CHAPTER X.WHALING NEAR THE FALKLANDS.—DEATH OF MR. JOHNSON.No more whales were seen till the Arethusa had passed the latitude of 48 degrees south, and was nearly up with the Falklands. The wind was fresh from south-west, and the ship close-hauled on the south-south-east tack, diving into a head sea under whole topsails, making wet weather of it; while the aspect of the heavens was threatening, and indicated more wind before night. Mr. Dunham, who went to the masthead in the forenoon, reported a large "breach" on the weather quarter five miles distant. The ship stood on for a short time, and then going about, headed up nearly in the direction where the breach was seen. In an hour after tacking, spouts were seen, and were soon made out beyond question to be those of three large sperm whales going slowly to leeward. When they went down again they were not more than two miles from us; but it was by this time high noon, and the wind and sea had increased, so that the ship was brought down to double-reefed topsails. The chances were not at all favorable for chasing whales with much prospect of success. But Captain Upton and his officers were not to be daunted by trifles, with spermwhales in sight; and their doctrine was, that as long as a boat could live she could tackle a whale and kill him. So everything was cleared for action, and after standing on till he judged the ship near enough, the captain ordered the maintopsail hauled aback, and the boats hoisted and swung. This was hardly accomplished when the whales broke water within half a dozen ship's lengths of the lee-beam."Lower away!" was the word, and down went all three boats, the starboard boat having the advantage in this case from being on the lee quarter, and getting clear of the ship in advance of the rest.The whales were as yet apparently undisturbed, and the chance of striking what would be considered a sure one, as they would not readily take the alarm in such weather. There was no need of spreading a sail to a breeze like this; it was only necessary to head the boat off before the wind and sea, and giving her a slight impetus with the paddle-strokes, to drive quietly down upon the prey.The two mates, as they shoved astern of the ship, saw the exact state of things, and merely suffered their boats to run to leeward, without effort, so as to be at hand to support the captain if he should strike, without interfering with his chance by competition. Seated at the bow thwart next the boatsteerer, I had a fair view of the advance to the attack, and regarded the progress of the starboard boat with eager interest, not unmixed with anxiety, as I thought of the difficulty and danger of grappling with these monsters in such weather. Mr. Johnson stood up in the headof his boat grasping the bight of the warp in his left hand, the right resting on his "iron poles," while the other four continued dipping their paddles to add to the speed of the lively boat, which was sliding down to leeward, as it were, at a rate that promised soon to place her within striking distance. Already she was within a ship's length of the right hand one, for which the captain was steering, when the off whale of the three took the alarm, as was evinced by his elevating his head rather more than usual, and then cutting out a corner of his flukes with that peculiar movement known to whalemen as indicative of an intention to leave soon. The panic spread to the others instantly, by that sort of magnetic communication which whales seem to employ even when miles apart. A sudden and convulsive movement was observed in all three of them at the same instant. It was evident that like Macbeth's guests, they would "stand not upon the order of their going." The left-hand whale, who had first perceived the danger, was gone like a flash, his tail skimming out just above the surface; his next neighbor shot ahead half his length with a sudden effort, and threw his flukes high in air; the third, who had just blown off his spout, attempted the same manœuvre, but it was too late; the boat was shooting too quick for him. As he threw up his body, the head of the boat was just abreast of his "small," rushing down the declivity of a wave."Dart!" cried Captain Upton, in a voice that rose high above the roaring of the wind and sea; "dart, and try him!"Quick as thought the flashing iron sped on its mission from the long, sinewy arms of the mulatto, and its sudden stoppage, and the quiver of the pole in the "suds" as his keen eye noted it, told him it had found its mark. Already the second one was drawn back for a dart; Father Grafton had roared, "Spring ahead! He's fast!" when the air was darkened by the ponderous tail of the infuriated monster, which seemed to hang poised for an instant—a cry of "Stern! stern hard!!"—a crash—and the starboard boat was buried in a cloud of foam. "Spring, men! he stove!" shouted the mate, and with the heave of the next sea the wreck seemed to struggle up through the boiling vortex, the crew striking out for their lives to meet the approaching boats. No whale was to be seen; but what struck a chill to every heart, only five heads could be counted!"Spring, men, do! they're all swimming for it! Peak your oar, Bunker, and stand by to lend them a hand! Don't look for the whale now! Two—three—four—five—O God! where's Mr. Johnson?"The oath must have been overlooked by the recording angel. The third mate had sunk to rise no more till the great day of reckoning. The whole head of the boat, as far as the bow-thwart, was crushed to splinters by the fearful blow; and the bowman seemed to have escaped by a miracle. The half-drowned men were pulled into the other two boats; and the line was found to be cut, but no one seemed clearly to know how, when, or by whom. Anxious eyes peered round, hoping against hope, to see thehead of the lost man; but a moment's reflection served to convince Captain Upton of the impossibility of his having escaped. He was silent for a short space after he stood by the side of his mate; then pointing significantly at the crushed fragments of the boat's bow, "He must have been killed instantly, Mr. Grafton," he said, and a tear started from the eye of the strong man, and was lost among the briny drops that were streaming from every thread of his clothing.Father Grafton answered only by a nod of assent, showing his full conviction of the worst. A moment and the captain was himself again! he had paid the tribute of a full heart, and was once more the whaling captain, alive to the emergency of the moment."Pull ahead, and pick up the wreck! We'll save all the craft we can, Mr. Dunham, but never mind the boat. We must let her go, and bear a hand aboard—it's breezing on all the time, and I expect we shall have it harder to-night. Don't stop for small matters; save the oars and line—boat's sail if you can. Set your waif, Mr. Grafton, for the ship—never mind, he's coming; I see her falling off now. Lay off a little from the wreck, boys; don't, for Heaven's sake, stave another boat now. There, that'll do; stand by to pull ahead. What's 'Cooper' running so far for? I wonder if he'll think to come to on the starboard tack, so as to hoist these boats to leeward. Yes! all right! there he braces up his mizzen topsail! Pull ahead, and let's get snug before night!"The Arethusa came flying up to the wind with hertopsails run down on the caps, and the jib at the boom-end slatting at a furious rate, as the overloaded boats pulled alongside under her lee."Keep your tackles up clear till we give the word! Look out on deck for some of this lumber! Bear a hand—what are you all staring at?" for the ship-keepers seemed to be paralyzed with dread, at not seeing the third mate in either of the boats."Light out now, all but two to hook on! Here, come to the falls, everybody, and stand by to run the boat up. Now's your time, Mr. Grafton—hook on—all ready, Bunker?Fore and aft!Quick, boys, and take her out of water!"The boats were fortunately secured in the cranes, without accident. The wind was piping on to a gale and a thick, driving mist, bringing an icy sensation with it from the southward, gave evidence that we were approaching the Cape Horn latitudes."Clew the fore and mizzentopsails right up, Mr, Grafton! Send some hands out to stow the jib—never mind hauling down the foretack—we shall have to reef the foresail soon. Make all snug as fast as you can, and have some small tackles ready for securing the lee-boats to-night." And the "old man" went below to find some dry clothing, and to indulge his feelings now that he had leisure to reflect upon the loss of Mr. Johnson.The Arethusa was soon careening to the blast under her close-reefed maintopsail and staysails, the whole heavens shrouded in gloom, and, as the shades of night drew down upon the wild scene, each oneseemed to realize that we had cause of congratulation in the fact of our timely arrival on board, and shuddered to think what might have been our fate, if exposed an hour or two longer in open boats, had the whale run us some distance from the ship before the thick weather shut down hiding her from view. It is at such times that the seaman feels his own nothingness, and realizes his dependence on the mercy of Heaven. The whaleman, in particular, has frequent cause to feel how narrowly he has escaped such dangers. Even other mariners have little idea of the risks encountered by this class of men; for whalemen form the only branch of the profession who may be truly said to make their home on the ocean; to "godownto the sea in ships," while others skim across it; and in a literal sense, to "do businesson the great waters."Little was said among the officers about the dreadful casualty which had so suddenly removed one of their number, but many a thrilling story went round the forecastle that night from the old hands, the more impressive from the circumstance of the speakers lying in their berths, with the darkness relieved by only one dimly-burning lamp, swaying and flickering with the motion of the ship in the gale—of men who had met violent deaths in various ways, and of hairbreadth escapes of others, in most of which latter cases, the narrator was, of course, himself the hero of the adventure.Morning broke upon the stout ship still lying to under short canvas, the wind howling through the rigging, the decks drenched with spray, and everythingcold and cheerless. The gale, however, now came in fitful gusts, with lulls between; in evidence that it had spent its force, and was breaking up. The morning watch were collected aft on the lee side of the deck, while Father Grafton, wrapped in pilotcloth, stood holding on by the weather quarter rail, and gazing at the sky to windward, observing the signs of better weather. As he turned and threw his glance casually off to leeward, a sudden lighting up of his countenance told that something had arrested his attention. He changed his position for a better view, and, in a moment more, spoke:"There it is again. Blo-o-ows! Sperm whale—there's white water! wounded whale, too—I know by the way he spouts. That must be the whale we struck yesterday—Blo-o-ows! Steward! tell Captain Upton there's a sperm whale off the lee-beam!"It was unnecessary to tell him, for he was just stepping out of the cabin at the moment."Where away, Mr. Grafton?" Then, as his quick eye caught the smoke of the spout blowing off, "Ah! yes! I see him—there's white water. Yes, that's the whale that killed Mr. Johnson. O, if we only had good weather to pay him off for it!"Then looking to windward, "Howisthe weather, anyhow? Can't we go down and have a dig at him? No, no, it's no use to put boats down into, this sea. By thunder! how he lies there, aggravating us! badly hurt, too; he can't go much. Got both irons in him, I expect—I couldn't tell about the second iron. Can't we keep the run of him till the weather moderates?""I think we can," said the mate, "if he don't work to windward—and I don't think he will. He must have gone just about the drift of the ship through the night. We might kill him from the ship, but then we couldn't secure him afterwards, and we should drift to leeward of him.""I'd like to have the killing of him!" said the captain, eagerly. "I want a little revenge on that whale, and I would rather kill him than any other one in the ocean." Another impatient look to windward, "No, no, we can't use the boats. The-e-ere's white water again! We'll try him with the ship anyhow. Get some lances ready, and we'll run down there and have a fling at him—if we lose a lance or two it's no great matter—we'll have revenge at any rate. It's moderating every minute, eh, Mr. Grafton?""Yes, sir; and there's the sun trying to break through the clouds yonder. I think we shall have good weather in an hour or two.""Yes, but it will take some time for the sea to go down. Get your lances ready! Here, Blacksmith, bend the end of that line to the lance warp. We mustn't check too short, Mr. Grafton, or we'll lose all our lances."The whale was not more than a quarter of a mile off, bearing a little abaft the beam, or nearly dead to leeward, and appeared to be too badly hurt to go down. All hands were on deck to assist in the sport, and lances were hastily prepared at various points along the starboard side of the ship."Hard up your helm, there!" shouted the captain."Run down the mizzen-staysail, and shiver in the mainyard! Here, Jeff, I want you at the wheel, and mind the word, quick. See the whale now, Mr. Dunham? Yes, there he is—let her go off more yet.Well, the mainyard! Belay that—haul taut the lee-braces.Stead-y!meet her quick, Jeff—stand by your lances now." And Captain Upton ran to his place by the starboard fore-swifter, and Mr. Grafton into the fore-chains abaft him, while the second mate stood ready in the waist, and the boatsteerers, armed with similar weapons, found eligible stations still further in reserve.The ship was now booming off under good headway, rolling heavily in the trough of the sea. "Starboard a little, Jeff—so, steady! meet her, quick, meet her. Port a little—so, steady as you go now!" said the eager and excited captain, coursing the ship so as to shave just clear of the whale, who lay "sogging" up and down in his element, and occasionally blowing, the spout having a faint and broken appearance as if forced from him by a painful effort.As we drew near, the iron could be distinctly seen in his back, the pole hanging down by his side, and soon as he raised his flukes to thrash the sea in his agony, the other one was discovered in his "small." The last effort of a dying man had driven it home!"Now, then, stand by, all of you," said the captain, in a