The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-07-18
Speed and Strength Of the Whale.

Speed and Strength Of the Whale.
The following anecdotes are selected
from work by the Rev Henry T.
Cheever, entitled /" The Whale and his
Captors:"
On the 2sth of May, It'll. the Royal
Bounty, an English ship, fell in with a
great number of whales, in seventy de-
grees twenty-six minutes north latitude,
and five degrees east longitude. There
was neither ice nor land in sight. The
boats were manned and sent in pursuit,
and after a chase Of FIVE hours, one oi
the ships struck one Of the whales -
This was about four o'clock in the morn
ing. The captain directed the course OF
the ship to the point whore he had last
seen the boats, and about eight o'clock
got sight Of one. which displayed the
signal Of being fast. Soon after another
boat approached the first aud struck
another harpoon and by midday two
more harpoons were made fast.
But such was the astonishing vigor OF
the whale, that although it constantly
dragged through the water from four to
six boats, together with sixteen fathoms
Of line, yet it pursued its flight nearly
as fast as boat could row, and whenever
one passed his tail he would dive. All
endeavors to lance it were therefore in
vain, and the crews Of the loose boats
moored to those that were fast, the whale
all the time towing them on. At eight
in the evening line was taken on board
which Immediately snapped. At four in
the afternoon Of the next day, thirty-six
hours after the whale was first struck,
two of the first lines were taken on board
the ship. At length near eight o'clock.
after forty hours Of inccssant exertion,
this tenacious asscr,er Of his animal
vigor and territorial rights. was killed.
The most dreadful display of whale s
strength and prowess yet authenticalIy
recorded, was that made upon the
American whale ship Essex, Capt. Pol
lard, which sailed from Nantucket for
the Pacific Ocean, in August, 1s49.-
Late in the fall Of the same year, when
in latitude forty degrees of the South
Pacific, school of sperm whales was
discovered ,and three boats were manned
and sent in pursuit. The mates boat
was struck by one Of them, and he was
obliged to return to the ship in order to
repair damage.
While he was engaged in that work
a sperm whale, Judged to be eighty-five
feet long, broke water about twenty
rods from the ship, on her weather bow.
He was going at the rate of abou; three
knots an hour, and the ship at nearly
the same rate, when he struck the bows
of the vessel just forward of her chains.
At the shock produced by the coils
sion Of two such mighty masses of mat
ter in motion, the ship shook like leaf.
The seemingly malicious whale dove
and passed under the ship, grazing her
keel, and then appeared at about the
distance Of the ships length, lashing
the sea with its fins and tail, as if suffer
ing the most horrible agony. He was
evidently hurt by the collision, and
bIindly frantic with instructive rage.
In few minutes he seemed to re-
cover himself and started with great
speed, directly across the vessels course
to the windward Meanwhile, the
hands on board discovered the ship to
be gradually settling at her bows, and
the pumps were TO be rugged. While
working at them. one of the men cried
out, "God have mercy he comes
again !"
The whale had turned about one hun
dred rods from the ship, and was max
ing for her with twice his former speed,
his pathway white with foam Rushing
headlong, he struck her again at the
bow, and the tremendous blow stove her
in. The whale dived under again and
disappeared, and the ship foundered in
ten minutes from the first collision. Blu,
five of the twenty souls were saved.
In another authentic instance, when
boat was chasing whale, he suddenly
turned to the windward, and made d.
rectly for his pursuers, who were so ex-
danger. On, therefore, they madly
rushed, without trying to avoid the in
turiated monster, so eager were they to
plunge into him THEN irons, till the boa,
struck with such force upon the whale s
head as to throw the oars from their
thwarts. At the same moment the boat
steerer let fly his two harpoons into the
mammo.h's body, which rolled over his
back, and before the boa, could get
clear Of the danger, heavy sea struck
it and threw them directly in the whale
mouth All Of course sprang for their
lives, and they had barely time to throw
themselves clear of the boat before il
was crushed to pieces by those ponder
Gus jaws, and its elected crew were
providentially picked up by another
boat.
4 Thrilling Incident.