178 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 52 



Now he shall speak for himself:^ 



"I pushed at one that showed his back fairly above water, as he 

 swam; but he sank just before I reached him, and I drove down the 

 harpoon at a venture. He had a narrow escape, for the staff struck 

 him. At this moment, three showed themselves below and one 

 above. I pushed for the latter, and when I approached the spot, I 

 saw the water boiling up like a caldron — from which sign I knew that 

 the fish was throwing his somersets below the surface (in the way 

 which is so very peculiar to them). Making the oarsmen check the 

 headway with their oars, I looked anxiously for a view, when, unex- 

 pectedly, I saw the white of his belly far beneath the water, and 

 quite away toward the stern. He was thus behind me, but wheeling 

 suddenly to the right, I pitched the harpoon at him, across the oars, 

 and felt a sensation of surprise, as well as pleasure, in finding that 

 I had struck him. The fish dashed out violently for the channel, 

 and we payed him out thirty fathoms of rope until, headway being 

 given to the boat, we brought him to a dead pull ; and now his mo- 

 tions were very erratic ; unlike some that I had before struck, he did 

 not take a direct course for the sea, but sometimes drew the boat 

 against the tide, then suddenly turned and ran directly toward us, so 

 as to give slack line. I inferred from these signs that he was mor- 

 tally hurt. As often as he approached the Middle Bank and shoaled 

 the water, he drew off in alarm, and would not cross it until he had 

 got to its tail ; his course was then for Paris Bank, which, suiting 

 well with our intention to land him, if we could, at Bay Point, we did 

 not interrupt. About this time he came to the surface without being 

 pulled, and showed great distress — and we resolved, then, to draw 

 upon him and get a second harpoon planted. It was after various 

 fruitless efforts, and by shortening the rope as far as we prudently 

 could, that we at length drew him so far up that the dark shadow 

 of his body was indistinctly seen beneath. The second harpoon was 

 now driven, and the gush of blood to the surface showed that it had 

 done its work. We now drew mainly on this second, leaving only a 

 moderate strain upon the first — and after a few convulsive runs, 

 brought him up helplessly to the surface, and with a spear dispatched 

 him outright. With a hatchet we now cut a hole in one of his 

 feelers, and inserting a rope, passed it to the stern, drawing solely 

 on this, so that the resistance of the fish through the water should 

 be as small as practicable. The wind was now due east and moder- 

 ately fresh ; we raised both sails, and, helped at the same time by the 

 oars, made some way in our tedious progress on towing our prize to 

 land. At this time, espied a boat beating down from Beaufort, and 

 on signalizing her, she proved to be that of Col, De Treville, then 

 on his way to Bay Point. His offer of assistance was accepted, and 

 a tow-line being passed to his boat, we landed our fish at the Point 

 exactly at sunset. This fish measured sixteen feet across, which I 

 suppose to be the medium size of those that visit our waters. The 

 first harpoon had struck it near the center of the belly — had pierced 



' Op. cit., pp. 68-72. The punctuation of the original is preserved. 



