CHAPTER SIXTEEN
In the dark, Lancelot seemed a different ship, with the sound of the sea and the creaking of wood more prevalent. Watters had nearly forgotten how loud a sail-powered vessel could be as he glanced along the deck and slid below.
If the scuttler were on board and followed his usual pattern, he would sink Lancelot when she was near land, making the early days of the voyage the most dangerous. Whaling ships followed a recognised route, sailing coastwise to Orkney or Shetland, picking up fresh water and maybe a couple of extra hands, and then steering north. The old sail-powered ships would make a single trip, to the Greenland whaling grounds, between Spitsbergen and Greenland, or the Davis Straits, between Greenland and Canada. The more modern ships with auxiliary steam power
