362 WHALE-FISHERV. 



months elapsc^tl, before ]iis eoiintenance exhibited its 

 v.'oiitcd appearance of health. 



Boats Sunk, Stove, or Upset, hij blows from 

 IVIiales. — The Aimwell of Whitby, while cruising 

 the Greenland seas, in the year 1810, had boats in. 

 chase of whales on the 26th of IMay. One of them 

 was harpooned. But instead of sinking immediate- 

 ly on receiving the wound, as is the most usual 

 manner of the whale, this individual only dived for a 

 moment, and then rose again beneath the boat, struck 

 it in the most vicious manner with its fins and tail, 

 stove it, upset it, and then disappeared. The crew, 

 seven in number, got on the bottom of the boat ; 

 but the unequal action of the lines, which for some 

 time remained entangled with the boat, rolled it oc- 

 casionally over, and thus plunged the crew repeat- 

 edly into the water. Four of them, after each im- 

 mersion, recovered themselves and clung to the boat ; 

 but the other three, one of whom was the only per- 

 son acquainted v/ith the art of swimming, were 

 drowned before assistance could arrive. The four men 

 on the boat being rescu.cd and conveyed to the ship, 

 tlie attack on the whale was continued, and two 

 more haqioons struck. But the whale irritated, in- 

 stead of being enervated by its wounds, recommen- 

 ced its furious conduct. The sea was in a foam. 

 Its tail and fins were in av» ful play ; and in a short 



