Grapnel. Or Grapling. A sort of small anchor for boats, having a ring at one end, and four palmed claws at the other.
After a day taking advantage of being caught in the ice, on Wednesday April 24, Scoresby saw the oppertunity to move on again. Surrounded by bay ice the ship was dragged through by one of the whale boats, and with the use of a “grapnel” attached to a whale line. In four hours they managed to move the ship two miles to an opening to the East, and continued towing and warping under sail as the ice opened out. With the Neptune (Jackson suggests this is the Neptune of London, Captain Robertson) following, the Resolution struggled on through thick snow and increasing wind and heavy weather.
By 1811, Scoresby was already emerging as a talented, and respected scientist. In the winter of 1806 he had enrolled at the University of Edinburgh, where he studied Chemistry, and ‘natural philosophy’. As Ian C. Jackson notes, Scoresby’s choice of subjects was equalled in importance by the scientific discipline he learned there. At the university Scoresby became a pupil and friend of Robert Jameson, Professor of Natural History; outside it, in 1807, he met Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society.
Scoresby had taken measurements of sea temperature on previous voyages, but in 1811 he took with him an instrument presented to him by Banks “for ascertaining the Temperature of the Ocean at considerable depths.” On April 22nd, Scoreby notes “Charming clear weather very cold” but the Resolution, along with the 23 other ships within sight, were prevented from moving by heavy ice. “Since nothing could be done with the ship” Scoresby took the opportunity to try out Banks’s instrument:
I allowed it to sink first 20 then 40 then 60 and lastly to a depth of 100 fathoms each time noting the range of the register Thermometer and the Temp when arrived at the top by A Common Thermometer … The instrument however was not watertight in the Valves & after the last Experiment two of the seams were opened the wood soaked with water and much swelled out in the middle between the two Strong Brass Hoops supporting the ends[.] The curve formed by this swelling broke both the glass plates on the sides. From these Experiments similar conclusions were drawn with those last year an increase of 6 [and two thirds of a degree Fahrenheit] of Temp took place in the descent to 60 Fathoms the same occurred at more than 100 … I was afraid to to risque the Instrument at any greater depth than 600 feet lest it should have been rent to pieces and prevent the possibility of performing more experiments on this interesting topic.
In the evening of the 21st, Scoresby went on board the Birnie of Grimsby to dine with four other captains: Captain Hornby of the Birnie, and captains Johnson, presumably of the Aimwell, W. Kearsley of the Henrietta, both of Whitby, and captains Kearsly, and Robinson. At 10PM, Scoresby notes, they were becalmed, and later beset by ice.
The following day the Resolution proceeded northward through loose pieces of ice, and Scoresby deduced from the clouds and ‘breeding’ of showers, that there was open water ahead. Unfortunately, the Easterly winds of earlier in the month had eased, and it was impossible to get under sail to break through the surrounding ice. Nevertheless, there were whales, and in the morning they
had a boat in pursuit of a whale the first seen this year by us. In the morning the Sarah and Elizabeth hoisted her Jack as a signal of having struck a Whale.
The ‘Jack,’ a small union flag, is significant in many ways at sea, but is in many other things, whalers had their own ways of using it. In his Account of the Arctic Regions Volume 2 (1820), Scoresby has this to say about the raising of the Jack:
The Jack: In the fishery, this flag is used to indicate, that the boats belonging to the ship bearing it are engaged with a fish. Its intention seems originally to have been extremely liberal. By it, a ship fishing might be distinguished among a number, and others might be directed to the same place, where probably more fish were to be found. It has, however, additional uses in the present day. It serves to intimate that a fish is harpooned, to the other boats belonging to the same ship which may happen to be at a distance, and not aware of the circumstance: but most usually, it is displayed as a precautionary measure, to prevent the interference of any other ship with the fish so struck, excepting in the way of an auxiliary, in which case it gives a friend an opportunity of assisting. To prevent disputes with regard to the title to a fish that has been struck, it is generally good policy, when other ships are near, to keep the jack flying until the fish is killed.
