NOTES. 311 



This opinion is confirmed by the reflections had on one oc- 

 casion, when our captain of the Commodore Preble was 

 dragged out of our sight by an enormous sperm whale, to 

 which he was fast, and had at last to cut loose from, lest he 

 should be lost. Numerous melancholy facts in the annals of 

 whaling confirm our estimate, then formed, of the danger and 

 inexpediency of the captain's going in the boats, and natu- 

 rally suggest to owners the propriety of instructing their cap- 

 tains to stay by the ship. Witness the recent narrative, from 

 the New Bedford Mercury, of the sufferings of Captain Hos- 

 mer and a boat's crew, of the whaling bark Janet, who were 

 separated from their vessel while on the coast of Peru. The 

 account, furnished by the captain, is substantially as follows: 



On the coast of Peru, 23d June, 1849, in latitude 30 N., 

 longitude 104 W., while cruising for whales, a shoal of sperm 

 whales appeared in sight from the Janet, and three boats low- 

 ered in pursuit. Captain Hosmer's boat's crew consisted of 

 himself, Francis Hawkins, third mate, Edward H. Charles, 

 Joseph Cortez, Daniel Thompson, and James F airman, sea- 

 men. It blowing fresh at the time, the boats soon separated, 

 each having made fast to a whale. After Captain Hosmer 

 had succeeded in lt turning up" his whale, and was towing 

 him to the ship, from some inadvertence on the part of the 

 third mate in putting about, the boat capsized, with loss 

 of boat-keg, lantern-keg, boat-bucket, compass, paddles, &c. 

 The crew succeeded in righting the boat, and lashed the oars 

 to the thwarts across the boat, to prevent her from overturn- 

 ing, she being filled with water, and the sea continually 

 breaking over her. 



Two waifs, or flags, were immediately set as a signal of 

 distress, the other two boats being in sight, at a distance of 

 about one and a half miles. Captain Hosmer saw the other 

 two boats take their whales alongside of the bark, which was 

 then kept off in the direction for his boat ; but, to his surprise 

 and horror, when within about one mile of him, they kept off 

 on another course until sundown. The crew of the captain's 



