CAPTURING THE WHALE. 121 



clothes as they could snatch in a single instant. 

 The Eattler is said to have become the most com- 

 plete wreck almost ever known. She was literally 

 turned inside-out ; and her stem and stern carried 

 to the distance of a gunshot from each other ; and 

 the Achilles had her sides nearly pressed together, 

 her stern thrust out, her decks and beams broken 

 into innumerable pieces. It has been well observed, 

 under such circumstances as these, that a ship, even 

 the strongest which human art can construct, be- 

 comes like an egg-shell, when opposed to the full 

 force of so terrific an agent." 



The only other species of this genus, which we 

 shall bring under review, is the Balcena Australis, 

 or 



