CAPTURING THE WHALE. 115 



approached it advanced incautiously. It rose with 

 unexpected violence beneath the boat, and projected 

 it and all the crew to the height of some yards into 

 the air. It fell on its side, and cast all the men 

 into the water ; one was somewhat injured, but the 

 rest escaped/' 



Captain Lyons of the Raith of Leith, in 1802, 

 despatched four boats after a large whale on the 

 coast of Labrador, and two of them succeeded in 

 approaching so closely together, that two harpoons 

 were struck at the same moment. The fish de- 

 scended a few fathoms in the direction of another 

 of the boats, which was on the advance, rose be- 

 neath it, struck it with its head, and threw the boat, 

 men, and apparatus about fifteen feet into the air. 

 It was inverted by the stroke, and fell into the 

 water with its keel upwards. All the people were 

 picked up alive by the fourth boat, except one man, 

 who, having got entangled in the boat, fell beneath 

 it and was drowned. 



The following anecdote illustrates the dangers 

 arising from the ice. On the commencement of a 

 heavy gale of wind, May 11, 1813, fourteen men 

 put off in a boat from the Volunteer of Whitby, 

 with the view of fixing an anchor on a large piece 

 of ice, to which it was intended to moor the ship. 

 The ship approached on a signal being made, and 

 a rope was fixed to the anchor ; but the ice shiver- 

 ing with the violence of the strain when the ship 

 fell astern, the anchor flew out, and the ship went 

 adrift. She attempted again to approach the iee, 



