The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1893-02-17

~ fascination for the landsman,
y and so Il was that q group OF
Arctic blubber hunters had q
lot of interested auditors.
show would you like to have eight
or ten thousand dollars on q string"
asked one Of them, knocking his pipe on
the edge Of the ssringer and addressing
tho group Of landsmon collectively.
"Well, I've had that much many a
time" he went on without waiting for
reply, sand IL makes q fellow rather
nervous guessing whether he's going to
land his fish or whether hell get tipped
overheard. Two been to sea now thirty
four years and expect I've struck about
as many whales as the next one, but it's
pretty exciting business yet. Why, last
whale and he started down. Our ship
had dve boats aud each boat carries 2S3
fathoms OF line. That whale took down
tho whole five OF 'em-1400 fathoms In
all. It began to look as we had lost tho
whole thing, but he was too tired, and
when no came up <we fsetbored into
him."
"You ds,tf6e,feve that hsh-at
least spoutlng'nH-are influenced by tho
moon" said another OF tho group.
"Well, thoy are. I've seen 1t time and
again, and Two ca',et Othor peoples at
tcntion to II, too, M nevcr found any
ono clse who had uo.:cod 1t. Sometimes
when you are at \ ~ whales aro to DO
seen frequently--it may be at the fulI
moon or at new moon-wcll, all at once
they will disappear and you won't SEQ
one for two weeks. Then just a, sud
dcnly the water will DO full OF them.
Two compared notes with other vessels.
Maybe they woro sixty miles or moro
away at tho time aud tho whales there
would be numerous just at tho samo timo
they appeared near our vessel. On, you
fellows needn't laugh. There Is some
thing IN 1t.
"And then I've noticed another thing
about this same class Of fish. When lou
catch them you viii always find that
they have tho pu " OF the eye tho same
shape as tho moon at that time. II the
moon is full tho pupil will bc round, and
il it is half or quarter the sight will
be like crescent"
Tho Captain stopped to light a fresh
pipe aud another ono OF tho whalcrs
spoke up.
"Ivo had some experience mysoif,"
said hc, "but two yours ago came the
nearest taking after Jonah that II man
over did. We had made a striko all
right and tho whalo went down, not
very far, but when he came up he had
his mouth open, and some how or other
no camo up with ono jaw on tho port and
the other on tho lea sido OF cur boat.
Surprised3 Well, that whale looked
very much a. IL no was ready to receive
company, but | wasn't invited, 30 madc
a streak for another boat"
"You would be surprised said the
first speaker, changing the direction of
the talk, "what queer mixtures there
are in whalcr's crew sometimes. Why
I've had lawyers and doctors and any
number Of young men with degree Of
some kind. And once shipped fol-
low that turned out to be preacher,
and wish could got him again, Tor
We got eight whales 'that season. be.
lieve he was masc.f. One poor fellow
who went overheard IN u gale, had in his
trunk physicians diploma, and any
number of letters with high recommend
ations. but guess he had gone wrong
some how, and wanted!to got out Of the
way for while. He. succeeded better
than ho intended. l guess they won't
think of looking for him at the bottom
Of the Arctic.
"Wc get lots of men for n seasons
cruise that way. II n fellows wants to
hide himself for while don't know Of
any place he could do it better than on
board II whalcr. Nobody would think
Of looking for such u mau iii this busi.
ness, and then they couldn't look much
If they wanted to. That kind Of q sea
man never makes you any trouble. It's
the shiftless follow you pick up here on
the wharf that you've got to handle
pretty roughly before he learns Eow TO
keep decent tongue in his head"
"On one Of my cruises l had big,
black West Indian in the crew." said the
first speaker. zone day for some reason
he jumped overheard. The sea was
little rough and it was quite while be-
fore we got tho boats lowered. aud wo
lost sight CT him. But VIC pulled back
a little way and snon saw him, swim
ming with all his might, but in the op.
pOsitc direction from the boat. yelled
to him, and when he saw lie was discov-
cred he made no further effort to get
away. And where he was going is more
than know, for it all happened in mid
ocean. We hauled him into the boat,
and made for the ship. 1t was four
months before we made port and yet in
all that time, Sandy, for that was his
name, never spoke word. Nc one on
board could get a sound from him. Some
times he wonld lie down on the deck
and seem to be asleep and some Of tho
crew would slip up ard stick him with a
pin. At first he would twitci a little
aud then would not move at oil. We
made bed for him down below and
kept him away from knife or other
weapon. You could tell him to take the
wheel and he would steer right enough.
but If you asked him what course the
ship was making he was silent as tho
grave. And when we made the first
port he went ashore and never saw him
again. But some Of the crew said he