HITORY OP THE WHALE. 



93 



The whaling vessels, in going north, usually touch at the 

 Shetland Islands, to complete their water, provisions, &c., 

 and leaving the land generally about the beginning of April, 

 they arrive within the Polar Seas before the end of that 

 month. As soon as they reach the haunts of the whale, the 

 crew must be every moment on the alert, keeping watch 

 day and night. The boats, hanging over the ship's side, 

 are ready to be launched in an instant ; and when the 

 state of the sea admits, one of them is usually manned 

 and afloat The officer in the crow's nest surveys the 

 waters at a great distance, and the instant he perceives 

 a whale he gives notice to the watch on deck, some of whom 

 start instantly with the first boat, which is immediately 

 followed by a second. Each of the boats has a harpooner 

 and other subordinate officers; and is provided with an 

 immense quantity of rope, carefully coiled and stowed in 

 different parts of the boat, the different parts being spliced 

 together, so as to form a continued line usually exceeding 

 4000 feet in length. To the end is attached the harpoon. 

 The boat is now rowed towards the whale with the great- 

 est possible speed, in the deepest silence, cautiously avoid- 

 ing giving alarm : sometimes a circuitous route is adopted 

 in order to approach it from behind. Having reached 

 within a few yards, the harpooner darts his instrument into 

 the giant, who in the surprise and agony of the moment 

 makes a convulsive effort to escape. This is the moment 

 of danger, for the boat is exposed to the most violent blows 

 of the whale's head or fins, and still more of its tail, which 

 sometimes sweeps the air with such tremendous fury, that 

 both boat and men are exposed to a common destruction. 



The moment that a wounded whale disappears, a jack 

 or flag is displayed in the boat ; on the sight of which, 

 those on watch in the ship give the alarm by stamping 

 on the deck, accompanied by the continued shout of " a 

 fall, a fall." At this signal the sleeping crew are aroused, 



