The World of Ice | Page 9

below.
CHAPTER THREE.
THE VOYAGE--THE DOLPHIN AND HER CREW--ICE AHEAD--POLAR SCENES--MASTHEAD OBSERVATIONS--THE FIRST WHALE--GREAT EXCITEMENT.
And now we have fairly got into blue water--the sailor's delight, the landsman's dread--
"The sea! the sea! the open sea; The blue, the fresh, the ever free."
"It's my opinion," remarked Buzzby to Singleton one day, as they stood at the weather gangway, watching the foam that spread from the vessel's bow as she breasted the waves of the Atlantic gallantly,--"It's my opinion that our skipper is made o' the right stuff. He's entered quite into the spirit of the thing, and I hear'd him say to the first mate yesterday, he'd made up his mind to run right up into Baffin's Bay, and make enquiries for Captain Ellice first, before goin' to his usual whalin'-ground. Now that's wot I call doin' the right thing; for, ye see, he runs no small risk o' gettin' beset in the ice, and losing the fishin' season altogether by so doin'."
"He's a fine fellow," said Singleton; "I like him better every day, and I feel convinced he will do his utmost to discover the whereabouts of our missing friend; but I fear much that our chances are small, for although we know the spot which Captain Ellice intended to visit, we cannot tell to what part of the frozen ocean, ice and currents may have carried him."
"True," replied Buzzby, giving to his left eye and cheek just that peculiar amount of screw which indicated intense sagacity and penetration; "but I've a notion that, if they are to be found, Captain Guy is the man to find 'em."
"I hope it may turn out as you say. Have you ever been in these seas before, Buzzby?"
"No, sir--never; but I've got a half-brother wot has bin in the Greenland whale-fishery, and I've bin in the south-sea line myself."
"What line was that, Buzzby?" enquired David Summers, a sturdy boy of about fifteen, who acted as assistant steward, and was, in fact, a nautical maid-of-all-work. "Was it a log-line, or a bow-line, or a cod-line, or a bit of the equator?--eh!"
The old salt deigned no reply to this passing sally, but continued his converse with Singleton.
"I could give ye many a long yarn about the South Seas," said Buzzby, gazing abstractedly down into the deep. "One time, when I was about fifty mile to the sou'west o' Cape Horn, I--"
"Dinner's ready, sir," said a thin, tall, active man, stepping smartly up to Singleton, and touching his cap.
"We must talk over that some other time, Buzzby. The captain loves punctuality." So saying, the young surgeon sprang down the companion ladder, leaving the old salt to smoke his pipe in solitude.
And here we may pause a few seconds to describe our ship and her crew.
The Dolphin was a tight, new, barque-rigged vessel of about three hundred tons burden, built expressly for the northern whale-fishery, and carried a crew of forty-five men. Ships that have to battle with the ice require to be much more powerfully built, than those that sail in unencumbered seas. The Dolphin united strength with capacity and buoyancy. The under part of her hull and sides were strengthened with double timbers, and fortified externally with plates of iron; while, internally, stanchions and cross-beams were so arranged as to cause pressure on any part to be supported by the whole structure; and on her bows, where shocks from the ice might be expected to be most frequent and severe, extra planking, of immense strength and thickness, was secured. In other respects the vessel was fitted up much in the same manner as ordinary merchantmen. The only other peculiarity about her, worthy of notice, was the crow's-nest, a sort of barrel-shaped structure fastened to the fore-masthead, in which, when at the whaling-ground, a man is stationed to look out for whales. The chief men in the ship were Captain Guy, a vigorous, practical American; Mr Bolton, the first mate, an earnest, stout, burly, off-hand Englishman; and Mr Saunders, the second mate, a sedate, broad-shouldered, raw-boned Scot, whose opinion of himself was unbounded, whose power of argument was extraordinary, not to say exasperating, and who stood six feet three in his stockings. Mivins, the steward, was, as we have already remarked, a tall, thin, active young man, of a brisk, lively disposition, and was somewhat of a butt among the men, but being in a position of power and trust he was respected. The young surgeon, Tom Singleton, whom we have yet scarcely introduced to the reader, was a tall, slim, but firmly-knit, youth, with a kind, gentle disposition. He was always open, straightforward, and polite. He never indulged in broad humour, though he enjoyed it much, seldom ventured on a witticism, was rather shy in the company of his companions, and spoke little; but for a quiet, pleasant