Mower County transcript., 1903-07-01
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Copyright ]. 1902 by G. 3: Lewis. l#s955ss
5 I was one Of the crew OF the whaling
ship Crosby when : came across a gi-
gantic whale that had often been seen
before, that had destroy ed many lives
He had come to be known as Tom Bow
line and was recognized by5<a v shaped
scar on his head. The Crosby was to the.
west Of St. Helena when he was raised
by the lookout. Tom Bowline came to.
the surface with a rush and then lay
wallowing about. Three boats were
lowered, and the whale was. recog-
nized by his scar # The mates boat
had the lead and got within striking
distance first. As soon as the har-
poon entered the whale settled away
like a rock and went down $50 feet.
Then he turned and rushed for the
surface like a wild locomotive, breach.
ing his full length out Of water and
filling and swamping the mates boat
with the waves kicked up BY his fall
He rested a moment and then Slowed
around and started for the boat He
caught it with q swing Of his jaw and
made splinters Of it and killed three
men at the same time. For. five min
ntes the mate; who was supporting
himself by an oar, was alongside the
I f1sh and rubbing against his body, but
he finally pushed himself clear and
reached one of the other boats. The.
monster had the three boats at his
mercy, but for some reason was salts:
fed with the destruction of the first.
Perhaps it. was because the others re-,
mained perfectly quiet while he
seemed to be searching for them. Fif-
teen minutes after destroying the boat
he moved slowly away, and those who
had escaped his fury returned to the
ship. We were at this time over half
full of oil. :$ ,1..<. a.. r..
One hundred and fourteen days lat
er, when 400 miles west of the island
Of Tristan d'Acunha, in; the south At
lantic, we cut in our last whale, cleared
the decks of the tryworks and set our
course for Salem. We were full to the
hatches and thus far had made one OF
the best seasons on record. In about
three days we had the ship cleaned up
and most of the smoke: and grease
washed of our bodies.a and we were
about: to begin painting when at noon
on the fourth Or fifth day after turning
on our heel for home a whale suddenly
preached right astern of us and not
moreSIthan 3oo, feet away His fall
raised 4 three OF four raves. which
pitched the ship about a. IL we. were
lying. to. in, a ! gale, and, though, the
| monster settled away out OF sight at
once. we had, identified him - Tom
Bowline. It: may seem queer to You
to read that every man aboard, from
captain to apprentice, was badly
frightened as soon as It was known
that onr old enemy had hunted US
dpwn, as It were. We had left him al
most four months before at a point
1000 miles away, and yet he had over:
hauled us as II he. had been a steamer
sent in search and posted as to oul
cruising ground. His preaching SO
near us was taken as evidence Of his
evil intentions, and some argued that
he had meant to strike the Ship. b r.:
| All work was at once suspended; AND
the ine1i were ordered to move around
the decks on tiptoe. We hoped the lie.
| viathan had not seen us and that his
preaching so close aboard was quite
accidental, and after half an hour had
passed away without further sight OF
him everybody began to feel easier
A man had: just started aloftsEwith 8
glass to scan the sea when the whale
rose to the surface about stones
throw to windward. >. s-.,.,
| From that time on for five hours
he swan with the ship, paying no at
tention to us, but maintaining his dis
tance to a foot. Then of sudden he
settled down, and we all heayed {
sigh of relief. We had not seen thu
last of him, however" An hour before
midnight the odor of a whale sudden
~ saluted the nostrils Of the men, anf
they looked to the windward to catcl
sight Of a great. black bulk on the wa
ter. It was Tom Bowline. Word wa,
i passed around and all hands turnet
up, and from I to=3 we were In asstat'
Of suspense. At about 8 O'Clock th
I whale began flashing the water witt
his fukes. When he had churned al
acre or more Of surface to foam, h
slowed around and headed straight fo
us, but miscalculated our speed. an,
| passed astern, though clearing th
rudder by not more than 1--WE feet. a
4 he rushed to leeward, swinging hi
a head and thrashing the water, "
lufed sharp up until we were headin
due east. Whether he located us b
sight OF. sound no man can say, blu
as he slowed around II saw that b
would. come head on for our stern. "a
he started on his mad rush the ship
head was brought due north again j
hopes to avoid him, but he changed h5
!. | course as we'll and came down on OF