Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-12-07

| e""S, anu tiitiS, anu WHeu Iut CIlluS is tC
be done you will have twice the conf
dence and twice. the dexterity. The
danger, of course, is the shares. The
rope fixed, it is easy, towing to the ship
| "But don't you often get your, boats
smashed in 2" asked Henry. o sisq7a
! 80 yes, that's an affair of frequent oc.
currence, and if you are engaged with a
whale towards the end of, the day, a
source of extreme danger. For, of course,
there is no twilight in those equinoctial
regions,-now, broad daylight; five min
utes hence, darkness. You get stove in
just as the sudden darkness sets in, and
the chances are you perish. For, by the
morning. the ship, quite ignorant OF
your whereabouts, may have drifted
miles out of sight. Now L did see a
brave thing done once in an affair of this
kind. You know, ladies, or more prob
ably you do NOT know, a whaler's boat
there are three or four of them to shin
lis some thirty feet long and as thin as
a lath-''' $50 .''s -5s
"Thin as lath ~ exclaimed Henry.
"Fhree cuts to the inch plank. in fact.''
'tBut I should hive thought you could
not have had them too strong,-so as 10
resist the, strokes of the whale.'' a..1t
t'The stoutest boat made to handle
wouldn't do that; so these answer in
that respect as well, and they are much
more convenient for lowering from the
ship and for repairing. Thirty feet
long as they are. you and 1 could carry
one on our two shoulders with ease.
When a boat is stove we rightside it,
lash the oars crossways so as to make a
wide raft like surface-there are ropes
expressly affixed to the sides of the
boats--and all sit down to await assist
ance. Of course we are stationary but
thus sitting down, the weight of our
bodies is not more than pound or two
on the boat: the water nearly supports
us: if We stand up the boat sinks i'm
mediately. once so sat-the water
breast high--for three hours. Bless
you, it's luxurious position in those
climates-provided your comrades look
like eventually coming to your assist
ance. Well, on the particular occasion
L have in mind, we fell in with large
whale late in the day. We were work
ing in an extended line-the two other
boats some long way to the right-with
the ship at least three miles to-leeward.
We are stove in, and, as Coleridge has
it, 'at one stride comes the dark
"The ship is miles away, the other
boats far beyond hail, there does not ap-
pear a hope of salvation. Then one
man gets up from amongst us and says
he will swim for it. r.. He does not pro-
pose trying for the ship, that is quite out
of the question. But he points out how,
in order themselves toreach the ship, the
other boats must at some one spot come
within three quarters ola mile of us,
and he hopes, in spite of the sharks, in
spite of the darkness, to happen upon
their path, when he will bring them to
our and. Over the side the man went,
and we waited and waited, and listened
and listened, and in no very long time
we heard the grateful splash of the oars,
and they brought us all off safely. do
call that brave fellow. Our passive
endurance was of a very different quail
ity. 1t was touch-and-go both for him
and for us. I never had nearer, ex-
cept once, perhaps, when a whale, with
a clever back stroke of his fin, took my
left eyebrow sheer off to the bone" and
the captain pointed to very visible
scar. " A trife further, Miss Waven.
and / should not be here to tell you the
tale; that L should not, as am a man
alive" C(tG IS fT3a%
eyes," said my brother, "there is some
thing very admirable about that mans
act. Mr.. Kavanagh might have remain
ed in Lucknow with the other brave men
and women; but he went out and won
the Victoria Gross. All sailors are sub
ject to so much exposure, little excess
may be forgiven them"
"Now I'll tell you. I am fifty-fve,
and was thirty years at SEAL was
never screwed more than twice in my
life. Once when was boy, and some
body who ought to have known better
gave me some doctored stuff; and again
on the occasion of my joining my second
ship. had something to remember that
last by. As l went on board, mate
says. Harding. how are you, old chap 2
Right as a triyet,'' says L; fright, as a
trivit.' And it passed into a byword
amongst hem,-Harding's being as
right as trivet, 1t is Suffolk say
ing, you know. had a plan of my
own with'my crews. 1 found spirits in
that hot climate did not agree with me,
nor, indeed, any fermented liquors. So
for myself prepared a mixture of best
Scotch oatmeal and water-the water
simply poured over the oatmeal, about d
pint to a spoonful. found it very
nourishing as well as thirst satisfying.
Now if l had gone to my men, and in so
many words recommended it to them in
the place of grog, they would have
turned up their noses. But by putting
pail of it on the deck, and making. a
point of helping mysalf from it. in less
than no time had them following my
example; and soon, like me, they would
drink little else."
at is strange life," said the captain,
passing his hand Immediately over his
hair. "When you get into, the seas
where the compass dips perpendicularly,
you expect strange things though. Now
LII tell you,"-his favorite preface
"My brother Jack went to sea a year
later than l; consequently, our spells at
home timed differently, and we lost all
reckoning of each other. 1 had not seen
him for twelve years, and l did not even
know in what ship he was. l was sec
ond mate, Or chief mate, 1 forget which,
in the ship Eclipse, and it was in the
Australian Seas" There is a certain
particularly in the form sailors speak Of
their vessels. 81 was at the lookout l