48 OLD WHALING DA$S. 



and she led us a nice dance. We put three harpoons in, 

 then she went into the pack. As the boats were entering 

 the ice, one was capsized, and another severely stove. The 

 men belonging to the boat which sank had to hold on to 

 each other on the ice, as no boat could render them any 

 assistance on account of the sea. The ship took the other 

 boats on board. This was the time to shew what a smart 

 little craft the Truelove was. The captain was carrying 

 on a press of canvas. He ran the ship into the ice, threw 

 lines to the men, got them on board, hauled to the wind, 

 and the little barque came out of the ice splendidly. The 

 other two boats having got about three ships' length inside 

 of the pack edge, did not feel so much of the swell, but it 

 was a most critical time, as the ice was rapidly drifting past 

 several large icebergs inside of the pack. We made pre- 

 paration in case the boats were likely to come in contact 

 with them. The whale at this critical moment sought the 

 open, although this is not frequently the case. 



We were soon dragged into the open water again, and the 

 ship was hovering well to windward, ready to drop the boats 

 in case the whale should rise. She did not do so, and we 

 came to the conclusion that she was dead at the bottom. 

 We took the lines to the capstan, and began to heave in. 

 All hands was sure she was dead, especially when we 

 detected something white not far under water. We gave 

 three cheers, but, alas, we were disappointed, as it proved 

 to be the sunken boat which had got foul of the other boats' 

 lines. It must have been dragged along the bottom for 

 hours. The harpoon gun, which is fixed in the bow of the 

 boat, was polished and choked with mud, of which the 

 bottom is composed, at the depth of 120 fathoms. In an 

 hour's time we had got the lines in but no whale, the 

 harpoons having drawn. The weather now was fine, but 

 our disappointment was great, after twenty-four hours toil, 

 in addition to being wet and our clothes frozen, still we did 



