Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-08-04

many long Oay. exclaimed the DrOnZ-
ed old ex-seaman, in his dingy little
sailing office" in South street, to the
New York Sun reporter, and his bright
eyes twinl1led. The reading that pleased
him so was the Victoria dispatch in the
Sun, giving an account of the attack
by an enormous whale on the schooner
Mermaid, off the Japan coast last
month. That sounds like old times.
Some folks in these days may not be-
Heve that that whale pitched into the
schooner and knocked it almost into
splinters, but they don't know any
thing about whales.
Il can see that big fellow charging
on the vessel just as plain as if I'd
been there. 1 wish 1 had. If l could
see such a thing once more I'd be will
ing to cast my eternal anchor. And
many just such furious charge l
have seen in the good old whaling DAYS.
It's a good thing for that schooner
and her crew that the whale was only
asleep mad. You don't know what
sleep mad is, do you? It's just the
kind Of mad that big whale had on
him, and the same kind Of mad that
any big whale is sure to get on him
when he has just had his dinner and
is taking his after dinner nap
The whales Of the waters where
this schooner Mermaid was cruising are
great sleepers. They turn over Oh their
sides on top of the water and let the
waves rock them to sleep, especially
il they have been dining pretty heavy.
They sleep sound, and l have more
than once MIXED u she whale when
she was sleeping like that without
waking her UP, just as you might milk
Il COW. Whales milk, | want to tell
you, is the richest milk that any ami
NAL gives and, it would drive cod-liver
oil out Of the market We always milk
ed our she whales when we found
them asleep, before harpooning 'em.
Always. A good, healthy she whale,
with sucking cubs, would give down
Il barrel of milk, and then we'd have
Il feast after II hard days work.
But suppose that besides being
sleep mad, this big whale that pitched
into the schooner Mermaid had also
been hafpoon mad. If he had been,
80. Nouldn't have had that story
to print, for the schooner Oh her crew
would never have been heard from
again. II there had been three feet or
so OF harpoon in that whale, he would
rn satisfied with one whack
at the schooner, although that one
Whack disabled her and sent her scurry-
ing to the nearest port for repairs
He would have gone at her again like
Il battering ram, and swooped his ter
rlble tiuke about her like a cyclone,
and sent her and her crew to the
bottom, like fellows of his have done
many a time before. But he was only
steep mad, and not having the pain
of Il harpoon to keep it fresh in his
mind that the schooner and his men
were responsible for that pain, he
was satisfied with the damage he did
thls one charge and went below.
Did l ever have close call from an
Infatuated whale? Did I! Well, remem-
being few of 'em, think did, For
instance, what would you call this
one? Forty years ago I was one of the
crew of the whaler Mary Pilgrim, of
Nantucket. We started in April after
sperm whales in the waters around
! the Cape de Verde islands. Before we
got there we We're five days in the
most terrible gale l ever saw, and mar
rowly escaped going to the bottom.
AS it was, we had to make Bermuda
for repairs. We then set sail for the
Azores.
WED picked a whale now and then,
! but they were not plentiful, and one
day we discovered a tremendous bow
head or bone whale asleep close off
our port bow. l was the harpooner
of the captains boat, and the mate and
second mate were in charge Of the
other two. We got to the whale with
out disturbing him, and / gave him the
harpOon. That woke him, | can tell
you! He was the maddest whale l
ever saw, being both sleep-mad and
harpoon-mad. He turned on our boat
and came at us with a rush. Instead
Of striking us head on he passed our
bow, and as he was passing struck
the boat with his fukes. He cut us
square in two and turned the boat
bottom side up quicker than ever any
boat had been capSized before. My
leg became fou1ed in the harpoon line,
and in second found myself being
towed through the water at about 20
knots an hour, and several feet below
the surface The line was wound
about my leg just below the knee, and
had cut deep into the flesh.
I knew my end was not more than
4 minute ahead of me unless I got
loose from that rushing whale. My
knife was in my belt 1 got it out, and
somehow-but / never knew just how
i managed to reach down and sever
the line. The next second I appeared
on the surface, poppinp up in so sud
den and startling a manner that / al
most scared the mate and his boats
crew into fits, for l came up right
alongside of their boat 1t seems that
just as the whale struck our boat and
wrecked it. the mate fastened a har-
pooh in the enraged monster, and was
being towed by it to the windward,
and had come to the surface just as
they We're passing that spot. They
took me in on the fly, as it were, but
/ was very little better than dead.
The second mate had picked up the
captain and the rest of the crew. I
came around after a while, in time to
see the rest of the fight with that
whale, but unable to have a hand in
it. And what a fight it was!
.sAS the whale was tearing a1opo