The near disaster in the ice field apparently made Captain Waddell decide not to pursue the whalers in the sea of Okhotsk and the ship took a more southerly course, before turning north again towards the Bering Sea. After the boredom of the long Pacific voyage, this was a land of wonders for Gus. It was almost midsummer and the sun barely dipped below the horizon. Even at midnight it hardly got dark. Mason tried to explain the phenomenon to him by the use of the globe, which stood in the wheelhouse, but even then it was hard to grasp.

He was much more excited by a cry of ‘There she blows!’ A plume of water rose above the surface of the sea and seconds later an enormous tail fin appeared and then smashed down with a resounding slap.

‘What is it?’ Gus demanded of the nearest sailor.

‘That? That’s a whale, lad. That’s what all these ships are up here to catch.’

‘How?’ Gus had seen men fishing from the side of the ship and the fish they had caught. The idea that you might be able to hook a creature the size of a whale seemed ridiculous.

‘Harpoon them,’ his informant responded. ‘You’ll see. We’re bound to come across one being cut.’

He was right. Their next prize had a whale lashed to its side and the crew were busy with long knives cutting the flesh into chunks. Most of the men were apparently unmoved by the sight, but it made Gus feel sick. The ship was flying the Yankee flag, which made it a legitimate target, but as they approached Captain Waddell ordered a Russian ensign to be raised on the Shenandoah. It was the sort of subterfuge he often employed but, although Gus could see the sense of it, he couldn’t help thinking that it was not playing fair.

The crew of the whaler, suspecting nothing, allowed a party sent over in one of the ship’s boats to come aboard and only realised their mistake when they were informed of the Shenandoah’s identity and told that they were now prisoners. A blank cartridge, fired from one of the Shenandoah’s guns, reinforced the message. The men were taken on board the raider and the transfer of anything of use from the captured ship began. The haul included several tanks of fresh water, a welcome bonus, since the only other way of getting drinking water was to burn their precious coal in order to distil seawater.

Once the work was complete a party was sent to spread any flammable materials around the ship and knock down bulkheads in order to create a good draft, and the vessel was then set on fire. The whale oil on board guaranteed a spectacular conflagration.

It was when the master of the captured ship and his mates were invited to join the officers in the wardroom for dinner that problems started.