Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-12-07
IyO('lL..lxstlXl,,xv. x Xxx lIHlglIG
Wblo Statesman,
AN OLD WaALER'S YARN,

nv VIU WnbL6n'S IHnVs
"Did l like the life? and if 1 had the
time to live over again would 1 make
tile same choice ? Well. Miss Waven,
its about this. It's,just the finest thing
out-so long as you have-no flutterings
here" and he laid his hand on his broad
chest. 'tBut whea a mans ship ceases
to be wife and child and all the world to
him, it is another thing altogether nv
advice to him is. he'd better give up
whalingp HEi f0 itIIdSsAEEit
So spoke Captain Harding, erst South
Sea whalrr, now. these ten years past,
gentleman, of, England, living at -home
at ease. Captain Harding is sitting in
my brother Henry's drawing room after
dinner and heavy days sport among
the turnips-the Captain commonly uses
an immense double barreled gun which
has in old times brought down monkeys
many. IL
Captain Harding is not after our re-,
ceivrd notion of a sailor; hi is 'suffi-
ciently broad but much too tall with it:
pale faced man with full white beard,
hsaeis'drather Tbleached and aged than
bronzed by his foreign experiences-s
hfty-five, he, looks sixty-also, instead
Of the sailors roll, he has an erect mill
tary carriage, partly to be accounted for
by his five years service in our local
volunteers. of whom he is a most eff
cient officer; only occasionally he or
ders the piping of all hands instead of
the assembly, and all taut in lieu of
dressing up. aa 10 S7o"-9a' sa' 'sa s7-a-i -'Ta 2
at is not to say there is any
choice :. in the natter continued
Captain Harding. Let boy but have
the sea fever on. ohim-not the sham
thing, that a. months coasting voyage
will cure-but the real thirst for the sea,
for foreign adventure, and he'd best be
let go. l for example, shouldn't have
made half a man at home-now, how
ever"
"You are man and a half" inter-
posed my brother, heartily.sli7 TIT
an size you mean ?'' and the captain
laughed enjoyably. "Well, my father
was in anlargs way of business, but he
had little capital-I should have done
nothing atiothe humdrum, millwheel life
1 must have been bound to. But he
consented that should go to. sea, and 1,
Aatter myself I did make a good
whsler." si-,y,,, p q q
"Self.reliance is the best lesson in the
world for boy,"r said Henry senten-,
tiously. sa'2E' i "a i9ist4sao9 4-'e -'7.aT - 10
1T is, it is. Jack and /, Mrs. Wa
ven, were turned out of the nest to make
way for second brood, and what way.
we have made has been against wind and
tide" ie''Ss 30 i ='a-7 .eF s77sr
"But there are very many dangers at.
tending whale-fshing, are there not 2"
asked--"sharksi and all sorts of
things ?''ea no -s.a'} .s.z1a}. .--. 3
-" We got used to them, Miss Waven,
we just got used to them. / have seen.
men sitting with bare legs over the gun
wales of the boats, and shark come
sheer up, and make snap for them,
times out of mind He comes with a
swift motion, as you have seen a pike.
Sharks don't often of intention attack
man. When he is about aswhale they'll
occasionallystake neat piece out of his.
leg by mistake for the whales flank
In my. thirty years experience /. have
not known many men killed BY them.
And in every way fatal accidents are less
frequent than you would imagine. Alot
of men about,a whale just remind me Of,
a lot Of 'bluebottle 1flies about a Joint Of
meat. You strike here and there, and
everywhere as sharply and fercely as
youql qlike-the chances are they'll all es=,
cape You. It is precisely titus with the
whales frantic strokes. Jack was less
fortunate. in this respect than |. He
lost two of his officers in one voyage.
Parley-you know Farley, of our town,
Miss Waven?-his brother was one.
The whale brought down its tail on the
boat, and he was crushed to death as
YOU would crush gnat. The other
fellow lost his life two months after in
much the same way" fs55s5+
"Now when you set out on a voyage"
Henry asked, "what would be your par
ticular destination p p7 s4a = ~
".yust where my judgment took me-
You See, 1 was differently situated to
most masters 1 was allowed more dis
cretionary power. l had, in fact, a sort
ofroving commission. My owners would
say, there is your ship. Harding
everything we think, in her, that you'll
require for foury years. Now sail as soon
as you like, and let us hear from you as
often as you can. Whatever luck you
have, good or ill, don't scruple to write,
we shall be glad to hear Then l
would be gone from three to four years.
according to my degree of success. For
the months of our own summer we would
cruise in the Japan seas :, for the Ant
artic summer in the Australian seas
For six years, through coming home be-
tweenwlIiles, entirely escaped winter"
! 'And how do you find the whales Cap
tain Harding?" inquired my sister q
MY wife thinks you fish for them with .
a rod and a line" laughed Henry, land
a worm at the end" s = I'd iii. y
eve find them, Mrs. Waven, by their
spouting. With the first of daylight a
lookout is told of, and kept going, re-
lieved at due intervals, until night.
Sometimes we go two months without
even steing whale. Then again,
once killed eleven in one day. But
they were shoal whales, and the whole
eleven not worth so much as one good
sized male whale. A fair-sized male
whale is worth five hundred pounds, and
some large ones bring in as much as
thousand. When you have secured
large whale, it saves great deal of
trouble if you can get it close up by the
ship, This is done ty jawboning him
work often falling to my share"
"Why to your share2"
Because was always good in the