about eight o'clock
That was four boats , and more than sixteen hundred fathoms of line , besides four harpoons that was fast to that whale , and yet , for all that , he went ahead as fast as we could have rowed , takin ' us along with him quite easy . `` A breeze having sprung up , our ship overhauled us in the course of the afternoon , and towards evening we sent a line on board , to see if that would stop the big fish , and the topsails were lowered , so as to throw some of the ship 's weight on him , but the irons drew out with the strain . However , we determined to try it again . Another line was sent aboard about eight o'clock , and the topsails were lowered , but the line snapped immediately . Well , we held on to that whale the whole of that night , and at four o'clock next morning , just thirty-six hours after he was first struck , two fast lines were taken aboard the ship . The breeze was fresh , and against us , so the top-gallant sails were taken in , the courses hauled up , and the topsails clewed down , yet , I assure you , that whale towed the ship dead against the wind for an hour and a half at the rate of two miles an hour , and all the while beating the water with his fins and tail , so that the sea was in a continual foam . We did not kill that fish till after forty hours of the hardest work I ever went through . ''