CETACEANS. 20? 



stored to the crew of the Russell, upon their establish- 

 ing their claim. 



The number of Cachalots obtained at one lowering 

 seldom exceeds five : the greatest number recorded is 

 seven, but this is justly deemed extraordinary. When 

 opportunities offer for harpooning a greater number 

 than can be immediately secured, it is a frequent, but 

 cruel practice, to pierce several individuals of a school 

 with a " drogued iron/' or harpoon unattached to a 

 boat's line, but to which a square piece of timber, or 

 " drogue" is fastened, to impede the whale's flight, and 

 thus afford a better chance to any disengaged boat. As 

 may be supposed, the majority of drogued whales es- 

 cape, though but to experience much and protracted 

 suffering. In some cases the practice is necessary and 

 excusable, as when a boat is compelled to cut her line 

 and liberate a whale which is enfeebled and dying : a 

 " flag drogue/' (or one so loaded with lead as to re- 

 tain an elevated flag, to indicate the situation of the 

 whale when it expires and floats on the sea,) may 

 then be a mean of preserving to the whaler a valuable 



prize. 



It occurred to Captain T. Stavers, of the Tuscan, to 

 lose a large whale under circumstances that exempli- 

 fied the power of the Cachalot in carrying off encum- 

 brances of this kind. The whale in question, at the 

 time he escaped from the boat, had attached to his 

 body seven harpoons, three entire boat's lines, (or 1320 

 yards of cordage,) a line-tub, and numerous drogues ; 

 and, with all these powerfully resisting bodies im- 

 peding his progress, ultimately escaped by superior 

 speed. Two days after, the same whale was en- 

 countered, and killed with difficulty, by the ship John 

 Palmer, which, at a subsequent meeting in port, re- 



