1 86 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



carried far under water. Upon this occasion, however, he 

 fortunately escaped serious injury j and throughout the re- 

 mainder of the cruise his efiForts proved more successful. 



At times certain "ugly" cachalots seemed to display a de- 

 liberate desire for revenge. One animal, upon being har- 

 pooned, contrived to catch the line in its open jaws and to swim 

 at great speed in a circle so small that the boat was almost 

 capsized. The line was finally severed by the friction and 

 sawing of the great teeth j and the liberated whale then ap- 

 parently took to flight and "turned flukes" about a mile away. 

 Fifteen minutes later, however, it came up without warning 

 directly under the boat, capsized and smashed it, threw the 

 crew into the sea, and then made off again, with the harpoon 

 still firmly imbedded in its flesh. Upon another occasion a 

 sperm whale, after having been attacked, sounded and re- 

 mained under water for a long period. Then suddenly it 

 "breached," caught the boat squarely between its jaws, and 

 crumpled it into bits, giving the men barely time enough to 

 dive into the sea. 



In June, 1842, a fearful adventure befell a boat's crew from 

 the whaleship Russell, of Dartmouth. While the Russell was 

 cruising on one of the Pacific grounds this boat succeeded in 

 fastening to a victim which ran along the surface until out of 

 sight of the vessel. At length, while the mate was endeavor- 

 ing to pull in for a lance thrust, the cachalot overturned the 

 craft with a blow of its flukes. One man was drowned, but 

 the others regained the capsized boat and clung to the -keel. 

 The sea was so rough, however, that even such a small craft 

 could not be righted j and it was not until they had been in the 

 water for some thirty-six hours that the wind abated sufficiently 

 to allow them to turn the boat over, bail it out, and clamber 

 aboard. In spite of hunger, thirst, and exposure, they finally 

 reached Tacamas, where they were providentially found by 

 their shipmates a few days later. 



A pugnacious whale was seldom encountered; but when such 

 an individual was attacked, it constituted a formidable ad- 

 versary indeed. One right whale struck and wrecked a boat 

 in "breaching," and afterwards swept the fragments with its 

 flukes. Two men were killed at oncej but the captain managed 



