The flukes of this one measured thirteen feet across, and with one stroke of this it could have smashed our largest boat in pieces.

Many a boat has been sent to the bottom in this way.
I remember hearing our first mate tell of a wonderful escape a comrade of his had in the Greenland Sea Fishery.

A whale had been struck, and, after its first run, they hauled up to it again, and rowed so hard that they ran the boat right against it.

The harpooner was standing on the bow all ready, and sent his iron cleverly into the blubber.

In its agony the whale reared its tail high out of the water, and the flukes whirled for a moment like a great fan just above the harpooner's head.
One glance up was enough to show him that certain death was descending.
In an instant he dived over the side and disappeared.