136 THE WHALE AND 



Misery finds Company. Getting into a Gam. 



CHAPTER IX. 



EPISODES IN THE FORTUNES OF WHALEMEN. 



There she lies ! there she lies ! 



Like an isle on ocean's breast ; 



"Where away?" west southwest, 



Where the billows meet the skies. 



Port the helm ! trim the sail ! 



Let us chase this mighty whale. Whaler's Song. 



FI1HE mortifying event referred to in the 

 -* last chapter of losing our whale by sink- 

 ing, after all the toil and hazard incurred in 

 its capture, is paralleled only by a like occur- 

 rence in the fortunes of another whaleship on 

 these very False Banks some two or three years 

 ago, which I will give, partly in the words of 

 one who was himself an actor in the scene de- 

 scribed, being one of the hands in the captain's 

 boat. 



Upon getting into a "gam" of whales, this 

 boat, together with that of one of the mates, 

 pulled for a single whale that was seen at a 

 distance from the others, and succeeded in get- 

 ting square up to their victim unperceived. In 