When a jack is moved violently up and down the mast, it proclaims the appearance of a fast fish on the surface of the water; and when it is thus accompanied by a bucket, it expresses that the fish is in the line of or near to the ship.
Before the commencement of the fishing season, a jack or ancient [used by whalers, when hoisted at the ‘mizen peak,’ to indicate that the ship is “full”] is used as a kind of complimentary signal to a friend, expressing as much as the usual greeting “How do you do?” and on the sealing stations, the jack is sometimes substituted fot eh bucket in recalling the boats.
The Resolution did not take a whale, and spent the night moored to pieces of ice, drifting southward, unable to move under sail.
Jack. In the British navy the jack is a small union flag, formed by the intersection of St. George’s and St. Andrew’s crosses, usually displayed from a staff erected on the outer end of a ship’s bowsprit. In merchant ships the union is bordered with white or red. Also, a common term for the jack or cross-trees [from which are suspended the sails]. Also, a young male pike, Esox lucius, under a foot in length. Also, a drinking vessel of half pint contents. … Jack, or Jack Tar, a familiar term for a sailor. A foremast man and an able seaman. It was an early term for short coats, jackets, and a sort of coat-of-mail or defensive lorica, or upper garment.
The Resolution‘s slow progress to the whaling grounds continued throughout April, but on the 14th, in conditions alternating between snow and “delightful Clear weather” Scoresby spotted Bottlenose dolphins, and a species of whale he called “Finners”. Ian C. Jackson adds a note on whales species to this entry in the journal suggesting he may have been referring to the Sei Whale, Balaenoptera borealis, but that Arctic whalers seemed to have used the name “Finners” to cover several species. Towards the end of the century, when coal gas had supplanted whale oil as a fuel for lamps, Fin Whales were disregarded by whalers, as being inferior sources of oil.
Alternating clear and squally weather accompanied the Resolution to Latitude 74 degrees North, which they reached on April 16, as thick snow began to fall at around 5am. By now large pieces of ice were beginning to appear, one of which Scoresby estimated at 60 feet high. He estimated that they were near to “Cherry Island,” better known as Bear Island, a desolate rock, west of Spitzbergen, and south of the Svalbard archipelago. Over the next two days, the sea was full of ice, of varying kinds, and in chunks of different sizes, then on the 18th, sailing in a gale through haze and fog: “By hazy I mean that wetting haze and which resembles very small rain and is sometimes called Scotch Mist. By Fog I would imply the thick mist often occurs here in particular seasons and which wetsvery little.
Later that day, the Resolution fell in with the Henrietta, of Whitby, and the Bernie of Grimsby. Captain Kearsley of the Henrietta had been catching seals, a common make weight in the absence of whales. Anxious to make further progress northwards, Scoresby pushed on through the ice, and on the 19th came within sight of Spitzbergen, and with five ships in sight, he concluded that his reckoning had been correct so far, to within 10 miles. Scoresby took breakfast with Captain Volum of the Enterprize, declaring him “of good Scotch Character and a person of intelligence” before pressing the ship North once more. They were by now at Lat. 76 degrees North. On Sunday April 21st, boats were prepared for the fishery:
At noon called all hands got all the whale lines on deck took one boat out of the tween decks, sorted all the Lines and coyled away those of 4 Boats viz two in the tween decks, the six oared Boat on deck, and the Stern Boat fitted them for the fishery. Saw several Razor Backs [Balaenoptera Gibbar].
By now the whaling grounds were near. In open water surrounded by ice, Scoresby counted 23 sail of ships.
Scoresby was pleased with the way the Resolution handled the heavy seas, commenting on the “kindliness” of the ship on April 7. But the following day, Monday 8, was marked with “very severe gales with heavy squalls frequent showers of unchryst snow”. In the morning the ship met a severe test: heavy seas coming from the NNE combined with the Easterly swell and “formed a very dangerous sea rising very high in knots so that it was impossible for a vessel to rise over it.” Around half past ten the ship was struck by a large wave, which washed over the deck, damaging the rigging, stoving in one of the boats which had been placed at the Quarters a few days before, and lifted a gun off its securing cleats. Scoresby notes that “mercifully however the Men all got secure themselves from its violence and no serious damage was done”.
