A
VOYAGE
TO
SPITZBERGEN;
CONTAINING AN
Account of that Country,
OF THE
ZOOLOGY OF THE NORTH; OF THE SHETLAND ISLES;
AND OF THE WHALE FISHERY.
WITH AN APPENDIX,
CONTAINING
An Historical Account of the Dutch, English, and AmericanWhale Fisheries; some Important Observationson the Variation of the Compass, &c.; and some Extractsfrom Mr. Scoresby’s Paper on “Polar Ice.”
BY JOHN LAING,
SURGEON.
A NEW EDITION.
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR.
1825.
PRINTED BY A. BALFOUR & CO.
TO
JOHN R. M‘CULLOCH, Esq.
THIS LITTLE WORK IS INSCRIBED,
AS
A SMALL TESTIMONY
OF
THE ESTEEM AND GRATITUDE
OF
HIS MUCH OBLIGED,
AND SINCERE FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The Journal I kept when on board the Resolutionin 1806, is taken as the basis of the subsequentlittle Work. It may, however, be lookedupon as containing the observations I made bothin 1806 and 1807, as I have engrossed into theNarration whatever I observed of consequence thefollowing year.
Diagramof theArctic Regions.
L. Schonberg’s Lithogy
ACCOUNT
OF A
VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN.
In the year 1806, being at the University ofEdinburgh, an advertisement was put on the CollegeGate, by Messrs. P. and C. Wood, merchants,Leith, intimating that a surgeon was wanted forthe ship Resolution of Whitby, Yorkshire, engagedin the North Sea whale-fishery.
Impelled by curiosity, and by a still more powerfulmotive, to visit the snow-clad coast of Spitzbergen,I applied; and was, after due examination,admitted surgeon for the voyage.
Nothing particular occurred on my journey fromthis to Whitby, where I arrived on Sunday the 16thof March, and was, in every respect, comfortablyaccommodated at the house of the Captain.
As we did not sail for several days after my arrival,I spent a considerable part of my time inmaking such remarks on the town as were particularly