Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1853-10-21

leaving our old wreck as transport with
which 1, get Starbuck's men, and also the
second mates back to the ship.
About sunset the ship was within hun
dred yards Of US and the whale had not been
seen for some time. We had hauled in our
line until it was taut, and we made up our
mind that after ali our exertions and danger
We had lost the prize we had been struggling
for.
Even spermaceti whales have been known
TO sometimes die deep down under the water,
and when such Is the case Il is often found
imPracticable TO raise them to the surface,
and such we supposed TO be the case With
this one, and the captain had just ailed Mr..
Coffin, to say that he had better get the line
on board the ship where he could get more
power 10 assist In raising him, when all at
once we felt the line slacken up, and in an
instant afterwards the whale preached out Of
the water directly under the bows Of the ship.
His entire vast and unwieldly looking carcase
seemed for an instant 10 be suspended perpen-
dlcularly in the air with his tail scarcely bur-
led In the ocean, and then canting over sioe-
ways the whole vast mass Of matter came
down with the force and fury OF an avalanche
square across the ships fore foot, aud not
six feet from her stern bowsprit, foremost
and all going by the board, with tremen-
dous crash, aud nearly burying the forecastle
Of the ship In the ocean. Two boys whe
were aloft furling the fore.top gallant sail
were never more seen. The whale however,
moved not again, and was found 10 be dead
when we finally approached him la the
boat. lie must have instinctively made
that the last breach In his dying agony
They always have, at such moments, what
whalemen call their furry, and their death
struggles at such times are terrible. The
ocean, in many places red with their life
blood, IL nj times white with foam us they
swim round aud round, lashing Is surface
with their broad aud powerful ilukes in their
death agony, aud the bravest whaleman at
such times always takes care 10 keep out OF
the circle which they make, aud which al.
ways gets smaller, until at last, when they
arrived at It's centre, they turn ever on their
side, and always die with their heads point
Ing TO The setting sun. This Is no romance,
but an actual fact that every whaleman can
suhstantiate.
My tale is nearly told. few words more
aud | have done. A gloom was thrown over
Us by this loss Of two Of our shlpmates-
young boys, too small to 20 in the boats and
encounter the dangers 10 which they would
there DO exposed, were thus Unexpectedly
ushered into eternity from place Of appar-
ent security. while Of the four boats crews,
in all twenty.four men, who had all been in
great danger during the day, not ono was
seriously hurt
We worked all night TO clear The wreck
and get the whale alongside, and TO get up
the tackles 50 as 10 Gu, him In, as II is called.
At all events We had this consoation-we
we're quite certain the whale would make us
At least one hundred aud twenty barrels of
oil, for he wassthe longest that any one on
board had ever seen, being nearly ninety feet
IN length.
About noon the next day we commenced
heaying In the blubber, aud by nine o'clock
that evening we had il all in. We now got
the ships head towards Payta, in which port
we intended to repair damages, as soon as
we got our oil boiled out aud slowed away
below.
The quantity OF oil, however, fell far short
Of our expectations. The greater part Of
the bIubber was what whalsmen call white
horse-a tough, hard substance, in which
there Is but little IL any oil. In fact his
whole body was full Of scars, caused by being
so often harpooned before, and perhaps lanced
but he had hitherto always escaped. The
blubber all around these cicatrces was with
out oil. Heads Of harpoons as bright as poll
shed silver were cut out Of the blubber In
many places, the wounds closed up all around
them. They had been broken off at the end
Of the shank near the head, and barbs were
left In the whale. This monster. II must be
remembered, was captured off Peru, within
fifty miles Of the coast, but we cut out of his
blubber bright iron head, marked, Ozark
Harriet, of London, Capt. Reel" This
whale had Of course been struck, or fastened
10, by Que OF that ships boats. We knew
that that ship had not been on this coast for
three years, but was cruising for oil in the
Indian Ocean and near the Islands Of Japan.
The day before we went into port we fin
ished boiling out his blubber and we found
outstanding his enormous size, he only
made about sixty barrels Of oil.
Reader this whale was "Old Peruvian
Tom," well known to all whalemen. aud for
years the terror OF the whole coast, and the
hand that has written this sketch Is one that
assisted Ia his capture, and | was one of the
crew of that boat from whence was dar ted
the barbed and glittering iron that was bur-
led deep In his viiaIs. ii. J.