The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1901-01-02
"A THRILLING RESCUE
OUT OF THE VERY JAWS OF DEATH
WAS HE SNATcHED.
An Old WhaIeman's Exciting Story
of n Race For Life That Made His
Hair Turn Gray and Caused Him to
Quit the Business,

Qut the business.
cit was in 1873" said the old sea cap
tain, 'and | WIS an able seaman on the
whaler Rivenoak looking for blubber in
the south Atlantic, with a seat in the
second mates whaleboat. We had had
the boats ready to lower and the mast
heads manned for over three weeks be-
fore we sighted grease, and when the
cry, There she blowsr rang out from
the fore skysail yard the old man went
wild with delight. Sperm whale surer
he hawled. Down from al0ft, every
one! Stand by TO lowerr We got the
boats of in good shape, and our boat took
the lead, which we held till we came up
with the whale. The boat header let go
his harpoon, sending il out Of sight into
the side Of the monster, which started off
at rate Of speed that made the boat
hum through the water. She kept this
up for 20 minutes. and we soon lost sight
of the Rivenoak and the other boats.
And then. as though firing Of pulling us
along, she suddenly showed tlukes and
began TO make for the bottom like a
load Of pig lead. The rope, one end Of
which was attached to the harpOon in
the whales back, ran out of the boat so
fast that it looked like a thread Of blue
smoke.
"'Cut that rope If it fouls cried the
mate, tossing me hatchet, and lose no
time about it, If you don't, God help
us! The beast is going to sound 100
fathoms, surer
81 had just leaned forward to pick up
the implement when there was a sud-
den jerk, a crashing, whirring sound, and
l knew that the rope had fouled. The
next minute l felt myself drawn down
through the ocean like a shot from gun.
/ caught a brief glimpse of the longboat
flashing through the water, a number Of
struggling forms, and then / began to
come up. 1t seemed ages before l reach
ed the surface and those blue skies never
seemed so welcome before. Only one Of
my comrades succeeded in getting out Of
the boat, and he was floating about on n
long plank which had been stored in the
bottom Of the boat for just such a pur-
pose. swan up and caught hold Of the
other end Of it. Luckily the water was
calm and the plank kept our heads wen
out Of water. Not n sign Of our ship or
small boats did we see, however, and the
thought came over me that we might just
as well have been pulled to the bottom by
the whale as to die by inches. The hours
wore on, however, and We began to.grow
weak and it got to be a question Of how
much longer we could hold out.
Just as we were about to despair of
ever being rescued. my companion, Bill
Royce, gave a shout of joy and pointed
out over the ocean toward big steam
frigate which was pointing in our direc-
tion. We were quite sure she saw us as
we must have been plainly marked against
the angry colors Of the sunset. The yes
sci looked like a man-Of-war, for her
spars were clean cut and rakish and we
caught the CLINT Of polished brass work.
The smoke was pouring out Of her fun
mel and in few minutes she was within
a quarter Of a mile Of us. / remarked to
Royce that we were very lucky, and re-
ceiving no reply turned to look at him.
81 have never seen such a look in a
mans face before nor since. II was as
white as a sheet, his eyes seemed to
bulge out of his head and his teeth rat
tied together with castanets. He caught
my look and in reply pointed off in the
direction opposite to that from which the
frigate was approaching. Sharks he
Whispered They have been attracted by
the whales blood. It's all up now, for
sure
81 saw but one shark. He was quite a
distance of and was making for us in a
leisurely way. The men on the warship
saw it too and realized our danger. A
single dull boom was heard, and a solid
shot struck about 80 feet to one side Of
the man eater, which paid no attention
to the compliment. but continued to make
for ms with a slightly increased speed.
Behind him, about 30 feet in the rear,
was another shark. Both were quite
near now. So was the warship.
1--WE could hear the crew manning the
davits and falls; we could hear the
splash as the small boat took 10 the wa
ter. Again the gun doomed from the
warship. but this time the shot went
clear over the sharks and struck the wa
ter quarter Of a mile beyond. Nearer
and nearer came the first shark, and we
now saw that the small boat could not
reach US in time.
''The beast made straight for Royce,
who screamed with terror. Over on his
haot turned tho shark with his cavern