The Press., 1898-02-10

broke water within half a mile of the
two craft. We got him aboard of his
ship as SOON as possible, but long
enough before he reached her his mates
had lowered and We're away The hour
was clock III the afternoon, and we
knocked off work to see the fun.
There were those aboard of the Rain
bow who said it was the same whale
which had killed two men and smashed
a boat to the north of St Helena Be
that as it may, he had a harpoon stick
ing in him and was badly tangled up
in whale line He was rolling on the
surface when both boats came up and
made fast at the same moment For 10
seconds the monster did not move fin.
Then he started off with rush and
made complete circle about both ships,
leaving such a wake behind him that
there were times when we lost sight of
the boats in the foam Having COM
pleted the circle the monster slowed
about until he was head on to the first
mates boat He lay for moment
swinging his lower jaw to right and
left and then made rush The boat at
tempted to shoot ahead and avoid him,
but he caught her with swing of that
terrible jaw and left only fragments be-
hind as he came down between the two
ships and went off to the south The
second mates boat was obliged to cut
loose to pick up the other crew, but
three men, one of whom was the first
mate, had lost their lives. When the
extent of the calamity became known,
open mutiny resulted
The men demanded that the Rainbow
be headed for Bristol, and two hours
later she laid her course for that port
and left u.s. Never did more dis
gruntled crew reach port The owners
| at once removed Captain Travers from
command The men scattered, and it
was three months before the bark start
ed out for another cruise. She had lost
prestige, but she was still looked upon
as lucky craft and there was no lack
of applicants when she was ready for
sea- On this, which proved to be her
last cruise, she was commanded by Cap
tain Thorndyke, who was a Whaler of
10 years experience and had command
ed some of the best vessels III the feet
On leaving Bristol he told the owners
he would come back with hold full of
Oil or not at all
We in the Nancy Lee had meanwhile
transshipped 400 barrels of oil and
worked our way down to Cape Horn
and 200 miles south of it We were
cruising east and west. taking a whale
occasionally. when the Rainbow came
down on us for the third time. This
was some nine or ten months after her
last adventure. and she had made the
trip from Bristol without sighting
spout She came down to us at 10
O'Clock one morning, remained hove to
until III the afternoon and then head
ed away to the east
We came about, and two days later
sighted the Rainbow again Neither
craft had sighted a spout, but at 2
o'clock in the afternoon. as they lay
within quarter of mile of each other,
a whale broke water within a cables
length of the bark. He was SO close to
her that we had no show and did not
| lower 1t was a lone whale and a big
one. and we no sooner had him under
our glasses than we saw that he was a
fighter There were half dozen scars
Oh his head, and the way he rolled about
showed his temper AS he was head on
to us he must have seen both ships and
the two boats lowered for him, but he
made no move until the mate boat
was close upon him and ready for a
dart. She had made half circle to get
out of his line of vision and approach
him broadSide on, but he heard the ap-
proach and INDUCED III strange ma
neuver
Few men ever saw whale back wa
ter, and there are plenty of whalers that
contend that he cannot This whale
however, backed distance of 100 feet,
and with amazing swlftness. too, and
striking the boat with his f1ukes he
killed four men and reduced her to
matchwood. Then he started straight
for the RAINBOW. and his rush was that
Of an avalanche Every man of us had
our eyes on him when he struck her on
the port bow. and we plainly heard the
crash of planks and timbers After the
shock he started off and settled down
and was seen no more. but IN ten MIN
utes the Rainbow was at the bottom Of
the sea Not a man saved even All extra
jacket There was scarce time for them
to lower their boats when the bark
pitched forward and went to her grave.
We. OF course, took them aboard, and
after few weeks they were landed at
| Bahia