On the 29th of May, 1807, a whale was harpooned by one of our officers. It descended to some considerable depth, but speedily returned. On its reappearance, it evinced an uncommon degree of irritation. Its motions, whilst making but little progress a-head, were vehement and incessant,—rolling itself quite over, or, in an oscillating manner, from side to side; throwing its huge tail into the air, or flinging it with fearful impulse right and left, and so keeping the surface of the sea around it in perpetual commotion and foam. The display of its fins and tail was so terrific and dangerous, that few of those in command of our boats were hardy enough to approach it. But, under this violent action of the fish, and the inaction of our men, the risk of losing the hoped-for prize became imminent. This being evident to my Father, who, with discerning and watchful eye, had all along been viewing from the mast-head, with intense anxiety, the exciting scene with his glass,—he made the signal, and in a manner indicative of urgent haste, for one of the boats to come to the ship. In brief space,—the fish not being far distant,—he had personally embarked on his dangerous enterprise. On reaching the scene of action, where the wounded monster was still exerting its excited energies in aiming blows at any approaching boats, or thrashing the sea into a foam,—our accomplished whale-hunter quietly assumed a station, in parallelism, nearly, with the direction of the animal’s extended length, and within a few fathoms of its broadside. The boat-steerer,—as the custom is,—he guided by the motion of his hand; but the boat’s crew, being previously urged to exert a tremendous spring on their oars when he should decide on making his attack, were to await his verbal command. A favourable pause, succeeding a terrific display of action and power, had been watchfully discerned by my Father, when, giving the signal to the boat-steerer to sheer towards the fish, and, simultaneously, the emphatic order to the men,—“Give way, my lads; give way!”—he was in a moment placed within reach; and then, at long arm’s length, whilst leaning over the boat’s bow for distance’ sake, he plunged his well-sharpened harpoon deep into the writhing creature’s side. Its usual vengeance-slash of its tail was made harmlessly; for the order to “back off,” had been so instantly and effectively obeyed, that the boat was beyond reach before this ponderous engine of motion or destruction could be thrown out.