. Narrative of discovery and adventure in the polar seas and regions [microform] : with illustrations of their climate, geology, and natural history ; and an account of the whale-fishery. Natural history; Sciences naturelles. -I 'ij 4. 1 II i w 1 1'" J| %:' ii i £iil 11 p 1 Mi)!! J T,. » 374 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. ning rope, had a foot entirely carried off, end was obliged to have the lower part of the leg amputated. A har- pooner, belonging to the Henrietta, had incautiously cast some part of the line under his feet; when a sudden dart of the fish made it twist round his body. He had ju
. Narrative of discovery and adventure in the polar seas and regions [microform] : with illustrations of their climate, geology, and natural history ; and an account of the whale-fishery. Natural history; Sciences naturelles. -I 'ij 4. 1 II i w 1 1'" J| %:' ii i £iil 11 p 1 Mi)!! J T,. » 374 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. ning rope, had a foot entirely carried off, end was obliged to have the lower part of the leg amputated. A har- pooner, belonging to the Henrietta, had incautiously cast some part of the line under his feet; when a sudden dart of the fish made it twist round his body. He had just time to cry out,—" Clear away the line! O dear !'* when he was cut almost asunder, dragged overboard, and never more seen. A whale sometimes causes danger by proving to be alive after having exhibited every symptom of death. Mr Scoresby mentions an instance of one which appeared so decidedly dead that he himself had leaped on the tail, and was busy putting a rope through it, when he sud- denly felt the animal sinking from beneath him. He made a spring towards a boat at some yards' distance, and, grasping the gunwale, was assisted on board. The fish then moved forward, reared his tail aloft, and shook it with such prodigious violence that it resounded to the distance of several miles; but after two or three mi- nutes of this violent exertion, he rolled on his side and expired. Even after life is extinct all danger is not over. In the operation of flensing, the harpooners sometimes fall into the wliale's mouth, at the imminent hazard of being drowned. In the case of a heavy swell they are drenched, and sometimes washed over by the surge. Occasionally they have their ropes broken, and are wounded by each other's knives. Mr Scoresby mentions an instance of a man who, after the flensing was completed, happened to have his foot attached by a hook to the kreng or carcass, when the latter was inadvertently cut away. He caught hold of the gunwale of the boat; but the whole i
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, books, booksubjectnaturalhistory
