The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1851-11-19


crew!
We have Iust received The following thrilling
account of the destruction of the Whale ship
hi Alexander, Capt. John s Deblois. of New
Bedford, BY large sperm whale, from tae lips
IF the Captain himself who arrived in this ct'y
from Paita, on Sunday last, in the schooner
Providence. \ similar circumstance ms never
bee known to occur but once in the wh"e
history OF whule-tishing, and that was the des-
,rncton of the ship Essex, some twenty or
twenty five years ago, and which many OF our
readers fully remember. We proceed with the
as furnished by Cap. Dcblol,, and
winch IS fully authenticated by nine ut the
crew in a rotest under the seal Of the U. >. /
Consul, Alexander Ruden, Jr., at Pitt,
The ship Ann Alexander, Captain ) Dc
blois, sailed from New Bedford, Mass June
LIST, iS5O for cruise in the South Pac lie. t"r
sperm whale. Having taken about ~ barrels /
of oil III the Atlantic, the ship proceedrd on
her VOYAGE Ia The Pacific. Nothing of unusual
interest occurred until when passing Cape
Horn, one ot the men named jackson Walker,
o. Newport, ~ II was lost vrboard IL
storm Reaching the Pacific, she came mp the
coas, and stopped at Va'dvia, coast Of Chill, Tor
ir sn provisions, and on thu 3lst of May as, sac
calI,d at Paita, for the purpose OF Shipping
man The vessel proceeded on her voyage to
lie South Pacific.
On the Goth Of August, last, she reached
what is we'll known to all waters as The 'Od
Shore Ground" in lat. 5 deg. 80 mn. south,
Ion lG2 deg west In the morning OF that
day, at about ; clock, whales were discovered
IN The nrighborhnod, and about noon the same
day, they succeeded in making fast one. The
boats had gone after the whalcs-the larboard
and starbuard, the former commanded by the
frat mate. md the latter by Capt. Dehlos.-
II Al. Ill l,,r
ed by the larbnard boat. After running some
time, the whale turned upon The boat, and rush
nr at it with Tremendous violence, ltts"d open
It's enormous Jaws, and taking the boat in, ac'u-
ally crushed ii into fragments As small as com
mon size chars Captain Dcblo!s immediately
struck for the scene Of the disaster with the
starboard boat aud succeeded araiu.t all rxpec
tation, in resculnr the whole of the crew OF Tie
boat-nine in number
There were eighteen men in the starboard
boat consisting of the Captain, the first mate,
and the crews of both boats. The tri"h,til
disaster had been witnessed from the ship, and
the waste boat was called into readiness and sent
TO their relief The distance from the ship was
about six miles AS soon as the waste boat arrv
ed, the crews were divided aud il was deternn-
ed to pursue the same whale, and make another
attack upon him. According they separated,
and proceeded at some distance from each other,
as is usual on such occasions, after the whalc.-
| In short time they came up 10 him, and pre-
pared to give him battle. The waste boat,
commanded by the first mate, was in advance.
As soon as the whale perceived the demonstra-
| tons being made upon him, he turned his
course, Suddenly, and making Il tremendous
dash at this boat seized it with ms widespread
Jaws and crushed il to atoms, allowing the men
barely time to escape his vengeance by throw.
iap thens Ives into the ocean
Capt Debluis, again seeing the peri.ons con-
ditioa Of his men, at the risk of meeting the
same fate; directed his boat to hasten to their
rescue and in short time succeeded in saving
them all from death little less no r,bIc than
tiat from which they had twice SO narrowly
escaped. He then ordered the boat to put for
| the ship as speedily as possible; and no sooner
had the order been given than they discovered
the monster Of the dep making toward theni
with his Jaws widely extended Fortunate y
the monster came up and passed them at a
short dstace The boat then made her way to
the ship and they all got on board III safety.
