340 ACCIDENTAL DEATH. 



and it was not without mucli regret that we thought 

 on having parted with the two of our original crew 

 in Port Louis. 



We continued off the Island of Madagascar up to 

 iNTovember 27th, without aught to mar, or rather im- 

 prove, the general and almost uninterrupted bad 

 weather — thunder and lightning storms following 

 each other with scarce any intermission. During 

 this time we occasionally saw a whale-ship, and, if 

 the weather permitted, failed not to while away a 

 part of this dreary period in gammoning. One day, 

 whilst so engaged, we learned that the chief mate 

 of the ship Martha, of Fairhaven, had lost his life 

 in much the same manner as did the seaman belong- 

 ing to the Brewster. The mate was not seen to leave 

 the boat, neither was any other of the boat's crew 

 injured ; but it appears that the boat had been rashly 

 carried into a perilous and unwarrantable situation 

 by the mate, and, in the bustle attendant to extri- 

 cating the boat under such circumstances, it is sup- 

 posed that whilst the others were busy in trimming 

 boat and attending to the line, the whale, by a sweep 

 of the flukes, struck the officer so suddenly and so 

 severely as to put it out of his power to give an 

 alarm, whereby to attract their attention. Undoubt- 

 edly his death was instantaneous ; but little exertion 

 on the part of the whale would be required to supply 

 a sufficiency of force to crush vitality from the frame 

 of the strongest or proudest of the human race. 



This accident is attributed to carelessness, and, 

 from my own observation, I should say that at least 

 two-thirds of the fatal accidents that occur to whale- 

 men, in pursuit of their prey, result from gross care- 



