The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-05-07
"A NIGHT ON A WHALE"
The PerilS OF the Sea.

Four boats left the ship, and extraordinary
efforts were made by each to gain the honor
was the first day that any whales had been
encountered. and in the excitement of the &C.
casiol one of the boats, of which an 1rishman
called "Pat" was the harpooner or boats
header, had DISAPPEARED, leaving the others
entirely at loss whittier to proceed in quest
hoisted at the mastheads Of the whaler, and
the horizon was scanned with good glasses.
Night passed, and no trace was discovered.
In the morning dark spot, at too great dis
lance to be clearly distinguished, seemed to
encourage hope that either the boat or a
dead whale would reward the trouble of q
search, and poss IDLY recover the trail of the
ed to be Pat, the harpooner, kneeling on q
dead sperm whale, his left hand twisted
tightly in the line of the harpoon, which had
kept him to his slippery post. His eye was
wildly fixed on his messmates, and, rising
mechanically, he tainted as about to step into
night-the chase, the encounter, the destruc-
ton of the boat, the death of the whale, and
the struggles of his companions devoureI by
the sharks, are wildly depicted x
He was no longer strong enough even to
keep on his feet, and sought to find some lit
SO long as the approaching sharks permitted,
upon his extraordinary float, and attempting
to stretch himself at full length, even though
it might be in the water. Fruitless hope! His
tormentors left him no rest, and the danger
of being surprised, seized, and pulled down to
q certain death, was too iminent to allow
him to await the attack. The most greedy of
the brutes, young fish scarcely more than
eight feet in length, once went so far as to
seize the harpoon, and heldit sufficiently long
to be left half dry upon the sperm by the re-
firing wave: but the oak stick struck it such
fearful blow across its treachereous, crafty
looking eyes, that the shark glided off the
and sank. But others took the brute's place,
and only the glistening streak in the dark
water revealed their approach, and warned
the unhappy man to prepare himself for the
renewed attack.
Hour after hour thus passed in this fearful
contest for life, but fresh hope was aroused in
him when the ship drew nearer to him, and
his ear. At last he was able to secognize the
forms on deck, as they moved backwards and
forwards in the Pickering light. "Ahoy-ho
-ahoy!" his wild, despairing cry was waited
across the waters, as his comrades drifted
slowly past without noticing him-"ahoy!"
for the sharks, attracted by the sound of a
human voice, came up from oil sides, and
their dark dorsal fins cleft the surface of the
water in every direction. His blows fell re-
peatedly, and the end of the tough shaft was
already splintered-blows which would have
felled an OK, but produced no further effect
upon the shark than to make it retire for a
little while. And the ship? There it drifted.
J almost with hail. Again signal. gun reached
his ear, and he again employed, the ensuing
pause to send his cry for assistance across the
waves to the spot where salvation lay-so
pear, and yet so unattainable. But the wind
came from that quarter; though he could SC
distinctly hear the sound Of the gun, and even
distinguish the different voices on deck, he
was unable to make them hear him., He only
made his enemies around more and more &C.
tive and rapacious, and their attacks became
almost incessant.
His strength, his good sspirits-whic oh hat
till now been kept up By the hope OF salvation
sank when he saw the ship drift past-sanl
when no means were left him to. announce
his proximity. The love Of life alone KEEP