After reaching the ship, boat was Dispatch
ed for the oars of the demolished boats and it
was determined to pursue the whale with the
ship. AS soon the boat returned with the
oars, sail was set, and the ship proceeded after
| the whale In a short time she overlook him
and lance was thown in 10 his head. The
| S!l Up passed OH ny MIN, anu
discovered that the whale was making for the
ship AS he came near her, they hauled to the
wind, and suffered the monster to pass her
After he had fairly passed, they kept off to
overtake and attack him again. When the ship
| had reached about fifty rods Of hun, they disc,i-
vered that the whale had settled down deep be-
low the surface of the water, and it was
near shutdown, they concluded TO give up the
pursuit.
Capt Deblois was at this time standing in the
night. heads on the larboared bow, width craft
in hand, ready to strike the monster deadly
blow should he appear; the ship moving about
| five knots' when working on the side of the ship
he discovered the whale rushing towards her at
the rate of fifteen knots In an instant, the
monster struck the ship acih remeaduous III.
olcnce, shaking her from stem to Stern She
quvered under the violence of the shock as il
she had struck upon a rock Capt Deblois
Immediately descended into the forccas,le and
there, to his horror, discovered TINT the monster
had struck the ship about two feet from the
keel, abreast the foremost, knocking q grea.
hole entirely through the bottom through which
the water roared and rushed impctuously =
| Springng to the deck, he ordered The mate TO
cut away the anchor and get the cables over
board to keep the ship from sinking, as she had
a large quantity of pig iron board. In
| doing this the mate succeeded in relieving onl;
one anchor clear, the other having been fastened
| around the foremost The ship was then sink
ing rapidly. The Captain went to the cabin,
where he found three feet Of water; he, how
ever, succeeded in procuring chronometer,
sexant and chart Reaching the decks he or
dered the boats to be cleared away, and to get
water and provisions, the ship was keeling
over He again descended to the cabin, but the
water was rushing in so rapidly that he could
procure nothing: He came upon deck, ordered
all hands into the boats, and was the last him
self to leave the ship, which he did by throwing
himself into the and swimminI to The nc ar,
boat. The ship was on her beam end, her top
gallant yards under water. The thsn pushed
off some distance from the ship, expecting her
TO sink in very short time. pom an exam
nation of the stores they had been able to save,
he discovered that they had only twelve quarts
Of water, and not mouthiul of provisions OF
any kind The boats contained eleven men
each; were leaky and night coming on, they
were obliged to bail them all night to keep them
from sinking.
Next day, at daylight, they returned to the
ship, no one daring to venture on board but the
captain, their intention being to cut away The
masts, and fearful that the moment that the
masts were cut away the ship would 90 down.
With a single Ratchet the captain went on
board, cut away the masts, when the ship ri ght-
cd. The boats then came up, and the ui,.n, by
the sole aid OF spades, cut away the chain cable
from around the foremost which got the ship
nearly on her keel. The men then tied ropes
around their bodies, get into the sea, and eat
hole through the deck to get out prov sions-
They could procure nothing but about five gal
Ions of vinegar and twenty pounds of wet
bread The ship threatened to sink, and they
deemed it imprudent to remain BY her longer,
so they set sail in their boats and left her.
On the 22d Of August, At about five o'clock,
z. NJ. they had the ndescribable Joy OF dis
corning ship in the distance. They made
signal, and were soon answered, and in short
time they were reached by the good ship Nan
tucket, OF Nantucket, Mass. Capt Gibbs, who
took them all on board, clothed and fed them,
and extended to them in every way the greatest
possible hospitality.
On the succeeding day, Capt. Gibbs went to
the wreck of the illflted Ann Alexander for
The purpose of trying to procure something
from her but, as the sea was rough and the
'ttempt considered dangerous, he abandoned
The project. The Nantucket then set sail for
Pnita. where she arrived the 18th of Septcnl-
Der. and where she landed Capt Deblois and
lis men. Capt. Deblois was kindly and hos
Ditably received and entertained at Patl by
Capt. Bathurst, an English gentleman, resi-
ding there and Subse quently took pass1ue on