suppressed voice. "We shall have a good chance, but it's awkward darting, if we don't catch the roll of the ship right. If Imisshim, Mr. Grafton,don't you!"At the moment the whale was abreast the martingale,he moved his hand to port the helm, and stand by the braces."Now's our time!" as the next roll of the ship brought her fore-channels nearly into the water just at the right moment, and both lances entered the whale's body at the same instant, driven to the socket."Hard a port! Brace up the mainyard! Bear a hand, and let her come to the wind!"The whale had buried himself beneath the surface, on receiving the deadly steel. The captain's lance drew out, but Mr. Grafton's warp was snapped like a thread, and the lance was left in his body. The reserves had no chance to grease their weapons."Run up that mizzen-staysail!" shouted the "old man," as the ship was brought rapidly to the wind, shipping a considerable body of water forward, which luckily did no damage."Where's the whale? I see the bloody water here on the quarter. Up aloft, two or three of ye, and keep a sharp eye out for him!"The order was superfluous, for half a dozen were already in the rigging at different points."Loose the foresail, Mr. Grafton, fore and mizzentopsails, too. We mustn't drift off any more—it's going to moderate; and we may be able to keep the run of him. There he blo-o-ows! right astern!blood thick as tar!" roared Captain Upton, wild with excitement, as the immense spermaceti rose in the ship's wake, and the blood-red cloud blown off to leeward from his spiracle, told that the death of Mr. Johnson was avenged.The weather had materially improved by the time the topsails were sheeted home and set. Vigilant eyes at the masthead observed the whale's movement, and in time the ship wore round and stood along near him in time to see him go in his dying "flurry" within a short distance of his relentless enemies. The sea would not admit of a boat being lowered to take possession; but he was kept in sight by watching the "slick," and manœuvring on short tacks all the forenoon.After dinner, the gale having abated to a whole topsail breeze, and the sea gone down so that a boat with a picked crew and careful management might venture to cut a hole, the larboard boat was lowered, and after considerable difficulty he was hauled alongside and fluked. The cutting gear was got up, and the work driven with all possible expedition, for moderate weather was not to be depended upon for any length of time in these latitudes. Still, it was three o'clock by the time we got fairly hooked on, and what with surging and parting, and tearing out hooks, little progress was made, and at dark we "lashed down," and knocked off our arduous duty with one blanket piece in the blubber-room, the whale's body riding by the large fluke.chain, and the head cut off and secured alongside by the small chain and two parts of a large new hawser. The wind was hauling to the westward, and blowing on another gale. All sail was taken in, and the watches set; darkness shut down its dread pall around, and the howling of the night storm was rendered more dismal by the screams of thousands of ravenousalbatrosses sitting in the "slick" to windward of the ship, and the clanking and surging of the fluke-chain as it quivered under the terrific strain. At midnight the small chain attached to the head parted, but by veering away a longer scope on the ropes the ponderous mass seemed to ride easier than before. The ropes held bravely till four o'clock, when weakened by long-continued stretch, strain and chafe, they gave way; and the valuable head, containing at least forty barrels of sperm, went dancing off upon a mountain wave, and could be seen from time to time flashing up through the darkness, till it was lost to view in the gloom to windward.The fluke-chain still hung, but the gale and sea increasing every moment, the strain at last became too powerful even for its great strength, and it snapped about daylight with the report of a gun. The wind had hauled round gradually by north-west, and was now nearly at north, and fair for the course on which we were bound. Captain Upton was on deck when the chain parted, and looked with longing eyes off the weather quarter at the lost prize till it could be seen no longer; then, satisfied no more could be done to save it, he ordered the helm up, and, setting the foresail and close-reefed fore and maintopsails, the proud ship once more bounded before the favorable gale, laying her course inside of the Falklands for Cape Horn.CHAPTER XI.PROMOTION.—"COOPER'S NOVELS."—THE MATE MORALIZES.—CAPE HORN.The vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Johnson was filled by the promotion of Bunker to be third mate; and the next matter for consideration was the selection of a boatsteerer for the larboard boat. The two Nantucket boys were not, as yet, old enough or stout enough for this duty. Old Jeff and the two Portuguese, from their experience, were eligible candidates; but it seems Father Grafton had determined, so far as he was concerned, to promote his bowman to that office. Captain Upton, as I afterwards learned, was disposed to leave the choice in the mate's hands, merely reminding him of the necessity of due consideration in a matter so important. "You know," said he, "we can't afford to have whales missed. However, 'Blacksmith' seems a likely young man about the ship, and as for his conduct in a boat you are better qualified to judge than I am, as he has been at your bow oar. So, if you think he will do his work, try him. Let him have one chance, at any rate; we must run a risk with somebody."The weather had moderated at this time so that the ship was running under whole topsails; and a newboat had already been taken from overhead, and was in process of fitting for service to take her place on the starboard cranes.The word was passed for "Blacksmith" to appear on the quarter deck. The old man and Father Grafton were in consultation as I came aft and stood under their lee, respectfully waiting for orders."Blacksmith," asked the captain, turning suddenly upon me, "can you strike a whale?""I think I could, sir, if I was within reach of him," I answered."Do you want to try yourself?" he asked."Yes, sir," said I quietly, and yet confidently, too."Remember," said the old man, "if you fail once, with a good chance, you must give it up and let somebody else come in. We can't affort to have any 'foopaws.'[2]Mr. Grafton thinks you will do it well, and has said a good word for you."I bowed my acknowledgments to the mate for his good opinion, and said something I cannot tell what, to the effect that I would endeavor to justify it. Had I been previously notified, I might have had a "neat and appropriate speech" prepared for the occasion."I want you to remember," resumed the old man, "when you go alongside of a whale, that the voyage is depending upon you.Get a good scote, and grit the ends of your front teeth right off!If you do your work, I'll see that you are paid the lay. You maytake charge of the larboard boat's craft, and rig the irons to suit your own hand. Bring your traps aft to-night, and take up your quarters in the cabin; and understand, if you live aft, I expect tofindyou aft, except when your duty calls you forward.""Thank you, sir," I answered, "I'll do the best I can.""That's all I want," said the captain, with a wink of intelligence to his mate, as if to say, "he'll do."The change was soon made. I transferred myself and my effects to the region of forks and dishes, and became, at short notice, a petty officer, and member of the House of Lords, after only three months' actual service at sea. My companions in the "bull-room" were more select and less numerous than in the forecastle, consisting of young Fisher, the boatsteerer, the veracious cooper, and the Portuguese steward and cabin-boy. I had now the full benefit of the cooper's yarns, and he did not fail to entertain me with some choice specimens of Munchausenism during the first watch below that evening."Well, Blacksmith," said he, "you've seen a little of the other side of the picture, and you are satisfied that all whales are not taken so easily as that first one off the Western Islands. Not that I think this last one was a bad whale at all, but any whale is liable to get an unlucky clip at a boat when he feels the iron. Then you see, it was rugged weather, and the boat was going to leeward under good headway, so it was awkward work to keep clear of him.""'Twas all an accident," said Fisher, who had comedown to light his pipe, "as it always is,Ithink. Of course, if you throw an iron into a whale, he'll kick and struggle just as you or I would; and if a boat happens to be right in his way, why, the hardest fends off. And that's the way all boats are stove,Ibelieve. I never saw a whale that I thoughtmeantto stave a boat.""Didn't you?" inquired the cooper. "Well, hold on, Fisher, perhaps you'll go another voyage and still not see a regular fighting whale. I hope so, at any rate. But it's no use for you to tell me there aint any, because I know better. I could tell you about a scrape we had in the Deucalion, only I don't want to scare you young fellows.""O, fire away!" said Fisher. "You wont frighten me nor Blacksmith. What was it, that same whale that was so long you had to sling stages over the stern to cut his head off?""No, indeed," replied the cooper, "that was in the Bajazet. No, this was only a forty-barrel bull, and the worst of it was, we didn't cut him in at all. He stove all four boats for us, and chawed them up into splinters. We got out the last boat we had from overhead, and picked up the men, and the whale chased us all the way to the ship. We pulled all we knew, and got alongside, hooked on, and had the boat raised out of the water, when the old fellow shoved his jaw out and grabbed her right out of the tackles! Such a crashing and splintering of cedar boards you never saw or heard as when he shut down upon her. The two men that were hooking on grabbed the tacklesand shinned for dear life. But he wasn't satisfied with that mouthful, for he undertook to chaw the ship. But old Captain Harper hadn't forgotten the Essex story, and we made all sail to get out of his way; for, mind ye, if he had started a leak in the old ship, we hadn't a boat left to save ourselves in. He chased us about four hours, but he was somewhat weakened from loss of blood, for he had seven irons and four lances sticking in him. We were in hopes he would turn up in the ship's wake, but he seemed to find out at last that a stern chase was a long one, and gave it up. The last we saw of him he was going to windward, spouting clear. About a fortnight afterwards, we spoke the Termagant, and they gave us our craft. They had picked him up, dead, and when we came to compare reckonings, we found it was about three hundred and fifty miles from where we lost sight of him!""How long was it before they found him?" asked Fisher."The second day after we struck him," replied the cooper, not seeing the drift of the question."Well, he must have picked up his strength amazingly after he started to windward. You say he couldn't go fast enough toleewardto overtake the ship, and yet he went three hundred and fifty milesto windwardin a matter of thirty-six hours: that's about ten knots an hour.""I don't care if it is; he couldn't keep up with the old Deucalion when we put her off with the wind on her quarter.""Why, how fast would she go?""Seventeen knot, easy," answered the cooper with the utmost gravity."There, that'll do," said Fisher. "It's time I went on deck. Whenever I can believe that old wagon of a ship went seventeen knots, then I shall be ready to believe in these eating whales. But you haven't got tobacco enough to make me hoist in either.""It's no use for him to talk," said the cooper after Fisher was gone. "If he goes whaling as long as I have been, perhaps he'll see an eating whale. I reckon it's breezing on by the sound on deck. Yes, down goes the coil of the maintopsail halyards, and here they come stamping aft. I think the wind will haul ahead before morning, and then we may as well make out our log for three or four weeks, beating and banging to get round the horn. Well, it's all in the course of a voyage. I was seventy days off the Cape in the Bajazet, and it never lulled enough to get the fore and mizzen topsails on her.""Must have been pleasant," I muttered, half asleep."Pleasant! yes. Plenty to eat, and nothing to do but wear round now and then. The worst of it was, the ship was so crank we had to travel on our ankles altogether, and when it did moderate, we'd lost the power of using our feet like human—"I was by this time fast locked, and I presume that my snoring reminded the inveterate yarn-spinner that he might as well follow suit as to waste his breath.His predictions proved more reliable that his narratives; for when our watch turned out, the ship wasunder double reefs with the wind at south-west, and squally. There was nothing to do, however, unless it "breezed on" harder. So, after seeing that the watch were all within call and the lookout set, we made ourselves comfortable under the hurricane house for the new ship boasted that appendage among her modern improvements."When I first went to sea," said Father Grafton, "we would have laughed at the notion of building such a covering as this, as we would at many other things which are now quite common, and which, a few years hence, will be looked upon as necessary. There's the patent windlass: it's the first one that I have been shipmate with, but I suppose after I have been this voyage, I should hardly know how to go to sea again with an old-fashioned back-breaker. Why, on my first voyage, we didn't even have purchase bars at the windlass ends; nothing but the handspikes, and it was heave, Dick, and heave, Tom, for I hove last.""And yet you used to get large whales and cut them in," said Mr. Bunker."Yes, that's true. Some people will tell you that they did it as quickly and as easily then as we do nowadays; but I can't confirm that. We used to manage it, after a fashion. It is true enough, there's no knowing what men can do till they are put to it. There is a great deal of nonsense talked by some old-school sailors about the good old fashions and good old days when we made short voyages, and got full ships in almost every instance; and they pretend tosay that there were better whalemen in those days than now. But that's all moonshine. There were more whales to be seen, and they were easier struck than now. If we struck one and lost him, why, ten to one, we saw another next day and got