The Irish standard., 1890-07-12

Il
| comp1ished that feat In short order.
The gentle heave Of the brig on the
quiet sea then rolled the barrel about,
and as the water ran into the soup.
pers the beasts tapped it up with low
growls Of satisfaction. We saw nothing,
! but our ears told us all this. Our noses
were soon called into use to give US
! further information. A disgusting odor
! foated down through the sky-light, and
after few shifts the captain said:
eff that isn't a dead whale alongside,
then am mistaken in the smell. /
never heard that lions cared for whale
flesh, but the fellows OH deck must have
| f1oated off shore on this carcass, and
their long exposure to the blazing sun
has made them terribly savage"
We felt that we could do nothing
until daylight came. We lighted the
! cabin lamps, so that the lions might not
leap down through the skylight, which
we could not close from within, and
then waited. They managed to lap
water enough to Stake their thirst, and
then they went roaming up and down
in search of food. They could find moth
ing, and as daylight appeared their i'll
humor increased. They trotted up and
down, growing in a way to give one tho
shivers, and it was lucky that all OF us
were under shelter. When day had
fairly come we stood under the sky
light with our guns, and presently one
of the lions came trotting aft and
showed his head over the frame. Three
of us fired at the same instant, and with
such effect that he fell back dead. The
death of one took the courage out
of the other, and he ran away to the
port bow and leaped upon the carcass of
tho whale, which still held to us. We
heard him run along the decks, and for
that matter his tread was heavier than
that of any mans, and after bit the
captain stole up the companionway and
discovered and reported the true state
of affairs. Then three of US made shift
to get into the shrouds of the mainmast,
and from our safe purchases we also
made an end of the second beast, which
was the female lion, and somewhat
smaller than the other. Although the
two pelts We're sent to England, and the
manner in which they had come into
our possession was vouched for by Gov
eminent officers of the civil branch, the
Liverpool Mercury was pleased to come
out with the statement that CULVER
was truthful man in comparison with
any man aboard our brig.
In the year 1861, about midsummer,
being then one hundred and fifty miles
to the west of the island of Juan Fer
nandez, in tho Scotch ship Highland
Belle, we were bearing up for the island
under light breeze, with the full ships
company on deck, when monster whale
preached on our port bow and only
cables length away. The carpenter
was repairing the rail on that bow, and
four or five men were scraping and
painting. At least six of us saw the
whale as he first pushed his head above
water, and our Explanations attracted
attention, SO that all the others saw him
before he fell back. He shot straight
up like log on end. and he never
stopped going until fve-sixths of his
body stood in air. We all saw that he
had half dozen wraps of chain around
him, and that an anchor was fouled in
the corner of his mouth. He fell back
on the surface with an awful crash,
kicking up a tremendous swell,
and there he lay without move
ment We ran on for quarter
of mile, and then laid the ship to and
lowered e. boat. myself had charge of
this boat, and after laying off and on to
see if the whale was dead, I finally con-
Guided that he was and pulled in on
him. While he was floating the anchor
kept him down by the head, and we
could not get at it. We, however, cut
away fathom or more of the chain,
and found the wraps about his body so
tightly drawn that the creature must
have suffered great pain. We got the
blight of rope over one arm Of the
anchor, but the five of US could not pull
1t out Of his jaw, and We returned to the
ship and left the carcass to noat away.
Two days later it was found by the Br1s-
toll whaler John G. Pitkins, and when
cut up alongside yielded about one
hundred barrels Of Oil. They found one
of the anchor fukes deeply I'M
bedded In his mouth, being, as you
might say, big fish hook on which he
had been caught, and this anchor.
together with sixty feet of chain, was
afterward identified by the Russian brig
Gronstadt. This brig was at anchor on
the north side of the island one day
week before, when the whale, whose
presence was entirely unsupported,
picked up her anchor and towed her half
3 mile. Greatly alarmed at being towed
out to sea by an invisible power, the cap
taid ordered shackle pin slipped, and
thus stopped his Roadway at the expense
of an anchor and sixty or seventy feet OF
chain. Later on the three vessels have
named found themselves in Valparaiso
together, and it was easy to fit all the
details together and make straight
case. We had the proofs right there,
and the Russian signed a receipt in
black and white for the anchor so
strangely recovered, and we hung our
bit of chain in the Office of the English
Consul. Yet, despite all this, I have
seen several American newspapers
which referred to the incident Gas