106 PROCEEDINGS IN 



towards the ship. At four p. M., thirty -six hours 

 after it was struck, the ship again joined the boats, 

 when, by a successful manoeuvre, they secured two 

 of the fast lines on board. The wind was blowing 

 a moderately brisk breeze, and the sails were 

 lowered ; but notwithstanding the resistance a ship 

 thus situated must necessarily have offered, she was 

 towed by the fish directly to windward, with a 

 velocity of two knots, during an hour and a half; 

 and then, though the whale must have been greatly 

 exhausted, it beat the waters with its fins and tail 

 in so tremendous a way, that the sea around was 

 in a continual foam, and the most hardy of the 

 sailors scarcely dared to approach it. At length, 

 about eight p. M., after forty hours of almost inces- 

 sant exertion, this formidable enemy was slain. 



After a whale has been caught and secured at the 

 sides of the ship, the next operation is that o flensing 

 or securing the blubber and whalebone. This dis- 

 agreeble process can, with the whole strength of the 

 crew, be effected in about four hours. Each seaman 

 receives a dram, and some of the more important 

 personages receive two. The huge carcass is some- 

 what extended by strong tackles placed at the snout 

 and tail : a band of blubber two or three feet in 

 width, encircling the fish's body at what is the neck 

 in other animals, is called the kent> because by 

 means of it the fish is turned over or kented. To 

 this band is fixed the lower "extremity of a combi- 

 nation of powerful blocks, called the /cent-purchase^ 

 by means of which, the whole circumference of the 



