138 A Fortunate Prize. 



boat over streams of ice and between floes, and 

 taking advantage of all open " leads/' we were soon 

 up to the fish, who had by this time received a 

 second harpoon, and three or four fatal thrusts from 

 a lance wielded by the experienced hand of Bob 

 Gordon. From the immense jets of blood thrown 

 up, contrasting strongly with the white ice upon 

 which it fell, we knew she was near her end ; and 

 so it proved, for having anxiously waited with our 

 deadly weapons in readiness for her reappearance, 

 we commenced to haul in the lines — no easy task 

 for seven or eight men in a boat, with a hundred- 

 ton weight attached to the end. We had scarcely 

 hauled in a couple of lines (200 fathoms) before the 

 ship steamed up, and taking the line on board and 

 bringing it to the steam winch, the fish was dragged 

 to the surface dead, amidst the vociferous and de- 

 lighted cheers of all. She proved to be a perfect 

 monster, worth at least five or six of those captured 

 last Sunday. She will in all probability yield close 

 upon twenty tons of oil. At eight we commenced 

 to flinch, which operation was completed at about 

 eleven o'clock. 



We have been compelled to clear out some of 

 our tanks in readiness to receive the blubber ; and 

 the coal with which they were filled, to the amount 

 of about twenty tons, is heaped along the quarter 

 deck. The state of the upper deck, from the ag- 

 glutination of grease and coal dust, may therefore 

 be better conceived than described. The voracity 



