Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/108

76 Strait has been a decided success, and the number of Whales seen was considerable. Three Scotch vessels, the 'Eclipse,' the 'Esquimaux,' and the 'Nova Zembla,' were present. Capt. Milne, of the 'Eclipse,' reports that from the middle of September till the middle of October Whales were very plentiful, and that he never saw so many during all his experience. Leaving Dundee on March 30th, he experienced a long and stormy passage, arriving in Davis Strait too late for the north-west and east side fishery. Disco was reached on May 28th, and the passage through Melville Bay presented no difficulties. The west side of the Strait was reached on June 15th, on which day the first Whale was seen. On the following day a large number of fish were seen, and one struck but lost; and a second also broke away. On the 20th, however, a good fish was secured. In Lancaster Sound the three Dundee vessels were caught in a heavy gale and beset for a week. About Oct. 8th a great many Whales were sighted, twenty miles off Cape Kater, but owing to heavy seas and unsettled weather more than one was missed; and on the 13th so rough was the weather that a large fish which had been got alongside broke adrift and was lost. On the 16th, however, they were more fortunate, and secured a fine fish of 11 ft. 4 in. bone, but not till after an exciting experience—by a stroke of the Whale's tail one of the boats was upset and her crew of six men thrown into the water. Fortunately all were rescued, but not till one of them was in a very exhausted condition. Many more Whales were seen by the 'Eclipse' near Hopper Island, and one taken; had she not had the misfortune to lose five Whales owing to stormy weather, doubtless the 'Eclipse' would have returned a full ship; as it was she had three good Whales and three Walrus. The 'Nova Zembla' succeeded in capturing four Whales; her experience was much the same as that of the 'Eclipse.' Many Whales were seen in the longitude of Cape Warrander, Pond's Inlet, Coutts Inlet, and in the vicinity of Clyde River. The 'Esquimaux,' which had been to the Newfoundland sealing, sailed from Cape Breton on May 20th, and took her only fish in Pond's Bay on June 16th. Although in her autumn passage down the west side of the Strait several other Whales were seen, the weather conditions rendered their pursuit impossible; in fact, it was the prevalence of