As the whale, unless alarmed, seldom swims more than two and a half miles an hour, and usually stays below only about forty-five minutes at a time, there is little difficulty in overhauling him.

Then the boats are launched, the captain and a sufficient number of men staying with the ship.
[Illustration: "THERE SHE BLOWS"] In approaching the whale, every effort is made to come up to him at the point of least danger.

This point is determined partly by the lines of the whale's vision, partly by his methods of defense.

The right whale can only see dead ahead, and his one weapon is his tail, which gigantic fin, weighing several tons and measuring sometimes twenty feet across the tips of the flukes, he swings with irresistible force and all the agility of a fencer at sword-play.

He, therefore, is attacked from the side, well toward his jaws.