Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-01-04
AN OLD wHsLEB,s yARb.


here,' and be laid his hand on his broad
chest. But when mans ship ceases
to be his wife and child and all the
world to him, it is another thing alto
gether; and my ndvice to him is that
he d better give up whaling" "
So spake Captain Harding, erst South
Sea whaler, 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 many
monkeys. ......s.. 3
Captain Harding is not after our re-
ceivel notion of sailor; he is suffi-
cieptly broad, but much too tall with it;
pale-faced man, with white beard, he
is rather bleached and aged than bronzed
by his foreign experiences-fifty-tive he
looks sixty; also, instead of the sailor 8
roll, he has an erect military carriage,
partly to be accounted for by his five
years experience in our local volunteers,
of whom he is a most efficient officer,
only occasionally he orders the piping Of
all hands instead of the assembly, and
all taut, in lieu of dressing up.
II is not to soy there is any choice
in the matter" continued Captain Har-
ding. LET boy but have the sea fever
on him-not sham thing, that month s
coasting voyage will cure-but the real
thirst for the sea, for foreign adventures,
and he'd best be let 60. l, for example,
shouldn't have made half man at home
now, however"
"You are man and a half" inter-
posed my brother, heartily.
In size, you mean p and the captain
laughed cpjoyably. "Well, my father
was in large way of business, but he
had little capital l should have done
nothing at the humdrum, mill-wheel life
must have been bound to. Buthe con-
sented that ! should go to sea, and ]
hstter myself that l did. make good
whaler."
"Self. reliance is the lesson in the
world for a boy" said Henry, senten
tiously.
at is, it is. Jack and l, Mrs. Waven,
we're turned out of the nest to make room
for a second brood, and what way we
have made has been against wind and
tide"
"But there are very many dangers
attending whale fishing, are there not?
l asked; sharks and all sorts Of
things?"
"We get used to them, Miss Waven
we get used to them. / have seen men
sitting with bare legs over the gunwales
of the boat, and shark come sheer up
and make snap for them, times out Of
mind. He comes with swift motion,
as you have seen pike. Sharks dom
of intention attack man. When he ID
about a whale, they'll occasionally take
neat piece out of bis leg by mistake
for a whales flank. In my thirty years
experience l have not known many men
killed by them. And in every way fata
accidents are less frequent than you
would imagine. A lot of men about q
whale Just remind me of lot of blue.
bottle flies about joint of meat You
strike here and there and everywhere as
sharply and as fercely as you like--the
chances are they'll all escape you. Il
is thus with whales frantic strokes
Jack was less fortunate in this respect
than |. He lost two of his officers in
one voyage. Parley--you know Par
ley, of our town, Miss Waven 2-hir
brother was one. The whale brought
down its tail on the boat, and he was
crushed to death as you would crush a
gnat. The other fellow lost his life
about two months afterwards in much
the same way"
Nov, when you set out on voyage =
Henry asked, what would be your
particular destination"
"Just where my Judgment took me
You see | was differently situated to
most masters. | was allowed more dis
cretionary power. | had, in fact, a sort
of rowing commission. My owners
would say, "There is your ship, Hard
ing-everything, we think, in her, that
you'll require in four years. Sail as
soon as you like, and let US hear from
you as often as you can. Whatever
luck you have, good or i'll, don't scruple
to write; we shall be glad to hear.
Then / would be gone from three to four
years, according to my degree of sue
cess. For the months of our own sum-
mer we would cruise in the japan seas (;
for the Antarctic summer in the Austria
lian seas. For six years, though coming
home between whiles, / entirely escaped
winter"
"And how do you find the whales,
Captain Harding p inquired my sister.
my wife thinks you fish for them
with rod and line, and a worm at the
end" laughed Henry.
"We find them, Mrs. Waven, by their
spouting. With the first of daylight a
lookout is told off and going, relieved at
due intervals, until night Sometimes
we 20 two months without even seeing a
whale. Then again, once killed eleven
in one day. But they were shosl whales,
and the whole eleven not worth as much
as one good sized male whale. A
fair sized male whale is worth five hun
dred pounds, and some large ones bring
in as much as a thousand. When you
have secured large whale, it saves a
great deal Of trouble if you can get it
close up by the ship. This is done by
jawboning hlm-work often falling to
my share"
"Why to your share z
Because / was always good in the
water. You take a rope suited to the
purpose, and make good running moose,
as you call il, in it You stand with this
moose we'll advanced in your right hand,
so as to avoid ENHANCEMENT; your steer
man brings the boat Immediately over
the spot where the whale has gone downs
your best maD--the man with the readi-
est eye and most reliable nerve--sianjs,
lance in hand, prepared to pin any too
curious shark; at the right moment you
leap into the water, and diving, fasien
the moose on the teeth Of the whale You
know the jaws Of large whale are from
sixteen 10 eighteen feet in length; the
tnnih are nhnnf nir innhna long. and a