him; and so the lost one was forgotten. But now we see them so seldom we can't so well afford to lose one, and, with our improved gear and increased knowledge, it is unreasonable to suppose that we lose as many as our fathers did. I think, if the statistics of voyages could be collected and compared, we should prove that we are better whalemen than they were; that is to say, that we get much more oil in proportion to the opportunities we meet with. I know that such has been the fact in my own experience of twenty-five years.""You would find it rather hard to make some of the old retired shipmasters believe that," said Mr. Bunker."I know it. Some of them have an idea even now, that they could come out with a ship, and turn them up on Peru and Chili just as fast as they used to. And every now and then some heroic old gentleman takes a start, and comes out here to show us how it's done, and goes home again with half a cargo of oil, and a flea in his ear. More than one instance occurs to me at this moment. Whales are not so plenty now that we can practice the game that Cooper tells us about on his first voyage.""What was that, sir?" I inquired."Cooper tells that they used to throw bricks at them to see whether they would kick, before theywent on to strike them. By the way, he was spinning you a tough yarn to-night. My room door was open and I could hear most of it. What do you think about that eating whale, Blacksmith?""I hardly know how much of it to believe," said I. "Are there really any such whales as he tells of, sir?""Why, yes, now and then one; though I think the cases are very rare where whales make a deliberate attack. I have never yet seen one myself, but I have sailed with others who have. Captain Upton tells me he has seen two or three in his life, and I don't think he can be mistaken. We have all heard of the Essex affair to which the cooper alluded, and the dreadful sufferings of the crew. I remember it well, for I was cruising on Chili at that time in the Plutarch, and from the statements of the survivors, it is plain enough that that whale went to work deliberately and with malice prepense, as the lawyers would say, to destroy the ship. The cooper's yarn is, doubtless, partly true; but you know by this time, that a story loses nothing in his telling. He has, very likely, seen two or even three boats stoven by one whale, so that his romance is, like many others, 'founded on facts.'""Do you think he believes his own stories, sir?" I asked."I really can't say. It is a phenomenon that has puzzled me for many years. I don't mean in his particular case, for he is only one of a class, and I myself have sailed with two or three others who could equal him in drawing the long bow. Sensible menthey were, too, in other respects, and, even remarkably free from some other vices to which seamen are addicted; but lying seemed to be constitutional with them, or else they had cultivated the habit till they had lost all control of themselves. And they seemed impervious to shame in this one particular only. You have read Peter Simple, I suppose?""Yes, sir," I answered. "You are thinking of Captain Kearney, sir?""Yes. When I first read it, I thought Marryatt had sketched a very extravagant character in Captain Kearney, but I have since become more reconciled to it, and don't think it much caricatured after all. I think that a man may contract an absorbing passion for lying as well as for strong drink, and be ready to go all lengths to gratify it. We see every day instances of men, with a thousand noble qualities, who are slaves to liquor, and seem to have lost all self-control in that one respect. Now the cooper is a steady, sober man and a capital fellow, aside from this singular propensity; but I firmly believe that, like Captain Kearney, he will die with a lie in his throat. How do you head, Kelly?""South-east, sir.""Knocking off, eh? Well—stand by to wear ship!"The conversation was broken off, and was not resumed again for this watch.The next morning, it being more moderate, spouts were seen to leeward, and the ship kept off for them. The new boat was pronounced ready for action atshort notice, and all was excitement and expectation for a few minutes; but the cry of "forked spout!" put a damper on our hopes."Right whales!" said the old man. "Brace up and let her come to again!""Let's go down and try 'em?" petitioned Mr. Dunham."No, I sha'n't bother with 'em. If we can't get sperm oil, we'll go home empty-handed. Keep her along full and by!Look sharp there aloft for another kind.These whales have got too many spout-holes for my use."It was even so with Nantucket whalemen at the period of which I am writing. A whale who showed evidence of having two spiracles was not worth bothering about. And even for years after the great North-west whaling grounds were opened, and rich returns were pouring into New Bedford, New London and other whaling ports, the islanders, the pioneers of whaling, still clung to their old faith and plodded on over their old grounds, picking up a sperm whale now and then, and spending four years or more to get, in most instances, about half a cargo. They ignored the great Nor'west; it was a myth; the very sound of it a great bugbear. "Spermaceti or empty casks" was their platform for many years; and then at last they woke from this delusion, it was too late; the cream had been skimmed from the northern grounds, and the palmiest days of right whaling were over."Have you ever been right whaling, Cooper?" I asked after the stir was over and all was quiet again."Right whaling? yes, two voyages on the Banks. Talk about fighting whales! You ought to see one of those fellows pick his teeth with the corner of his flukes.""How's dat, when dey's got no teeth?" asked the cook, who stood within hearing."They've no teeth, strictly speaking, that's true; but they've slabs of bone which amounts to the same thing for all the purposes of the story. I've seen 'em do it many a time—slat their flukes from eye to eye. Whip-lashes are nothing to 'em.""Make more oil than sperm whales, don't they?" I asked."Yes, such as 'tis—make four or five hundred barrels sometimes!""Do they ever eat up boats?" I inquired."No, never fight with their heads; they wear 'bonnets' on their heads, and I suppose they don't like to rumple them.""What are they made of?" asked Fisher. "Gauze and ribbons?""No—lice and barnacles," said the cooper."Do the bulls wear bonnets, too?""Yes, of course.""Do they have new bonnets as often as the fashions change?"The only answer was a warlike demonstration with a squilgee that lay at hand; and Fisher beat a retreat.We met the strong westerly winds as we approached the latitude of the dreaded Horn, which is seldomto be caught asleep on the outward passage, the prevailing winds having almost the regularity of trades as to direction; and for three weeks they blew south-west and west, so that all hands were well initiated to the beauties of this delectable corner of the world. We were obliged to keep mostly on the starboard tack, and stretch to the southward nearly to the latitude of sixty degrees, which brought us completely out of the track of homeward-bound ships, who, with the same winds would hug the land and give it the go-by under a press of canvas. "Begins with strong gales from west-south-west and rugged sea," became a standing form of entry in our journals till we tired of the sight of the words; and day by day our stout ship struggled, and wallowed and tumbled about, till our patience was well-nigh exhausted. Heavy squalls, accompanied by a peculiar, sharp hail, which cut our flesh like small shot, sometimes varied the entertainment. Yarns, as usual, whiled away the dreary night watches; the experiences of former voyages were referred to, and the changes rung upon them; the cooper drew his bow with a strong hand and heaped Pelion upon Ossa in the way of falsehood; while Father Grafton entertained us with more reliable stories, not only of his own experiences, but of those of other voyagers, going back to the days of LeMaire and Schouten, who gave the cape its name, and coming down through the eras of Anson and Cook to the voyage of the little ship Beaver, of Nantucket, the pioneer of Pacific whaling, which doubled the Horn in 1791, and made her voyage in seventeen months. His memory was well stored with facts ofthis kind, and so arranged that he could draw freely upon them as they were wanted. A most entertaining companion was our worthy chief officer, and the night watches slipped away much more pleasantly to me since my change of station had brought me nearer to him.After standing so far south, we could do something on the other tack, taking the advantage of slants of wind. Our progress was slow and wearisome; but perseverance at last prevailed over all obstacles, the redoubtable headland was doubled without further accident than the loss of another boat washed off the waist cranes in a gale, and a few days more saw the gallant Arethusa doing her best to make up for her lost time; as, seemingly conscious of her tardiness, and rejoicing in her freedom from Antarctic thraldom, she went rolling down the coasts of Patagonia and Chili before a "long and strong souther."CHAPTER XII.FISHING AT JUAN FERNANDEZ.—FIGHT WITH AN UGLY WHALE."Blacksmith, how long is it since you read Robinson Crusoe?" asked the mate, as he stopped in his walk near the mainmast, and leaned against the top-sail-sheet bitts. "Some years, I suppose?""No, sir," said I. "The last time I read it was less than one year ago, and I found it as fresh and entertaining as ever.""No doubt of it," replied Father Grafton. "Nothing connected with my schoolboy days has so firmly stamped itself on my memory as the appearance of the old copy of Crusoe, that I owned for many years; indeed, I carried it to sea with me on my first voyage, and it was accidentally lost overboard. I can see the brown paper and the quaint old type with itsfand longsso dangerously alike, and its horrible woodcuts! for it was a copy of a very old edition, and had, no doubt, delighted two or three generations of boys before it fell into my hands. But what reminded me of it to-night is the fact that we shall probably make Juan Fernandez to-morrow.""Yet this island is not mentioned in the story, I believe," said I."No, the scene of the romance lies on the Atlantic side, somewhere near the mouth of the Orinoco; but it is probable that De Foe got the idea from the story of a Scotchman who lived three years on this island.""O yes," said I, "I remember the soliloquy of this Selkirk that I used to read and declaim at the country school,"'I am Monarch of all I survey.'Then I suppose this Selkirk story is really true, is it?""Yes, there is no good reason to doubt it. He was taken off the island by the English circumnavigator, Rogers, in 1709, if I remember right.""Is there any one living on it now?" I asked."I don't know. There was no one there the last visit I made to it. But I have heard since that the Chilian government made use of it as a penal settlement, or something of the kind. But we shall not probably land there. What we want is a good haul of fresh fish, and this is just the place to find it. We must muster all the fishing-lines in the ship; the old man has got plenty of hooks; and, by the way, I want you in the morning to get an iron hoop from the cooper and net it across with ropeyarn ('Cooper' will know just what I want), to catch some crawfish.""What sort of fish are they?" asked I."Why, they are a species of the lobster family, and fully equal to any of our lobsters in flavor.""Juan Fernandez," resumed the mate, "is a name that more correctly belongs to both islands, someseventy or eighty miles apart. The Spaniards called themMas a tierraandMas a fuera, from their relative positions, 'more inshore,' and 'more off-shore.' The westernmost is still known by its name of Masa fuera, but this one seems to have taken 'Juan Fernandez' as its distinctive title."We stood in near this beautiful island, which is invested with a sort of romantic interest from the circumstances to which the mate alluded; and certainly, I thought, if a manmustload a solitary life for a series of years, this would not be the last place he would select for his hermitage. The larboard and waist-boats were equipped and lowered for the fishing excursion, and we shoved off in high feather. We were provided with convenient anchors which we dropped within a short distance of the rocks, where the water was alive with fish of various kinds, which could be plainly seen darting and winding below us. The lines were hardly down among them when some one hauled a fish into the boat; some one else followed with another; and the sport was fairly begun. Pieces of pork furnished bait to start with; then the fish supplied tempting morsels of their own flesh for the hook, to allure their cannibalic brethren to share their captivity. O ye amateur anglers who sit with a rod and fly, tempting little innocent fish to nibble and thinking it not bad sport if you get two or three nibbles an hour, come to Juan Fernandez and find good, hearty, muscular sport, that you will not fall asleep at."Halloo!" shouted Obed B., as he recoiled fromthe haul he had made, staring with disgust, "what the deuce have I got on my hook now?""Conger eel!" said the mate, with a roar of laughter. "That's not the kind you used to spear in Nantucket docks, or stay all night for at Maddaket ditch. Let's see you get clear of him, now you've caught him," for the eel had wriggled and twisted himself into a hopeless snarl with the line, after swallowing the hook firmly; and defied all his attempts to release him, for, as Hoeg expressed it, he "wouldn't be handled."Manoel, the Portuguese, being better acquainted with eels of that sort, soon got him clear. He said they were good eating; but Hoeg slung him overboard again with, "Who in thunder do you suppose wants to eat that flat-headed snake?"And now every one began to haul more or less of these eels, which created much merriment and boisterous laughter, while it consumed much time in clearing lines and getting rid of them.The first haul of my impromptu net brought up one crustaceous monster of the kind I wanted, among a snarl of eels who had writhed and squirmed into and through the meshes of the net, with their teeth fastened among the rope-yarns, and clinging with a pertinacity and muscular power of jaw, which plainly said, "nought but death shall part us." Over it went again, eels and all; and I caught several more crawfish, great, ugly-looking fellows, who added greatly to the confusion under our feet by flinging their claws and