274 HISTORY AND DETAILS OF WHALING. 



the bow of the boat, with a lance ten or twelve feet long ; as 

 soon as he comes near enough to reach him, he thrusts the slen- 

 der and fatal steel into the very vitals of the animal ; ' blood 

 mixed with water is discharged from the blow holes, and pres- 

 ently streams of blood alone are ejected, which frequently 

 drench the boats and men, and cover the sea far around. 

 Sometimes the last agony of the victim is marked by convul- 

 sive motions with the tail, and violent contortions of his whole 

 body ; and, as we have seen, in its dying moments it turns its 

 rage towards the authors of its sufferings. The whale is now 

 in his ' flurry ; ' he dashes hither and thither, snaps convul- 

 sively with his huge jaws, rolls over and over, coiling the line 

 around his body, or leaps completely out of the water. The 

 boats are often upset, broken into fragments, and the men 

 wounded or drowned. The poor animal whirls rapidly around 

 in unconsciousness, in a portion of a circle, rolls over on its 

 side, and is still in death. At other times, after it is lanced, 

 the whale yields up its life quietly, and dies with scarcely a 

 struggle." 



Besides harpoons, which are the most important instruments 

 upon which whalemen depend for capturing the whale, the 

 harpoon gun and bomb lance are now used for the same pur- 

 pose. They are not, however, considered as substitutes for the 

 harpoon, except in cases of emergency, when the whale can- 

 not be approached by a boat, or when he manifests ugliness or 

 ferocity. The harpoon gun, designed to throw a harpoon, is 

 but little used by American ships, though quite generally among 

 English whalers. Nearly all of our whale ships, however, are 

 supplied with the fatal and destructive bomb lance. The gun, 

 into which the lance exactly fits, is heavier, shorter, and its 

 barrel larger than common guns. It is loaded with powder, 

 in the same manner as other guns. The lance is then put into 

 the barrel of the gun, until one end of it comes in contact with 

 the charge of powder ; the opposite extremity has three edges, 

 sharp, and tapering to a point. The entire length of the lance 



