The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-09-24
WHALE WORTH \ FORTUNE.
IT CARRIED 4 CHUNK OF AlI-
 BERGRIS
That Sold for About One Hundred
 Thousand Dollars

More than one hundred thousand dol lars is what Captain James Earle, a | New Bedford Whaler now visiting in Honolulu, realized in 1883 from one l sperm whale. In fact, the whale was 1 one of the most valuable ever caught in any ocean. It was not the ninety bar rels of oil which gave the leviathan it's 1 extraordinary value, for that was sold for something like four thousand dol lars, but within the whales vast interi- or there was found a solid piece of ann bergris weighing seven hundred and eighty pounds. This was the largest single piece of ambergris ever found &C., cording to the records, and that it came from one lone whale made the rich dis covery the more interesting to the sci entific world
 | This seven hundred and eighty pound piece of ambergris was sold in chunks in all markets of the world for about one hundred thousand dollars, and 1t laid the foundation of wealth for almost every man. interested in the whaling expedition, which originated in New Zealand.
 1 Captain Earle came here in 1867 on the whaling ship Europe as cabin boy, his father then being the first mate. He later went to New Zealand to join the whaler Splendid, which he fitted out, obtaining thereby bounty of ten thousand dollars offered by the New Zealand government for the first whaler fitted out for service. He went as second mate and rose by promotion until he became master and part own CT. It was in October, 1882, that the Splendid, while cruising about the Chatham islands east of New Zealand, came upon the sperm whale which was the biggest bonanza of the sea on re- cord. Ninety barrels of oil were taken from it and while delving into the car cass the huge piece of ambergris was found.
 | Ambergris is a concretion formed only in the intestined of the sperm whale and is sometimes found floating On the surface of the sea like punnice stone, near where this animal cruises. In it are often found imbedded the horny beaks of the squids on which the whale feeds. It was formerly used in medicine, but is now dissolved in alco- hol and used as base in perfumes, ren- dering them more lasting. It affords about eighty-five per cent of a peculiar fatty and crystalline substance called ambrein.
 The voyage of the, Splendid in that season was a fortunate one in every re- spect, for she came into Littleton port, I t.yi+I fhn 0f ambergris worth it's weight in gold and eleven hundred barrels of sperm oil.
 When we arrived in port" said Cap tain Earle yesterday, ''I telegraphed to the agent of the Otago Whaling compa- ny to come up. He cane the amber gris was taken ashore, loaded into a car which was locked and the key slowed away in the agents pocket, and he stood guard there, too, until the stuff was safely placed. The first year that had brought any ambergris into port We got twenty-five pounds sterling for a pound of twenty-one pounds, but when this big piece came in the news so as- tonished everybody that cablegrams were sent all over the world, and the re- suit was that the price dropped. Some I went to London, but as for my own share I took it in bulk and carried it home with me. I wasn't in a hurry to sell it, but thought by waiting the mar kets for it would rise. I got eighteen dollars an ounce for the gray and eight dollars for the black, while in London it had only brought twelve and four dol lars. The last of my share was sold in 1891. I remained with this company un- til 1891, when I went home. I have taken more than thousand sperm whales since then and have never found in any of them piece of ambergris.- Pacific Commercial Advertiser.