WHALE-FISHERY. 



211 



conduct. The sea was in a foam. Its tail and fins 

 were in awful play; and in a short time, harpoon 

 after harpoon drew out; the fish was loosened from 

 its entanglement, and escaped. 



On the 3rd of June, 1811, a boat from the Reso- 

 lution, commanded at the time by myself, put off in 

 pursuit of a whale, and was rowed upon its back. 

 At the moment that it was harpooned, it struck the 

 side of the boat a violent blow with its tail, the 

 shock of which threw the boat steerer to some dis- 

 tance into the water. A repetition of the blow, 

 projected the harpooner and line manager in a simi- 

 lar way. One of the men regained the boat, but as 

 the fish immediately sunk, and drew the boat away 

 from the place, his two companions in misfortune 

 were soon left far beyond the reach of assistance. 

 The harpooner, though a practised swimmer, felt 

 himself so bruised by a blow he had received on the 

 chest, that he was totally incapacitated from giving 

 the least support to his fellow sufferer. The ship 

 being happily near, a boat arrived to their succour, 

 at the moment when the line manager, who was un- 

 acquainted with the art of swimming, was on the 

 point of sinking to rise no more. The fish, after 

 a close pursuit, was subdued. 



A large whale, harpooned from a boat belonging 

 to the same ship, became the subject of a ge- 

 neral chase. Beiug myself in the first boat which 

 approached the fish, I struck my harpoon at arm's 

 length, by which we fortunately evaded a blow 



