Sketches Afloat with the Whalers 273 



not do this, they waited until the whale became 

 tired and slackened speed, say from ten or twelve 

 knots down to five or six. As the boat was then 

 hauled near it was steered out around the thrash- 

 ing tail. The mate sometimes reached out for- 

 ward of the bow of the boat, clutched the line, 

 drew it aft by main strength, and handed the 

 bight to the bow oarsman, who held it, leaving 

 the mate free. If the harpoon was planted well 

 forward, it was not necessary to do this. In any 

 way possible the boat was drawn up until the mate, 

 standing in the bow, was able to reach out with 

 the lance and drive it into the vitals of the whale. 



To this day the old hand lances are used in 

 open water, for who would throw away a five- 

 dollar bomb when the hand lance would serve ? 



Having killed the whale the carcass was usually 

 towed to the ship, though it often happened that 

 the ship could be sailed to the carcass. Towing 

 a whale was the hardest work known to the sea; 

 for nothing wilts a man like plying the oars when 

 he cannot see that the boat is making any progress. 



Right whales very often sank as soon as dead, 

 and sperm whales did so sometimes. In her 



