His CAPTORS. 211 



Experience of the Royal Bounty. Chronic Chase of a Whale. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



REMARKABLE EVENTS IN THE ANNALS OF WHALING. 



O'er the deep ! o'er the deep ! 



Where the whale, and the shark, and the sword-fish sleep : 

 On the craggy ice, in the frozen air, 

 Heedless of dangers if game be but there, 

 Encountering all the great whale to snare. Anon. 



THE prodigious speed and strength of the 

 gigantic whale, and the resulting danger 

 to his captors referred to, in general terms, in 

 the last chapter, are practically illustrated by 

 two remarkable incidents, occurring, the one 

 in the English, and the other in the American 

 whale fishery. 



On the 28th of May, 1817, the Royal Boun- 

 ty, an English ship, fell in with a great num- 

 ber of whales in seventy degrees twenty-five 

 minutes north latitude, and longitude five de- 

 grees east. There was neither ice nor land in 

 sight. The boats were manned and sent in 

 pursuit, and after a chase of five hours, one of 

 xthem, which had rowed out of sight of the ship, 