feelers about among the fish at the bottom of the boat.A loud hail from Mr. Dunham, whose boat was anchored at some distance from us, suddenly interrupted the sport upon which we had been so intent; and looking up with one accord, we saw that his crew were hauling in their lines for a start, while he himself was gesticulating with his arm extended in the direction of the ship. The ensign was flying at the gaff; a signal of recall."He sees whales!" said Mr. Grafton. "In lines, boys! Make them up at once. Haul in your net, Blacksmith, or cut it adrift, and set the sail, as soon as you can get the anchor aweigh!" The orders were obeyed with all speed, and the two boats were soon nearing the ship as fast as the sails and oars would carry us. The small flag was already up at the main; and the extended "pointer" (a light pole with a black ball on the end of it, to be used at the masthead, when the boats are down) told us that the whale was off the ship's lee bow."There he hauls aback!" said Father Grafton, "and I declare, there goes the starboard boat down. The whale must be in range of the ship from us, and pretty near the ship too, for the old man can't wait for us, and is going to try him alone—Look! Here's another ship hove in sight round that point, and coming under all sail. Spring hard men, and get alongside! If we only had our line tub in, I wouldn't go to the ship at all, I'd take the fish with me, or else throw them overboard."The second mate was but little ahead of us in getting alongside the ship, and we both strove to outdoeach other in getting the lumber out of the boat and the lines in. Fish flew in on deck with the fury of a bombardment; fishing-lines and boat anchors were bundled in among them; we sung out for our line at the same moment Mr. Dunham was shouting for his, and the cooper in the maintopgallant-crosstrees excited us to still greater exertions, by the cry "The old man's most on! If he spouts twice more, he'll have him!""Bear a hand with that tub!" said Father Grafton. "Be careful to keep it upright, and don't break the coil! So; lower handsomely now! Let go! Shove off, and get your oars out as fast as you can!"As we swung out by the stern of the ship, the cooper roared again:"There's white wate-e-er!The old man's fast!""Bend on your craft, Blacksmith, as fast as you can," said the mate, "and be sure you have everything clear. Pull ahead, the rest of you."The two boats were pretty equally matched for a pull; for, though ours was a little the fastest when under sail, Mr. Dunham's crew were rather heavier than ours, and the excess of muscular power counterbalanced the slight difference in the models of the two boats. We diverged a little so as to give each other full swing, and then "hooked down" to our work; for the whale was spinning off to leeward at a smart pace, and a stern chase is proverbially a long one."He stays up well," said the mate, who kept his clear eye fixed upon the fast whale; "he hasn'tsounded yet, but he runs so that the old man can't haul up to him. There he 'mills!' he's headed along on a wind now," said he, rapidly altering the boat's course with the steering oar, so as to forereach on him. "Stretch hard men! he's milling more yet! coming to windward! right at us now! All right, we'll take him 'head and head!'"The two boats now converged again, both aiming for the same point of attack, and steering for the nib-end of the whale. The general reader may be surprised at this mode of approaching him, unless informed that the sperm whale cannot see directly ahead of him, but if a boat pulls for his broadside, he is much more liable to take the alarm."Stand up, Blacksmith, and get your craft ready," said the mate, quietly. "See that everything is clear. Be sure and keep cool, and don't dart too soon. Ease pulling, all! He's coming quick enough; there's no need to pull, but stand by your oars, all ready at the word."He was indeed coming, with a vengeance! As I stood up, he was just in the act of rounding his immense back above the water, after blowing, and the white water was flying from his sides in clouds, as he forced himself to windward. The muscular power of an animal like this is fearful to think of; and I must confess to anxious feelings, nay, to a feeling of dread, even, at the novel position in which I had been so suddenly placed. I remembered Father Grafton's injunction to keep cool, and then thought of the old man's expressive and characteristic words, "Get a good scote,and grit the ends of your front teeth off." I had not time to think of much more, for as his spout-hole made its next appearance above the surface, I saw that he had lessened the distance between us fully one half. He blew off his spout, clear and strong, and as his back rose again, I saw that the captain's boat was but slightly fast by one iron. He had his second iron in the crotch, having hauled it in, but had not yet been able to haul near to the whale, so as to use it."Look out next time," said Mr. Grafton in a low, anxious tone. "Don't be in a hurry to dart till you are past his head."I glanced round; the other boat was waiting the crisis like ourselves, on the other side, just giving room for the whale to pass handsomely between us. Fisher stood balancing his first iron, all eagerness for the fray.A roar saluted my ears, and a cloud of spray was blown into the air like very fine rain, so near as to envelop me in its cool shower. I grasped my iron; all feelings of fear or dread had vanished. Not so the feeling of anxiety, but it was only anxiety lest the prey might yet escape me."Steady, my boy!" said the mate again, "Hold your hand!"His massive head drew swiftly towards me; the boat rocked in the swell forced off from his glossy side: and his broad back lay temptingly before me. It was a sure thing."Now Blacksmith!" said the mate, throwing the boat's head off as he spoke.I needed no second bidding; my first iron went in to the socket, and the second followed it, though not quite so deeply."Good!" said Father Grafton. "Heave your box-line overboard!"With his shout was mingled a cry of "Stern! Stern hard!" from the other boat; I saw Fisher's iron cleave its way through the shining blackskin opposite my own, there was a convulsive heaving and rocking of everything about us, then a loud crash and splintering sound. The waist-boat's crew were all swimming amid the chaotic wreck of their frail craft. Her broadside was crushed in clear fore and aft. The whale had thrown himself over towards her, and we had escaped without injury.The monster had disappeared instantly, but was evidently not far beneath us, as all the lines hung slack. The second mate had, of course, cut his, as soon as he could get at it. We sterned off out of the slick where the whale had gone down, and lay just at the outer rim of the bloody water."You are well fast, Mr. Grafton, with both irons; you hold on!" said the old man. "I'll cut off and pick up the crew. Never mind, we'll divide 'em. Take three men into your boat, and we'll both hold on. Never mind the stoven boat; we can't bother about her now."The dripping crew were all rescued; for, by a good fortune which seems almost miraculous in hundreds of similar cases, no one was hurt; and we now prepared for a fresh attack with nine men in each boat;though reinforcements of this kind were not at all desirable as the boats were overloaded, and every one was in every one else's way. But the ship had run down, and was close by us, in case of further accident; we had yet three hours to sundown, and the strange ship was also near, watching our movements, and had hoisted her private or owner's signal, by which we knew her to be the Fortitude; which lay at the "Bar" when we sailed and had shortly followed us."Where is the whale?" said the old man. "Our line is all slack." Then suddenly he roared, "Look out! Stern all! stern, out of the way!"The ponderous head of the whale was standing erect above the water like a milestone; it swayed for a moment, and then seeming to fall over backwards, the lower jaw, with its ugly display of ivory, was thrust up, nearly at right angles with the upper."Stern! Stern hard, and give him room! He'll bear watching, Mr. Grafton. We shall have to look out for slants. I would like to get my second iron in, but I'm afraid he wont give me a chance soon."But he did, however; for after impotently gnashing his jaw two or three times, he rolled over and straightened out, spouting, apparently, as strong as ever. It was plain that he had plenty of fight in him yet, and was fairly brought to bay. He did not intend to run any more.The starboard boat pulled up carefully within dart, and as she did so, leviathan rolled up sidewise to meet her. Captain Upton was not to be daunted, however, but crying "Stern all!" he pitched his second iron innear the fin, and as the whale continued rolling, followed it up with his lance in the breast, between the fins. Quick as lightning, down settled the monstrous body, and the whale again stood on end with his jaw out. He flung the jaw over with a desperate sweep, which would have dealt destruction to the boat and all hands had the range been a little shorter. The starboard boat fell back to her former position with the loss of her midship oar and the gunwale split, but that was a trifle. The whale had received two more severe wounds, at any rate; and it was our turn to take the next round with him, when he should straighten again, which he immediately did, still spouting clear, though not so strong as before.In the language of the ring, Mr. Grafton "was on hand at the call of time;" but the whale "played the drop game on us," and with partial success. He went down like a stone; sinking so quickly that he received the mate's lance much higher in the body than was hoped or intended."He's an ugly customer, Mr. Grafton," said the captain as we sheered off again. "Keep your eyes peeled! there's no telling where he'll come next."But I soon had reason to know where he was. There was a light rippling under the stern of our boat, then a rise of the sea, lifting her a little; and that fatal lower jaw stood like a small tower on one side of the boat, with its double tier of ivory cones towards me, while the tremendous head, full of scars, overshadowed me on the other. I did not stop to investigate their beauties; but, while the tub and stroke oarsmen vanishedover the gunwales, one each side, I vaulted a sort of back somersault over the steering strap, just as the monster "shut pan" upon her, crushing her stern up like an egg-shell. This "steel-trap" manœuvre had proved a perfect success, and nine men were swimming for their lives while the captain's boat was already overloaded with the other nine!But reinforcements were not far off. As I looked about me when I rose, the captain's waif was set for help, and the Fortitude's three boats were already splashing into the water. The old man had cut adrift from the whale, and had already thirteen men in his boat formed in close column, the other five clinging to the wreck of the larboard boat, when the three boats of our consort, all abreast, got within hail."Pick up, my men, Wyer, and let some of your boats strike the whale!" said the old man. "You shall have half of him, and welcome, if we can manage to muckle him out before night. But work shy with him, or you will lose some of your boats, too.""All right!" answered Captain Wyer. "Come, Grafton, light into my boat here. Jump in, my boys, all of you. Look out for the whale, Mr. Swain," to his own mate, "and if you get a chance, pitch in. Be a little careful, though, and you too, Mr. Russell, don't go harem-scarem! Whereisthe whale, Upton?""Somewhere under us," returned the old man, as coolly as if he had said he was two miles off. "There he is!" he continued, as the whale broke water within a ship's length of the Fortitude's waist-boat, and Russell's boatsteerer jumped up and down in the excitement of the moment.Fight with an Ugly Whale.Page150.A few strokes sent the boat alongside of him, going on "quartering," but both Russell and his boatsteerer were a little too eager, or "harem-scarem" as his captain termed it. A blow from the monster's immense "fan" swept the two oars from the port side of his boat, ripping out the peak-cleets and splitting his gunwale, while his bowman was considerably hurt by one of the oars striking him in the head. His boat was still tight, however, and the injured man was transferred to Captain Wyer's boat, and I took his place to "bow on" if a chance offered."Never mind, Mr. Russell, try him again!" said our captain. "Here's spare oars, if you want, pick 'em up, all round here. Hold on a bit, though; let Swain have a try, he's got the chance now."The mate of the Fortitude was one of those long-limbed, powerful men, who seemed to have been built expressly to "straighten ten fathom of lance-wrap and do execution." He was wary too, in his approach, and waited for what he thought was a "good time in." He hurled his iron when four fathoms distant, and put it well in, calling, "Stern, stern hard!" As he drew back his lance for a long dart, it seemed to me impossible that he could reach him, as he poised it in his hands, still backing with his oars. When he judged himself at a safe distance, it sped for its mark with a momentum that was positively fearful. He drew it back; a quiver was perceptible in the sides of the vast body of the monster who had fought so valiantlyfor his life; and thirty-six voices greeted the thick clots of blood now faintly gushing from his spout-hole, with glad shouts of victory."He's throwing up the sponge," said Mr. Swain, quietly. "A child can take care of him now."We picked up and secured the wrecks of our boats and gear, while the whale was hauled alongside the Fortitude. It was agreed that Captain Wyer should cut and boil him, and we would divide the oil in Talcahuana, as we both expected to be there soon. We bought a boat of the Fortitude, rigged the spare one overhead, and thus were enabled to lower the complement of three. We stretched across to Massafuera and back, cruising between the two islands, till one more large whale rewarded our efforts; and bore away for the rendezvous, our consort having left the ground the day before. The cooper had added one to his stock of yarns which would require but little embellishment to make it marvellous. Mr. Grafton and Fisher were converts to the "eating whale" theory; and "the doctor" listened with delight as we rehearsed the incidents of the capture of "the Juan Fernandez whale;" displaying, as he listened, an array of ivory almost as formidable as that of the redoubtable whale himself.
