A similar story is related of a boat’s crew belonging to the Henrietta, during a voyage in 1812. A fish which was struck very near the ship, by a blow of its tail stove a small hole in the boat’s bow. Every individual shrinking from the side on which the blow was given, aided the rocking of the boat, and both together caused it to upset.
With great effort, however, the crew got upon the bottom of the boat, and could immediate assistance have been rendered, they might all have been saved. But the line, which was still attached to the harpoon in the whale, became entangled in some part of the boat, and it was drawn under. A part of the poor fellows went down with it, and were seen no more. Two only arose; and, although greatly terrified, and soon nearly exhausted, they succeeded in buoying themselves up, till a boat from the ship reached them and took them in.
NO. V.—WHALING AMONG ICE.
The whale fishery is sometimes carried on in the vicinity of large fields of ice; and when the weather is fine, and the ships lie in a secure place, it proves an agreeable and profitable business.
In these extended sheets or fields of ice, air holes abound, at which the whales make their appearance, and blow or breathe. When one is observed in this act, the men hasten across the intervening ice, and attack it with lances, with the intention of driving it out into the open sea.
In the year 1813, the ship Esk lay by the edge of a large sheet of ice, in which there were several thin places, and some holes. In one of these a whale was seen sporting in fine style. Immediately, a party repaired to the spot, and harpooned it. At once, it dashed away, and continued to run till it had dragged out ten lines, or two thousand and four hundred yards.
At length, being unable to continue longer under water without breathing, and yet not finding a convenient hole in the ice, it broke through, and reared up its head where the ice was not less than a foot thick. Having taken breath, the monster pushed forward, ploughing up the ice, and rolling it up in mighty furrows on either side, until at last it reached a kind of basin in the field, where it floated on the surface without any incumbrance.
The harpoon was still in its back; but it was momently expected that it would become disengaged. What should be done? The creature was highly exasperated, and not materially injured. It was dangerous to approach to it; and yet the prize was too valuable to be lost.
Added to this, the party had no other harpoon at hand. The only alternative left them was to abandon the pursuit, or to cut the harpoon from its back, and imbed it still deeper.
This being made known to the party by the officers, a young man stepped forward and offered to hazard the attempt. It was a daring experiment—a hundred chances to one, he might fail, and be carried by the maddened monster under the ice. Several remonstrated, and attempted to dissuade him from the perilous enterprise.