'260 WHALE-FISHEUY. 



cxliaustctl to the edge. It is then attacked in the 

 usual way with liarpoons and lances, and is easily 

 killed. There is one evident advantage in field- 

 iishing, which is this : When the fast-boat lies at 

 the edge of a firm unbroken field, and the line pro- 

 ceeds in an angle beneath the ice, the fish must ne- 

 cessarily arise somewhere in a semicircle described 

 from tlie fast-boat as a centre, with a sweep not ex- 

 ceeding the length of the lines out ; but most ge- 

 nerally it appears in a line extending along the mar- 

 gin of the ice, so that the boats, when dispersed 

 along the edge of the field, are as effectual and as 

 ready for promoting the capture as twice the num- 

 ber of boats or more, when fishing in open situa- 

 tions ; because, in open situations, the whale may 

 arise any where within a circle, instead of a semi- 

 circle, described by the length of the lines with- 

 drawn from the fast-boat, — whence it frequently 

 happens, that all the attendant boats are disposed 

 in a wrong direction, and the fish recovers its breath, 

 breaks loose, and escapes before any of them can 

 secure it with a second harpoon. Hence when a 

 ship fishes at a field with an ordinary crew and six 

 or seven boats, two of the largest fish may be 

 struck at the same time with every prospect of suc- 

 cess ; while the same force attempting the capture 

 of two at once in an open situation, will not unfre- 

 quently occasion the loss of both. There have indeed 

 been instances of a ship's crew, with seven boats. 



