The arrangements described were completed by the end of the first fortnight, during which period the business of sealing was also carried on with great industry and success.  So very tame were the victims, and so totally unconscious of the danger they incurred from the presence of man, that the crew moved round among them, seemingly but very little observed, and not at all molested.  The utmost care was taken to give no unnecessary alarm; and when an animal was lanced, it was done in such a quiet way as to produce as little commotion as possible.  By the end of the time named, however, the sealing had got so advanced as to require the aid of all hands in securing the spoils.  To work, then, everybody went, with a hearty good-will:  and the shelf of rock just below the house was soon well garnished with casks and skins.  Had the labour been limited to the mere killing, and skinning, and curing, and barreling of oil, it would have been comparatively quite light; but the necessity of transporting the fruits of all this skill and luck considerable distances, in some cases several miles, and this over broken rocks, formed the great obstacle to immediate success.  It was the opinion of Roswell Gardiner, that he could have filled his schooner in a month, were it possible to place her directly alongside of the rocks frequented by the seals, and prevent all this toil in transporting.  This, however, was impossible, the waves and the ice rendering it certain destruction to lay a craft anywhere along the northern shore of the island.  The boats might be, and occasionally they were used, bringing loads of skin and oil round the cape, quite into the cove.  These little cargoes were immediately transferred to the hold of the schooner, a ground-tier of large casks having been left in her purposely to receive the oil, which was emptied into them by means of a hose.  By the end of the third week, this ground-tier was filled, and the craft became stiff, and was in good ballast trim, although the spare water was now entirely pumped out of her.

All this time the weather was very fair for so high a latitude, and every way propitious.  The twenty-third day after the schooner got in, Roswell was standing on a spur of the hill, at no great distance from the house, overlooking the long reach of rocky coast over which the ‘sea-elephants,’ and ‘lions,’ and ‘dogs,’ and ‘bears,’ were waddling in as much seeming security as the hour when he first saw them.  The sun was just rising, and the seals were clambering up out of the water to enjoy its warm rays, as they placed themselves in positions favourable to such a purpose.

“That is a pleasant sight to a true sealer, Captain Gar’ner,” observed Stimson, who as usual had kept near his officer, “and one that I can say I never before saw equalled.  I’ve been in this business now some five-and-twenty years, and never before have I met with so safe a harbour for a craft, and so large herds that have not been stirred up and got to be skeary.”