rength 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 his head, and threw
the boat, men, and apparatus about fifteen feet in the air. It
was inverted by the stroke, and fell into the water with its
keel upward. 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 beneath it and was unfortunately
drowned. The fish was soon afterward killed.

"In 1822 two boats belonging to the ship 'Baffin' went in
pursuit of a whale. John Carr was harpooner and commander 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 a
hundred. Fearful of alarming them without striking any, they
remained 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 release
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 impossi