The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-02-10
JONAH AND THE WHALE; A REPLY
ToLYMAN ABBOTT.

for a forty.four months cruise IN the
South Seas with the veteran whale
man, Capt. Elisha Babcock, who is
we'll known to the whaling fraternity.
We had q very successful! voyage up
to the time left the expedition, TWEEN
'ty-seven months afterward, off the
coast of Borneo. Now, whale is the
biggest OF all Gods living creatures
on sea or land, and what we call a
sperm whale is the smallest of whales,
varying in length from 50 to 13O feet
and large in proportion, making from
40 to lao 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" y"
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,
SIR"
"How far OFF,"
"About three miles, SIR" Then said
the captain to the crew:
"Back your main yards" Lower
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 I was
reached the whale first. When we
got to him he was asleep. 1t was the
most dangerous time to strike him, be-
cause nobody can tell what move q
whale suddenly aroused will make
first. He was the largest sperm whale
I think ever saw, and probably was
good for 14O barrels of oil. That is
vast amount to get from sperm
whale, although from a bowhead
whale one sometimes gets $50 bar
rels. 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 two irons, we payed out the line
very quickly to keep from going down
with him. Presently the line grew
slack, which means that he had stop
ped 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 look.
ing over the sides of the boat, quick as
q flash he struck the bottom of the
boat and we went flying. When re-
covered my senses I was about fifteen
feet below, looking for fresh air.
When reached the top what should I
meet but the whale, just as he was
raising his tremendous tail high above
my head. darted to one side. Down
came the tail with an awful splash.
II I 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 strokes away there was buoy. |
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 situation. The bow oarsman was
thrown over about twenty rods. The
tub oarsman, stroke oarsman, and the
second mate were thrown in differ
ent directions. I, being midship oars.
man, had been picked up, as pam
cake, and Topped over and showed
down.. While the harpooner and I
hung to the buoy were kept busy kick
ing 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 fif-
teen to twenty-five feet long--the kind
that can divide fellow at one nip.
Our stroke oarsman 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 oars
man was left at the mercy of the
waves, a good distance away. Mean
while the other three boats were COM
ing up, and just as he had exhausted
himself, struggling to keep on top, the
third mates boat reached him. He
was rescued, and then tie rest of US
were picked up.
All this happened within ten min.
utes. Nothing remained of our small
boat. The 500 fathoms of line were
gone, as were also the lances, harpoons,
and the two buoys. One OF the other
boats, however, put for the whale and
captured him.
Now, when was clinging to that
buoy the Bible story of Jonah and the
whale came forcibly to my mind, and
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 60 through the whales throat,
and resolved to do so when his head
came on deck. to demonstrate the
possibility of Jonah's experience. I
did not then believe in the Bible, but
I verified the whale story, for when
the head was on the deck 1 went
through the throat as easily as had
crawled through bars when a 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,