Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-06-09
A VALUABLE WHALE.
THE BIG FISH THAT FOUND THE
NORTHWEST PASSAGE.


Among the old sea dogs that frequent
South street is Captain Thomas Barnes.
He Is famous rs a story teller, ana from
his 80 Years experience on tho water he
has a rich fund Of yarns to draw upon.
Tho captain sailed his last ship some years
ago.
AS far back as the middle Of the SIX
tcenth century" said the captain the other
day, "attompts were made by daring sea-
men to circumnayigatc America. Holland
and England eagerly desired shorter
route to India.
"This desire for shorter route to India
when first felt by the Dutch and English,
was tho beginning Of the era OF polar eN-
ploration In 1916 tho English offered
reward of 81 900, 900 for the discovery OF
the northwest passage. Later, In tho tall
of 1869, was second mate OF tho Nep-
tune, a 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
crow for the purpose Of first making q
whaling voyage and in the following year,
after touching ut tho Sandwich Islands
some timo in May, pass through Boring
strait and face the arctic winter In about "a
degrees northern latitude.
mot q soul on board the vessel save the
captain and his four officers We're aware of
the ultimate object Of our voyage, he OK
plnlning his reiiccncc afterwnrd by snying
that il he should not succeed in making
name for himself Us an arctic explorer, at
least no one should know of his failure.
Leaving tho Golden Gate, tho Neptune
made her way to the southwest, heading
for tho sperm whale feeding grounds
among tho South Sea islands. In four
months we had the ship loaded down with
sperm oil. We had caught 20 whales, av-
eraging about 100 barrels of oil each,
"Then we sailed northwnrd, and catch
ing the trade winds from tho southwest
stcercd straight course for the Sandwich
Islands, discharged our cargo at Honolulu,
took on provisions and water and set sail
for tho Arctic ocean. Rough weather, adj
verso winds and general discomfort mark
cd our route to Boring strait. From Point
Barrow we stecrcd northwesterly course,
past Wrangell and Herald islands, to tho
north of which we encountered great ice
foes. We saw several whales, but they
were always TO tho wlndward of US, and
therefore we didn't bother them.
"Ono morning big spout was sighted
not more than i've miles off our leo 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 whalcboats, 30 feet long, with big
contcrboards which enabled them to stand
up to almost any kind of breeze. After
hot chase wo got tho whale, which was %
tremendous fellow, and rs soon as we had
him alongside the ship the work of cut
ting him up commenced One Of the men
standing on tho dead monsters back and
cutting through the neck bone with an AK
discovered rusty old hnrpoon sticking in
tho blubbcr and partly In tho flesh of tho
whale. This was not at all strange, us it
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 captain. Every one of these irons bears
the name of tho vessel to which 1t belongs,
and 1t was certainly interesting to know
what ship had been after the same whale,
the blubber OF which was now being hoist
cd on board the Neptune A little sandpa-
per applied to tho rusty iron soon disclosed
the name. II was Simon Davis.
Great heavens, exclaimed the captain,
that ship But he was too agltatod to
SLY iiAH ANUS tllhhh uHutT ul1It
and great drops OF Precipitation stood on
his brow, though tho Thermometer showed
25 degrees below zero. He recovered HIM
self quickly, however, and asked mo to
come TO the cabin with him. On arriving
there he gaspcd out;
"'I have found the northwest passager
The devil you hnve' exclaimed rath-
er disrcspectiycly, thinking that his mind
was unbalanced.
'' No devil about 1t, he replied. Look
here, and ho held that twisted harpoon
so that could read the name engraved on
It.
"'Simon Davis, 1 read aloud. What
about itf'
What about itp That ship has never
been in tho western arctic ocean. This
hnrpoon struck tho whale on tho other
side, and no has found passage through
tho archipelago, Tho northwest passage
exists, and this little piece OF iron is tho
incontroyertible proof of it. There would
be only one other way for that whale TO
get from the eastern into the western arc
tic ocean, and that is around Cape Horn.
That is not possible. He would have TO
pass the equator twice. An arctic whale
would perish before he came within 20 do.
gfces OF tho line.
I've know now that northwest passage
existed. 1t remained for us to find it, The
next day a heavy fog set in and ms bad
luck would have 1t we got into n current
which drifted us south among lot of
loose Ice. II was impossible to SEQ any
thing half a ships length ahead, and tho
current took us along at five knot rate
Suddenly the lookout on tho forccastle
yelled out to the man Mt the wheel: Hard
nportl Quick, quick, for Gods saker
But 10 was too late. An enormous
piece of ground leo lay square in the ship's
path and We struck 1t with our starboard
bow. For moment the vessel quiyered
like living thing then she listed TO star.
board, going down fnstor and faster as Tho
water rushed into the great hole in ho-
slide, There was no time to save anything.
Every man scrambled on to the ice as best
no could. Tho captain was the last to lenye
the ship When nothing but part of the
poop deck remained above water, he
jumped for tho ice, but ho sprang short
aud fell into tho sea. At that moment tbc
Neptune gave n sudden lurch and sank ont
oil sight. The vortex caused by the shinis
descent drew our gallant captain under
and his kind, brave face was never seen
again.
II shall not attempt to describe our suf.
ferings on that piece of ice For five DAYS
not n morscl Of food, no sleep and most az
us wet to tho skin, Forty.flve of tho mon
sueoumbed. We threw them into tho ~,