The Somerset reporter., 1897-11-18

] WIS referred To as often as the bark
Rainbow. Her history from beginning
to end was curious one, and it would
be hard to find an old whaleman who
hadn t heard it half a dozen times over.
The ship Wandercr went whaling
from the port Of Bristol, commanded by
Captain Joseph Watkins. She was out
10 months and never took whale.
-Four of her crew died of fever, three
We're killed by accident, and the shin
returned so wrecked that she was sold
for collier. The owners lost heavily,
OF course, and Captain Watkins was
called Jonah and could not get anoth-
er craft One day when he was digging
in his garden he unearthed three Jars
which were filled to the brim with gold
pieces, and which had been buried for
perhaps century. His find footed up
about $40, 600, and with the greater
| portion of the money he built and fitted
out the bark Rainbow. Instead of ship
ping a crew on shares he paid by the
month, and thus set out ON his first vow
age with the best seamen of Bristol
On the second day after leaving port
the bark came across dead whale float
| ing about which yielded so barrels Of
oil. On the fifth day, just as the decks
had been cleared up, she came upon the
scene of a fight between five whales
and seven or eight of that species Of
fish known as the killer, which is the
mortal enemy of the leviathan and the
only known one he has i'll any sea The
bark hove to and let the fight 90 on,
and when it was over she had two dead
whales to tow alongside and added 1850
barrels of oil to her cargo. In four
months from the day she left Bristol
she entered port again, having a cargo
of bone and oil which sold for more
than $50, 600 In addition to that she
brought home the complete skeleton of
whale So feet long, for which the
British museum paid S., 600 i'll 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-
greet it. In 100 days tho bark was back
in Bristol with 2,S70 barrels of common
oil, 800 barrels of lease" or fine oil,
and the largest cargo of baleen, or whale
bone, ever brought to port by whaler
She had not lost man, boat or sail
Everybody was astounded over the luck
of 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
tain 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
make one more voyage. On this third
cruise the leviathans of the deep seemed
to hunt for the ship In l56 days she
made the port of Bristol with cargo
worth 1000 more than either of the
preceding ones
When the Rainbow had completed
her third voyage, Captain Watkins de-
termined to remain ashore There were
SO many men who wanted to buy the
lucky ship that she was put up at auc-
ton. Men came from every seaport in
England and Scotland to bid on her,
and the price was run up until she sold
for So, 600 more than she had cost to
build She was bid in by Bristol firm,
and the command of her given to a 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 700 applicants for the
38 places.
Three months after she arrived homo
on her third cruise the Rainbow went
to sea again. 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 IL we wore
cutting in "a whale to the north of st
Helena the Rainbow came up from the
east, and the two craft remained III 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
u severe gale and had three men hurt
and lost sails and topmasts Her luck
had changed Captain Travers was a
fine seaman. an old whaler, and had
never brought an empty ship into port,
bat the fact remained that the Rainbow
bad not yet even lowered for whale.
just as she was ready to leave us,
however, two large whales spouted wa
ter within a half mile of the ships
They were quarter of mile apart,
and while we lowered for one the bark
took the other. We had but little trou.
BILE III killing our prey, which was a
female and good for 10 barrels of oil
The other was a bull whale and evil
IDENTIFY in bad temper He first led the
boats chase of three miles to the south
and then slowed around and waited for
them to come up When the mate
boat was within 800 feet of him. he
rushed forward and ran 1t down. and
as it fioated asteru Of him he smashed
1t with a 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 10 in the
school, and 10 went off to the south
west. We were making our captures
fast to the 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
lowered for a whale and lost two har-
4 4 IL