-------------------- _S. Green, Printer._ -------------------- TO JOHN PERCIVAL, ESQ. OF THE U. S. NAVY, Who, under the auspices of Government, visited the Mulgrave Islands, to release the survivors of the Ship Globe's crew, and extended to them every attention their unhappy situation required--the following Narrative is most respectfully dedicated, by WILLIAM LAY, & CYRUS M. HUSSEY, The Authors. INTRODUCTION. Formerly whales were principally taken in the North Seas: the largest were generally found about Spitzbergen, or Greenland, some of them measuring ninety feet in length. At the commencement of the hazardous enterprize of killing whales, before they had been disturbed by man, they were so numerous in the bays and harbours, that when taken the _blubber_ was for the most part boiled into oil upon the contiguous coast. The _pure_ oil and whale bone were only preserved in those days; consequently a ship could carry home the product of a greater number of whales than a ship of the same size now can.--Indeed, so plentiful were the whales in those seas, and taken with such facility, that the ships employed, were not sufficient to carry home the oil and bone, and other ships were often sent to bring home the surplus quantity. But the coasts of these countries, were soon visited by ships from Denmark, Hamburgh, and Holland, as well as from England; and from frequently being killed in the shoal water near the coasts, the whales gradually receded from the shores, and have since been found only in deeper water, and at a much greater distance from the land. In the earlier stages of the whale fishery, of which we are now treating, the ships were generally on the whaling waters, early in May, and whether successful or not, they were obliged to commence their return by the succeeding August, to avoid the early accumulation of ice in those seas. But it not unfrequently happened, that ships procured and returned with a cargo in the months of June and July, making a voyage only about three months, whereas, a voyage to the Pacific Ocean is now often protracted to three years!