418 A TERRIBLE DEATH. 



William Carr was harpooneer that he ventured to pull 

 towards it, though it is never a good or prudent plan to 

 meet a whale, and generally proves unsuccessful. How- 

 ever, they encountered the huge creature, and Carr con- 

 trived to harpoon it. The boat and the whale sweeping 

 past each other with great rapidity after the stroke, the 

 line was jerked out of its place, and, instead of running 

 out at the stern, was thrown over the gunwale, where its 

 pressure so overweighted the boat that the side sank be- 

 low the water, and she began to fill. In this emergency 

 the harpooneer, a man of great strength and activity, 

 seized the bight of the line, and, in order to relieve the 

 boat, made an effort to restore it to its place ; but, 

 through some strange and unaccountable mishap, a turn 

 of the line flew over his arm, dragged him overboard in- 

 stantly, and he sank to rise no more ! 



The accident was so terribly sudden that only one man, 

 who was watching the harpooneer's movements at the 

 time, was aware of what had happened ; so that when 

 the boat righted, which, though full of water, it did im-^ 

 mediately, all the crew, alarmed by an exclamation of the 

 man who had seen him launched overboard, simultaneously 

 inquired, Where was Carr? It is surely impossible to 

 conceive of a death more awfully sudden and unexpected ! 

 " The murderous bullet," says Scoresby, " when it makes 

 its way through the air with a velocity that renders it in- 

 visible, and seems not to require a moment for its flight, 

 rarely produces so instantaneous destruction. The velo- 

 city of the whale on its first descent is usually (as I have 

 proved by experiment) about eight or nine miles per 

 hour, or thirteen to fifteen feet per second. Now, as this 

 unfortunate man was occupied in adjusting the line at the 



