Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-08-21
A VALUABLE WHALE.
THE BIG FISH THAT FOUND THE
NORTHWEST PASSAGE.
A Retired Sea Captain Tells of It's Cap
ture What an Embedded Harpoon
Proved-Sorrowful Fate OF the Coura-
geous Captain of the Neptune.

geous Captain OF the Neptune
Among the old sea dogs that frequent
South street is Captain Thomas Barnes
He is famous as story teller, and from
his so years experience on the water no
has rich fund of yarns t. draw upon
The captain sailed his last ship some years
ago
"As far back as the middle of the six-
tenth century" said the captain the other
day, attempts were made by daring sea-
men to circumnavigato 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 1916 the English offered a
reward of 81, 600, 600 for the discovery Of
the northwest passage Later, in the fall
of 1859, was second mate Of the Ncp-
tune, stout whaling bark that had been
fitted out in san Francisco by her captain
and owner for an expedition in search OF
the northwest passage. We shipped a full
crew for the purpose of first making a
whaling voyage, and in the following year,
after touching Mt the Sandwich Islands
some time in May, pass through Boring
| strait and face the arctic winter in about Il
degrees northern latitude.
"Not a soul on board the vessel save the
captain ana his four officers were aware Of
the ultimate object Of our voyage, he tx
planning his reticcnce aftorward by saying
| that if he should rot succeed in making "a
| name for himself as an arctic explorer, at
least no ono should know of his failure
Leaving the Golden Gate, the Neptunp
made her way to the southwest, heading
| for the sperm whale feeding grounds
among the South Sea islands In four
months we had the ship loaded down with
sperm oil We had caught 25 whales, av-
eraging about 100 barrels of oil each.
"Thcn we sailed northward, and catch
| ing the trade winds from the southwest
stccrcd "a straight course for the Sandwich
Islands, discharged our cargo NJ Honolulu,
| took on provisions and water and set sail
| for the Arctic ocean. Rough weather, I'D
verse winds and general discomfort mark
| ed our route TO Boring strait. From Point
| Barrow we steercd northwcsterly course
| past Wrangcl 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.
"Ono morning big spout was sighted
not moro than five miles of our Ice bow.
The wards WIRE hailed into the wind, all
hands called on deck and tho boats lower
ed We had eight of them, splendid fhst
sailing whalrboats, 80 feet long, with big
ccntcrboards which enabled them to stand
up to almost any kind of a breeze. After
a hot chase we got the whale, which wasa
tremendous fellow and as soon rs we Ind
him alongside the ship the work of cut
p,Nftt .,,
standing on the dead monsters back and
cutting through the neck bone with an AK
discovered rusty old harpoon sticking In
the blubber and partly in the flesh of the
whale This was not at all strange, as 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 ono 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
cd on board the Neptune. a little sandpa-
per applied 70 the rusty iron soon disclosed
the namo. 1t was Simon Davis.
Great heavens, exclaimed the captain,
that ship But he was too agitatcd to
say moro. His knees shook under him,
and great drops of perspiration stood OH
his brow, though the Thermometer showed
% degrees below zero. He recovered him
self quickly, however, and asked me to
come to the cabin with him. On arriving
there he Easpcd out:
i have found the northwest passagei'
"'The devil you havcl' exclaimed rath-
er disrospoctivcly, thinking that his mind
was unbalanced.
GO No devil about it., he replied. Look
here, and no held that twisted harpoon
so that / could read the name engraved on
1t.
"'Simon Davis, read aloud What
about it?'
What about it? That ship has never
been In the western arctic ocean. This
harpoon struck the whale on tho other
side, and he has found n passage through
the archipelago. The northwest passage
exists, and this little piece of iron Is tho
incontroycrtible 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 90 de-
grees of the line
'Wc knew now that northwest passage
next day n heavy fog set in and rs bad
luck would have 1t we got into current
which drifted us south among n lot OF
loose ice 1t was impossible to see any
thing half ships length ahead, and tho
current took us along at five knot rate
Suddenly the lookout on the forecastls
yelled out to the man at the wheel: Hard
aport! Quick, quick, for Gods sakcp
But 1t wns too late. An enormous
piece of ground ice lay square in the ships
path and we struck it with our starboard
bow. For n moment the vessel quivered
like living thing, then she listed to star
board, going down faster and faster rs tho
water rushed into the great hole in her
side. There was no time to save anything.
Every man scrambled on to the ice as best
he could. The captain was the last to leave
the ship. When nothing but a part of the
poop deck remained above water, he
jumped for the ice, but he sprang short
and fell into the sea. At that moment tho
Neptune gave a sudden lurch and sank out
OF sight. The vortex caused by the ships