Peter the Whaler

Having determined to build a vessel, we set to work with great energy; and we hoped by ingenuity and perseverance to make amends for our want of skill and knowledge.

The return of darkness during the night gave us notice that we were advancing towards the south, and that the short arctic summer was drawing to a close. We could no longer cont...

The _Susannah_ was a fine brig, of about three hundred tons burden. She had a raised poop, but no topgallant forecastle; so the crew were berthed in the fore-peak, in the very n...

We fancied that we had got everything comfortable for the winter, which now, about the middle of October, began to set in with severe earnestness, with heavy falls of snow and s...

The next day I found myself transferred on board the United States corvette _Pocahuntas_, of twenty guns, and one hundred and fifty men, including officers, marines, and petty o...

Our companions slept on, and, while they happily were able to forget the hardships and dangers which were in store for them, we could not find it in our hearts to awake them. At...

For three days we travelled on; and, supposing that we advanced ten miles a day, for thirty miles not a break of any description appeared in the overhanging cliffs on our right....

A cookery-book, in the possession of my good mother, advises one to catch one's hare before cooking it. On the same principle I deferred describing how a whale is disposed of ti...

I dreamed all night that I was in the hands of the Americans, with a rope round my neck and about to be run up at the yardarm. I felt the practical inconvenience of associating...

I did not go to sleep, it may be supposed, but walked the deck, considering what I should do. I had never spoken much with the third mate, who was now commanding officer; and I...

For several days, during which we captured another whale, we were cruising about, in the hopes of finding a passage through the ice. We were now joined by a squadron of six othe...

Our ship made good progress, considering the impediments in her way, towards the fishing grounds in the north, to which she was bound. Sometimes we had a clear sea; at other tim...

I can scarcely picture the horrors of that night. I would fain, indeed, forget them, but that is impossible. We had preserved our lives for the present moment; but what could we...

That night, overcome by fatigue, strange as it may seem, we all slept soundly. The sun again rose, and discovered us still floating in safety on our unstable resting-place. The...

When my father was gone, I went back to Mr Cruden's office and asked him to tell me where I could find his house, at which I understood I was to lodge.

At length I reached Quebec, and hurried to the quay, where I had left the _Mary_. She was not there. I hastened to the dockyard where she was to be repaired; I made inquiries fo...

We were safe--so the old hands said; but it required some time before one could fully persuade one's self of the fact. Not only were the neighbouring floes in motion, but even t...

A week passed away on board the _Foam_. Whereabouts we were I had no means of telling; for the captain kept me in his cabin, and would not allow me to go on deck without first a...

That night was far from a happy one, for I knew all the time that I was doing what was very wrong. I waited till I thought that my father and all the household were asleep; and...

The whole coast, in most places, was lined with a sheet of ice some ten or fifteen miles wide, to the edge of which, in perfectly smooth water, our ship, with many others at var...

The _Pocahuntas_ continued on her course to the northward, with variable weather. I believe we had got a considerable way to the eastward of where we should have been; but of th...

The vessel on board which we so happily found ourselves was called _The Shetland Maid_,--her master, Captain John Rendall. She measured three hundred and fifty tons, was barque-...

We travelled briskly along over the ice, our encounter with the bears affording us abundant matter for amusement. I forgot to say, that not having time to flay them, we had shov...

"Peter," said my father, with a stern look, though the tone of his voice had more of sorrow in it than anger, "this conduct, if you persist in it, will bring ruin on you, and gr...

It is my belief that, if proper measures had been taken the moment the fire was discovered, it might have been extinguished, and if not, its progress might have been retarded. T...

At last I was informed by Mr Cruden that I might transfer my chest and myself on board the _Black Swan_. Accordingly, the old porter wheeled the former down to the docks, while...

I was allowed to remain on deck, under charge of a sentry, but was in no other way treated as a prisoner. Half-an-hour elapsed, during which the boats were probably looking for...

and so were some of the younger girls; but my gratitude for their hospitality prevents me saying anything about the elder ladies. Their jet-black glossy hair hung down carelessl...

The feelings Captain Elihu Swales exhibited towards me did not grow more tender; but hitherto I had kept my temper, and had flown to obey his orders without answering his abuse....

We thought that we had known what cold was when the winter first began; but when a strong northerly wind commenced, having passed over either a frozen sea or sheet of snow, then...

I remember very little of my journey to Dublin, except that it was performed on the top of the mail. My father went outside also, which was not his usual custom; but he did not...

We were kindly welcomed and cared for on board the _Mary_, though we subjected her passengers and crew to much inconvenience, and to no little risk of starving, should her voyag...

For ten days we had fine weather and light winds; but a southerly gale sprang up, and drove us to the northward, and I then found out what it was to be at sea. Of course I had t...

The next morning the _Mary_ commenced discharging her cargo. Captain Dean then told me that he hoped I would sail with him, but that, as the ship required a thorough repair, it...

Fortunately a star had appeared in a break of the clouds, and by that we continued steering the same course as before. Once more we were alone on the world of waters, and in a w...

The unhappy people were more quiet the second day than during the first; for they were worn out with fatigue, terror, and hunger. Our ensign, reversed, was flying, as a signal o...

We had been all so busy in building our house, and in bringing our stores from the ship and in stowing them away, that none of us had wandered a quarter of a mile from our locat...

board a ship full of fire. Of course I knew that some time or other the flames must burst forth; but I looked upon this event as likely to happen only in some remote period, wit...