Whale
boats would often operate in pairs or threes rather than alone as a
constant hazard was the huge thrashing flukes of a stricken whale
which were more than capable of destroying a wooden whaling boat.
Sailors at the time were notoriously bad swimmers and it was not
uncommon to lose a man overboard never to be seen again.
Even if the men were good swimmers, the odds of
survival were against them, if they were hunting sperm whales,
then they would probably have been far from land as this species
frequent deep water, and if hunting almost any other type of whale
they would probably be in regions of very cold water where
survival times were short.
An engraving from "The
cruise of the Cachalot"
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