CETACEANS. 203 



As soon as it is ascertained that the whales noticed 

 are of the required kind, and placed favourably for 

 attack, the order is given to commence the pursuit; 

 when less than two minutes suffices to place the boats 

 simultaneously in the water, manned with their re- 

 spective crews, and pulling energetically, if the whales 

 are to windward, or sailing as well as pulling if the 

 school should be to leeward; the ship, in the mean- 

 time, attending them at a convenient distance, to direct 

 their proceedings by observations made from the mast- 

 head, and communicated by an established code of 

 signals. 



When a boat has approached a whale within a 

 reasonable distance, the harpooner quits his oar and 

 stands in the bow, with the harpoon in his hand, until 

 the exertions of the rest of the crew have advanced the 

 boat sufficiently close, and in a favourable position to 

 strike. The first harpoon is then darted, and pierces the 

 body of the whale the second almost instantaneously 

 follows, with equal success, and the effects become 

 visible at a great distance, as the wounded monster 

 plunges convulsively, casting its flukes high in the air, 

 and raising clouds of foam and lofty columns of water, 

 which obscure, and threaten to overwhelm, the at- 

 tacking party. After this first display of surprise and 

 agony, the whale sets off with great swiftness along 

 the surface of the water, drawing after it the attached 

 boat; the line being secured around the logger-head, 

 her oars apeak and bristling from either side, and her 

 bow raised high above the level of the sea and en- 

 veloped in spray; whilst the water, displaced by the 

 velocity of her motion, rises on each side of the 

 depressed stern, considerably above the level of the 



