The northern whale-fishery

by William Scoresby

The situation of the ship being now desperate, there could be no impropriety in attempting to remove the keel and garboard strake, which prevented the application of the fothering, for, whatever might be the result, it could scarcely be for the worse. These incumbrances being removed, the sail for fothering was immediately applied to the place, and a vast quantity of fothering materials thrown into its cavity, when it was fairly underneath. Over this sail we spread a fore-sail, and braced the whole as tight to the ship as the keel-bolts, which yet remained in their horizontal position, would admit. The effect was as happy as we could possibly have anticipated. Some time before all these preparations were completed, our people, assisted by the John’s crew, who, after a short rest, had returned to us, put the three pumps and bailing tubs in motion, and applied their energies with such effect that in eleven hours the pumps sucked! In this time, a depth of thirteen feet water was pumped out of the hold, besides the leakage. The John’s crew on this occasion exerted themselves with a spirit and zeal which were truly praiseworthy. As the assistance of carpenters was particularly needed, we fired a gun, and repeated our signal of distress, which brought very opportunely two boats, with six men each, from the Prescot, and the same number from our tried friend, Mr. Allen, of the North Britain. As we likewise procured the carpenters of these ships, together with those of the John, they commenced operations by cutting through the ceiling, between two frames of timbers directly across the hold, at the distance of about twenty-six feet from the stern-post; a situation which, we were assured, was on the fore part of the leak, or between the leak and the body of the ship. The timbers in this place were unhappily found so closely connected that we had to cut away part of one of the floors, that we might come at the outside plank, and caulk the crevices between it and the timbers; which operation, on account of the great depth of timber, and the vast flow of water that issued at the ceiling, was extremely difficult, tedious, and disagreeable.

Meanwhile that we had good assistance, I allowed our crew four hours’ rest, half of them at a time, for which purpose some of their beds were removed from the ice to the ship. Here, for the first time during four days, they enjoyed their repose; for on account of the cold and damp that prevailed when they rested on the ice, several of them, I believe, never slept. Some of the John’s people returning to us, swayed up the top-mast, and rigged most of the yards, while our men were employed stowing the main-hold, which, by the floating of the casks, was thrown into a singular state of disorder. Some of the casks were found without heads, and all the blubber lost, and many were found bilged, or otherwise damaged.

After the carpenters had completely cleared the roomstead—that is, the space between any two ribs or frames of timbers in a ship—they drove oakum into it, along with an improved woollen sheathing substance; and occasionally, where the spaces were very large, pieces of fat pork. The spaces or crevices between the planks of the ceiling and the timber being then filled, all the above substances were firmly driven down by means of pine wedges, and the spaces between each of the wedges caulked. This would have been very complete, had not the increased flow of the water overcome the pumps, and covered the ceiling where the carpenters were at work. They were therefore obliged to wedge up the place with great expedition; and being at the same time greatly fatigued, the latter part of the operation was accomplished with much less perfection than I could have wished.

Hitherto calm weather, with thick fog, having constantly prevailed, was the occasion of several ships remaining by us and affording assistance, which would otherwise have left us. But the weather having now become clear, and a prospect of prosecuting the fishery being presented, every ship deserted us, except the John, and she was preparing to leave us likewise. In the state of extreme jeopardy in which we were still placed, the love of life, on the part of the crew, determined them to attempt to quit the ship, and take refuge in the John as soon as she should attempt to leave us. I was confident, through the information I had received, that unless the assistance of the John were secured, the Esk, after all the labour bestowed on her, and the progress which had been made towards her preservation, must yet be abandoned as a wreck. At length, I yielded to the request of my whole crew, and made a proposal to captain Jackson, who agreed on certain conditions, involving the surrender of a large proportion of our cargo, to stay by us and assist us until our arrival at some port of Shetland. The original of this contract was voluntarily signed by every individual of both ships’ companies. A subsequent agreement of a more explicit kind, on the part of masters and owners of the Esk and the John, was drawn out and signed by myself and Mr. Jackson.

These agreements being fully understood and signed, the John hauled alongside of the ice, which had now opened near the Esk for the first time since the accident, and took on board the whole of our loose blubber, estimated at seventy-eight butts and fifty-eight butts, in twenty-five casks, together with half our whalebone, as agreed. Everything now went on favourably, and whilst our crew and assistants were in full and vigorous employment, I retired to seek that repose which my wearied frame stood greatly in need of. On the 5th July, assisted by all hands from the John, the stowing of the hold and the rigging of the ship were completed, and, under a moderate breeze of wind, we left the floe, but what was our astonishment and mortification to find that the ship could not be guided! The rudder had become perfectly useless, so that with the most appropriate disposition of the sails possible, and the requisite position of the helm, the ship could not be turned round, or diverted in the least from the course in which the impetus of the wind on the sails was the most naturally balanced. This was an alarming disappointment. However, as the ship was in such constant danger of being crushed in the situation where she lay, the John, with the greatest difficulty imaginable, towed us three or four miles to the eastward, into a place of comparative safety. Here we rectified our rudder, and arranged for the trimming of the ship more by the stern, to compensate in some degree for the loss of the after-keel. When these matters were completed, on account of strong wind and thick weather, we could not, without imminent danger, attempt to penetrate the compact body of ice which at this time barred our escape to the sea, and I took the advantage of the opportunity to procure a long rest. The attention of the carpenters in caulking the ceiling of the ship, together with the advantage derived from the fothering sails, had now produced an effect so considerable, that on Sunday, the 7th of July, the original leakage was found to be reduced nearly four-fifths. During an hour, in which we were engaged in Divine service, the pumps were allowed to “stand;” two and a half feet of water, which in this interval flowed into the hold, was pumped out in twenty minutes.

