WHALE FISHERY. 507 



was secure, but our expectations were premature. Th 

 whale resolutely pushed beneath a large floe, that had 

 recently been broke to pieces by the swell, and soon drew 

 all the lines out of the second last-boat, the officer of 

 which, not being able to get any assistance, tied the end 

 of his line to a hummock of ice, and broke it. 



' SooB afterwards, the other two boats, still fast, were 

 dragged against the broken floe, mien one of the har- 

 poons drew out. The line of only one boat, therefore, 

 remained fast to the fish, and with six or eight lines out, 

 was dragged forward into the shattered floe with aston- 

 ishing force. Pieces of ice, each of which was suffi- 

 ciently large, to have answered the purpose of mooring 

 a ship, were wheeled about by the strength of the whale; 

 and such was the tension and elasticity of the line, that 

 whenever it slipped clear of any mass of ice, after turn- 

 ing it round, into the space between any two adjoining 

 pieces, the boat and its crew flew forward through the 

 creek, with the velocity of an arrow, and never failed to 

 launch several feel upon the first mass of ice it encoun- 

 tered. 



' While we scoured tho sea, around the broken floe 

 with the ship, and while the ice was attempted in vain 

 by the boats, the whale continued to press forward in an 

 easterly direction toward the sea. At length, when four- 

 teen lines, (about 10^0 fathoms.) were drawn from the 

 fourth fast-boat, a slight entanglement of the line, broke 

 it at the stem. The fish again made its escape, taking 

 along with it a boat and twentyeight lines. The united 

 length of the lines was 6720 yards, or upwards of three 

 and three fourths English miles; value, with the boat, 

 above JoO pounds sterling. 



' The obstruction of the sunken boat to the progress 

 of the fish must have been immense, and that of the lines, 

 likewise considerable, the weight of the lines alone being 

 thirtyfive hundred weight. 



' So long as the fourth fast-boat, through the medium 

 of its lines, retained its hold of the fish, we searched the 

 adjoining sea with the ship in vain ; but, in a short time 

 after the line \^s divided, we got sight of the object of 



1 pursuit, at the distsnce of near two miles to the eastward 



1 of the ice and boats, in the open sea. 



