Work of the Fighting Whales 293 



and turned on the boat with such vicious dashes 

 that the crew literally fled for life. For half a 

 mile they pulled and turned and backed water 

 with all their might. Several times they escaped 

 from the snapping jaws by less than a foot, and 

 they were rapidly reaching a condition where they 

 could not make another stroke of the oar when 

 the whale suddenly turned over (it had been 

 righting as sperm whales usually do with its belly 

 up), in order to get its nose out of water and inhale 

 a breath of fresh air. 



As it happened, the boat was at that moment 

 within easy reach, and Mr. Norton, who had 

 never for a moment lost his head, was able to 

 drive his lance into the "life," killing it almost 

 instantly. On cutting in the blubber the har- 

 poons from the Barclay were found in its body, 

 thus proving beyond dispute that it was the whale 

 that had killed the Barclay's mate. 



The stories of the ability of the fighting whales 

 to endure punishment are almost beyond belief. 

 The bark Emerald, Captain Abraham Pierce, 

 that sailed from New Bedford on July 15, 1857, 

 fell in with a fighting whale in the North Pacific 



