168 
CHASE AND CAPTURE 
his flesh myself, as it occurred close to the ship. The 
whale appeared quite terror-struck for a few seconds, 
and then suddenly recovering itself, darted off like the 
wind, and spun the boat so quickly round when the 
tug came upon the line, that she was within a miracle of 
being upset. But away they went, “ dead to windward,” 
at the rate of twelve or fifteen miles an hour, right 
against a “ head sea,” which flew against and over the 
bows of the boat with uncommon force, so that she at 
times appeared ploughing through it, making a high 
bank of surf on each side. 
The second mate, having observed the course of the 
whale and boat, managed to waylay them, and when 
they came near to him, which they speedily did, a 
“ short warp” was thrown, and both boats were soon 
towed at nearly the same rate as the captain’s boat had 
been before. 
I now saw the captain darting the lance at the whale 
as it almost flew along, but he did not seem to do so 
with any kind of effect, as the speed of the whale did 
not appear in the least diminished, and in a very short 
time they all disappeared together, being at too great a 
distance to be seen with the naked eye from the deck. 
I now ran aloft, and with the aid of a telescope could 
just discern from the mast-head the three objects, like 
specks upon the surface of the ocean, at an alarming 
distance. I could just observe the two boats, with the 
whale’s head occasionally darting out before them, with 
a good deal of “ white water” or foam about them, 
which convinced me that the whale was still running. 