CHAPTER X.WHALING NEAR THE FALKLANDS.—DEATH OF MR. JOHNSON.No more whales were seen till the Arethusa had passed the latitude of 48 degrees south, and was nearly up with the Falklands. The wind was fresh from south-west, and the ship close-hauled on the south-south-east tack, diving into a head sea under whole topsails, making wet weather of it; while the aspect of the heavens was threatening, and indicated more wind before night. Mr. Dunham, who went to the masthead in the forenoon, reported a large "breach" on the weather quarter five miles distant. The ship stood on for a short time, and then going about, headed up nearly in the direction where the breach was seen. In an hour after tacking, spouts were seen, and were soon made out beyond question to be those of three large sperm whales going slowly to leeward. When they went down again they were not more than two miles from us; but it was by this time high noon, and the wind and sea had increased, so that the ship was brought down to double-reefed topsails. The chances were not at all favorable for chasing whales with much prospect of success. But Captain Upton and his officers were not to be daunted by trifles, with spermwhales in sight; and their doctrine was, that as long as a boat could live she could tackle a whale and kill him. So everything was cleared for action, and after standing on till he judged the ship near enough, the captain ordered the maintopsail hauled aback, and the boats hoisted and swung. This was hardly accomplished when the whales broke water within half a dozen ship's lengths of the lee-beam."Lower away!" was the word, and down went all three boats, the starboard boat having the advantage in this case from being on the lee quarter, and getting clear of the ship in advance of the rest.The whales were as yet apparently undisturbed, and the chance of striking what would be considered a sure one, as they would not readily take the alarm in such weather. There was no need of spreading a sail to a breeze like this; it was only necessary to head the boat off before the wind and sea, and giving her a slight impetus with the paddle-strokes, to drive quietly down upon the prey.The two mates, as they shoved astern of the ship, saw the exact state of things, and merely suffered their boats to run to leeward, without effort, so as to be at hand to support the captain if he should strike, without interfering with his chance by competition. Seated at the bow thwart next the boatsteerer, I had a fair view of the advance to the attack, and regarded the progress of the starboard boat with eager interest, not unmixed with anxiety, as I thought of the difficulty and danger of grappling with these monsters in such weather. Mr. Johnson stood up in the headof his boat grasping the bight of the warp in his left hand, the right resting on his "iron poles," while the other four continued dipping their paddles to add to the speed of the lively boat, which was sliding down to leeward, as it were, at a rate that promised soon to place her within striking distance. Already she was within a ship's length of the right hand one, for which the captain was steering, when the off whale of the three took the alarm, as was evinced by his elevating his head rather more than usual, and then cutting out a corner of his flukes with that peculiar movement known to whalemen as indicative of an intention to leave soon. The panic spread to the others instantly, by that sort of magnetic communication which whales seem to employ even when miles apart. A sudden and convulsive movement was observed in all three of them at the same instant. It was evident that like Macbeth's guests, they would "stand not upon the order of their going." The left-hand whale, who had first perceived the danger, was gone like a flash, his tail skimming out just above the surface; his next neighbor shot ahead half his length with a sudden effort, and threw his flukes high in air; the third, who had just blown off his spout, attempted the same manœuvre, but it was too late; the boat was shooting too quick for him. As he threw up his body, the head of the boat was just abreast of his "small," rushing down the declivity of a wave."Dart!" cried Captain Upton, in a voice that rose high above the roaring of the wind and sea; "dart, and try him!"Quick as thought the flashing iron sped on its mission from the long, sinewy arms of the mulatto, and its sudden stoppage, and the quiver of the pole in the "suds" as his keen eye noted it, told him it had found its mark. Already the second one was drawn back for a dart; Father Grafton had roared, "Spring ahead! He's fast!" when the air was darkened by the ponderous tail of the infuriated monster, which seemed to hang poised for an instant—a cry of "Stern! stern hard!!"—a crash—and the starboard boat was buried in a cloud of foam. "Spring, men! he stove!" shouted the mate, and with the heave of the next sea the wreck seemed to struggle up through the boiling vortex, the crew striking out for their lives to meet the approaching boats. No whale was to be seen; but what struck a chill to every heart, only five heads could be counted!"Spring, men, do! they're all swimming for it! Peak your oar, Bunker, and stand by to lend them a hand! Don't look for the whale now! Two—three—four—five—O God! where's Mr. Johnson?"The oath must have been overlooked by the recording angel. The third mate had sunk to rise no more till the great day of reckoning. The whole head of the boat, as far as the bow-thwart, was crushed to splinters by the fearful blow; and the bowman seemed to have escaped by a miracle. The half-drowned men were pulled into the other two boats; and the line was found to be cut, but no one seemed clearly to know how, when, or by whom. Anxious eyes peered round, hoping against hope, to see thehead of the lost man; but a moment's reflection served to convince Captain Upton of the impossibility of his having escaped. He was silent for a short space after he stood by the side of his mate; then pointing significantly at the crushed fragments of the boat's bow, "He must have been killed instantly, Mr. Grafton," he said, and a tear started from the eye of the strong man, and was lost among the briny drops that were streaming from every thread of his clothing.Father Grafton answered only by a nod of assent, showing his full conviction of the worst. A moment and the captain was himself again! he had paid the tribute of a full heart, and was once more the whaling captain, alive to the emergency of the moment."Pull ahead, and pick up the wreck! We'll save all the craft we can, Mr. Dunham, but never mind the boat. We must let her go, and bear a hand aboard—it's breezing on all the time, and I expect we shall have it harder to-night. Don't stop for small matters; save the oars and line—boat's sail if you can. Set your waif, Mr. Grafton, for the ship—never mind, he's coming; I see her falling off now. Lay off a little from the wreck, boys; don't, for Heaven's sake, stave another boat now. There, that'll do; stand by to pull ahead. What's 'Cooper' running so far for? I wonder if he'll think to come to on the starboard tack, so as to hoist these boats to leeward. Yes! all right! there he braces up his mizzen topsail! Pull ahead, and let's get snug before night!"The Arethusa came flying up to the wind with hertopsails run down on the caps, and the jib at the boom-end slatting at a furious rate, as the overloaded boats pulled alongside under her lee."Keep your tackles up clear till we give the word! Look out on deck for some of this lumber! Bear a hand—what are you all staring at?" for the ship-keepers seemed to be paralyzed with dread, at not seeing the third mate in either of the boats."Light out now, all but two to hook on! Here, come to the falls, everybody, and stand by to run the boat up. Now's your time, Mr. Grafton—hook on—all ready, Bunker?Fore and aft!Quick, boys, and take her out of water!"The boats were fortunately secured in the cranes, without accident. The wind was piping on to a gale and a thick, driving mist, bringing an icy sensation with it from the southward, gave evidence that we were approaching the Cape Horn latitudes."Clew the fore and mizzentopsails right up, Mr, Grafton! Send some hands out to stow the jib—never mind hauling down the foretack—we shall have to reef the foresail soon. Make all snug as fast as you can, and have some small tackles ready for securing the lee-boats to-night." And the "old man" went below to find some dry clothing, and to indulge his feelings now that he had leisure to reflect upon the loss of Mr. Johnson.The Arethusa was soon careening to the blast under her close-reefed maintopsail and staysails, the whole heavens shrouded in gloom, and, as the shades of night drew down upon the wild scene, each oneseemed to realize that we had cause of congratulation in the fact of our timely arrival on board, and shuddered to think what might have been our fate, if exposed an hour or two longer in open boats, had the whale run us some distance from the ship before the thick weather shut down hiding her from view. It is at such times that the seaman feels his own nothingness, and realizes his dependence on the mercy of Heaven. The whaleman, in particular, has frequent cause to feel how narrowly he has escaped such dangers. Even other mariners have little idea of the risks encountered by this class of men; for whalemen form the only branch of the profession who may be truly said to make their home on the ocean; to "godownto the sea in ships," while others skim across it; and in a literal sense, to "do businesson the great waters."Little was said among the officers about the dreadful casualty which had so suddenly removed one of their number, but many a thrilling story went round the forecastle that night from the old hands, the more impressive from the circumstance of the speakers lying in their berths, with the darkness relieved by only one dimly-burning lamp, swaying and flickering with the motion of the ship in the gale—of men who had met violent deaths in various ways, and of hairbreadth escapes of others, in most of which latter cases, the narrator was, of course, himself the hero of the adventure.Morning broke upon the stout ship still lying to under short canvas, the wind howling through the rigging, the decks drenched with spray, and everythingcold and cheerless. The gale, however, now came in fitful gusts, with lulls between; in evidence that it had spent its force, and was breaking up. The morning watch were collected aft on the lee side of the deck, while Father Grafton, wrapped in pilotcloth, stood holding on by the weather quarter rail, and gazing at the sky to windward, observing the signs of better weather. As he turned and threw his glance casually off to leeward, a sudden lighting up of his countenance told that something had arrested his attention. He changed his position for a better view, and, in a moment more, spoke:"There it is again. Blo-o-ows! Sperm whale—there's white water! wounded whale, too—I know by the way he spouts. That must be the whale we struck yesterday—Blo-o-ows! Steward! tell Captain Upton there's a sperm whale off the lee-beam!"It was unnecessary to tell him, for he was just stepping out of the cabin at the moment."Where away, Mr. Grafton?" Then, as his quick eye caught the smoke of the spout blowing off, "Ah! yes! I see him—there's white water. Yes, that's the whale that killed Mr. Johnson. O, if we only had good weather to pay him off for it!"Then looking to windward, "Howisthe weather, anyhow? Can't we go down and have a dig at him? No, no, it's no use to put boats down into, this sea. By thunder! how he lies there, aggravating us! badly hurt, too; he can't go much. Got both