On the 21st of February, 1803, the ship was launched, and duly “christened” the “Resolution;” and on the 21st of March, she left her moorings in the harbour and proceeded to sea. We made the ice on the 2d of April; on the 12th were in latitude 78° 40′ N. in sight of the “Middle Hook of the Foreland;” and on the 18th “struck” and killed our first whale. The 20th was a prosperous day, for so early a period of the season, adding two more large fish to our commencing cargo. The 29th, however, was very different, being a day of mortifying adventure. We had obtained shelter, during a gale of wind, under the lee-side of a “field,”—a large and continuous sheet of ice extending beyond the reach of vision from the mast-head,—where several whales, (chiefly old ones, with their cubs or calves,) were met with. Four of them—comprising two old and two cubs—were harpooned during the day. The little ones, of but trifling value, were captured; but both the “mothers” escaped. One of them had been so energetically assailed as to receive four harpoons,—a condition from which the capture generally results,—when she made a most determinate advance beneath and beyond the ice. She ultimately escaped, carrying away with her a spoil (a painful and deadly boon, indeed, to herself) of a harpoon, with twelve attached lines, comprising a total extent of 1440 fathoms, or about a mile and two-thirds, in measure! The next day, however, yielded us some compensation, in the capture of another _large_ fish, a result altogether not a little inspiriting, where the attainment of an amount of six whales, before the expiration of the month of April, was a circumstance rarely, if ever, realized before. Our thirteenth fish was killed on the 8th of June; but, though we persevered about ten days longer, and had well nigh captured another fish, in which two harpoons were struck, we made no accession to our not full, but, as the season went, most satisfactory cargo. In looking over my journal for materials for this abstract, it was singularly interesting and pleasant to the feelings to find, under date of the 27th of June, when the good ship Resolution was on her homeward passage, a written recognition, which I remember to have received from my Father, of the Divine hand and Providence in respect of the successes obtained. It is comprised in this brief but appropriate Collect:—“O most merciful Father, who of Thy gracious goodness hast crowned our labours with success, we give Thee humble and hearty thanks for this, Thy special bounty, beseeching Thee to continue Thy loving kindness unto us, that we may enjoy the fruits of our labours to Thy glory and our comfort, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”