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all the time the ice-blink, the frost-smoke and the water-skies spoke of the world where Captain Pell had vanished two centuries before, attempting to unravel its secrets.
    From Spitsbergen, where seal abounded and where they saw blue whales, the ships moved on over a greasy sea to the north of Novaya Zemlya. Fog was often with them now and they kept one another informed of their position by firing signal guns. The two pilots, who were masters of Greenland traders and had been specially picked for the voyage, were constantly aloft conning the ships through pack ice -difficult enough nowadays, but fantastically so under canvas and with light, errant winds. Finally they were embayed, two stalwart bomb-ketches, the ice glistening in their rigging, while the ships’ companies, as if unaware of their very real danger, played like schoolboys over the frozen fields.
    It was during this period that an incident occurred which, though always recorded by Nelson biographers, cannot be omitted for a very good reason. It indicates an aspect of Nelson’s character which has often been misconstrued - and generally in his favour. Here it is in the words of Clarke and M‘Arthur, his first biographers:
    Among the gentlemen on the quarter-deck of the Carcass , who were not rated midshipmen, there was, besides young Nelson, a daring shipmate of his, to whom he had become attached. One night, during the mid-watch, it was concerted between them that they should steal together from the ship, and endeavour to obtain a bear’s skin. The clearness of the nights in those high latitudes rendered the accomplishment of this object extremely difficult: they, however, seem to have taken advantage of the haze of an approaching fog, and thus to have escaped unnoticed. Nelson in high spirits led the way over the frightful chasms in the ice, armed with a rusty musket. It was not, however, long before the adventurers were missed by those on board; and, as the fog had come on very thick, the anxiety of Captain Lutwidge and his officers was very great. Between three and four in the morning the mist somewhat dispersed, and the hunters were discovered at a considerable distance, attacking a large bear. The signal was instantly made for their return; but it was in vain that Nelson’s companion urged him to obey it. He was at this time divided by a chasm in the ice from his shaggy antagonist, which probably saved his life; for the musket had flashed in the pan, and their ammunition was expended. ‘Never mind,’ exclaimed Horatio, ‘do but let me get a blow at this devil with the butt-end of my musket, and we shall have him. 6 His companion, finding that entreaty was in vain, regained the ship. The captain, seeing the young man’s danger, ordered a gun to be fired to terrify the enraged animal. This had the desired effect; but Nelson was obliged to return without his bear, somewhat agitated with the apprehension of the consequences of this adventure. Captain Lutwidge, though he could not but admire so daring a disposition, reprimanded him rather sternly for such rashness, and for conduct so unworthy of the situation he occupied; and desired to know what motive he could have for hunting a bear? Being thought by his captain to have acted in a manner unworthy of his situation, made a deep impression on the high-minded cockswain; who, pouting his lip, as he was wont to do when agitated, replied, ‘Sir, I wished to kill the bear, that I might carry its skin to my father.’
    This tale is often told with admiration as evidence of Nelson’s daring and courage, but it was evidence of more than that. Nelson was, like many another boy, high-spirited, thoughtless and brave. But he is shown here as acting in disobedience of the orders of an officer infinitely senior to himself while in pursuit of an immediate ambition. It also makes clear that, when on fire with this ambition, he was capable of recklessness - something that was to cost him dearly many years later at