irons in him, I expect—I couldn't tell about the second iron. Can't we keep the run of him till the weather moderates?""I think we can," said the mate, "if he don't work to windward—and I don't think he will. He must have gone just about the drift of the ship through the night. We might kill him from the ship, but then we couldn't secure him afterwards, and we should drift to leeward of him.""I'd like to have the killing of him!" said the captain, eagerly. "I want a little revenge on that whale, and I would rather kill him than any other one in the ocean." Another impatient look to windward, "No, no, we can't use the boats. The-e-ere's white water again! We'll try him with the ship anyhow. Get some lances ready, and we'll run down there and have a fling at him—if we lose a lance or two it's no great matter—we'll have revenge at any rate. It's moderating every minute, eh, Mr. Grafton?""Yes, sir; and there's the sun trying to break through the clouds yonder. I think we shall have good weather in an hour or two.""Yes, but it will take some time for the sea to go down. Get your lances ready! Here, Blacksmith, bend the end of that line to the lance warp. We mustn't check too short, Mr. Grafton, or we'll lose all our lances."The whale was not more than a quarter of a mile off, bearing a little abaft the beam, or nearly dead to leeward, and appeared to be too badly hurt to go down. All hands were on deck to assist in the sport, and lances were hastily prepared at various points along the starboard side of the ship."Hard up your helm, there!" shouted the captain."Run down the mizzen-staysail, and shiver in the mainyard! Here, Jeff, I want you at the wheel, and mind the word, quick. See the whale now, Mr. Dunham? Yes, there he is—let her go off more yet.Well, the mainyard! Belay that—haul taut the lee-braces.Stead-y!meet her quick, Jeff—stand by your lances now." And Captain Upton ran to his place by the starboard fore-swifter, and Mr. Grafton into the fore-chains abaft him, while the second mate stood ready in the waist, and the boatsteerers, armed with similar weapons, found eligible stations still further in reserve.The ship was now booming off under good headway, rolling heavily in the trough of the sea. "Starboard a little, Jeff—so, steady! meet her, quick, meet her. Port a little—so, steady as you go now!" said the eager and excited captain, coursing the ship so as to shave just clear of the whale, who lay "sogging" up and down in his element, and occasionally blowing, the spout having a faint and broken appearance as if forced from him by a painful effort.As we drew near, the iron could be distinctly seen in his back, the pole hanging down by his side, and soon as he raised his flukes to thrash the sea in his agony, the other one was discovered in his "small." The last effort of a dying man had driven it home!"Now, then, stand by, all of you," said the captain, in a suppressed voice. "We shall have a good chance, but it's awkward darting, if we don't catch the roll of the ship right. If Imisshim, Mr. Grafton,don't you!"At the moment the whale was abreast the martingale,he moved his hand to port the helm, and stand by the braces."Now's our time!" as the next roll of the ship brought her fore-channels nearly into the water just at the right moment, and both lances entered the whale's body at the same instant, driven to the socket."Hard a port! Brace up the mainyard! Bear a hand, and let her come to the wind!"The whale had buried himself beneath the surface, on receiving the deadly steel. The captain's lance drew out, but Mr. Grafton's warp was snapped like a thread, and the lance was left in his body. The reserves had no chance to grease their weapons."Run up that mizzen-staysail!" shouted the "old man," as the ship was brought rapidly to the wind, shipping a considerable body of water forward, which luckily did no damage."Where's the whale? I see the bloody water here on the quarter. Up aloft, two or three of ye, and keep a sharp eye out for him!"The order was superfluous, for half a dozen were already in the rigging at different points."Loose the foresail, Mr. Grafton, fore and mizzentopsails, too. We mustn't drift off any more—it's going to moderate; and we may be able to keep the run of him. There he blo-o-ows! right astern!blood thick as tar!" roared Captain Upton, wild with excitement, as the immense spermaceti rose in the ship's wake, and the blood-red cloud blown off to leeward from his spiracle, told that the death of Mr. Johnson was avenged.The weather had materially improved by the time the topsails were sheeted home and set. Vigilant eyes at the masthead observed the whale's movement, and in time the ship wore round and stood along near him in time to see him go in his dying "flurry" within a short distance of his relentless enemies. The sea would not admit of a boat being lowered to take possession; but he was kept in sight by watching the "slick," and manœuvring on short tacks all the forenoon.After dinner, the gale having abated to a whole topsail breeze, and the sea gone down so that a boat with a picked crew and careful management might venture to cut a hole, the larboard boat was lowered, and after considerable difficulty he was hauled alongside and fluked. The cutting gear was got up, and the work driven with all possible expedition, for moderate weather was not to be depended upon for any length of time in these latitudes. Still, it was three o'clock by the time we got fairly hooked on, and what with surging and parting, and tearing out hooks, little progress was made, and at dark we "lashed down," and knocked off our arduous duty with one blanket piece in the blubber-room, the whale's body riding by the large fluke.chain, and the head cut off and secured alongside by the small chain and two parts of a large new hawser. The wind was hauling to the westward, and blowing on another gale. All sail was taken in, and the watches set; darkness shut down its dread pall around, and the howling of the night storm was rendered more dismal by the screams of thousands of ravenousalbatrosses sitting in the "slick" to windward of the ship, and the clanking and surging of the fluke-chain as it quivered under the terrific strain. At midnight the small chain attached to the head parted, but by veering away a longer scope on the ropes the ponderous mass seemed to ride easier than before. The ropes held bravely till four o'clock, when weakened by long-continued stretch, strain and chafe, they gave way; and the valuable head, containing at least forty barrels of sperm, went dancing off upon a mountain wave, and could be seen from time to time flashing up through the darkness, till it was lost to view in the gloom to windward.The fluke-chain still hung, but the gale and sea increasing every moment, the strain at last became too powerful even for its great strength, and it snapped about daylight with the report of a gun. The wind had hauled round gradually by north-west, and was now nearly at north, and fair for the course on which we were bound. Captain Upton was on deck when the chain parted, and looked with longing eyes off the weather quarter at the lost prize till it could be seen no longer; then, satisfied no more could be done to save it, he ordered the helm up, and, setting the foresail and close-reefed fore and maintopsails, the proud ship once more bounded before the favorable gale, laying her course inside of the Falklands for Cape Horn.
WHALING NEAR THE FALKLANDS.—DEATH OF MR. JOHNSON.
No more whales were seen till the Arethusa had passed the latitude of 48 degrees south, and was nearly up with the Falklands. The wind was fresh from south-west, and the ship close-hauled on the south-south-east tack, diving into a head sea under whole topsails, making wet weather of it; while the aspect of the heavens was threatening, and indicated more wind before night. Mr. Dunham, who went to the masthead in the forenoon, reported a large "breach" on the weather quarter five miles distant. The ship stood on for a short time, and then going about, headed up nearly in the direction where the breach was seen. In an hour after tacking, spouts were seen, and were soon made out beyond question to be those of three large sperm whales going slowly to leeward. When they went down again they were not more than two miles from us; but it was by this time high noon, and the wind and sea had increased, so that the ship was brought down to double-reefed topsails. The chances were not at all favorable for chasing whales with much prospect of success. But Captain Upton and his officers were not to be daunted by trifles, with spermwhales in sight; and their doctrine was, that as long as a boat could live she could tackle a whale and kill him. So everything was cleared for action, and after standing on till he judged the ship near enough, the captain ordered the maintopsail hauled aback, and the boats hoisted and swung. This was hardly accomplished when the whales broke water within half a dozen ship's lengths of the lee-beam.
"Lower away!" was the word, and down went all three boats, the starboard boat having the advantage in this case from being on the lee quarter, and getting clear of the ship in advance of the rest.
The whales were as yet apparently undisturbed, and the chance of striking what would be considered a sure one, as they would not readily take the alarm in such weather. There was no need of spreading a sail to a breeze like this; it was only necessary to head the boat off before the wind and sea, and giving her a slight impetus with the paddle-strokes, to drive quietly down upon the prey.
The two mates, as they shoved astern of the ship, saw the exact state of things, and merely suffered their boats to run to leeward, without effort, so as to be at hand to support the captain if he should strike, without interfering with his chance by competition. Seated at the bow thwart next the boatsteerer, I had a fair view of the advance to the attack, and regarded the progress of the starboard boat with eager interest, not unmixed with anxiety, as I thought of the difficulty and danger of grappling with these monsters in such weather. Mr. Johnson stood up in the headof his boat grasping the bight of the warp in his left hand, the right resting on his "iron poles," while the other four continued dipping their paddles to add to the speed of the lively boat, which was sliding down to leeward, as it were, at a rate that promised soon to place her within striking distance. Already she was within a ship's length of the right hand one, for which the captain was steering, when the off whale of the three took the alarm, as was evinced by his elevating his head rather more than usual, and then cutting out a corner of his flukes with that peculiar movement known to whalemen as indicative of an intention to leave soon. The panic spread to the others instantly, by that sort of magnetic communication which whales seem to employ even when miles apart. A sudden and convulsive movement was observed in all three of them at the same instant. It was evident that like Macbeth's guests, they would "stand not upon the order of their going." The left-hand whale, who had first perceived the danger, was gone like a flash, his tail skimming out just above the surface; his next neighbor shot ahead half his length with a sudden effort, and threw his flukes high in air; the third, who had just blown off his spout, attempted the same manœuvre, but it was too late; the boat was shooting too quick for him. As he threw up his body, the head of the boat was just abreast of his "small," rushing down the declivity of a wave.
"Dart!" cried Captain Upton, in a voice that rose high above the roaring of the wind and sea; "dart, and try him!"
