about noon
As there is no safe anchorage the ships had to stand off and on while the boats went on shore to obtain water and provisions , but we had to be very careful in our dealings with the natives , who were thorough savages and treacherous in the extreme . The weather now gave signs of changing , but as every day a whale was seen the captains were tempted to remain on . I had of late frequently gone away in the boats , generally with Medley , who had become a good harpooner . For two days not a whale had been seen , and we were on the point of proceeding further west when about noon a whole school appeared , and scattering sported far and wide over the surface of the deep . All the boats from both ships were lowered , and I went in one with Medley , who was intent on attacking a large whale which we saw to the eastward , in which direction the land lay from us . Just as we had got within a dozen fathoms of the monster up went its flukes and it sounded , leaving us looking very blank at the spot where it had gone down . It might be forty minutes or more before it would come up again .