94 
VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
able position was selected for the purpose. It may 
be proper to remark, that the greatest observation 
and most strict attention are requisite in mooring 
a ship against a floe of ice, in a situation where other 
immense masses are in motion ; for I noticed that 
large bodies of ice do not move directly to leeward, 
as would naturally be supposed, but, like a ship, 
form a curvature, greater or less, according to their 
elongated form. Several ships were now in com- 
pany ; some pursuing their avocation, others moored 
like ourselves to the ice, and one of them to an ice- 
berg. The disagreeable process of making off the 
three whales last caught, was now performed ; this 
being finished, and the ship cleaned, we unmoored 
at three o’clock, and sailed again in search of whales. 
One, of an immense size, rose not far from us, but 
very near the Trafalgar, and was struck by a har- 
pooner from that ship, who actually ran his boat 
upon the back of the fish. The wind was blowing 
very hard, and the whale, in going down, nearly 
upset the boat, by raising it on its tail ; it very 
quickly ran out all the lines, and went under a field 
of ice ; when from the harpoon not retaining its 
hold, the fish was lost. This method of close ap- 
proach to a whale is common in the fishing when 
circumstances will allow, as it prevents the fish, from 
the situation of his eyes, from perceiving the me- 
ditated design ; it is nevertheless a service of con- 
siderable hazard, and was, in this instance, of ex- 
traordinary peril : boats are thus often lifted out of 
the water ; and, I have been assured, have in some 
