INCIDENTS OF WHALING. 209 



adduced as illustrations of the perils encountered 

 by the whalers. 



An instance has come to the knowledge of 

 the writer, of a ship in the North Pacific, from 

 which there was lost a boat and crew of six men, 

 under the following circumstances. They had 

 been lowered after a whale, and had succeeded in 

 fastening the harpoon, but he had darted off 

 with them at railroad speed, out of sight of the 

 ship, which was sailing after them at what rate 

 they could. Suddenly a fog began to rise, and 

 enveloped both the ship and her lone boat, in- 

 ducing a danger of very frequent occurrence to 

 whalemen in high latitudes. 



It was impossible to see any object at the 

 distance of a ship's length ; and there was an 

 open whale-boat, with six men in it, perhaps 

 fifteen miles from the ship, with food and water 

 for but a few hours' consumption, and utterly 

 bewildered in the dense fog. The darkness of 

 night soon came on ; the wind began to rise, 

 and the billows to swell. Every effort was made 

 by firing guns and showing lights, to attract the 

 lost boat. The long hours of the night rolled 



