184 
CHASE AND CAPTURE, ETC. 
up close to the ship, and when very near he appeared to 
go down for the purpose of avoiding the vessel, and in 
doing so he struck his body against some part of the 
keel, which was broken off by the force of the blow and 
floated to the surface ; the whale was then observed to 
rise a short distance from the ship, and come with appa- 
rently great fury towards it, striking against one of the 
bows with his head, and completely “ staving” it in. 
The ship of course immediately filled, and fell over on 
her side, in which dreadful position the poor fellows in 
the boats soon espied their only home, being distant 
from the nearest land many hundred miles ; on return- 
ing to the wreck thev found the few who had been left 
on board hastily congregated in a remaining whale boat, 
into which they had scarcely time to take refuge before 
the vessel capsized. They with much difficulty obtained 
a scanty supply of provisions from the wreck, their only 
support on the long and dreary passage before them 
to the coast of Peru, to which thev endeavoured to 
make the best of their way. One boat was fortunately 
found by a vessel not far from the coast ; in it were the 
only survivors of the unfortunate crew, three in number, 
the remainder having perished under unheard-of suffer- 
ing and privation. These three men were in a state of 
stupefaction, allowing their boat to drift about where 
the winds and waves listed ; one of these survivors was 
the master ; by kind and careful attention on the part of 
their deliverers, they were eventually rescued from the 
jaws of death to relate the melancholy tale. 
