Nantucket sleigh ride

Nantucket sleigh ride

An instance of a whaling ship that has hooked a whale and thus is being pulled by it. We're going on a Nantucket sleigh ride today, boys—I can feel it! There's a whale out there just waiting for our harpoons!
See also: ride, sleigh
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • sleigh
  • a laugh
  • laugh
  • thar
  • thar she blows
  • whale the tar out of
  • whale the tar out of (one)
  • whale the tar out of someone
  • a beached whale
  • there she blows
References in periodicals archive
On this particular trip we caught 19 species offish; several at the time were unidentified, many the first of that species for a few of the anglers and more than one Nantucket sleigh ride from fish that are still out there swimming with our lures in their mouths.
Kayak fish Panama's Wild Coast: big fish, small craft off the beaches
US whalers of the 19th century used to call this the "Nantucket sleigh ride".
Hunting a 36ft whale.. armed with just a flimsy spear; Fishermen's terrifying batttle captured on film for the first time
I jumped in while he held it tight to the boat, then like the famous Nantucket sleigh ride of whaling days, dragged me to the prime location.
Jersey shore: the garden state's coastal marshes and open ocean offer awesome public opportunities
And then there's the whaling: the 'wild excitement' when the lookouts cry 'There she B-L-O-W-S!!!'; the tense moments when the sailors row close enough to slam the 'cruel irons' deep into the whale's flesh; the resulting 'Nantucket sleigh ride' as the creature attempts to outrun the whaler's ropes; its baneful lancing, final 'flurries', and death--'His chimney is afire' the crew would shout triumphantly as blood gushed from the blowhole.
Whale Hunter
If the whale survived and bolted, the crew might enjoy the clipping speed of a "Nantucket sleigh ride" until the mammal spouted blood, signaling the end was near.
Family's real life at sea follows demise of whaling
There was time for a stirring Laing drum solo, with drumsticks flying into the crowd, before a memorable Nantucket Sleigh Ride, one of Mountain's all-time classics.
Legend rocks on; Reviews MOUNTAIN Huntingdon Hall, Worcester
But after hours of putting churn in the water feeding the little fish, he sees a huge tuna, he manages to get the harpoon into it, and the "Nantucket sleigh ride" begins, as the large fish pulls Skiff and the little boat through the water.
Philbrick, Rodman. The young man and the sea