The voyage was notable on account of a very exciting incident on meeting with a foreign privateer.  The Dundee was armed with twelve guns and was manned by a crew of between fifty and sixty men, so that if brought to extremities the ship could have made a good defence.  Scoresby, however, had every reason for avoiding a conflict, so keeping his ship in an apparently defenceless state, with all the ports closed, he sent the men to their quarters to prepare the guns for immediate action.  No sign of excitement or commotion was allowed to appear on deck so that when the privateer came within shouting distance Scoresby walking the quarter deck and the helmsmen steering were the only living beings visible to the stranger.  Suddenly, however, the six gun ports on each side of the Dundee are raised and a row of untompioned cannon are seen pointing towards the enemy’s broadside.  The stratagem, according to the account given by the younger Scoresby,[1] was such a huge surprise for the enemy that he suddenly hauled off under full sail and not a shot was fired on either side.

[Footnote 1:  Scoresby, the Rev. William, D.D., “My Father,” p. 108.]

After this voyage young Scoresby went back to school again until 1803 when he became an apprentice on board the Resolution, a new ship of Whitby, commanded and partly owned by his father.  For several years he made the Greenland voyage in the Resolution and was chief officer when, in the year 1806, his father forced the ship through the pack ice, as far north as 81 deg. 3O’.  This was for long the highest point reached by any vessel and the ship’s cargo was completed in thirty-two days with twenty-four whales, two seals, two walruses, two bears and a narwhal.  The elder Scoresby who was about six feet in height was a man of extraordinary muscular power.  His many successful voyages reveal his first-class qualities as a seaman and navigator and his good judgment in emergencies seems to have been almost instinctive.  Although he is described[1] as an Arctic navigator, exploration was only incidental to whale-catching, but his inventions of the ice-drill and the crow’s-nest did much to make Arctic voyages more feasible.

[Footnote 1:  “Dictionary of National Biography.”]

The versatility of his son William was remarkable, for he may be described as master mariner, author and divine and even then his varied scientific knowledge is overlooked.  During his latter years he was particularly interested in magnetism and in 1856 made his last voyage in order to carry out a series of systematic observations.

His life, written by his nephew R.E.  Scoresby-Jackson, is of great interest and Cropton may well be proud that it gave Dr Scoresby to the world.

The memory of the Henrietta is not likely to be forgotten so easily as that of the Scoresbys, for gateposts made from whale jaws are common near the coast of north eastern Yorkshire, and one on the road from Pickering to Scarborough, between the villages of Hutton Buscel and East Ayton, bears the name of the famous ship.