THE ORDER CETACEA. 77 



he got entangled in the line and could not possibly 

 extricate himself, while the other party were unable to 

 approach near enough to save him. At last, however, 

 the harpoon was disengaged, and he swam to the boat. 



In some instances, the boat, instead of being struck 

 into the water, has met with the equally alarming fate 

 of being projected by a stroke of the powerful animal's 

 head or tail into the air. The following remarkable 

 instance of this is given by Captain Scoresby, who, in 

 one of his earliest voyages, saw a boat thrown several 

 yards in the air, from which it fell on its side, plunging 

 the crew into the sea. Happily, they w T ere rescued from 

 a watery grave, and only one was found to have received 

 a severe concussion. " Captain Lyons, of the Raith of 

 Leith," says our author, " while prosecuting the whale- 

 fishery on the Labrador coast, in the season of 1802, 

 discovered a large whale at a short distance from the 

 ship. Four boats were despatched in pursuit, and two 

 of them succeeded in approaching it so closely together 

 that two harpoons were struck at the same moment. The 

 whale descended a few fathoms in the direction of an- 

 other of the boats, which was on the advance, rose acci- 

 dentally beneath it, struck it with its head, and threw the 

 boat, men, and apparatus about fifteen feet into the air. It 

 was inverted by the stroke, and fell into the water with 

 its keel upwards. All the people were picked up alive 

 by the fourth boat, which was just at hand, excepting 

 one man, who, having got entangled in the boat, fell be- 

 neath it, and was unfortunately drowned. The whale 

 was afterwards killed." 



In 1807, the crew of Mr. Scoresby, sen., had struck 

 a whale, which soon re-appeared, but in such a state of 

 violent agitation, that no one was able to approach it. 

 The captain courageously undertook to encounter it in 



