Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-02-20

gest of all Gods living creatures on
sea or land, and what We call sperm
whale is the smallest of whales, varying
in length from so to 130 feet and
large in proportion, making from 4O
to 140 barrels of oil.
One beautiful day in August, 1866,
on the Western Ocean whale was
sighted by the man at the masthead,
who sang out:
"Ah, she blows"
Those words had the effect of an
electric shock. Every man in the ship
from stem to stern was up and doing
in an instant. Presently the Captain
shouted back:
"Where away!"
"About three points on the lee bow,
air."
"How far OFF,"
"About three miles, sir" Then said
the Captain to the crew:
"Back your main yards" Glover
boats and away" was the next order.
Our ship carried four boats, each
manned by crew of five men and an
officer. The boat in which was
reached the whale first. When We got
60 him he was asleep. 1t was the most
dangerous time to strike him. because
nobody can tell what move a whale
suddenly aroused will make first. He
was the largest sperm I think ever
saw, and probably was good for 140
barrels of oil. That is vast amount
to get from sperm whale, although
from a bowhead whale one sometimes
gets $50 barrels. When we struck
this fellow he raised his tail, which
measured about fifteen feet across, and
made the water seethe and boil a
moment or two then he went down.
Being fast to him with irons, we paid
out the line very quickly to keep
from going down with him.
Presently the line grew slack,
which means that he had stopped
somewhere Just beneath us. But the
water was so thick with his blood that
We were unable to see how far down
he was. We knew he was near, but
how near we could not tell just then.
While we were eagerly looking over
the side of the boat, quick as flash
he struck the bottom of the boat and
we went flying. When I recovered my
senses was about fifteen feet below,
looking for fresh air. When l reached
the top what should meet but the
whale, just as he was raising his tire.
mendous tail high above my head. 1
darted to one side. Down came the
tail with an awful splash. If had
been under it I should have been
smashed to smithereens. As I was
making desperate efforts to get away
from the whale, who should come up
right alongside me but the harpooner.
He could not swim. A few stokes
away there was buoy. I secured it,
dragged it to him, and just as he was
about to give up in despair he grasped
it, and was saved. Then we both
clung to the buoy and took in the cit.
uation. The bow oarsman was thrown
over about twenty rods. The tub oars.
man, stroke oarsman, and the second
mate we're thrown in different direc.
tions. l, being midship oarsman, had
been picked up, as pancake, and
Topped over and showed down. While
the harpooner and I hung to the buoy
we were kept busy kicking away
sharks, pushing them first one way,
then another. Not sharks Of the kind
one sees around the bays and rivers,
but big fellows, from fifteen to twenty.
five feet long-the kind that can divide
a fellow at one nip.
Our stroke osrsman could not swim,
but he got hold of piece of the boat
that piece was fast to the line and the
line was fast to the whale. He passed
us like shot, reaching out his hands
and shouting, "Bill! Bill! Save me
Save mel" He had no sooner said it
than he was gone. Presently the whale
went down, the piece of boat went
with him, and the stroke oarsman was
left at the mercy of the waves, a good
distance away. Meanwhile the other
three boats we're coming up, and just
as he had exhausted himself. strug.
Cling to keep on top, the third mates
boat reached him. He was rescued,
and then the rest OF us were picked
up.
All this happened within ten minutes.
Nothing remained of our small boat.
The 500 fathoms of line gone as we're
also the lances, harpoons, and the two
buoys. One of the other boats, how
ever, put for the whale and captured
him.
Now, when I was clinging to that
buoy the Bible story of Jonah and the
whale came forcibly to my mind, and
1 wondered if I was doomed to go
through Jonah's experience. When
the whale was lying at the ships side
and We were cutting him in I told the
boys of these feelings. They urged
me to go through the whales throat,
and I resolved to do SO when his head
came on deck, to demonstrate the
possibility of Jonah's experience. 1
did not then believe in the Bible, but
1 verified the whale story, for when
the head was on the deck I went
through the throat as easily as 1 had
crawled through bars when q boy.
The head containing the spermaceti
oil is always cut from the trunk and
hauled in whole. OF course the
whales jaws come with it, and they
measured often from eight to twelve
feet. When we killed other whales,
from time to time, some of the men
lifted up the lower jaw, while the rest,
one after another, would crawl
through tho throat, not down where
Jonah went, bat to the deck. This
did more times than have fingers aud
toes. 1t should be remembered that
in each case we crawled through the
throat of dead whale. If, when dead,
. whale had . throat to admit me.