522 WHALE-FISHERY. 



II. Under the second law ; whenever a fish is 

 loose, whatever may he the case or circumstances, it 

 becomes a free prize to the first person who gets 

 hold of it. 



Thus, when a whale is killed, and the flensing 

 is prevented by a storm, it is usually taken in tow ; 

 if the rope by which it is connected with the ship 

 should happen to break, and the people of another 

 ship sliould seize upon it while disengaged, it be- 

 comes their prize*. 



Should tlie flags of a ship and its fast-boat be 

 .struck, on the supposition that their whale has es- 

 caped, the same whale may be struck by the peo- 

 ple of any other ship who can approach it ; and 

 though the case should prove doubtful, whether the 

 fish were really fast or loose at the time, the second 

 striker would have the advantage in his claim, 

 in consequence of the jacks of the first striker being 



* Some instances of this kind have, however, occurred, 

 wlierein the riglit of the original proprietors has appeared so 

 evident, that the fisli, which might have been perversely de- 

 tained, was liberally restored. Such was the case, where a 

 ship was towing one dead fish towards another, for the purpose 

 of securing both of them, before the flensing was commenced, 

 when the line broke, and the fish was left a little distance astern. 

 In the interim, before a boat could be dispatched, to regain it, 

 the crew of a strange boat, which happened to be near, seized 

 it, and towed it to their own ship. The case, however, being 

 glaringly inequitable, the fish, after some little altercation, was»^ 

 given up. 