Quick as thought the flashing iron sped on its mission from the long, sinewy arms of the mulatto, and its sudden stoppage, and the quiver of the pole in the "suds" as his keen eye noted it, told him it had found its mark. Already the second one was drawn back for a dart; Father Grafton had roared, "Spring ahead! He's fast!" when the air was darkened by the ponderous tail of the infuriated monster, which seemed to hang poised for an instant—a cry of "Stern! stern hard!!"—a crash—and the starboard boat was buried in a cloud of foam. "Spring, men! he stove!" shouted the mate, and with the heave of the next sea the wreck seemed to struggle up through the boiling vortex, the crew striking out for their lives to meet the approaching boats. No whale was to be seen; but what struck a chill to every heart, only five heads could be counted!
"Spring, men, do! they're all swimming for it! Peak your oar, Bunker, and stand by to lend them a hand! Don't look for the whale now! Two—three—four—five—O God! where's Mr. Johnson?"
The oath must have been overlooked by the recording angel. The third mate had sunk to rise no more till the great day of reckoning. The whole head of the boat, as far as the bow-thwart, was crushed to splinters by the fearful blow; and the bowman seemed to have escaped by a miracle. The half-drowned men were pulled into the other two boats; and the line was found to be cut, but no one seemed clearly to know how, when, or by whom. Anxious eyes peered round, hoping against hope, to see thehead of the lost man; but a moment's reflection served to convince Captain Upton of the impossibility of his having escaped. He was silent for a short space after he stood by the side of his mate; then pointing significantly at the crushed fragments of the boat's bow, "He must have been killed instantly, Mr. Grafton," he said, and a tear started from the eye of the strong man, and was lost among the briny drops that were streaming from every thread of his clothing.
Father Grafton answered only by a nod of assent, showing his full conviction of the worst. A moment and the captain was himself again! he had paid the tribute of a full heart, and was once more the whaling captain, alive to the emergency of the moment.
"Pull ahead, and pick up the wreck! We'll save all the craft we can, Mr. Dunham, but never mind the boat. We must let her go, and bear a hand aboard—it's breezing on all the time, and I expect we shall have it harder to-night. Don't stop for small matters; save the oars and line—boat's sail if you can. Set your waif, Mr. Grafton, for the ship—never mind, he's coming; I see her falling off now. Lay off a little from the wreck, boys; don't, for Heaven's sake, stave another boat now. There, that'll do; stand by to pull ahead. What's 'Cooper' running so far for? I wonder if he'll think to come to on the starboard tack, so as to hoist these boats to leeward. Yes! all right! there he braces up his mizzen topsail! Pull ahead, and let's get snug before night!"
The Arethusa came flying up to the wind with hertopsails run down on the caps, and the jib at the boom-end slatting at a furious rate, as the overloaded boats pulled alongside under her lee.
"Keep your tackles up clear till we give the word! Look out on deck for some of this lumber! Bear a hand—what are you all staring at?" for the ship-keepers seemed to be paralyzed with dread, at not seeing the third mate in either of the boats.
"Light out now, all but two to hook on! Here, come to the falls, everybody, and stand by to run the boat up. Now's your time, Mr. Grafton—hook on—all ready, Bunker?Fore and aft!Quick, boys, and take her out of water!"
The boats were fortunately secured in the cranes, without accident. The wind was piping on to a gale and a thick, driving mist, bringing an icy sensation with it from the southward, gave evidence that we were approaching the Cape Horn latitudes.
"Clew the fore and mizzentopsails right up, Mr, Grafton! Send some hands out to stow the jib—never mind hauling down the foretack—we shall have to reef the foresail soon. Make all snug as fast as you can, and have some small tackles ready for securing the lee-boats to-night." And the "old man" went below to find some dry clothing, and to indulge his feelings now that he had leisure to reflect upon the loss of Mr. Johnson.
The Arethusa was soon careening to the blast under her close-reefed maintopsail and staysails, the whole heavens shrouded in gloom, and, as the shades of night drew down upon the wild scene, each oneseemed to realize that we had cause of congratulation in the fact of our timely arrival on board, and shuddered to think what might have been our fate, if exposed an hour or two longer in open boats, had the whale run us some distance from the ship before the thick weather shut down hiding her from view. It is at such times that the seaman feels his own nothingness, and realizes his dependence on the mercy of Heaven. The whaleman, in particular, has frequent cause to feel how narrowly he has escaped such dangers. Even other mariners have little idea of the risks encountered by this class of men; for whalemen form the only branch of the profession who may be truly said to make their home on the ocean; to "godownto the sea in ships," while others skim across it; and in a literal sense, to "do businesson the great waters."
Little was said among the officers about the dreadful casualty which had so suddenly removed one of their number, but many a thrilling story went round the forecastle that night from the old hands, the more impressive from the circumstance of the speakers lying in their berths, with the darkness relieved by only one dimly-burning lamp, swaying and flickering with the motion of the ship in the gale—of men who had met violent deaths in various ways, and of hairbreadth escapes of others, in most of which latter cases, the narrator was, of course, himself the hero of the adventure.
Morning broke upon the stout ship still lying to under short canvas, the wind howling through the rigging, the decks drenched with spray, and everythingcold and cheerless. The gale, however, now came in fitful gusts, with lulls between; in evidence that it had spent its force, and was breaking up. The morning watch were collected aft on the lee side of the deck, while Father Grafton, wrapped in pilotcloth, stood holding on by the weather quarter rail, and gazing at the sky to windward, observing the signs of better weather. As he turned and threw his glance casually off to leeward, a sudden lighting up of his countenance told that something had arrested his attention. He changed his position for a better view, and, in a moment more, spoke:
"There it is again. Blo-o-ows! Sperm whale—there's white water! wounded whale, too—I know by the way he spouts. That must be the whale we struck yesterday—Blo-o-ows! Steward! tell Captain Upton there's a sperm whale off the lee-beam!"
It was unnecessary to tell him, for he was just stepping out of the cabin at the moment.
"Where away, Mr. Grafton?" Then, as his quick eye caught the smoke of the spout blowing off, "Ah! yes! I see him—there's white water. Yes, that's the whale that killed Mr. Johnson. O, if we only had good weather to pay him off for it!"
Then looking to windward, "Howisthe weather, anyhow? Can't we go down and have a dig at him? No, no, it's no use to put boats down into, this sea. By thunder! how he lies there, aggravating us! badly hurt, too; he can't go much. Got both irons in him, I expect—I couldn't tell about the second iron. Can't we keep the run of him till the weather moderates?"
"I think we can," said the mate, "if he don't work to windward—and I don't think he will. He must have gone just about the drift of the ship through the night. We might kill him from the ship, but then we couldn't secure him afterwards, and we should drift to leeward of him."
"I'd like to have the killing of him!" said the captain, eagerly. "I want a little revenge on that whale, and I would rather kill him than any other one in the ocean." Another impatient look to windward, "No, no, we can't use the boats. The-e-ere's white water again! We'll try him with the ship anyhow. Get some lances ready, and we'll run down there and have a fling at him—if we lose a lance or two it's no great matter—we'll have revenge at any rate. It's moderating every minute, eh, Mr. Grafton?"
"Yes, sir; and there's the sun trying to break through the clouds yonder. I think we shall have good weather in an hour or two."
"Yes, but it will take some time for the sea to go down. Get your lances ready! Here, Blacksmith, bend the end of that line to the lance warp. We mustn't check too short, Mr. Grafton, or we'll lose all our lances."
The whale was not more than a quarter of a mile off, bearing a little abaft the beam, or nearly dead to leeward, and appeared to be too badly hurt to go down. All hands were on deck to assist in the sport, and lances were hastily prepared at various points along the starboard side of the ship.
"Hard up your helm, there!" shouted the captain."Run down the mizzen-staysail, and shiver in the mainyard! Here, Jeff, I want you at the wheel, and mind the word, quick. See the whale now, Mr. Dunham? Yes, there he is—let her go off more yet.Well, the mainyard! Belay that—haul taut the lee-braces.Stead-y!meet her quick, Jeff—stand by your lances now." And Captain Upton ran to his place by the starboard fore-swifter, and Mr. Grafton into the fore-chains abaft him, while the second mate stood ready in the waist, and the boatsteerers, armed with similar weapons, found eligible stations still further in reserve.
The ship was now booming off under good headway, rolling heavily in the trough of the sea. "Starboard a little, Jeff—so, steady! meet her, quick, meet her. Port a little—so, steady as you go now!" said the eager and excited captain, coursing the ship so as to shave just clear of the whale, who lay "sogging" up and down in his element, and occasionally blowing, the spout having a faint and broken appearance as if forced from him by a painful effort.
As we drew near, the iron could be distinctly seen in his back, the pole hanging down by his side, and soon as he raised his flukes to thrash the sea in his agony, the other one was discovered in his "small." The last effort of a dying man had driven it home!
"Now, then, stand by, all of you," said the captain, in a suppressed voice. "We shall have a good chance, but it's awkward darting, if we don't catch the roll of the ship right. If Imisshim, Mr. Grafton,don't you!"
At the moment the whale was abreast the martingale,he moved his hand to port the helm, and stand by the braces.
"Now's our time!" as the next roll of the ship brought her fore-channels nearly into the water just at the right moment, and both lances entered the whale's body at the same instant, driven to the socket.
"Hard a port! Brace up the mainyard! Bear a hand, and let her come to the wind!"
The whale had buried himself beneath the surface, on receiving the deadly steel. The captain's lance drew out, but Mr. Grafton's warp was snapped like a thread, and the lance was left in his body. The reserves had no chance to grease their weapons.
"Run up that mizzen-staysail!" shouted the "old man," as the ship was brought rapidly to the wind, shipping a considerable body of water forward, which luckily did no damage.
"Where's the whale? I see the bloody water here on the quarter. Up aloft, two or three of ye, and keep a sharp eye out for him!"
The order was superfluous, for half a dozen were already in the rigging at different points.
"Loose the foresail, Mr. Grafton, fore and mizzentopsails, too. We mustn't drift off any more—it's going to moderate; and we may be able to keep the run of him. There he blo-o-ows! right astern!blood thick as tar!" roared Captain Upton, wild with excitement, as the immense spermaceti rose in the ship's wake, and the blood-red cloud blown off to leeward from his spiracle, told that the death of Mr. Johnson was avenged.
The weather had materially improved by the time the topsails were sheeted home and set. Vigilant eyes at the masthead observed the whale's movement, and in time the ship wore round and stood along near him in time to see him go in his dying "flurry" within a short distance of his relentless enemies. The sea would not admit of a boat being lowered to take possession; but he was kept in sight by watching the "slick," and manœuvring on short tacks all the forenoon.
After dinner, the gale having abated to a whole topsail breeze, and the sea gone down so that a boat with a picked crew and careful management might venture to cut a hole, the larboard boat was lowered, and after considerable difficulty he was hauled alongside and fluked. The cutting gear was got up, and the work driven with all possible expedition, for moderate weather was not to be depended upon for any length of time in these latitudes. Still, it was three o'clock by the time we got fairly hooked on, and what with surging and parting, and tearing out hooks, little progress was made, and at dark we "lashed down," and knocked off our arduous duty with one blanket piece in the blubber-room, the whale's body riding by the large fluke.chain, and the head cut off and secured alongside by the small chain and two parts of a large new hawser. The wind was hauling to the westward, and blowing on another gale. All sail was taken in, and the watches set; darkness shut down its dread pall around, and the howling of the night storm was rendered more dismal by the screams of thousands of ravenousalbatrosses sitting in the "slick" to windward of the ship, and the clanking and surging of the fluke-chain as it quivered under the terrific strain. At midnight the small chain attached to the head parted, but by veering away a longer scope on the ropes the ponderous mass seemed to ride easier than before. The ropes held bravely till four o'clock, when weakened by long-continued stretch, strain and chafe, they gave way; and the valuable head, containing at least forty barrels of sperm, went dancing off upon a mountain wave, and could be seen from time to time flashing up through the darkness, till it was lost to view in the gloom to windward.
