WHALE-FISHERY. 161 



ring, with the attached line, remains on the outside 

 near the mouth of the harpoon; but the instant that 

 it is fired, the ring flies back against the cylindrical 

 knob. Some harpoons have been lately made with 

 a single shank, similar to the common u hand-har- 

 poon," but swelled at the end to the thickness of 

 the bore of the gun. The whale line closely splic- 

 ed round the shank, is slipped towards the mouth 

 of the harpoon, when it is placed in the gun, and 

 when fired, is prevented from disengaging itself, by 

 the size of the knob at the end. 



Proceedings on Fishing Stations. 



On fishing stations, when the weather is such as 

 to render the fishing practicable, the boats are al- 

 ways ready for instant service. Suspended from 

 davits or cranes by the side of the ship, and furnish- 

 ed with the requisite implements, two boats at least, 

 the crews of which are always in readiness, can, in 

 a general way, be manned and lowered into the 

 water, within the space of one minute of time. 



Wherever there is a probability of seeing whales, 

 when the weather and -situation are such, as to pre- 

 sent a possibility of capturing them, the crow's- 

 nest*, is generally occupied by the master, or some 



* The crow's-nest, is an apparatus placed on the main- 

 topmast, or top-gallant-mast head, as a kind of watch tow- 

 er, for the use of the master, or officer of the watch, in the 

 fishing seas, for sheltering him from the wind, when en* 



Yol. 111.— 21 



