The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-11-12


of the kind-hearted, manly Chips.
He was as brave as ne was kind.
When whales were chased Chips went
down in boat, and there was no cooler
head among them when the fragile shell
was to be laid broadside TO monster
nearly as long as the ship. Once when
the boat was stove in by a sweep of the
awful flukes in the death furry, one OF
the boys was crushed by the blow and
driven senseless under the 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 mighty swimmer, and with
only an oar TO cling to, he held the
senseless man out of water until res
cued.
But, to the story. The Gazelle had
been cruising for three months few
hundred miles off the coast of Western
Austraia-the great penal colony of
England-and during that time had not
fallen in with q single sperm whale.
One raw afternoon, with harsh
hreeze and rising sea, at last we heard
the long, sing song cry from the mast
head: He blowsl ther-re-bl-o-ows ~
Four times at regular intervals of about
forty seconds the cry was repeated, and
then we knew it was sperm whale.
1t was about five O'Clock in the even
ing when the first cry was heard, and
the sun went down at & 80, with scarcely
five minutes of twilight. AS a rule, on
board Of American whalers, when
whales are seen late in the evening, the
boats are not sent down unless circum-
stances. such as weather, moonlight,
and SC. on, are very favorable. In most
cases the course OF the whales and the
speed of their travel are carefully noted.
When ION a course" school of sperm
whales 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 a day.
When seen late in the evening, the ship
IS steered during the night according to
the observation, and often finds the
school in sight in the morning, when
the boats are 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 rough one, and the
whales motions were strangely irreg-
ular, as If he had lost himself in an un-
known sea.
There is something solemn and myste-
rious in the sight of ''lone whales, and
marvellous superstitions are current
among whalemen respecting them.
Though spending year after year on the
great waters, whalers become more i'm
pressionabe 10 supernatural things than
other seamen, and long observations of
the shoals or schools of the vast crea-
lures they pursue tends to fill them with
amazement and awe when they meet
with solitary leviathan who has aban-
doned all fellowship with his kind, who
lives by his own law-lonely, mighty
and terrible.
Soon alter the Cry from aloft, we sav,
the whale from the deck, only n short
distance from the ship, and we might
have seen him long before had not his
white, bushlike 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 a great black
tube, over which the waves washed.
Every face was wonder stricken at the
immense size of the whale.
Captain Clifford had been examining
him through glass, which he handed
in turn to each of his officers.
"What do you say, Mr.. Husseyp" he
inquired of the first mate, who glanced
at the sun and answered:
go down, sir: we can do itP"
-" Mr.. Joseph" and the captain turned
OF extraordinary size, and perhaps the
most famous whaleman alive.
go down, sir, If we want to get the
fellow; we'll never see him again"
The two other officers were younger
men, and of the same mind. There was
no time lost in further consultation.
"Swing the boats!" shouted the old
man.
The lines and irons had already been
thrown in by the crews. A "heave,
OIL" and a straining sound, and in one
minute the four boats struck the water,
and the men were settled on the thwarts
with the long oars out.
The sun was low and large and red,
and the whole western sea and sky were
magnificent in crimson and gold and
black. The picture was one of the finest
l ever saw. The rising sea was Jet
black, except where it was bloody; a
broad road of crimson shimmered from
the ship to the sun; the long body of the
whale, even blacker than the sea, was
plainly seen in the ruddy glare; and life
was added to the immense scene by the
'our white specks-the whaleboats-
closing to point AS they drew near the
nOtiOnlesS monster.
1t was not until the boats had left the
ship that we realized how threatening
was the weather. Every moment the
seas came wilder and heavier against the
vessel. Only now and again, as they
were lifted on sea, could we catch sight
Of the brave little boats. The breeze grew
stronger at every moment, and, before
the first boat neared the whale, was
whistling through the rigging in the
wild way that tells of a coming gale.
The captain regretted the lowering of
the boats, and soon signaled them to re-
turn. But the men were excited, and
refused TO see the signal. Filled to the
the seas lashing over them
every moment, on they went where only
a thing so nearly perfect as whaleboat
could keep afoat. As the first boat
swung round to run down to leeward of
the whale. the red sun stood fairly on
the black field of ocean
Talk about the bravery of soldiers in
battle, or OF men ashore in any enter
prise you please; what is 1t to the brav-
cry OF such deed as thisp A thousand
miles from land, six men in little
twenty-eight foot shell coolly going
NOWh III a ctoinJ bCt W uO Ddttlt Will
the mightiest created animal! It is the
extreme of human GOODNESS and courage,
because it is the extreme of danger.
Tie soldier faces one peril-the bullet.
The whaleman, in such case rs this,
has three mighty enemies to fght-the
sea. the gale and the whale.
We saw the harpooner of each boat
stand up as they came within heaving
distance and send in his two irons. All
the boats were last before the monster
seemed to feel the first blow. Then came
the fight, the cruel and unnatural figut
between vast power and keen skill.
The black water was churned white as
the fiukes struck out in rage and agony.
The sun disappeared and the gale
screamed wilder in the rigging. We
could no longer see the boats from the
ship. The few men on board clewed up
tie light sail and took a reef in the top
sails. and by this time the night was
dark as pitch, and the gale had whipped
and howled itself into hurricane.
II was fearful TO think of the four
small boats out in such a sea as was
then running. We on the ship had to
cling TO the rail of the rigging; the ter
rife strength of the waves swept the