Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-01-25
SPERM WHALE FISHING.
PASSAGES IN THE EXPERIENCE OF
AN OLD SEA DOG.
Mr.. Simmons Voyage in the Abijah
Adams, aud How His Girl
Tilted Him.


''Thar she blowsp'
"Sperm, too, at thatw
Thar she breachesw
Such was the cry all of US aboard the
old bark Abijah Adams, of New Bedford
heard one morning in 1854 from the look.
out in the crows nest
Precious good news it was, too, for We
had been cruising the Pacific ocean many
weary weeks, and never whale had we
sighted. was from Nantucket, and my
girl had sworn on Bonded knee to become
Mrs. Simmons when l got back from this
whaling cruise, and-bless her sweet dim.
plesl-I was just as anxious as she was
and probably more 50, for the voyage tc
come to an end
A TYPICAL OLD wHALER.
| The Abijah Adams was as staneh YES
sci as ever hoisted sail. She was thirty
five years old, and devil worm had ever
worked his way into her solid live oak
planks and timbers. She smelt sweet Of
whale oil, every foot of timber in her be-
ing saturated with that odoriterous and
money-making product. l tell you, too,
boys, she was well put together. Every
bolt and treenail in her composition had
been driven home conscientiously, and
when you went below and turned into
your bunk you had no fear of her bottom
falling out and dropping you into the sea,
such as you have aboard some of the new
| tangled crafts you meet with these times.
For you know petroleum hadn't been dis
covered in any quantities in the DAYS / am
telling you of, and the whaling men were
looked up to and respected.
Our Captains were lights of the church
when they were ashore, and the old New
England merchants were proud to enter
tain them and give them their daughters
in marriage.
SOME RURAL JACK TARs.
Our crew were picturesque, if nothing
else. Gaunt New Englanders, fresh from
the pillow, with hayseed in their hair, and
nothing seamanlike in their general APP
pearance, thronged the bark's deck as we
sailed down Buzzard's bay, bound on our
long and tedious voyage OF course all
our men were not clowns from the back
woods or greenhorns, but we had a pretty
good sprinkling of the rural element in
our forecastle. Little did thew know of
the hardships in store for them. They
were like young bears-all their troubles
were to come. All the whalers in the
olden times used to carry goodly number
Of young farm hands away with them on
their ventures. They were paid little or
nothing, and after they had got over their
seaslckness and had got their sea legs on
we found them very handy fellows.
COW AND CALF.
AS soon as the welcome sound of Thar
she blows p came from the maintopgallant
masthead all was hustle and activity. The
watch below tumbled up on deck. The
whale was only about two miles distant to
leeward, and after squaring the yards to
run toward it, our boats were got ready for
lowering. When about half mile to
windward of it the mainyard was backed
and the bark hove to-. Then our FIVE
boats were lowered and we pulled toward
the whale, which was lazily floating and
giving suck to a young "calf" whale. The
mother whale of the sperm variety is very
devoted to its offspring, and will fight saw
agely to protect it.
Thus we know that hard tussle was in
store for us, and that we should have to
use the greatest wariness in approaching
Madam Whale. II once she caught sight
of US with those small green eyes of hers
| in all probability she would attack us, and
if we were struck by her head or dashed by
her tail we all stood a good chance of eat
ing our supper in Davy Jones' locker. The
sperm whale is the only variety which has
teeth in its formidable jaws, and it has
| been known to use them with very bad
consequences to the whaleboats crew.
"Pull easy p shouted the boat-steerer, as
we got within a couple of cable-lengths of
the whale. The harpooner had hold of
his "toggle-iron" with good hard grip.
| We were steering for the stern of the
whale, and every now and again we could
see one of the efukes" of her powerful tail
churning the water with slow and majestic
stroke. We knew that in a few minutes,
if we had luck, that enormous tail would
| be lashing the waves with savage fury.
A few more strokes of the oars, and the
boat-steerer put the bow close alongside Of
Mrs. Whale. She had been too busy
fondling her calf to take any notice of our
presence.
HOW JACK STRUCK OIL.
'Let her have it, Jack p yelled the
boat-steerer, and before the words were out
of his mouth Jack had driven his iron
with terrific force into the side of the i'm
mense beast.
stern, allw was the next command, and
the oars bent as with brawny arms the crew
backed the frail boat out of the reach Of
that fearful tluke, one stroke of which
might send us all to perdition. With a
rush and snorpthrough her blow holes the
whale began to sound" as the whalemen
call diving.
The lines rushed out of the tubs with
violent velocity until at least four hundred
fathoms had run out. Then it stopped
short The whale was sulking. For
twenty minutes We waited, keeping a
strong and steady strain on the line. The
five boats were now pretty close together
awaiting developments. The whale was
as near as we could Judge, about under the
boats bottom, having Owed down nearly
perpendicularly. At last there was a sus.
picious slackening of the line. We real.
lied that she was coming up to blow.
A BOATS CREW OVERHEARD.
| "Look out for her, boys, she's rising p
was the next shout. And she rose with q
vengeance, striking one of the boats with
her snout, capsizing it and hurting the
crew into the water. The harpooner in
another boat got his iron in, seizing com
paratively quiet opportunity. The blow
Of this second harpoon acted like the dig o.
spur in the flank of vicious horse
Madam was off on the rampage.
| And a pretty chase she led us, going al
furious rate for quite half an hour, with
all hands huddled together in the sterr
sheet as far aft as they could crawl, in or.