Burlington hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1845-185?, 1846-04-23
From the Boston Mercantile Journal
Incidents of a Whaling Cruise
Whaling Extraordinary: OF, the Bonc-shark.

Whaling Extraordinary: or, the Bonc-shark.
| There are many curious passages in
| the life Of whaleman. He is familiar
with hardships. perils aud deprivaii.ns;
but he also meets with many pleasant and
amusing scenes, on which his memory
delights to Iingrr in after years. When
the ship is filling up with oil fast, when
business Prospers. aud home seems near.
every duty is performed "wilh will I;
there is no skulking then. and a good
prospec, is held out Of money in abund
ance at the end Of The voyage. Then the
| appearances al sea. how grand and beau
iful! Not so monotonous after all, as
Iandsmen nigh. suppose. 1t is glorious
To behold the wonders of nature on the
broad ocean. The face Of the peaceful or
tempesl,tossed deep-the quiet Of valley
and river-,he hoary subimty Of the
| cloud capt mounlain-the terrific plunge
of Niagara's green torrent. Has he a
soul, who can behold such sights unmov-
cd. ungraIfied! Blu, how grand. passing
| description, is the face Of nature, as re-
Elected on the oceans mirror, when the
storm has risen in its wrath.
Perhaps ,cha'ing captains are not such
enthusiastic admirers of nature AS lands
nen generally, but really doubt whether
any display Of natural scenery would al.
ford me. or most other persons of my
occupation. as much genuine satisfaction
AS he "goodly prospect" which | have
sometimes beheld of smooth sea, with
numerous whales floating near al hand
upon its CLASSY surface. and free from
fear and shyness, lying al ,heir ease as
quietly and ursuspecllngly as the barn
yard fowls which pick up the crumbs al
your kitchen door. and then loiier about
in the desire of a farther supply. Bu, |
must make one exception. have seen a
finer, mole pleasing sight than this. and
generally the day after the sigh, referred
,o-nam-lv, when on looking from The
deck down under the ships sides on either
hand. to see snugly cabed in and made
fast perhaps one or more Of these mon
slers of The deep. Blu, to my story.
While in command of tie staunch ship
Oregon, of NJ. spent the fall of 1888 in
cruising upon the "of shore ground" and
had spent several weeks very successfully
employed in promoting my owners and
my own interests in The capture oil
whales, but had for some days spoken
or seen nothing but whales. One fine
morning, however. at day break, our mo-
nolony was disturbed by The pleasing
announcement Of two ships in sight-one
eff our weather beam about five miles
distant, and the other perhaps four miles
disian, and just forward of our lee beam.
At the Time of This discovery we were
all three standing snu,h, VIII all saul set,
with abou, ave kuo, breeze from lie
north east. On exchanging signals with
The weather ship. we found her TO be the
Luther" belonging 10 our own owners
in n, and aboui Q A. NJ. she changed
her course squared her yards, and headed
for us. The Keen sighted Gay Head
Indian, Wehqui~h, being AT the main tor
gallant mast head. jas, at ,hi. very mo
ment unexpectedly discovered (he sAld) =
Iarboa.d quarter! And sure enough
there he was only three cables length IA
or more, III plain sigh! No sooner had
my eye rested upon his noble outline.
Than The order STAND by your bozl'
there" came forth with all the force OF
my lungs, from nv lips.
Ay frs, mate, Mr. Ienrv. whose priv
iege It Was III this case IL take the lead
had gone below /" shave and rig out
for a visit 10 III. t.nlher. then fast coming
down III us. and II being warm dav, Eat
Invested himself of his outer garments
and in iruwsers and SHIRT sleeves rolled
up TO the elbows. was busily engaged il
the arduous weekly operation of shaving
Prompt ant active, he had no sooner hrart
my order from the deck, than he spran:
up, "accou,red as he was" plunged in
TO" the boat, and babe them follow.
And, truly. any member Of the canine
family, excepting "a car of the very low
EFT degree" would have INDUCED his
risihe prnpensiles 10 all unusual extern
had he been present. 10 observe Mr. Hen
rvs lndicrous appearance as he spran:
over the gangway and over The side int,
his boat. One side Of his face shaved. tn,
other spread thick with lalhsr, withou
hat, coat, shoes, or stockings. the very
picture of luna,ic escaped from III,
Asvtum-down into the boa, h. sprung
and away they pulled with might ant
nam, IN haste /" get the start of the Lu
Tiers beats, which were al this mOmsn
lowering down in no, pursuit, and had ii
some respects the advantage OF position
After hard pulling with all their might TO
a few minutes. Mr Henrv's boats l,as
nearly reached The whale. They had al
been 50 anxious to be first ia at tn,
DEATH" that no particular notice had beer
taken of the whale If which they we're il
pursuit. their attention having been di
recied more closely to the Lu,her's boai
than to the contested prize. Webquish
the Indian, was i'll the bows. harpoon il
hand, all ready-and now, being within
striking distance, Mr. Henry gave thu
word in GREATNESS haste, slump up an,
give it to him.'-and down went tn,
harpoon into the monsters side-and
second was in the &C, of entering, whel
The mate loudly exclaimed Hop ON
HOLD on! It's BONE SHARK! 1t was too
late. Both harpoomsswere already fast
and the shark began slowly to sink, taking