30 THE WHALEMAN ; OR, 



the boat which was fastened to the whale. The 

 whale, however, was lost, in consequence of cut- 

 ting the line in the act of lancing him. After a 

 pursuit of an hour or more, the mate fastened to 

 another whale, and finally secured it, though it 

 proved to be of but little pecuniary value. At 

 the same time the boats of the Benjamin Tucker 

 captured a whale, but they could not boast of 

 much superiority. It made them three barrels. 

 Thus ended the first whaling scene on the voy- 

 age, and certainly not a very profitable day's 

 work. 



The Citizen was put on her course. We 

 passed several ships — weather good. Decem- 

 ber 20, lat. 40° S., whales were raised again, 

 but took no oil. Still in company with the 

 Benjamin Tucker. On Christmas Eve, Captain 

 Sands and his wife took tea on board of our 

 ship, thus reviving remembrances of home and 

 friends, though thousands of miles distant from 

 our native port. 



The next incident of more- than ordinary in- 

 terest was another whale scene, of sufficient 

 excitement and peril to satisfy the most ardent 

 and aspiring. 



The Benjamin Tucker had luffed to, headed 

 to the westward, with signal to the Citizen that 

 whales w^ere in sight. The ship Columbus was 



