the hands that were brought into this port again going out in the ship, of their own accord, is unprecedented in the annals of the arrival and departure of American whalers; for, commonly, such vessels lose a half or two-thirds of their crews. A few months ago, the ship Hunter, of New Bedford, touched here, and lost a number of her men--several of whom are now acting as policemen. Our non-success in capturing whales gave good cause for apprehending that we should meet with a like loss, and our not doing so may be attributed to the general good treatment which characterized our ship throughout her voyage. Although not a paradise, still she was as good as the best of whalers. No overt act of cruelty or brutality had been exercised on any one of our crew; and therefore they were now all satisfied again to go afloat in her. In the morning three new men came aboard: two of them were ordinary seamen, or as such they represented themselves--one having steered a boat, and the other having been a year before the mast in a colonial vessel. If these were fair specimens of colonial seamen, the poorest must indeed be very low; for none of them knew the compass, or the rigging, or how to furl a square sail. The whole three were Irishmen, of the class that are banished from their country for their country’s good. CHAPTER IX. At 8 o’clock on the morning of the 6th we hove up our anchor, got under weigh, and, with a fair wind, stood down the river--leaving Hobartown in the distance--bound on another long cruise to the westward.