104 HISTORY OF THE WHALE. 



and two of them succeeded in approaching so closely to- 

 gether, that two harpoons were struck at the same moment. 

 The fish descended a few fathoms in the direction of an- 

 other of the boats, which was on the advance, rose beneath 

 it, struck it with its head, and threw the boat, men and ap- 

 paratus 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 an- 

 chor 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 

 shivering 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 ice, but in vain, owing to 

 the violence of the gale, and scudded to leeward ; thus 

 leaving fourteen of her crew to a fate the most dreadful, the 

 fulfilment of which appeared almost inevitable. The tem- 

 perature was 15 Fahrenheit, when these poor fellows 

 were left upon a detached piece of ice of no considerable 

 magnitude, without shelter from the inclement storm, and 

 deprived of every means of refuge, except a single boat, 

 which, on account of the number of men and the violence 

 of the storm, was incapable of conveying them to their 

 ship. Death stared them in the face whichever way they 

 turned, and a division of opinion ensued. Some were 

 wishful to remain by the ice ; but. it could afford them no 

 shelter, and would probably be soon broken to pieces by 

 the increasing swell: other* w^ere anxious to attempt to 

 join their ship whilst she was yet in sight; but the'force of 

 the wind, the violence of the sea, and the smallness of the 



