The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-06-07
A VALUABLE WHALE.
THE BIG FISH THAT FOUND THa
NORTHWEST PASSAGE.
A Retired ses Captain Tells OF It's Cap
ture what an Embedded Hsrpoon
Proved-sorrowfuI Fate OF the Cours-
geous Captain Of tho Neptune.


geous Captain of tho Neptune.
Among the old sea dogs that frequent
South street Is Captain Thomas Barnes.
He Is famous as n story teller, and from
his 30 years experience on the water no
has n 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, "attompts were made by daring sen.
men to circumnayigats America Holland
and England eagerly desired 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
reward of 81, 900, 600 for the discovery OF
the northwest passage. Later, In the fail
Of 1859, I was second mate OF the Nep--
tune, n stout whaling bark that had been
fitted out In San Francisco by her captain
and owner for an expedition In search OF
tho northwest passage. We shipped full
crew for the purpose of first making a
whaling voyage, and In the following year,
after touching at the Sandwich Islands
some time In May, pass through Bering
strait and face the arctic winter In aboutU
degrees northern latltuue.
mot n soul on board the vessel save the
captain and his four officers were aware OF
the ultimate object Of our voyage he ex-
planning his reticence afterward by saying
That IL he should not succeed In making
name for himself rs an arctic explorer, at
least no one should know Of his failure.
Leaving the Golden Gate, the Neptune
made her way TO tho sout invest, heading
for tho sperm whale feeding grounds
among the South Sea islands. In four
months we had the ship loaded down with
sperm oil. We had caught 90 whales, av-
eraainp about 100 barrels OF oil each
'Then we sailed northward, and catch
Ing the trade winds from tho southwest
stccrod a straight course for the sandwich
Islands, discharged our cargo Mt 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 to Boring strait. From Point
Barrow we steered northwesterly course,
past wrangell and Herald islands, to the
north OF which we encountered great Ice
foes. We saw SEVERAL whales, but they
were always TO the wlpdward OF US, and
therefore we didn't bother them.
lone morning a big spout was sighted
not more than five miles of our lee bow.
Tho wards were hailed into the wind, oil
hands called on deck and the boats lower
I'd. We had eight OF them, splendid, fast
| sailing whaleboats, 80 feet long, with big
| centerboards which enabled them to stand
up 20 almost any kind OF q breeze. After
. hot chase we got the whale, which was
tremendous fellow, and as soon as we had
him alongside the ship tho work OF cut
ting him up commenced one OF the men
standing on tho dead monsters back ana
y. L.. EnyN trtth an "
discovered a rusty old harpoon sticking in
the blubber and partly In the flesh of the
whale. This was not at all strange, a. 1T
often happens that whale is harpooned
and the line has to be cut for some reason.
This harpoon was cut out and handed to
the cactain. Every one of these irons bears
the name of the vessel to which 1t belongs,
and it was certainly interesting To know
what ship had been after the same whale
the blubbor Of which was now being hoist
ed on board the Neptune. A little sandpa-
per applied to the rusty iron soon disclosed
the name. II was Simon Davis.
"'Great heavens, exclaimed the captain,
that ship But he was too agitated to
say moro. His knees shook under him,
and great drops of perspiration stood on
his brow, though the thermometer showed
pb degrees below zero. He recovered him
w,
rome TO tho cabin with him. On arriving
there he gasped out:
al have found the northwest passageP
"'The devil you havcp exclaimed rath-
er disrespectivoly, thinking that his mind
was unbalanced.
=" No dovil about II, he replied. Look
here, and he held that twisted harpoon
no that could read the Bamc engraved on
1t.
"'Simon Davis, read aloud. What
about itp
"'What about itp That ship has never
beon in the western arctic ocean. This
harpoon struck the whale on tho other
side, and he has found passage through
the archipelago. The northwest passage
exists, and this little piece of iron Is the
lncontrovertible proof of It, There would
be only one other way for that whale &c
get from the eastern into the western arc
tic ocean. and that IL around Capo Horn
That is not possible. He would have tt
pass tho equator twice. An arctic whale
would perish before no came within 20 do
grees of the line
1--WE know now that n northwest passage
existed. II remained for us TO find 1t. Th'
next day heavy fog sot In and as bGt
luck would havo 1t we got into current
which drifted us south among lot o.
loose ice. 1t was impossible 20 see any
thing half ships length ahead and th'
current took us along at n five knot rate
Suddenly the lookout on tho forecasti'
yelled out to the man at the wheel: 'Har'
aportl Quick, quick, for Gods sakeP
"But il was too late. An enormous
piece of ground ice lny square in tho ship
path and we struck IL with our starboar'
bow For a moment the vessel quiyere'
4. Il -.
board, going down faster and faster as tn
water rushed into the great hole In he
tide. There was no time to save anything
Every man scrambled on 70 the ice rs bes
he could. The captain was the last TO lcav
tho ship. Whom nothing but part of tn
poop deck remained above water, b
Jumped for the ice, but he sprang shor
and fell into the sea. At that moment tn
Neptune gave "a sudden lurch and sank OH