Captain Hull knew how to disentangle himself, as the sailors say, from among those icebergs, which, during the summer, drift by the way of New Zealand or the Cape of Good Hope, under a much lower latitude than that which they reach in the northern seas of the globe.

It is true that only icebergs of small dimensions were found there; they were already worn by collisions, eaten away by the warm waters, and the greater number of them were going to melt in the Pacific or the Atlantic.
Under the command of Captain Hull, a good seaman, and also one of the most skilful harpooners of the flotilla, was a crew composed of five sailors and a novice.

It was a small number for this whale-fishing, which requires a good many persons.

Men are necessary as well for the management of the boats for the attack, as for the cutting up of the captured animals.

But, following the example of certain ship-owners, James W.Weldon found it much more economical to embark at San Francisco only the number of sailors necessary for the management of the vessel.