110 DANGERS IN 



Carr !" — the principal officer of the boat. The par- 

 ticulars were as follow : The two boats which had 

 been so long absent had in. the outset separated 

 from their companions, and allured by the chase of 

 a whale, they proceeded till they were far out of 

 sight of the ship. The whale led them amidst a 

 great shoal ; one rose so near the boat of which 

 Carr was harpooner, that he ventured to pull 

 towards it, though it was meeting him, and offered 

 but an indifferent prospect of success : he, how- 

 ever, succeeded in harpooning it. The boat and 

 fish passing each other vdth great rapidity after the 

 stroke, the line was jerked out of its place, and, in- 

 stead of " running" over the stem, was thrown over 

 the gunwale ; its pressure in this unfavourable posi- 

 tion so careened the boat, that the side sank under 

 water and began to fill. In this emergency the har- 

 pooner, who was a very fine active feUow, seized the 

 line, and attempted to relieve the boat, by restoring 

 it to its place ; but a turn of the line flew over his arm, 

 in an instant dragged him overboard, and plunged 

 him under water to rise no more ! So sudden was 

 the accident, that only one man, who had his eye 

 upon him at the moment, was aware of what had 

 happened ; so that when the boat righted, which it 

 immediately did, though half full of water, they all 

 at once, on looking round at an exclamation from 

 the man who had seen him launched overboard, 

 inquired " What had got Carr ?" It is scarcely 

 possible to imagine a death more awfully sudden 

 or unexpected. The accident was, indeed, so in- 



