The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1891-10-24
MADAGASCAR JACK.

JnSh
Look out for a big sperm whale
with the stump of a harpoon in his
hump, and about fifty fathom of line
towing astarn
Ay Look out for Madagascar
Jack. He's a rogue. Ye may know
him by the hoss shoe mark on his
head. Give him wide berth he's
a man killer.
We had hove to, to deliver letters
and have a chat with the crew OF the
old whaler. Cicero, of New Bedford
then commanded by Captain Taber.
The Cicero had been three years
on the Indian Ocean grounds, anc
was homeward bound when we fel
in with her. She had eighteen hun
dred barrels of oil under matches
and more than fourteen thousand
pounds of bone. SO the crew told us
Ours was then a clean ship. She
was named the Draper, and was out
bound for the same waters.
| was then a young man of twenty
years and was a boat steerer on
board the Draper, Captain Lawton,
OF New Bedford.
Captain Lawton had sent a boat
aboard the Cicero with the letters,
and we laid by her for an hour OF
two, giving the Captain and crew
home news and getting information
from the whaling grounds 1t was
pleasant weather, and the vessels
were brought within easy hail OF
each other.
| remember they told us OF a new
island, or at least of one not down on
the chart, in east longitude about
fifty eight degrees, twenty minutes
south latitude, twenty-five degrees,
fifteen minutes and ds our boat was
puni.s = to the ship and we were
about to part company, tnC .tcc"d
mate of the Cicero stood aft and told
us about the whale. Then one OF
the men, forward, added the remark
given above.
Whalemen in those days often
warned each other of fighting" or
rogue" whales. In the earlier days
Of the whale fishery comparatively
little difficulty was experienced in
taking the leviathans of the deep. In
their dying throes they sometimes
stove in or capsized the boats, but
rarely made a direct, persistent at
tack upon them.
AT last, however. the constant
prosecutions of men seem to have
developed aggressive traits in the
harassed cetaceans. Boats, and even
the whale-ships, were savagely at
tackled and sometimes sunk by
whales
While the more prudent and, gen
orally, the older shippers were in
clined to avoid dangerous whales,
there were always bold spirits among
the younger men, particularly the
young mates, who desired to dis
tinguished themselves and their
ships by capturing a rogue ;" for
to clear the seas of one of these de-
stroyers was justly ranked as a great
exploit.
1t was from the Cicero that we
first heard Of Madagascar Jack )"
and afterward the Dryade, which we
tell in with near Mauritius, gave us
further tidings of a cert in cross
whale with an iron in his back and a
white scar on his head.
But the Draper did not meet him,
nor with much else in the way Of
whales, indeed, during the first year
out, and sailed for home two years
atterward with light fare.
My next cruise was in the Acasta,
of Sag Harbor, Captain Harlow,
which returned on account of the
illness of the Captain and was with
drawn and it was not till three
years after, when was on the Dread
Captain Wyford, that | first saw
madagascar Jack"
We went through Sunda Straits
and cruised on the Indian Ocean
grounds for eight months. There
we took twenty-ore hundred barrels
Of whale oil, but thus far not cask
of sperm. Wyiord was an elderly
man who did not now enter whale
boat himself. Some, indeed, hold
that the master ought never enter
one. But we had a second mate who
made up in pluck and daring for
anything the Captain lacked.
| have cruised in a good many
ships, but never saw Cliff Andrews S
match as whalesman.
One morning during the tenth
month of our cruise whale was
sighted in a mist soon after daylight.
In fact, we heard him spouting be
fore we saw him. But the Captain
would not order the boats down till
the men had their breakfast, and the
delay chafed Andrews.
We ate our breakfast in a few
minutes, and two boats were lowered.
Meantime the whale, after blowing a
few times, had gone down to feed.
The Captain said that we should
not see him again for an hour but
we pulled off to the spot where he
had last been heard blowing, and
then lay by on our oars
Mr.. Cummings, the first mate,
was in one boat and Andrews in the