Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-09-23

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took part in the good and ill that befell
| them.
When picked up I was in a bad way for
clothes; all that belonged to me in the
world were the few branded rags that had
worn in the boat Sailors are used to such
things and they know the remedy. Every
one came forward with his little Offering
One brought a hat, another a Jacket. an
other pair OF sea-boots, a jack knife, a
cake of tobacco, and so on until had a
bunk full of marine necessaries. Chips
had least to give of all, for he had shipped
without regular outfit. But when he
saw all that had been given-smiling at
Thorough boys as each one handed his of
fering-he drew me off to his own cubby-
hole and hauled round his chest Out on
his bed came the contents; and in a min
ute there was fair division of all it con-
talned-Hannels, shirts, stockings, and
everything, to handkerchief
These are yours, and these are mine, :"
said Chips; and I'll make you a chest
! tomorrow"
| That's the sort of man he was in
| everything. No wonder the boys loved
him, and that the one word spoken in the
best tones of the ship was the name of
kind-heart manly Chips.
He was brave as he was kind. When
whales were chased, Chips went down in
boat; and there was no cooler head
among them when the fragile thing was
to be laid broadside to a monster nearly as
long as the ship. Once, when the boat
was stove by a sweep of the awful fukes
| in the death furry, one of the boys was
crushed by the blow and driven senseless
under water When Chips came to the
surface he counted the heads and missed
| one; and down in the bloody brine he
| went among the sharks and fished up the
| sinking body. He was a mighty swim
mer, and, with only an oar to cling to- he
| held the senseless man out of the water
from noon till sunset.
The events I am going to relate occurred
on that voyage-a little more than five
years ago.
The Gazelle had been cruising for three
months a few hundred miles off the coast
of Western Australia-the great penal
colony of England-and during that time
had not fallen in with a single sperm
whale. One raw afternoon, with harsh
breeze and a rising sea, at last we heard
the long, sing-song cry, from the mast
head: He blows! ther-ce-blo-o-
ows!" -Four times, at regular intervals of
| about forty seconds the cry was repeated ;
and then we knew it was a sperm whale
It was five in the evening when thefrst
| cry was heard, and the sun went down at
halfpast six with scarcely five minutes of
twilight. AS rule, on board American
Whalers, when whales are seen late in the
evening, the boats are not sent down, I'M
less circumstances, such as weather, moon
light, and so on are very favorable. In
most cases the course Of the whales and
the speed of their travel are carefully
noted. When "On a course" a school of
sperm will move at the rate of about six
miles an hour; when "feeding'' they keep
on the same ground" not moving more
than few miles day. When seen late
in the evening, the ship is steered during
the night according to the observations,
and often finds the school in sight in the
morning, when the boats are at once sent
down.
This course was not followed on the
evening in question. 1t was not a school
we saw, but "lone whale,'' and one of
extraordinary SIZE The night promised
to be a rough one, and the whales motions
were strangely irregular, as if he had lost
himself in an unknown sea.
There is something solemn and mystic
rious in the sight of clone whales" and
marvellous superstitons are current among
whalemen respecting them. Through
spending year after year on the great
waters, whalers become more impression
| able to supernatural things than other sea-
men; and long observation of the shoals
or schools Of the vast creatures they pur-
sue tends to fill them with amazement and
awe when they meet with solitary levia-
than, who has abandoned all fellowship
with his kind, who lives by his own law
lonely, mighty and terrible.
Soon after the cry from aloft we saw the
whale from the deck, only short dis
lance from the ship, and we might have
seen him long before had not his white,
bush-like spout been lost in the angry
whiteness that was fast spreading over the
sea.
For moment all eyes were fastened on
the long body like great black tube over
| which the waves washed. Every face was
| wonder stricken at the immense size of
the whale. Capt. Clifford had been exam
lining him through a glass, which he
handed in turn to each of his officers
What do you say, Mr. Hussey?' he in
quired of the first mate, who glanced at
the setting sun and answered: go down,
sir; we can do it,"
MIR. Josephn" and the Captain turned
to the second mate, an old Portuguese of
extraordinary size, and perhaps the most
| famous whaleman alive
| $50 down, sir, if we want to get that