FASTENED TO A WHALE. 73 



to the ship. They had managed to get one iron into 

 the whale before being stoven ; but the boatsteerer, 

 undaunted, when up to his waist in water, darted his 

 second iron at the animated target, striking his mark, 

 but not with sufficient force to fasten sohd. Their 

 line entwining around ours, prevented us hauling on 

 to and despatching him ; and whilst we were dallying, 

 away he went to windward, towing us faster than a 

 steamboat, the water breaking completely over us. 

 Our boat was one-third full all the time, and it was 

 only by unremitting bailing, by two of our number, 

 that we kept her afloat. This continued for hours, 

 until the ship was only seen as a speck in the horizon. 

 The whales were darting here, there, and everywhere 

 — ahead, astern, and under us — and the officer only 

 prevented their getting afoul of us by repeated 

 lancings ; whilst our boats were tossed to and fro. The 

 boatsteerer of the starboard boat was pitched out, but 

 he caught the gunwale and soon recovered his position. 

 Immediately after the line ran foul, our boat capsized 

 and was taken down. I jumped, as soon as I found 

 that she was going over, kicked off my shoes, and 

 swam for the other boat, the line of which had been cut 

 as soon as they discovered our mishap. On getting 

 into the boat, I found that three others were all right, 

 and directly our second mate made his appearance 

 and was assisted in. He stated that the line had be- 

 come twisted around his ankle, but, fortunately, he had 

 the sheath-knife in his hand when he went down, 

 and cut himself loose. The tub oarsman got in with 

 his hand seriously cut, evidently by a lance which he 

 must have come in contact with under water. As 

 soon as we counted those in the boat, the amid- 

 7 



