THE \VI1ALE F1S11EJJY. 275 



alive. The crew pulled up to him, aud the captain hauled him into the boat. Uutil he got into 

 the boat Mr. Dunham did not know that one of his feet was gone. It appears that his right foot 

 was foul iu the line when the whale started off, the half turn rapidly revolving around his ankle, 

 cut its way through the flesh to the bone, and when the line straightened out the bone snapped 

 off. Captain Sparks set a signal for the mate to come to his assistance. Dunham was transferred 

 to the vessel aud all sail made for Bequia. Arriving at Bequia, a doctor advised Captain Sparks 

 to take Mr. Duuham to St. Vincent, where he would have the proper care and attention. Captain 

 Dunham, after this experience, sailed as master of several vessels. 



In 1881 an article was published in the newspapers tiTTlIo effect that Capt. James E. Hunt- 

 ting, of Bridgehampton, Long Island, had the preseuce of mind, resolution, and bodily strength to 

 double up, reach forward, and with a sheath knife cut the liue beyond his foot, and come alive to 

 the surface, when the whale was sounding at the rate of 20 miles an hour. In the first place, this 

 may be considered an almost impossible rate of sounding speed for a whale ; in the second place, 

 Captain Huntting, in a letter to the writer, dated October 2, 1881, denies the statement. He 

 says : 



" I know of no instance of a mau cutting himself clear of line with the whale descending at 

 the. rate of 20 miles an hour, neither do I believe it ever has or will be done. In my own case, I 

 was taken out by foul line and carried some distance under water, but the whale rose to the sur- 

 face and stopped his headway, and I was then able to cut myself clear. Had the whale continued 

 to sound, I could not have done it. My own case occurred July, 1846, in the Japan Sea. I was 

 on ship Portland, of Sag Harbor, Capt. J. II. Corwin, and acting as mate at the time. I will give 

 you an instance of a man who was caught iu a foul line by the upsetting of a boat, and carried 

 almost instantly 50 rods under water. He was picked up with his foot aud hand gone, torn off by 

 the line. I amputated the limb above the ankle, and took out the crushed bones of the hand, and 

 the mau lived at least ten years after, and may be alive at this day. He was alive the last time 

 I was in New Bedford. This occurred in April, 1853, on the coast of Chili, when I was master of 

 ship Jefferson, of Sag Harbor. How this man could have lived under water so long is a most 

 unaccountable thing. I could not have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes." 



Captain Cottle, who was once master of the Eugenia, of New Bedford, when second mate of 

 the Champion, of Edgartown, was, in 1849 or 1850, taken out of his boat by a foul line. He cut 

 the line while under water, and was almost dead when he was rescued. 



Captain Baker tells me that one of his bow-oarsmen, Mr. Tinkham, got a turn around his 

 ankle when the liue was running out, but disengaged it as he was going over the head of the boat. 

 He was badly hurt, but recovered, and has since made two whaling voyages as master. 



During my investigations of the whale fishery, and more particularly while on my tour of 

 collecting objects for the U. S. National Museum, I have from time to time met with discarded 

 implements, or parts of implements, which brought me face to face with the dark side of the whale- 

 man's life. In the fall of 1882 the schooner Admiral Blake, Captain Hathaway, of Marion, came 

 into the port of New Bedford with a disabled boat, which was a silent witness of a remarkable 

 tragedy enacted upon the high seas. It appears that on July 13, 1882, a whale was struck with a 

 darting-gun, but the harpoon did not enter the blubber sufficieutly deep to discharge the bomb- 

 lance. As the first officer of the schooner, who thought the gun had been regularly discharged, 

 was putting it away under the thwarts, it went off; the bomb passed through the body of James 

 Alcom, killing him instantly, and then struck Charles Smith, the after-oarsman, in the back, 

 and appeared on the other side above the right hip. 



