iles. It was cold
work sitting in the boats. The men stayed out until ten or eleven
o'clock, and went ashore that day on the Convincing Ground, which was
so-called because the whalers used to go down there to fight, and
convince one another who was the best man.

In the afternoon, about two o'clock, it was Davy's turn to go up a
tree to look for whales. In looking round the Bay towards the Bluff,
he saw a boat with a whiff on. He jumped down, and told Charles
Mills, who said: "Come on." there was a great rush of all the
boats, but Mills' boat kept well forward of the lot. When they
arrived off the Bluff they found Captain Mills had fastened to a
whale, two other loose whales being near. They pulled up alongside
him, and he pointed out a loose whale, to which they fastened.
Mansfield, of the Hobarton party, fastened to the third whale. Davy
came aft to the steer-oar, and Charles Mills went forward to kill his
whale. He had hardly got the lance in his hand when the whale threw
herself right athwart the nose of the boat. He then sent the lance
right into her and killed her stone dead. Mansfield, in hauling up
his whale got on top of Captain Mills' whale, which stove in
Mansfield's boat, and sent all his men flying in the air. There was
a rush then to pick up the men. Charles Mills, finding his whale
dead, struck a whiff in the lance-hole he had made when he killed
her, cut the line that was fast to her, and bent it on to another
spare iron. Mansfield's whale then milled round and came right on to
Charles Mills' boat, and he fastened to her. This gave him a claim
of one half of her, so that Mills and his men got two and a half out
of the three whales. The men were all picked up. Mills' whales were
anchored about half-a-mile from the schooner, and the boats went out
next morning and took them in tow.

The whales tow very easily when fresh killed, but if they are allowed
to get stiff their fins stand out and hinder the towing. When the
two whales were brought alongside the schooner, the boats of Kelly's
party were seen fast to a whale off Black Nose Point. Charles Mills
pulled over, and when he arrived he found a loose whale, Mansfield
and Chase being fast to two other whales. Mills fastened to the
loose whale, and then the three whales fouled the three lines, and
rolled them all together like a warp, which made it difficult to kill
them. After the men had pulled up on them for some time with the
oars,