Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1889-05-03

/ - i"iiO away coming uoWn NJ abOuI
steamer speed, and holding a cour as
straight as if somebody aboard Of him
was steering by compass. / was not a
bit alarmed, expecting to see him show
hukes every moment, but the Captain
came on deck and ordered the man at
the wheel TO break off two or three
points. This brought the whale on our
port bow. As told you, expected to
see him sound every moment. 1t was
astonishing that he had not discovered
us long before. could scarcely believe
my eyes as he held on, and by and by
we had him alongside. / am telling you
the truth when l say he actually
rubbed us as we passed each other, and
the odor of him was so rank that some
Of the men cried out in disgust. That
whale was ninety feet long if he was an
inch, and he had q head on him like a
brick wall. So far as we could see he
was carrying no harpoons and had no
fresh wound, but he was moss grown
and barnacled as if he had knocked
about for a couple Of hundred years.
The fact of his holding his own in such
a bull-headed way was alarming, and
when we were clear Of him we fell to
congratulating ourselves over the close
shave.
We were perhaps a mile apart when
the whale slowed around. The moment
we discovered what he was doing we
knew that he meant to attack. The
breeze had now died away until we
could not hope TO dodge him, and he
had not yet fairly turned when we
dropped the yawl from the davits and
ran her alongside to the bow. Two men
were ordered to get water and provisions
INTO her, and as the whale headed up for
US We went off before the light breeze to
give him all the room we could. Three
or four minutes settled the question of
whether he was after the ship or sailing
his own course. He headed up for her,
coming faster and foster, and when he
was two cables length away there was a
great white wall of water rolling before
him, and his speed was from eighteen to
twenty miles an hour. He struck us full
On the starboard quarter, and the shock
was as if two ships had collided Planks
and ribs gave way before him, and as he
recoilcd from the blow our ship settled
down stern first and was un-
sIcr water within two minutes. Every
body was knocked down by the shock,
and everybody got up to iush for the
yawl. was sucked down almost as
soon as l reached my feet, and after a
struggle, in which / came out first best
by a close shave, / was shot to the sur
face amid lot of deck rattle. There
we're two or three men around me at
first, and as was hcaved up | caught
sight of the yawl with at least two men
in her. The whale was still at hand,
lying very quiet, but l feared he would
soon be aroused and attack us in turn,
and l seized the galley door and padded
away to get out of his reach. While do
ing this a squall came down and hung
on for twenty minutes, and when it had
passed l could see nothing of boat nor
whale.
That afternoon, an hour before sun
down, was picked up by the American
whaler Richard Knox. She already had
our yawl, which she had found bottom
up, but had not seen any of the men nor
met with any wreckage. l was again
the only one saved, and but for my
testimony the fate of the ship would
have forever remained mystery. As to
why the whale attacked US was made
more clear after my rescue. The Knox
had raised and chased him the evening
before, and he had been ''gallied" or
annoyed so often during the month
past that he had become ugly. He came
for US with the intention of sending the
ship to the bottom, and he succeeded
only too we'll in earring out his pur-
pose.
third mystery was the case of the
Janet Wilcox, an American brig bound
for Rio Janeiro. ! was second mato of
her when the occurrence took place. We
had bad weather for good share of the
voyage, but the brig was new and
stanch, and was at no time in imminent
peril. About 300 miles off Rio, while
enjoying bit Of good weather, we one
morning raised longboat full of men
dead ahead of US. Indeed, the boat had
taken down her sail and was waiting
for us to come up. There were nine
hASn oDOdiO VI hCi, uuN lhSJ hhH IlCAtJ
of water and provisions. The story
they told was that they were
part of the crew of large
British ship which had been burned
two days before. They claimed that all
had got off in the boats, but that the
boats had become separated in the heavy
weather. They were a hard looking
lot, composed of all nationalities, and
when we had taken them aboard our
captain was by no means satisfied with
their story. One Of them claimed to be
second mate, and, as the crew had all
got of in two boats, it was a puzzle
that tbs first mate was not in command
of one. Other strange things came up,
and the story of the men did not hang
together. and so all hands were ordered