After various alarms and careful attention to the leakage, together with the unremitting diligence of the crew in the use of the pumps, we descried land on the 23rd of July, and approached within three or four miles of the coast of Shetland. In the evening, the John having fulfilled the articles of agreement as far as was required, we sent the twelve men belonging to her crew on board, and after receiving from them a supply of fresh water, they left us with three cheers, and the usual display of colours. We were now left to sail by ourselves; our progress was in consequence rather slow. At daylight of the 27th, we were rejoiced with a sight of our port. Knowing the flow of water to be sufficient for the ship, and there being a probability of reaching the harbour before the tide was too much fallen, we pressed towards it with every sail we could set, and having received a pilot as we approached the pier, we immediately entered the harbour, and grounded at half-past five A.M. in a place of safety.

Thus, through the peculiar favour of God, by whose influence our perseverance was stimulated, and by whose blessing our contrivances were rendered effectual, happily terminated a voyage at once hazardous, disastrous, and interesting. Men whose lives have been exposed to dangers so fearful and imminent, may reasonably be expected to be influenced by a vivid sense of the nearness of eternity, and to feel the powers of the world to come. It is the prerogative of the Christian religion, whilst it prepares men for death, to take away undue apprehensions of it; to furnish consolation of unspeakable value, when it is present; and to light up the distant and unknown future, with the peace and happiness of the hope of eternal life. To the rude and courageous mariner, as well as to the inhabitants of refined and luxurious homes, God’s message is one and the same. It is suitable, and worthy of acceptation, on sea and on land, in sickness and in health, when we expect instant removal from our present temporary dwelling-place, or look forward to the activities and cares of a protracted life. To every one of us the Almighty is saying, Repent, believe, and live—promising a free and complete pardon through the death of his Son, and engaging, to those who welcome and obey his message, that they shall live under the smile of His countenance and the protection of his power.

Intelligence relative to the distressed state of the ship, and the helplessness of her situation, reached Whitby the day before us, and, in consequence of exaggerations respecting the loss of the crew, involved every interested person in deep distress. Throughout the town, and in a great measure throughout the neighbourhood, the event was considered as a general calamity. Some of the underwriters on the Esk, I was informed, had offered sixty per cent. for the reassurance of the sums for which they were liable, but such was the nature of the risk, as ascertained from the information of some ships’ crews, by whom we had been assisted, that no one would undertake the assurance, even at this extraordinary premium. The hearty congratulations I received on landing, from every acquaintance, were almost overwhelming, and these, with the enhanced endearments of my affectionate and enraptured wife, amply repaid for all the toils and anxieties of mind that I had endured.

On the tide ebbing out, the Esk was left dry, on which, for the first time since the accident, the whole of the water was drawn out of the hold by the pumps. The next tide, the ship was removed above the bridge to a place of perfect safety, where the pumps being neglected, the water in the course of two tides rose nearly as high within as without. After the cargo was discharged, the ship was put into dock, and it was found that, excepting the loss of twenty-two feet of keel, and the removal of a piece of the starboard garboard strake, nine feet in length, with a portion of dead-wood brought home upon deck, no other damage of consequence had been produced by the ice. The whole expense of repairs did not, I believe, exceed £200. Though the sacrifice of nearly one-half of our cargo was a considerable disappointment to the owners, who had been apprized of our success in fishery, yet, when compared with the salvage, which might have been demanded had no contract been entered into for the assistance of the John, the sacrifice appeared to have been a material benefit, having been productive of the saving of perhaps £2,000. The approbation of my conduct by the owners, Messrs. Fishburn and Brodrick, was testified by their presenting to me a gratuity of £50; and the sense entertained by the Whitby underwriters, of the preservation of the ship, was pleasingly manifested by a present of a handsome piece of plate.

I may add, in conclusion, that the whole of my crew, excepting one individual, returned from this adventurous and trying voyage in safety, and in general in a good state of health. Several of the men, indeed, were affected more or less by the excessive fatigue, and by the painful exposure to cold and damp, while resting on the ice; but all of them were, in a great measure, restored before our arrival at home, excepting one man; he, poor fellow, being of a weak constitution, suffered severely from the inclement exposure, and died soon after he arrived in port.