The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-05-26
.F|GHI WITH SPERM WHALE.
STARTLING TALE OF THE OLD
WHALING TIMES.
a Brilliant Description Which Is High
ly Praised by Rudyard Kipling in a
Letter to Author.


Cachalot' tells some wonderful yarns
which will be appreciated here. Kip
Inns, in writing to the author of the
book, says 1T is a new worll that
you have opened the door to-"
The following is the story of light
with a sperm whale. and is vouched
for as true Mate Bullen says:
I'VE sped along at a good rate to
ward our prospective victim, who vas
in his leisurely enjoyment of life calm
ly lolling on the surface, occasionally
lifting his enormous tail out of the
water and letting it fall flat upon the
surface with a boom audible for miles
We were as usual first boat; but much
to the mates annoyance, when we
We're a short half mile from the whale,
our mainsheet parted. 1t became i'm
mediately necessary to roll the sail up,
lest its Tapping should alarm the
Watchful monster, and this delayed us
sufficiently to allow the other boats to
shoot ahead of us, Thus the second
mate got fast some seconds before we
arrived on the scene, seeing which we
furled sail, unshipped the mast, aud
went in on him with the oars only.
At first the proceedings We're quite
of the usual character, Gu" chief
welding his lance in most beautiful
fashion, while not being fast 70 the
animal allowed us much greater free
dom in our eVolutions: but that Ga tai
habit of the mate's-of allowing his
boat to take care of herself so .ong as
he was getting in some good home
thrustS-once more asserted itself.
Although the whale was exceeding
ly vigorous. Churning the sea into q
yeasty foam over an enormous area,
there we wallowed close to him. right
in the middle of the turmoil, actually
counting disaster. He had Just settled
down a OIL ri
over the gunwale, l saw his tail, like
vast shadow, sweeping away from us
toward the second mate, who was ly-
ing off the other side of him. Before
had time to think, the mighty mass of
gristle leaped into the sunshine curved
back from us like a huge bow. Then
with a roar it came at us, released
from it's tension of heaven knows how
many tons. Full on the brOadside il
struck US, sending every soul b 1T me
flying out of the Wreckage as if fred
from a catapult. l did not go because
my foot was damned somehow in the
we'll of the boat. but the wrench near
ly pulled my thigh bone out of the
socket. l had hardly released my foot
when, towering above me. came the
colossal head of the great creature. as
he plowed through the bundle of debris
that had just been boat There vas
an appalling roar of water in my ears,
and darkness that might be felt oil
around, yet, in the midst of it ALL one
thought predomnated as clearly as if
had been turning it over in ny mind
in the quiet of my bunk aboard--'What
if he should swallow me- But
the agony of holding my breath soon
overpowered every other feeling and
thought, till, just as something was
going to snap inside my head, I rose to
the surface. / was surrounded by a
al ta,. Of hi ol, 40, =
impossible for me to see; but oh! the
air was sweet.
| struck out blindly, instinctiVely, AL
though I could feel so strong an eddy
that voluntary progress was out of the
question. My hand touched and Ciung
to rope, which Immediately towed me
in some direction-I neither knew nor
cared whittier. Soon the motion ceased
and, with a seaman's instinct, 1 began
to haul myself along by the rope /
grasped, although no definite idea was
in my mind as to where it was at
tached. Presently 1 came up against
something solid, the feel of which
gathered all my scattered wits into a
compact knub of dread. 1t was the
whale! ANY port in Storm! l muir
INJURED, beginning to haul away again
on a friendly line. BY dint of hard
work l pulled myself up the sloping
slippery bank of blubber, until I
reached the iron, which, as luck would
have it, was planted in that side of
the carcass now uppermoSt. Carcass,
1 said-well, certainly 7 had no idea Of |
there being any life remaining within
the vast mass beneath me; yet I mad
hardly time to take a couple of turns
around myself with the rope Tor whale
line, as I had proved it to bel when /
felt the great animal culver all over,
and begin to forge ahead.
l was now composed enough TO re
member that help could not be far
away, and that my rescue, provided I
could keep above water, was but a
question of few minutes. But l was
hardly prepared for the whales next
move. Being very near his end, the
boat or boats had drawn off a bit, 1
suppose, for 1 could see nothing
of them. Then I remembered the
furry almost at the same moment it
began; and there was 1, who with fear
full admiration had so often watched
the titanic commissions of a dying
cachalot, actually involved in them.
The turns were off my body, but l was
able to twist couple of turns around
my arms, which, in the case of his