DANGERS OF THE FISHEUY. — ANECDOTES. 341 



As the subject is generally interesting, I shall 

 give a few instances of accidents and remarkable 

 occurrences, illustrative of the dangers of the whale- 

 fishery, most of which occurred within the sphere 

 of my own observation. 



Those employed in the occupation of killing 

 whales, are, when actually engaged, exposed to 

 danger from three sources, viz. from the ice, from 

 the climate, and from the whales themselves. 



Of these three principal sources of accidents, 

 each of which will be illustrated in order, it may 

 be observed generally, That casualties from the 

 ice are neither so common, nor so fatal, as those 

 arising from the whale, or from the climate ; that 

 the climate is the source of the most fatal disasters, 

 but happily not the most frequent ; and that the 

 whale itself, though generally undesignedly, is the 

 source of a great proportion of the accidents which 

 occur. 



I. The ice is a source of danger to the fishers, 

 from overhanging masses falling upon them, — from 

 the approximation of large sheets of ice to each 

 other, Avhich are apt to crush or upset the boats, — 

 from their boats being stove and sunk by large 

 masses of ice, agitated by a swell, — and from the 

 boats being enclosed and beset in a pack of ice, 

 and their crews tlius prevented from joining tlicir 

 ships. 



