives. OF the stuff from
the station One-fourth NgHs to come to US.
Then we were 10 go whaling with the aid Of
three boats crews Of natives, the vessel pay
ing them, and one-third of all we took. with
the aid Of the natives or otherwise, was the
crews share. They told mo 1t would be easy
for each man to have 81 900 when he got
back, and l was such en- idiot | believed it,
Sixteen other men believed 1t, too, but that's
not to be wondered at so much, because they
were all greenhorns.
I'VE had our outfits furnished us by the
owners. We paid for them the prices usually
charged to sailors. got an outfit for which
l was charged $50. l thought l had n better
idea of what was wanted than some of
the others who took outfits worth $50 to S15.
That's where l got left. We sailed out uf
port on June ~ and had fair weather right
along. The schooner wa old, but she was Il
pretty good sea boat, and We reached the
station in Hudson's straits on July ~ in
good condition. We found the captain and
his five men there, and the men all grum-
bling. They had been there u year. They
aid that they might nave had 81 900 each IL
the natives had been managed rightly, hut
when they went away whaling or sealing the
captain did not feed their families, and be
did not pay them for their work ms he
promised to, so the natives refused TO fish for
hun any longer after they took two whales.
We found 100 barrels of oil and | 500 pounds
of bone waiting for us. We got it ON board
and s,ilad for Cumberland inlet AFR
ton davs' waiting We yer. eigbt
DAYS In The ice on our ,ysv md ,yh,n a gnt
n The inlet wa vera cauobt aynin for four
DAVIS There was nnother station ber,. and
we GOT ITO barrels of seal oil We didn't get
any seal skins The oil was from th. bni,.
seal Those skins are worth about 10 cents
zach In Ruropo. where they doctor them nm
md shin them To America as Russian Lenr or
some other hiab-priced goods. A scotch
station Their ma nearly ZOO aims
aWitb the Ice and tbe londing Of IN.
cargo W.. wpr. in Cumberland ipIet about
Ave weeks Then We went south WHALING
Time nasssd until near Oct M TIA
d.v at IA saiI for bom. whom ,ho
reonllar crew began To stow the hold
for the sen VOYAGE. We got IL slowed ia,
av.,,no ~ the oStb and wore waiting for a
co,nIa Of hoots IN come in that yvera ont
Whaling when va saw n eog which Indicated
thst a whale had been taken We mt afr In
mr. h,ats rho nart morning Mt x o,cIocl, 10
TOW tha ysbals 10 the scboonar Aftar ~. bad
made fast 10 the whale n was lilae toyvirg a
aohaorar v;,h sraIJhoaE Tho yoo,hnrna
ON tbicL and cold after two ar tb,,., hon.
hr, az m o,cloct so got a b,aa,a to aid ,s
A, ~ o,.Io.L 4, vas - s+r,ng ,bat NO 40, a.
,hs nar INIT ua did NOT sae tho schnnnor,.
iioht. unt1 q O'clock Then wo found tho, 600
bsd no lantern wifi ms We Ard / gnr bmt
a. 5id mo, attract ottontio, ami n VA :
n,clock l.sfor. y GOT the whale nlnnsvida
Tim, was the Iongsst coIdest hardest inh I
&C had w. vVsra out tyvontv fn,r Lnus
,v,th jnst ,,nngb mi for ono sIu,ra meal
A f,ar ~ruttipS M the wboIr w.
hoodad down along IN, adge IN
the shore and found n5 outlat. and then wa
he.ded m 10 the Greenland shorp w. g,t
nnntber thrill when tbe captaIu a man NJ e,-
,o,ianc. ,oij M 81 - -, r,,,oh, ,o, tho
winter ~ we headed back 10 our old onrhor-
a. aud an ta, hours aftar NJ came Ia onchor
S,iLsJ ,shnra ON tha lea to,,ned Win a s,,d-
dom f.u ~ tha tharmomster
.yh.n ~ ha,.n ~ ,naLa thtnyn,o co..
EN-. winter W. cot anotber thrill W. ya,,.
ra,,i,dad tha, w. b,,,rgh, out an on,rla -.
of u,,nlirs 20 last zx months and no NOR.
w, war,, At once mt ON sbor, r,tions -,
sv.rvtbing a.tahle that The air brought an.
Al Christnas tbe Means yye,,. ali GONE and ~
for the tyyo d.ys ON which beans had Nm
- - - ~ Hnna. -, - 80
serNea' We . no u eNcep' oIeaa anu
meat our rations Oh meat were already cut
one-hAlf' and after New Years we got
only one-third of u ration. BY March the
peas we're all gone, and a week later We had
eaten The last OF the flour. Our coal for final
- short also and wa hsgnn 10 ,.aI -
,,'-ms aans,ant ooia and hnnns 80"
All - mhn
eah sulhh coa mhen ~ sponlhch lsiull Oh
hearty food, but his condition Is pitful when
he is freezing and starving at the same time.
by May our coal gave out. Then we
gathered moss and burned Il with bIuhber
syhan ya co,,d cot n from tho na,iya- In,
w. - e. "a
We . w ~ - ou sehhty
rnuohs' soon ntter marine eonee went and
the tea had been used up long before. Part
of the time we could get neither MOSS nor
blubber, and then we ate our b4ff and u.pyk
what Their, was of II. raw Wa had Ia ast
raw al rooo, n.rt ~ tho ,ir,a T., III.
49,, - ,n a -, : H. l,, We
~ - - we "e,e
ao4e oset % mess gom ~ nauNes' AS
the coffee was all gone, pounded up my bis
cult, burned it over the fire and made coffee
of 1t. / could not use myself to living with
out some kind OF warm drink. That Is To
saw. | made coffs4 of my biscuit ON th,s,
days W. had a ~. IN a. o., - =
- - rass 4
~ nmAf S0"us ~ND FsS sSi meat
lhere Is a ainsrence between raw seal meat
and roast beef, but when n man knows IL
must be raw seal meat or nothing, raw seal