HISTORY AND DETAILS OF WHALING. 273 



with the harpoon there is a strong line regularly coiled in the 

 tub ; when the whale is struck, and is disposed to dart away or 

 dive down to the depths of the ocean, he carries the iron stick- 

 ing fast by the barbs, while the coiled line runs out with 

 amazing velocity. From a tub near the stern of the boat, it 

 passes around a loggerhead, and over the seats of the oarsmen, 

 to the bow of the boat, and then a sheeve or pulley is provided, 

 over which it passes to the whale. The friction sometimes is 

 so great in consequence of the rapidity with which the line is 

 carried out by the whale, if by accident it gets out of its place, 

 the bow of the boat is speedily enveloped in smoke, and would 

 burst into a name provided water was not instantly applied to 

 prevent or allay all friction. 



"It is at such a time as this, when by some slight accident 

 the line gets « foul,' or, by the overturning of the boat, the 

 warp becomes ' tangled ' up with the men, many a poor sailor 

 has been carried out of the boat, and carried down into the 

 depths below, and never seen after. Such sad occurrences as 

 these are not wholly unfamiliar with whalemen. 



" As soon as the whale is struck, orders are given to • stern 

 all,' in order to get out of the way of his flukes, or if he is 

 disposed to be frantic and run, to give him the line. Some- 

 times the lines of several boats are bent on, and more than 

 eight hundred fathoms are run out, and yet the whale would 

 sink the boats were not the line cut. The force that can drag 

 more than three thousand feet of whale warp through the 

 water, including a whale boat, and sometimes more than one, 

 at the rate of ten, twelve, and fourteen miles per hour, must be 

 tremendous. Such is the locomotive energy of the whale. It 

 is supposed that with equal ease he could swim off with a ship. 



" When, however, the whale becomes so exhausted, having 

 been perhaps harpooned by some other boats, that the warp can 

 be hauled in, and the boat or boats approach the whale again, 

 the lancer, who is generally one of the mates of the ship, ex- 

 changes places with the boat steerer, and takes his position at 



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