The Lambertville record., 1897-11-17
THE RAINBOW'S LUCK

~ y u LEW
During the palmy days of the whal
ing fleet no craft sailing out of any por
was referred to rs often as the bari
Rainbow. Her history from beginninl
II end was curious one, and it woult
be hard TO find an old whaleman VIII,
hadn t heard it half dozen times over
The ship Wanderer went whalins
from the port of Bristol commanded by
Captain Joseph Watkins. She was out
| Is months and never took "A whale
-Four of her crew died of fever, thre,
We're killed by accident, and the shiI
returned So wrecked that she was sold
for collier. The owners lost heavily.
| Of course, and Captain Watkins was
called u Jonah and could not get anoth-
CT craft One day when he WAS digging
III his garden ho unearthed three Jars
which were filled TO the hrim with gold
pieces and which had been buried foI
perhaps u century. His find footed ur
about 500, 600, and with the greater
portion of the money he built and fitted
out the bark Rainbow. Instead of ship
ping crew ON shares he paid by the
menth, and thus set cut on his first yoV
age with the best seamen of Bristol
On tho second day after leaving port
the bark came across dead whale float
ing about which yielded 50 barrels Of
oil On the fifth day, lust ms the decks
had been cleared up she came upon the
scene of II fight between five whales
AMI seven or eight of that species OF
fish known as the killer. which IS the
mortal enemy of the leYiathan and the
only known one he has in any SEA. The
bark hove to aud let the fight 20 on.
and when it was over she had two dead
whales To tow alongside and added l50
barrels of oil to her cargo. In four
months from tho day she left Bristol
she entered port again, having cargo
Of bono and oil which sold for more
than $50, 600. In addition to that She
brought home the complete skeleton of
whale 80 feet long. for which the
British museum puid 50, 900 in cash
The lucky voyage of the Rainbow
created much talk and when Captain
Watkins was ready to set sail again he
had to turn sailors away by the hun
dred This time the crew was shipped
ON shares, and no man had reason to re-
gret it in 1870 days the bark was back
III Bristol with ., $40 barrels of common
oil, 320 barrels Of lease" or fine oil,
and the largest cargo of baiecn, or whale
bone, eyer brought to port by u whaler
She had not lost man, beat or a sail.
Everybody was astounded over tho luck
OF Il man who had been out year and "a
half i'll another ship to meet with moth
ing but disaster, and the name of Cap
tam Watkins was heard whenever two
sailors met. He had money enough to
enable him to live comfortably the rest
of his days, but he was persuaded to
mako one more voyage. On this third
cruise the leviathans Of the deep seemed
to hunt for the ship. In l5G days she
made tho port Of Bristol with cargo
worth $4,000 more than either of the
preceding ones
When the Rainbow had completed
her third voyage, Captain Watkins de
tcrmined to remain ashore. There were
so many men who wanted to buy tho
lucky ship that she was put up ut auc-
tion. Men came from every seaport in
England and Scotland to bid on her
and the price was run up until she sold
for $5, 600 more than she had cost to
build. She was bid in by Bristol firm,
and the command of her given to Cap
tain TraYers Her complement Of men
when ready for sea was 3S, but so wide
spread was her fame as lucky ship that
there were over 200 applicants for tho
3S places
Three months after she arrived home
on her third cruise the Rainbow went
to sea again Up to this time l 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 Marblehcad. One day as we wero
cutting in II whale to the north of St
Helena the Rainbow came up from tho
east, aud the two craft remained in com.
pany for three or four hours The lucky
ship had then been out Of port 40 days
without capture and all were disgust
ed. More than that, she had been through
severe gale and had three men hurt
and lost sails and topmasts Her luck
had changed Captain Travers was q
line seaman, an old whaler, and had
never brought an empty ship into port.
but the fact remained that the Rainbow
had not yet even lowered for whale
just as she was ready to leave us,
however, two large whales spouted wa
ter within half mile of the ships
They were quarter of a mile apart,
and while we lowered for one the bark
took the other. We had but little trou.
bic i'll killing our prey, which was
female aud good for 20 barrels Of oil
The other was "A bull whale and evi
IDENTIFY in bad temper. He first led tho
boats chase of three miles to the south
and then slowed around aud waited for
them to come up When the mates
boat was within 500 feet of him, he
rushed forward and ran it down, and
as it foated astern Of him he smashed
1t with blow Of his fukes Two men
were killed by this blow.
Two weeks later, Just as we had
scrubbed our decks, and while we were
under easy sail to the south Of St Hell
ena, we lowered for a school Of whales
and got two. There were II in tho
school, and 10 went off to the south
west We were making our captures
fast to tho ship when the Rainbow came
down ON us from the south. She was
now 81 days out, and i'll luck still pur.
sued her. After parting from US she
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