e his weapon.

Vienkes flew along with the pieces of the boat, and fell upon the back
of the animal. This intrepid seaman, who still retained his weapon in
his grasp, harpooned the whale on which he stood; and by means of the
harpoon and the line, which he never abandoned, he steadied himself
firmly upon the fish, notwithstanding his hazardous situation, and
regardless of a considerable wound that he received in his leg in his
fall along with the fragments of the boat. All the efforts of the
other boats to approach the whale, and deliver the harpooner, were
futile. The captain, not seeing any other method of saving his
unfortunate companion, who was in some way entangled with the line,
called to him to cut it with his knife, and betake himself to
swimming. Vienkes, embarrassed and disconcerted as he was, tried in
vain to follow this counsel. His knife was in the pocket of his
drawers; and, being unable to support himself with one hand, he could
not get it out. The whale, meanwhile, continued advancing along the
surface of the water with great rapidity, but fortunately never
attempted to dive. While his comrades despaired of his life, the
harpoon by which he held, at length disengaged itself from the body of
the whale. Vienkes being thus liberated, did not fail to take
advantage of this circumstance; he cast himself into the sea, and by
swimming, endeavored to regain the boats which continued the pursuit
of the whale. When his shipmates perceived him struggling with the
waves, they redoubled their exertions. They reached him just as his
strength was exhausted, and had the happiness of rescuing this
adventurous harpooner from his perilous situation.

Captain Lyons of the Raith of Leith, while prosecuting the
whale-fishery on the Labrador coast, in the season of 1802, discovered
a large whale at a short distance from the ship. Four boats were
dispatched in pursuit, and two of them succeeded in approaching it so
closely together, that two harpoons were struck at the same moment.
The fish descended a few fathoms in the direction of another of the
boats, which was on the advance, rose accidentally beneath it, struck
it with its head, and threw the boat, men, and apparatus about fifteen
feet into the air. It was inverted by the stroke, and fell into the
water with its keel upwards. All the people were picked up alive by
the fourth boat, which was just at hand, excepting one man, who having
got entangled in the boat, fell ben