20 
life would have been the forfeit of his 
temerity! 
Comstock, now laid something heavy 
upon a small work bench near the cabin 
gangway, which was afterwards found 
to be a boarding knife. It is an instru¬ 
ment used by whalers to cut the blubber 
when hoisting it in, is about four feet in 
length, two or threejnches wide, and 
necessarily kept very sharp, and for 
greater eonvemence when in use, is two 
edged. 
In giving a detail of this chilling trans¬ 
action, we shall be guided by the de¬ 
scription given of it by the younger 
Comstock, who, as has been observed, 
was upon deck at the time, and after¬ 
wards learned several particulars from 
his brother, to whom alone they could 
have been known. Comstock went 
down into the cabin, accompanied by 
Silas Payne or Paine, of Sag-Harbour, 
John Oliver, of Shields, Eng. William 
Humphries, (the steward) of Philadel¬ 
phia, and Thomas Linniston; the latter, 
however, went no farther than the cab- 