On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the squally weather continued, combined with snow showers, but while the sea was still heavy, the ship was able to meet it head on, so the deck was dry. Ice reappeared on Wednesday April 10, in the form of a large iceberg that looked like a ship, and by Thursday the ice had accumulated sufficiently for Scoresby to look for more open sea. Progress northwards was slow, as they tacked into North Easterly wind.
On Friday and Saturday the situation had become more dangerous, with large icebergs moving violently in the high seas. On Saturday April 13, Scoresby recorded that the weather was improving, and he took the opportunity for training and instructing the crew:
Fresh breezes with strong squalls. Met a heavy ESE Sea on the Larboard [Port] tack which caused the Ship to pitch uncommonly heavy. About 3PM passed through an opening in a heavy stream the passage crossed by many heavy pieces of Ice in a state of great agitation, some of them were actually forced at the rate of a knot to Windward. About 6PM were out at Sea. Took in the Main Sail for Squalls in the night. In the Morning charming fine weather. Employed Harpooners splicing in foregangers, and initiated the Seamen into the art of reefing Sails in the best and neatest manner.
Trysail. A reduced sail used by small craft in lieu of their main-sail during a storm. Also, a fore-and-aft sail, set with a boom and gaff, in ships, synonymous with the spencers of brigs and schooners, and the spanker or driver of ships. A Storm Trysail was a fore-and-aft sail, hoisted by a gaff, but having no boom at its foot, and only used in foul weather.
On Friday April 5, 1811, the weather showed signs of deteriorating. Scoresby writes “Fresh breezes the sky became suddenly overcast with clouds and the wind skimmed along the water in heavy squalls. Snow showers quickly followed.” The night had been squally too, and the temperature was low, dipping to 18F, or almost -8C. It is no surprise to find Scoresby noting “frost rime,” which consists of tiny particles of frozen water vapour, rising in a mst from the surface of the sea, and clinging to the rigging of ships. By saturday April 6, as the thermometer dropped further to 10F (-12C), the frost rime was thick, though there was no visible sea-ice.
On April 7, the temperature rose significantly, though squally winds were accompanied by snow. “At 3PM,” Scoresby records, “the Thermometer had risen to 17 [degrees] and at 6PM to 27 [degrees] this remarkable rise of 17 [degrees] in about 9 hours made me suspect a SE wind”. He was right. He “walked the deck somewhat alarmed at the appearance of the sky … At one time a strong light like an Ice blink appeared from NNE ro ESE … though there was no Ice in that Quarter”. Ice blink, caused by light reflecting from a field of light onto the sky, allowed whaling captains to determine whether ice was compact or open, but in this case, Scoresby had no explanation for the sky’s appearance. The wind swung round to the South East very suddenly, so that the sails were blown “flat a back” against the mast, pushing the ship backwards:
The wind had veered to ESE steered Nward 2 hours the wind tho increased so much that we were obliged to raise all hands to take in and reef top sails and Troy Sail till Day light and then wore. At 6 blowing an excessive hard gale furled all sail but M T [Main Top] Sail and Troy sail under this sail lay too. The sea became immensely high the vessel was very kindly and shipped very little water laying quite close to the wind … The cabin smoaking [sic] we could not have a fire.
Foreganger: the Foreganger was a piece of lightweight, flexible rope attached at one end to the tail of a harpoon, and at the other, spliced into the longer, heavier, and more rigid line. The foreganger was easier to handle than the line itself, and made it possble to throw the harpoon accurately. Harpooners were superstitious about their craft, since it marked them out from the other sailors, and earned them a greater share of the profits. On leaving port it was the custom for the sweethearts and wives of harpooners to offer gifts of ribbon or lace from their underclothes, which were then woven into the foreganger to bring good luck.
Letters to Elizabeth 