The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-04-20
STRUCK BY A WHALE.
A Little Schooner Gets in the
Way OF a Monster
And is Overturned and Dragged Out Of
Sight by the Leviathan.

I'll reel you off a yarn which 1 can bring
witnesses to swear to-"
''In 1S79," he continued, after getting
his pipe alight, "I owned a small schoon-
ercalled the Fly, and I had her in the shell
trade. 1 used to gather them on Santa
Rosa Island, and from thence along the
coast clear around to Cape St. Bias. My
crew was composed of a negro, who act
ed as mate, and two boys. Being a wee
bit of a craft, and lodging among the
islands most of the time, we did not
need much of a crew nor any great
amount of scamanship. 1t was in August
of the year I have named that one after
noon we were about midway between
Santa Rosa and the cape. and about
fifteen miles off the land. We
were headed for the cape, and max
ing about three knots an hour, the wind
being light and the weather fine. One
OF the boys was at the wheel, the other
asleep, and the mate was splicing a rope.
| stood on the port bow looking at a
broken spar floating n few hundred feet
OIL. There was no sea on, and the Fly
was on an even keel. Suddenly, and
without a breath of warning, the
schooner was lifted clear of the water
with a great crash and flung on her beam
ends. 1t SO happened that no one was
thrown overheard, but before we could
exactly understand what had happened
the craft turned turtle.
"The first thing I knowcd I was on
DER bottom, with one of the boys along
SIDE O. me. l had q small kcg O. powder
n the cabin, and my first thought was
hat we were blown up. I didn't cling
20 this idea more'n a minute, however;
tor, rs l got the water out O. my eyes, J.
caught sight Of a great black mass along
side, and in q second more made out the
great square head Of a whale. The water
llst there was at least ninety feet deep,
but 1t had been rolled up until it looked
Tx a mud hole for N acre or two around
as. l got it through my wool pretty soon
that we had been struck by a whale,
and that the old leviathan of the dccp
was still alongside. In fact, I could
ave touched his nose with a twcnty-foot
pole.
"Now, one of the singular things is
That we hadn't seen the spout of a whale
that afternoon. Indeed, it is rare for
one to run in so nigh that coast. OF
purse, there might have been a whale
porting around and we not see him, but
the chances are that that fellow had made
u run of several miles under water.
When he came up to blow he found the
Fly in his way, and he threw her off his
nose as a bull would toss a gadfy. The
blow must have dazed him, however, for
it was a good three minutes before he
moved II fin. I could look into one of his
eyes, and by and by I noticed it take on
a malicious twinkle, and he gave his
fukcs a firt and backed off about a hun
dred feet. He was mad. He thought
he had been attacked by some enemy.
and he wanted revenge.
swell, sir, that consumed critter was
coming for us. Being light, the Fly
was high and dry out of water, and
offered a pretty fair target. He uttered
a snort, swung his fukcs about, and came
head on, striking the schooner fair amid
ships. He knocked the two of us twenty
feet into the water, and he made a hole
in her side through which you could have
flung q water butt. The blow broke her
all up, but as the water poured in she
only settled down until her bottom was n
wash. When the boy and I got our eyes
clear we noticed that the yawl, nigh full
OF water, was floating a little way off,
and we made for it. While I hung on to
the bow he climbed in and bailed her out.
and in about ten minutes we were a1oat
again. Meanwhile the whale had his
nose agin the upset schooner, as if SMELL
ing CT her. She was between us and him.
and it was n lucky thing for us. We
hadn't SO much as a splinter to paddle
with, and the breeze seemed to have died
away about the time the Fly went over.
"By and by old leviathan backed off
for another round. This time he went
further, and he came faster, but as the
schooner had settled down he slid M ON
her bottom until his weight settled her
down and let him pass over. AS he
foundered over she rolled heavily to star
board and his fukcs were no sooner clear
OF her than she rightcd herself. In SO
doing both masts snapped off, and a tan