“Ye dart upon the deep, and straight
is heard
A wilder roar; and men grow pale, and
pray:
Ye fling its waters round you, as a bird
Flings o’er his shivering plumes
the fountain’s spray.
See! to the breaking mast the sailor clings!
Ye scoop the ocean to its briny springs,
And take the mountain billows on your
wings,
And pile the wreck of navies round the
bay.”
Bryant’s Winds.
No unnecessary delay was permitted to interfere with
the one great purpose of the sealers. The season
was so short, and the difficulties and dangers of
entering among and of quitting the ice were so very
serious, that every soul belonging to the schooner
felt the importance of activity and industry.
The very day that succeeded the vessel’s arrival,
not only was great progress made in the preliminary
arrangements, but a goodly number of fur-seals, of
excellent quality, were actually killed and secured.
Two noble sea-elephants were also lanced, animals
that measured near thirty feet in length, each of
which yielded a very ample return for the risk and
trouble of taking it, in oil. The skins of the
fur-seals, however, were Roswell’s principal
object; and glad enough was he to find the creature
that pays this tribute to the wants and luxuries of
man, in numbers sufficient to promise him a speedy
return to the northward. While the slaughter,
and skinning, and curing, and trying out were all in
active operation, our young man paid some attention
to certain minor arrangements, which had a direct
bearing on the comforts of his people, as well as
the getting in of cargo.
An old store-house, of respectable size, had stood
on the deacon’s wharf, while the schooner was
fitting out, but it had been taken to pieces, in order
to make room for a more eligible substitute. The
materials of this building, Roswell Gardiner had persuaded
his owner to send on board, and they had all been
received and stowed away, a part below and a part on
deck, as a provision for the possible wants of the
people. As it was necessary to clear the decks
and break out the hold, all these materials, consisting
principally of the timbers of the frame, the siding,
and a quantity of planks and boards, were now floated
ashore in the cove, and hauled upon the rocks.
Roswell took a leisure moment to select a place for
the site of his building, which he intended to erect
at once, in order to save the time that would otherwise
be lost in pulling between the schooner and the shore.
It was not difficult to find the sort of spot that
was desirable for the dwelling. That chosen by
Gardiner was a shelf of rock of sufficient extent,
that lay perfectly exposed to the north and north-east,
or to the sunny side of the island, while it was sheltered
from the south and south-west by masses of rock, that
formed a complete protection against the colder winds
of the region. These walls of stone, however,
were not sufficiently near to permit any snows they
might collect to impend over the building, but enough
space was left between them and the house, to admit
of a capacious yard, in which might be placed any articles
that were necessary to the ordinary work, or to the
wants of the sealers.
