The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-16
SOME SHIPS SUNK BY WHALES.

Stories Suggested by the Fate or th
 New Bedford Bark Kathleen.
 Cases of whales rushing head on art
 very rare One instance which will b'
 remembered by some of the olde
 whalemen was in 1851, when the shiI
 Ann Alexander was sunk in the Pac1f1t
 ocean by a maddened whale, In tflt
 Whalemen's Shipping List of November
 4, 1851, is very full account of that oc'
 currence. The story, told by Captain
 John S. Deblois, follows: The ship Ann
 Alexainder sailed from New Bedford June 1, 1850 for ac ruise in the south Pacific. Having taken 50 barrels o1 sperm oil in the Atlantic, Captain Deblois proceeded on the voyage to the Pacific. On the 20th of August, 1851,
 while cruising on the of shore grounds" at o'clock in the morning
 whales were discovered, and at noon of ! the same day succeeded in making fast
 to one. Them ate's boat made faso to
 the whale, which ran with the boat for
 some times and then suddenly turning
 about, rushed at the boat with open jaws, crushing the little craft into
 splinters Captain Deblois rescued the boats crew.
 | Later the waist boat was lowered from the ship and another attack made upon the leviathan. Them ate, again
 in charge of the attacking boat, ex-
 perienced another smash-up, for in the
 battle the whale again turned on the boats crew and crushed the second | boat. The crew was saved and all |. Il. uI.s. .sI~x. ceeded after the whale The ship pass
 ed on by him, and immediately after 1t
 was discovered that the whale was
 making for the ship. As he came up near her, they hauled on the wind and suffered the monster to pass her. After
 he had fairly passed they kept off to overtake and attack him again. When the ship had reached within 50 rods of him the crew discovered that the whale had settled down deep below the sur face of the water, and as it was near sundown it was decided to give up the pursuit. The ship was moving about five knots, and while Captain Deblois stood at the rail he suddenly saw the whale rushing at the ship at the rate of |15 knots.
 
 ship with tremendous violence, shaking her from stem to stern. She quivered under the shock as if she had struck upon a rock. The whale struck the ship about two feet from the keel, abreast the foremast, knocking a great hole entirely through her bottom, through which the water rushed in The an- chors and cables were thrown over- board, as she had large quantity of pigiron aboard. The ship sank rapidly. all effort to keep her afloat proving fu- tile. Captain Deblois ordered all hands to take to the boats and was the last to leave the ship, doing so by Jumping from the vessel into the sea and swim ming to the nearest boat The ship was on her beam ends, her top-gallant yards under water, They hung around in the vicinity of the Ann Alexander all that night and the next day the captain boarded his vessel and cutting away the masts she righted, when they suo- ceeded in getting stores from her hold with which to supply their boats, should 1t become necessary to make boat voyage to land. On August g ship Nan tucket, Captain Gibbs, cruising in that NltIllitSp uIStONtISu liIc lD1DeIl1tu SH1l- l ors and taking them in charge, landed them at Paiyta September 15. The Ann Alexander was hopelessly wrecked and left to her fate on August 2S.
 Five months after this disaster this | pugnacious whale was captured by the Rebecca Simms of this port Two of | the Ann AIexa nder's harpoons were | found in him and his head had sustain ed serious injuries, pieces of the ships | timbers being imbedded in it. The | whale yielded 70 to 80 barrels of oil.
 Te only other known case of q like nature occurred to the ship Essex of Nantucket, commanded by Captain George Pollard. Jr. She sailed from Nantucket August 12, 1919, for a cruise )n the Pacific ocean. On the morning ,f November 20. 1919. in latitude O.4O south and longitude 119 west, whales were discovered and all three boats owered in pursuit The mates boat loon struck whale but blow of the tail opening bad hole in the >oat, the crew was obliged to cut from i'm. In the meantime the captains md second mates boats had fastened O another whale, and the mate, head ng the ship for the other boats, set bout overhauling his boat preparatory o lowering agin. While doing this he aw large sperm whale break water bout 20 rods from the ship. The whale but immediately came up bout ships length off and made dt- ectly for the vessel, going at a velocity f about three miles an hour, and the ,ssex advancing at about the same rate f speed. Scarcely had the mate order d the boy at the helm to put it hard ID, when the whale with greatly ac- elerated speed struck the ship with
 is head just forward of the forechains. The ship brought up suddenly and vio- antly and trembled like leaf The ,hale passed under the vessel. scraping CT keel as he went, and came up on the aeward side, and lay apparently stun ed for 8 moment The vessel began to ettle at the head with the whale 100 ards off thrashing the water violently -ith it's tail and opening and closing his avs with great fury.
 While the mate was thinking of get ing the two extra boats clear, as the essel had begun to settle rapidly, the ry was started by sailor: ''Here he ,, he is making for us againv, The