The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-17
THE LUCK OF THE RAINBOW.
From the Chicago News.

During the palmy days of the whaling
fleet no craft sailing out of any port
was referred to as often as the bark
Rainbow Her history from beginning to
end was a curious one, and it would be
hard to find an old whaleman who hadn't
heard it half dozen times over.
The ship Wanderer went whaling from
the port of Bristol, commanded by Capt,
Joseph Watkins. She was out eighteen
months and never took a whale. Four of
her crew died of fever, three We're killed
by accident, and the ship returned so
wrecked that she was sold for collier.
The owners lost heavily of course, and
Capt. Watkins was called a Jonah, and
could not get another craft. one day
when he was digging in his garden he
unearthed three jars, which were hlled
to the brim with gold pieces, and which
had been buried for perhaps a century;
His find footed up about $4,000, and
with the greater portion of the money
he built and fitted out the bark Rain
bow. Instead of shipping crew on
shares be paid by the month and thus
set out on his first voyage with the best
seamen of Bristol. on the second day
after leaving port the bark came across
a dead whale doating about, which yielded
eighty barrels of OIL. On the htth day,
Just as the decks had been cleared up
she came upon the scene of fight be-
tween five whales and seven or eight Of
that species of fish known as the killer,
which is the mortal enemy OF the levi
athan, and the only known one ne mas
in any sea The bark hove to and let the
fight go on, and when it was over she
had two dead whales to tow alongside ana
added $50 barrels of oil to her cargo. In
four months from the day she leIt Brls-
tol she entered port again, having
cargo of bone and oil. which sold for
more than $4,000 In addition to that
she brought home the complete Skele-
ton of a whale eighty-five feet long, for
which the British museum paid 5000 in
cash.
The lucky VOYAGE of the Rainbow Gre
ated much talk and when Capt. watkins
was ready to set sail again he had to turn
sailors away by the hundred. This time
the crew was shipped on shares, and no
man had reason to regret II. In loV DAYS
the bark was back in Bristol with ESQ
barrels of common oil, 800 barrels OF
case" or fine oil, and the largest cargo
of baleen or whalebone ever brought 10
port by a whaler. She had not lost a
man. boat or a sail. Everybody was as
founded over the luck of man who mad
been out year and a half in another snip
10 meet with nothing but disaster, and
the name of Capt. Watkins was heard
whenever two sailors met. He had money
enough to enable him to live comfortably
the rest of his days, but ne was persuaded
to make one more voyage. on this third
cruise the leviathans of the deep seemed
to hunt for the ship. One day, after Rain
bow had fallen in with a New Bedford
whaler which had been out for four months
without killing a whale, she ran into a
school and killed five and had them all
fastened to her hull at once. on another
dav she killed four-on another three. In
156 days she made the port of Bristol with
a cargo worth $1,000 more than either of
the preceding ones. on this cruise she
CAPTURED the largest whale which the fleet
had ever heard of. The monster was lis
feet long and cut in nearly 10 barrels of
oil. From its head was taken nineteen
barrels Of oil almost fit for watch springs
without refining. The whale was killed
within fifteen minutes of lowering boat,
and that by a single harpoon. The barna-
cles Clinging TO him ana the wrinkles In
his skin proved that he was an old vet
eran, and that he was not in good health,
so to speak, was evidenced by his eject
ing in his dying struggles a lump of am
bergris weighing twenty-eight pounds,
and valued az 90 cents an ounce.
When the Rainbow had completed her
third voyage Capt Watkins determined to
remain ashore. There were so many men
who wanted to buy the lucky ship that
she was put up at auction. Men came
from every seaport in England and Scot
land to bid on her, and the price was
run up until she sold for $1,000 more than
she had cost to build. She was bid in
by a Bristol firm and the command of
her given to a Capt. Trayers. Her COM
plement of men when ready for sea was
thirty-eight, but so widespread was her
fame as a lucky ship that there were over
100 applicants for the thirty-eight places
Up to this time / had never seen the bark
but had heard all about her dozen times
over from men aboard OF our whaling ship
the Nancy Lee of Marblehead. one day, as
we We're cutting in a whale to the north
of St. Helena, the Rainbow came up from
the east and the two CRAFTS remained in
company for three or four hours. The
lucky ship had then been out of port forty
days without a capture and all were dis
gusted More than that, she had been
through a sever gale and had three men
hurt and lost sails and topmasts. Her
luck had changed. Capt. Travers was a
fine seaman, an old whaler and had never
brought an empty ship into port, but