The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-07-17
A VALUABLE WHALE.
THE BIG FISH THAT FOUND Ttfe
NORTHWEST PASSAGE.

Among the old sea dogs that frequent.
South street is Captain Thomas Barnes.
He is famous as a story teller, and from
his so years experience on the water lie
has a rich fund of yarns TO draw upon
The captain sailed his last ship some years
ago.
''As far back as the middle Of the six
teenth century" said the captain the other
day, attempts were made by daring sea
men to circumnavigate America Holland
and England eagerly desired q shorter
route to India
.'This desire for q shorter route TO India
when first felt by the Dutch and English,
was the beginning of the era of polar ex-
ploration In 1915 the English offered a
reward Of 81 600. coo for the discovery of
the northwest passage Later, in the fall
of 1859, was second mate OF the Nep-
tune. a stout whaling bark that had been
fitted out in San Francisco by her captain
snd owner for an expedition in search of
the northwest passage We shipped full
crew for the purpose OF first making
whaling voyage, and in the following year.
after touching at the Sandwich ISLANDS
some time in May, pass through Boring
strait and face the arctic winter In about "a
degrees northern latitude.
.'Not a soul on board tho vessel save the
captain and his four officers were aware OF
the ultimate object of our voyage, he e1-
planning his reticence afterward by saying
that If he should not succeed in making
name for himself as an arctic explore at
least no one should know of his failure.
Leaving the Golden Gate, the Neptune
made her way TO the southwest, hcadins:
for the sperm whale feeding grounds
among this South Sea islands In four
months we had the ship loaded down with
sperm oil We had carght % whales, av-
eraging about 100 barrels OF oil each.
Then we sailed northward, and catch
ing the trade winds from the southwest
steered a straight course for the Sandwich
Islands, discharged our cargo at Honolulu,
took on provisions and water and set sail
for the Arctic ocean. Rough weather, ad-
verse winds and general discomfort mark
ed our route 20 Boring strait. From Point
Barrow we steered q northwesterly course,
past wrangcll and Herald islands, to tho
north of which we encountered great Ice
foes. We saw several whales, but they
were ALWAYS to the windward OF Us, and
therefore we didn't bother them
Zone morning big spout was sighted
not more than five miles OF our lee bow.
The yards were hailed into the wind, all
hands called on deck and the boats lower
ed We had eight Of them, splendid. fast
sailing whaleboats, 30 feet long, with big
centerboar,is which enabled them 20 stand
up to almost any kind OF breeze. After
a hot chase we got the whale, which was n
tremendous fellow. and as soon as we had
dam d - .-i-1,> un- mp me Won OF cut
ting him up commenced One Of the men
standing on the dead monsters back and
cutting through the neck bone with an AZ
discovered rusty old harpoon sticking in
the blubber and partly In the flesh OF the
whale. This was not at all strange, a. Is
often happens that whale Is harpooned
and the line has to be cut for some reason.
This harpoon was cut out and handed 10
the captain. Every one Of these irons bears
the name OF the vessel 20 which IL belongs,
and Ii was certainly interesting 70 know
what ship had been after the same whale,
the blubbcr Of which was now being hoist
ed on board the Neptune. A little sandpa-
per applied TO the rusty iron soon disclosed
the pane II was Simon Davis.
'''Great heavens, exclaimed the captain,
that ship But be was too agitated 10
say more. His knees shook under him,
and great drops Of perspiratioa stood on
his brow. though the thermometer showed
25 degrees below zero. he recovered him
self quickly, however, and asked me 10
come TO the cabin with him On arriving
there he gasped out:
81 have found the northwest passage
1.-THE devil you hsveii I exclaimed raih-
- disrespectively, thinking that his mind
was unbalanced
go No devil about s., he replied. Look
here and he held that twisted harpoon
60 that could Rad the name engraved on
t.
"'si-non Davis, I read aloud 'Whs.
about IT,
"'Wha; about e., That ship has never
been in the western arctic ocean- This
ha-poon struck the whale on the other
ode. and he has found = passage through
tie archipelago. The northwest pass-aSe
exists. and this little pseos ~ i-on Is he
fnoontrovertihle prof # T. There would
he only ore other way Tor ihzt whale 70 |
90. from the eastern into the sse-terD s-c- /
&c o.oean, ard TIA; = around Gaze Horn /
That Is TO. possible he would have 20 /
pass the equator twice Al arctic ~i-als /
would perish before be cane within - o.
gree Of the Line
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