WHALE FISHERY. 433 



The whale, with near two miles' length ofline, was, in 

 consequence of the accident, lost, but the boat was re- 

 covered. On a subsequent occasion, I underwent a simi- 

 lar misadventure, but with a happier result ; we escaped 

 with a little wetting into an accompanying boat, and the 

 whale was afterwards captured, and the boat with its 

 lines recovered. 



When fish have been struck by myself, I have on dif- 

 ferent occasions estimated their rate of descent. For 

 the first :j()0 fathoms, the average velocity was usually 

 after the rate of eight to ten miles per hour. In one in- 

 stance, the third line of 120 fathoms was run out in six- 

 tvone seconds ; that is at the rate of eight and one sixth 

 English miles, or seven arid one eighth nautical miles per 

 hour. By the motions of the fast boat, the simultaneous 

 movements of the whale are estimated. The auxiliary 

 boats, accordingly, take their stations about the situation 

 where the whale, from these motions, may reasonably be 

 expected to appear. 



The average stay under water, of a wounded whale, 

 which steadily descends after being struck, according to 

 the most usual conduct of the animal, is about thirty 

 minutes. The longest I ever observed was tiftysix min- 

 utes, but in shallow water, I have been informed, it has 

 sometimes been known to remain an hour and a half at 

 the bottom after being struck, and yet has returned to the 

 surface alive. The greater the velocity, the more con- 

 siderable the distance to which it descends, and the 

 longer the time it remains under water, so much greater 

 in proportion is the extent of its exhaustion and the con- 

 sequent facility of accomplishing its capture. Immedi- 

 ately on its reappearing, the assisting boats make for the 

 place with their utmost speed, and as they reach it, each 

 liarpooner plunges his harpoon into its back, to the 

 amount of three, four, or more, according to the size of 

 the v/hal-e, and the nature of the situation. Most fre- 

 quently, however, it descends for a few minutes after re- 

 ceiving the second harpoon, and obliges the other boats 

 to await its return to the surface, before any further at- 

 tack can be made. It is afterwards actively plied with 

 lances, which are thrust into its body, aiming at its vitals. 



