Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1883-01-08

spoken In the best tones of the ship
was the name of kind-hearted, 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
frail thing was to be laid broadside
to monster nearly as long as the
ship. Once, when the boat was
stove by 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 swimmer,
and, with only an oar to cling to, he
ucIu Iue oeuoSlcoo Lldu OuG vi Glle
water from noon till sunset.
The events am going to relate
occurred on that voyage-a little
more than five years ago.
The Gazelle had been cruising for
three months few hundred miles off
the coast of West Australia-the
great penal colony of England-and
during all that time had not fallen in
with sperm-whale. One raw after
noon, with harsh breeze and ris-
ing sea, at last we heard the long,
sing-song cry, from the masthead,
'sHe blows! her-ee-blo-o-ow !"
Four times, at regular intervals of
about forty seconds, the cry was re-
peated and then we all knew that
it was sperm-whale.
It was five in the evening when
the first cry was heard, and the sun
went down at half-past six with
scarcely five minutes of twilight.
AS a rule, on board American whal-
ers, when whales are seen late in the
evening, the boats are not sent down
unless circumstances such as wealth
er, moonlight, 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 six miles an
hour; when feeding" they keep
on the same ''ground," not moving
but few miles day. When seen
late in the evening, the ship is steer
ed 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
6 school we saw, but a ''lone whale, :"
and one of extraordinary size. The
night promised to be rough one,
and the whales motions were
strangely irregular, as if he had lost
himself in an unknown sea.
There was something solemn and
mysterious in the sight of ''lone
whales" and marvellous superstitions
are current among whalemen respect
ing them. Through spending year
after year on the great waters, whal-
ers become more impressionable to
supernatural things than other sea-
men; and long observation of the
shoals or schools of the vast Great
ures they pursue tends to fill them
with amazement and awe when they
meet with solitary leviathan, who
has abandoned all fellowship with
his kind, who lives by his own law
lonely, mighty and terrible.
Soon after the cry from the loft we
saw the whale from the deck, only a
short distance 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 overspreading the sea.
For moment all eyes were fast
ened on the long body, like q great
black tube, over which the waves
washed. Every face was wonder
stricken at the immense size of the
whale.
Captain Clifford had been examin
ing him with glass, which he hand
ed in turn to each of his officers
"What do you say, Mr.. Hussey?'
he inquired of the first mate, wht
glanced at the setting sun, and an
swered:
go down, sir; we can do it.
''Mr. Joseph?' and the captain
turned to the second mate, an ole
Portuguese of extraordinary size
and perhaps the most famous whale
man alive.
$50 down, sir, if we want to ge
that fellow; we'll never see hin
again.
The two other officers, younge
men, were of the same mind. Their
was no time lost in further consul
tation.
''Swing the boats - shouted tn
old man.
The lines and irons had alread
been thrown in by the crew.
} "heave, oh ~ and a straining sound
and in one minute the four boat
struck the water, and the men wer
settled on the thwarts with the Ion
oars out
, The sun was low, and large an
: red and the whole western sea an
n