OF THE SPERM WHALE. 
171 
poor fellow was last seen. It was a curious circum- 
stance, and only served to heighten our horror, when 
we saw this carnivorous bird seat itself proudly over the 
head of our companion, and which also served to remind 
us of the number of sharks that we had so frequently 
seen of late, of the horrible propensities of which we 
could not dare to think. 
By the time we had hoisted in the boat it was quite 
dark ; the winds too had increased to half a gale, with heavy 
squalls at times, so that we were obliged to double-reef 
our topsails. Our painful situation now bore most heavily 
upon us. We had lost one of our men, who had sailed 
with us from England — the bare thought of which in our 
circumstances aroused a crowd of heart-rending ideas. 
Our captain and second mate, with ten of the crew, had 
also disappeared, and were by this time all lost, or were 
likely to be so in the stormy night which had now set 
in ; being too several hundred miles away from any land. 
We, however, kept beating the ship to windward con- 
stantly, carrying all the sail that she could bear, making 
“ short boards” or putting the ship about every twenty 
minutes. We had also, since nightfall, continued to burn 
blue lights, and we had likewise a large vessel containing 
oil and unravelled rope, burning over the sternrail of the 
ship as a beacon for them, which threw out a great light. 
But although all eyes were employed in every direction 
searching for the boats, no vestige of them could be seen ; 
and therefore when half-past nine p.m. came, we made 
up our minds that they were all lost ; and as the wind 
howled hoarsely through the rigging, and the waves beat 
