"That I've seen," the Canadian said.
"I can easily believe it, Ned, just as I can believe that certain baleen whales equal 100 elephants in bulk. Imagine the impact of such a mass if it were launched at full speed!"
"Is it true," Conseil asked, "that they can sink ships?"
"Ships? I doubt it," I replied. "However, they say that in 1820, right in these southern seas, a baleen whale rushed at the Essex and pushed it backward at a speed of four meters per second. Its stern was flooded, and the Essex went down fast."
Ned looked at me with a bantering expression.
"Speaking for myself," he said, "I once got walloped by a whale's tail-- in my longboat, needless to say. My companions and I were launched to an altitude of six meters. But next to the professor's whale, mine was just a baby."
"D
