Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-06-15

that bc,okeaed school of SPERM whales.
Get sour boats raay haul shsck the
: main yard; lower away your lsrbosri and
, bow boats; 81, yenr sails and stand ahead Of
} the ship aboa, mile and wait for risinH
are the orders
Dos u from the iasi,s wc go reefc,i
! sail Sc, for its blowing a siia gale, and as
: the boat ducks her head into the ehoppy
sea, Mr.. DaRosa our Portugaes third mate
! cautioned the harpooner to look sharp while
the rest of US attend TO hailing boat and see
} ing that everything is in working erler.
Drenched TO the skin we were, hut there $
nothing particularly uncomfortable in being
rinsed down by the tepid waters off the
coast of western Australia in fact il was
rather enjoyable than otherwise, 50 we
plunged ahead unnl the officers Judgment
said We were far enough then Stacked of
the sheet and every man eagerly watched
to catch the first glimpse if possible
of the whales that would come up under
our lea if our calculations were anywhere
near correct.
Mr.. Little, the harpooner, stood upon the
clumsy eleat, steadying himself with the
boats warp while Mr.. DaRosa had peaked
his steering car and was scanning the white
cap to the leewsrd almost sure in his excite
ment that every one OF them represented a
whale in his swash.
There they are, sir" whispered Little,
two points forward of the lee BEAM and
almost before he had ceased speaking the
boats head was swung of, the sheet
gathered in and we were bounding before
the gale with the speed of race horse.
They are coming dead TO wind'ard sir
and wen have TO take EN- head and head. "
An right, my boy, look sharp and don't
miss him."
Swing her of bit said our plucky
harpooner. as We seemingly plunged down
the side of huge sea, STEADY so sir, here
he comes, lay on just bit sir, just AS YOU
20 now ~
.Whiz goes one harpoon after another
with tfump we fetch up all standing
against the old fellows back and overheard
goes the harpooner taking an unpreme,li,a
ted header whether he would or no,
We helped our saturated shipma,e in over
the gunwale, none the worse for his duck
ing, and none too soon, for our victim had
found his legs and was using them to good
advantage in dead run to windward. The
sail was passed aft, every man faced about
and hauled line with will. As we ap=
preached the old fellow he "mlled" about
and another boat was soon fast. This
seemed 10 paralyze his running abilities and,
as if determined TO fight it ont, he rolled
upon his back and with wide opened jaws
reached with head and tail in every direction
for his destroyers. Failing 10 find them, he
Strengthened himself for another effor,
bat, before he coufd make any serious dem
onstration, three hungry lanees. from as
many boats, found his life and as the ho,
blood was thrown high into the air, three
ringing cheers went out over the water for
the lucky boats crew. That was one of the
easy ones. The season over we make II
stretch to the westward of a few thousand
miles-toueh at the island of Roderiquc--
indulge in cocoanuts ripe and green, make
excursions to the mountains for sour or
anges, bananas, guayas, and raspberries
visit its just discovered cave and enjoy a
ramble two miles under ground, gather
wide awake eggs by barrels, take aboard
wood and water, then away for the Isle of
France, beautiful isle of the sea in lat
20 deg. south long. IS deg, east, with 3Gu-
0oo inhabitants composed of all the nations
of the earth. Here we visit the grave of
Paul and Virginia, the immense sugar plan
ta,ions of which product they expect four
millions of dollars worth annually and en-
joy ride by rail of 40 miles through the
masses of tropical spIeudor. Then away
to the island of Borbon 90 miles from the
isle of France. and haven't time to mention
the beautiful residences and their surround
jurs gotten IN with tasty extrayagancc hy
the French owners and residents of this is
olated home in the sea.
To the westward again. a run of 700 miles
shows us the dim shores of MADAGASCAR.
and one morning ms the sun rose from lis
ocean bed IL showed us sperm whales To the
windward, to the leeward ahead astern.
everywhere. We were on the way home.
cruising as we went, and such a show of
whales was welcome to all hands. Down
went the boats. the first mate was past in !,
minutes and hauled ahead TO dispatch his
prizc. He was met more than half way by
the mad monster and the boat was saved b,
an inclf the whale rushing past as the crew
spranr To their oars in the mex of time A
moment later the third mates boat in
irving to get past. was nearly cap
sized the whale running his head
against the boats ouorter and pushiny her
half way around. nearly filing her with
water. After a moments consultation the
mate and third mate apnroached on differ.
cpt sides with tn. understanding that shoull
the whale attack one boat the other should
mitch into his whaleship on the oppositp side
and thus between them trust luck for a tell
ing lance at him. Scare had they taken a
dozen strokes of the oars when around he
came, smashing in the side of the mate /,
boat. and as he sunk left four men strug.
riinp in the water: two were pcrched on tn,
bottom of the capsized boat-and these
were Immediately robbed of their parta
] security bv the whale. who came to the sur
} face. took the boat in his immense law.
and bit her in two pieces without, appar
ent effort. Three oars and the boat
mast were also bitten off saureIy in tn,
! middle. Meantime the only uniniuret
boat of which | WIS one of the for
!. iunatc crew, picked up the men-all say,
one, who sank feet frs, into that blue sea
. until a mere speck, fa,hums down. ther
dlsappeared forever. A Portuguese boy wa
closely followed to our boa, by an immrns,
: blue shark, and we pulled him in over tb,
!, side when that wicked scavenrcr of the So
, was Iess than n ward away.
: The mates line fast to the whale wa
picked nm and taken To our boat The tbir,
mate with volunteer crew now propose,
to approach the infuriated whale and i
! possible ge; a shot with bomb lance
spare boat from the ship had taken the mel
!, of the wrecked boats on board leaving tw,
! crews of us to continue the fight Tn
! whale quarter of a mile away sogged nj
and down giving vent TO his feelings occa
siouaIly bv threshing the sea into A foam o
Swapping his huge law by wav of n challeng
to his enemies.
As auietlv az posaible the pcked ere,
! pulled toward the Whale. vet he heard iher
! and turned to meet them. The crew al
!, ready somewhat ratified, whirled their boa
about and made her almost lea
= from the water with their vigorous strokes
: but the whale was good for fiye fathoms 4