The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1871-01-12
NIGHT ADVENTURE AT SEA.
4 Curious Incident.

A short time since happened to be
in Valparaiso, where made the acquain-
tanoe of an American, one of the officers
Of the United States whaling-ship Nan
tucket, which had run in from her fish
ing-grounds in the Pacific to obtain q
supply of water and fresh provisions !;
and one day, in talking over the differ
ent events OF the cruise, which had lasted
two years, he narrated the following
curious incident which had befallen
them:
One morning at daybreak, when lying
becalmed, they found themselves in the
midst of a shoal of sperm whales, and
all four of their boats were speedily
lowered and chase given. Two of them
proved successful, and by the afternoon
had returned to the ship, towing their
captured prey; but the others were not
so fortunate. Having by some blunder
missed their first chance, it was not un-
til after an arduous chase OF many hours
that their leading boat at last succeeded
in overtaking and making fast to the
whale. A long and desperate struggle
ensued, the second crew quickly coming
to the assistance of the first; but line
after line from both was expended by
the animal, which proved to be of the
largest size. and of immense strength
and tenacity Of life. He tried every
means to escape; sometimes sounding" ="
that is, descending perpendicularly to
vast depth into the recesses of the
ocean, until the enormous pressure OF
the superintendent water was more
than even its huge strength could bear,
and it was forced to return to the sur
face, along which it would then rush
with such velocity, dragging both boats
after it, that the water, divided by the
sharp bows, curled high in two solid
walls on either hand.
AT length, however, its speed began to
slacken, and the whalemen, anxious to
secure their prize before darkness set in,
advanced to finish him, and four more
lances were rapidly hurled into the body
of the monster, which, apparently ex-
hausted by its preceding efforts, lay pas
sive on the water. No sooner, however,
had the last steel penetrated, than, as if
the stimulus had aroused anew all its
vital energies, it hurled itself half out of
the water, and swinging its ponderous
fiukes high up in the air, struck two
tremendous blows in quick succession,
one of which fell upon the foremost boat,
cutting it completely in two, and scat
tering its occupants Zone of whom had
his thigh broken) in all directions.
After doing this mischief, it again
sounded; and, hastily picking up their
companions, and placing the wounded
man in the bottom of the boat, the rest,
undaunted, impatiently awaited the
coming up of the animal to breathe.
But they waited in vain; their prey
had escaped them. In his last desperate
effort to free himself, he had $50 1 was
told, at least,) dived so deeply that, with
his strength exhausted, he was unable
again to rise, and dying below, sank still
deeper. The disappointed whalers sat
in silence, watching their lines disap-
pearing fathom after fathom, until their
last yard was gone, when the bowman,
who held his tomahawk uplifted ready
to strike, was compelled to let it fall and
sever the rope, lest the weight of the
descending body should drag the boats
down with it into the abyss.
Wearied with their long day of fruit
less toll, and depressed at their ill-for-
tune, the men prepared to return to
their ship, which had long before sunk
beneath the horizon for, being calm,
she could not make sail to follow them
After pulling for some hours, however,
they felt slight breeze spring up
which they knew would bring her down
and, after while, rocket ascending
showed her position; and this sigma
was repeated every half hour, until the
vessel was within few miles. They
had been resting on their oars for som'
time, but had once more resumed them