INCIDENTS OF WHALING. 211 



some ship. On the seventh day they caught a 

 shark, which they ate with a good relish. They 

 were then standing for the King's Mill group of 

 islands ; but a new gale coming on, they were 

 obliged to reef down and stand to the eastward, 

 and finally to heave to, where they lay for 

 thirty- six hours, in a gale unusual for those 

 latitudes. On the morning of the tenth day 

 they again stood to the west. On the eleventh 

 they discovered a sail,*and stood for her, which 

 proved to be the bark Han seat, of Hamburg. 

 They were taken on board and treated with 

 great kindness, having had nothing to eat 

 during the eleven days, excepting the shark 

 they had caught and one or two flying-fish, and 

 no water except what they had caught in the 

 line-tubs. Some of them had lain down to die 

 two days before they saw the ship, and all of 

 them were so weak that they could scarcely 

 support their weight. Captain Durfee, after 

 cruising for several days in the vicinity, was 

 making the best of his way to Oahu with the 

 remnant of his crew, having given up all hopes 

 of ever seeing any of his officers or crew again, 



o 2 



