The schooner had just finished her season on the limit of the Antarctic Circle.  But she had not her full number of barrels of oil, of coarse whalebones nor of fine.  Even at that period, fishing was becoming difficult.  The whales, pursued to excess, were becoming rare.  The “right” whale, which bears the name of “North Caper,” in the Northern Ocean, and that of “Sulphur Bottom,” in the South Sea, was likely to disappear.  The whalers had been obliged to fall back on the finback or jubarte, a gigantic mammifer, whose attacks are not without danger.

This is what Captain Hull had done during this cruise; but on his next voyage he calculated on reaching a higher latitude, and, if necessary, going in sight of Clarie and Adelie Lands, whose discovery, contested by the American Wilkes, certainly belongs to the illustrious commander of the “Astrolabe” and the Zelee, to the Frenchman, Dumont d’Urville.

In fact, the season had not been favorable for the “Pilgrim.”  In the beginning of January, that is to say, toward the middle of the Southern summer, and even when the time for the whalers to return had not yet arrived Captain Hull had been obliged to abandon the fishing places.  His additional crew—­a collection of pretty sad subjects—­gave him an excuse, as they say, and he determined to separate from them.

The “Pilgrim” then steered to the northwest, for New Zealand, which she sighted on the 15th of January.  She arrived at Waitemata, port of Auckland, situated at the lowest end of the Gulf of Chouraki, on the east coast of the northern island, and landed the fishermen who had been engaged for the season.

The crew was not satisfied.  The cargo of the “Pilgrim” was at least two hundred barrels of oil short.  There had never been worse fishing.  Captain Hull felt the disappointment of a hunter who, for the first time, returns as he went away—­or nearly so.  His self-love, greatly excited, was at stake, and he did not pardon those scoundrels whose insubordination had compromised the results of his cruise.

It was in vain that he endeavored to recruit a new fishing crew at Auckland.  All the disposable seamen were embarked on the other whaling vessels.  He was thus obliged to give up the hope of completing the “Pilgrim’s” cargo, and Captain Hull was preparing to leave Auckland definitely, when a request for a passage was made which he could not refuse.

Mrs. Weldon, wife of the “Pilgrim’s” owner, was then at Auckland with her young son Jack, aged about five years, and one of her relatives, her Cousin Benedict.  James W. Weldon, whom his business operations sometimes obliged to visit New Zealand, had brought the three there, and intended to bring them back to San Francisco.

But, just as the whole family was going to depart, little Jack became seriously ill, and his father, imperatively recalled by his business, was obliged to leave Auckland, leaving his wife, his son, and Cousin Benedict there.