eath it, and was unfortunately
drowned. The fish was soon afterwards killed. The engraving on page
30, is illustrative of this remarkable accident.

In 1822, two boats belonging to the ship Baffin went in pursuit of a
whale. John Carr was harpooner and commander of one of them. The whale
they pursued led them into a vast shoal of his own species; they were
so numerous that their blowing was incessant, and they believed that
they did not see fewer than an hundred. Fearful of alarming them
without striking any, they remained for a while motionless. At last
one rose near Carr's boat, and he approached, and fatally for himself,
harpooned it. When he struck, the fish was approaching the boat; and,
passing very rapidly, jerked the line out of its place over the stern,
and threw it upon the gunwale. Its pressure in this unfavorable
position so careened the boat, that the side was pulled under water,
and it began to fill. In this emergency, Carr, who was a brave, active
man, seized the line, and endeavored to relieve the boat by restoring
it to its place; but, by some circumstance which was never accounted
for, a turn of the line flew over his arm, dragged him overboard in an
instant, and drew him under the water, never more to rise. So sudden
was the accident, that only one man, who was watching him, saw what
had happened; so that when the boat righted, which it immediately did,
though half full of water, the whole crew on looking round inquired
what had become of Carr. It is impossible to imagine a death more
awfully sudden and unexpected. The invisible bullet could not have
effected more instantaneous destruction. The velocity of the whale at
its first descent is from thirteen to fifteen feet per second. Now as
this unfortunate man was adjusting the line at the water's very edge,
where it must have been perfectly tight, owing to its obstruction in
running out of the boat, the interval between the fastening the line
about him and his disappearance could not have exceeded the third part
of a second of time, for in one second only he must have been dragged
ten or twelve feet deep. Indeed he had not time for the least
exclamation; and the person who saw his removal, observed that it was
so exceeding quick that though his eye was upon him at the moment, he
could scarcely distinguish his figure as he disappeared.

[Illustration: INSTRUMENTS USED IN THE WHALE FISHERY.

1. A common Harpoon.
2. A Pricker.
3. A sharp S