The fluke-chain still hung, but the gale and sea increasing every moment, the strain at last became too powerful even for its great strength, and it snapped about daylight with the report of a gun. The wind had hauled round gradually by north-west, and was now nearly at north, and fair for the course on which we were bound. Captain Upton was on deck when the chain parted, and looked with longing eyes off the weather quarter at the lost prize till it could be seen no longer; then, satisfied no more could be done to save it, he ordered the helm up, and, setting the foresail and close-reefed fore and maintopsails, the proud ship once more bounded before the favorable gale, laying her course inside of the Falklands for Cape Horn.
CHAPTER XI.PROMOTION.—"COOPER'S NOVELS."—THE MATE MORALIZES.—CAPE HORN.The vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Johnson was filled by the promotion of Bunker to be third mate; and the next matter for consideration was the selection of a boatsteerer for the larboard boat. The two Nantucket boys were not, as yet, old enough or stout enough for this duty. Old Jeff and the two Portuguese, from their experience, were eligible candidates; but it seems Father Grafton had determined, so far as he was concerned, to promote his bowman to that office. Captain Upton, as I afterwards learned, was disposed to leave the choice in the mate's hands, merely reminding him of the necessity of due consideration in a matter so important. "You know," said he, "we can't afford to have whales missed. However, 'Blacksmith' seems a likely young man about the ship, and as for his conduct in a boat you are better qualified to judge than I am, as he has been at your bow oar. So, if you think he will do his work, try him. Let him have one chance, at any rate; we must run a risk with somebody."The weather had moderated at this time so that the ship was running under whole topsails; and a newboat had already been taken from overhead, and was in process of fitting for service to take her place on the starboard cranes.The word was passed for "Blacksmith" to appear on the quarter deck. The old man and Father Grafton were in consultation as I came aft and stood under their lee, respectfully waiting for orders."Blacksmith," asked the captain, turning suddenly upon me, "can you strike a whale?""I think I could, sir, if I was within reach of him," I answered."Do you want to try yourself?" he asked."Yes, sir," said I quietly, and yet confidently, too."Remember," said the old man, "if you fail once, with a good chance, you must give it up and let somebody else come in. We can't affort to have any 'foopaws.'[2]Mr. Grafton thinks you will do it well, and has said a good word for you."I bowed my acknowledgments to the mate for his good opinion, and said something I cannot tell what, to the effect that I would endeavor to justify it. Had I been previously notified, I might have had a "neat and appropriate speech" prepared for the occasion."I want you to remember," resumed the old man, "when you go alongside of a whale, that the voyage is depending upon you.Get a good scote, and grit the ends of your front teeth right off!If you do your work, I'll see that you are paid the lay. You maytake charge of the larboard boat's craft, and rig the irons to suit your own hand. Bring your traps aft to-night, and take up your quarters in the cabin; and understand, if you live aft, I expect tofindyou aft, except when your duty calls you forward.""Thank you, sir," I answered, "I'll do the best I can.""That's all I want," said the captain, with a wink of intelligence to his mate, as if to say, "he'll do."The change was soon made. I transferred myself and my effects to the region of forks and dishes, and became, at short notice, a petty officer, and member of the House of Lords, after only three months' actual service at sea. My companions in the "bull-room" were more select and less numerous than in the forecastle, consisting of young Fisher, the boatsteerer, the veracious cooper, and the Portuguese steward and cabin-boy. I had now the full benefit of the cooper's yarns, and he did not fail to entertain me with some choice specimens of Munchausenism during the first watch below that evening."Well, Blacksmith," said he, "you've seen a little of the other side of the picture, and you are satisfied that all whales are not taken so easily as that first one off the Western Islands. Not that I think this last one was a bad whale at all, but any whale is liable to get an unlucky clip at a boat when he feels the iron. Then you see, it was rugged weather, and the boat was going to leeward under good headway, so it was awkward work to keep clear of him.""'Twas all an accident," said Fisher, who had comedown to light his pipe, "as it always is,Ithink. Of course, if you throw an iron into a whale, he'll kick and struggle just as you or I would; and if a boat happens to be right in his way, why, the hardest fends off. And that's the way all boats are stove,Ibelieve. I never saw a whale that I thoughtmeantto stave a boat.""Didn't you?" inquired the cooper. "Well, hold on, Fisher, perhaps you'll go another voyage and still not see a regular fighting whale. I hope so, at any rate. But it's no use for you to tell me there aint any, because I know better. I could tell you about a scrape we had in the Deucalion, only I don't want to scare you young fellows.""O, fire away!" said Fisher. "You wont frighten me nor Blacksmith. What was it, that same whale that was so long you had to sling stages over the stern to cut his head off?""No, indeed," replied the cooper, "that was in the Bajazet. No, this was only a forty-barrel bull, and the worst of it was, we didn't cut him in at all. He stove all four boats for us, and chawed them up into splinters. We got out the last boat we had from overhead, and picked up the men, and the whale chased us all the way to the ship. We pulled all we knew, and got alongside, hooked on, and had the boat raised out of the water, when the old fellow shoved his jaw out and grabbed her right out of the tackles! Such a crashing and splintering of cedar boards you never saw or heard as when he shut down upon her. The two men that were hooking on grabbed the tacklesand shinned for dear life. But he wasn't satisfied with that mouthful, for he undertook to chaw the ship. But old Captain Harper hadn't forgotten the Essex story, and we made all sail to get out of his way; for, mind ye, if he had started a leak in the old ship, we hadn't a boat left to save ourselves in. He chased us about four hours, but he was somewhat weakened from loss of blood, for he had seven irons and four lances sticking in him. We were in hopes he would turn up in the ship's wake, but he seemed to find out at last that a stern chase was a long one, and gave it up. The last we saw of him he was going to windward, spouting clear. About a fortnight afterwards, we spoke the Termagant, and they gave us our craft. They had picked him up, dead, and when we came to compare reckonings, we found it was about three hundred and fifty miles from where we lost sight of him!""How long was it before they found him?" asked Fisher."The second day after we struck him," replied the cooper, not seeing the drift of the question."Well, he must have picked up his strength amazingly after he started to windward. You say he couldn't go fast enough toleewardto overtake the ship, and yet he went three hundred and fifty milesto windwardin a matter of thirty-six hours: that's about ten knots an hour.""I don't care if it is; he couldn't keep up with the old Deucalion when we put her off with the wind on her quarter.""Why, how fast would she go?""Seventeen knot, easy," answered the cooper with the utmost gravity."There, that'll do," said Fisher. "It's time I went on deck. Whenever I can believe that old wagon of a ship went seventeen knots, then I shall be ready to believe in these eating whales. But you haven't got tobacco enough to make me hoist in either.""It's no use for him to talk," said the cooper after Fisher was gone. "If he goes whaling as long as I have been, perhaps he'll see an eating whale. I reckon it's breezing on by the sound on deck. Yes, down goes the coil of the maintopsail halyards, and here they come stamping aft. I think the wind will haul ahead before morning, and then we may as well make out our log for three or four weeks, beating and banging to get round the horn. Well, it's all in the course of a voyage. I was seventy days off the Cape in the Bajazet, and it never lulled enough to get the fore and mizzen topsails on her.""Must have been pleasant," I muttered, half asleep."Pleasant! yes. Plenty to eat, and nothing to do but wear round now and then. The worst of it was, the ship was so crank we had to travel on our ankles altogether, and when it did moderate, we'd lost the power of using our feet like human—"I was by this time fast locked, and I presume that my snoring reminded the inveterate yarn-spinner that he might as well follow suit as to waste his breath.His predictions proved more reliable that his narratives; for when our watch turned out, the ship wasunder double reefs with the wind at south-west, and squally. There was nothing to do, however, unless it "breezed on" harder. So, after seeing that the watch were all within call and the lookout set, we made ourselves comfortable under the hurricane house for the new ship boasted that appendage among her modern improvements."When I first went to sea," said Father Grafton, "we would have laughed at the notion of building such a covering as this, as we would at many other things which are now quite common, and which, a few years hence, will be looked upon as necessary. There's the patent windlass: it's the first one that I have been shipmate with, but I suppose after I have been this voyage, I should hardly know how to go to sea again with an old-fashioned back-breaker. Why, on my first voyage, we didn't even have purchase bars at the windlass ends; nothing but the handspikes, and it was heave, Dick, and heave, Tom, for I hove last.""And yet you used to get large whales and cut them in," said Mr. Bunker."Yes, that's true. Some people will tell you that they did it as quickly and as easily then as we do nowadays; but I can't confirm that. We used to manage it, after a fashion. It is true enough, there's no knowing what men can do till they are put to it. There is a great deal of nonsense talked by some old-school sailors about the good old fashions and good old days when we made short voyages, and got full ships in almost every instance; and they pretend tosay that there were better whalemen in those days than now. But that's all moonshine. There were more whales to be seen, and they were easier struck than now. If we struck one and lost him, why, ten to one, we saw another next day and got him; and so the lost one was forgotten. But now we see them so seldom we can't so well afford to lose one, and, with our improved gear and increased knowledge, it is unreasonable to suppose that we lose as many as our fathers did. I think, if the statistics of voyages could be collected and compared, we should prove that we are better whalemen than they were; that is to say, that we get much more oil in proportion to the opportunities we meet with. I know that such has been the fact in my own experience of twenty-five years.""You would find it rather hard to make some of the old retired shipmasters believe that," said Mr. Bunker."I know it. Some of them have an idea even now, that they could come out with a ship, and turn them up on Peru and Chili just as fast as they used to. And every now and then some heroic old gentleman takes a start, and comes out here to show us how it's done, and goes home again with half a cargo of oil, and a flea in his ear. More than one instance occurs to me at this moment. Whales are not so plenty now that we can practice the game that Cooper tells us about on his first voyage.""What was that, sir?" I inquired."Cooper tells that they used to throw bricks at them to see whether they would kick, before theywent on to strike them. By the way, he was spinning you a tough yarn to-night. My room door was open and I could hear most of it. What do you think about that eating whale, Blacksmith?""I hardly know how much of it to believe," said I. "Are there really any such whales as he tells of, sir?""Why, yes, now and then one; though I think the cases are very rare where whales make a deliberate attack. I have never yet seen one myself, but I have sailed with others who have. Captain Upton tells me he has seen two or three in his life, and I don't think he can be mistaken. We have all heard of the Essex affair to which the cooper alluded, and the dreadful sufferings of the crew. I remember it well, for I was cruising on Chili at that time in the Plutarch, and from the statements of the survivors, it is plain enough that that whale went to work deliberately and with malice prepense, as the lawyers would say, to destroy the ship. The cooper's yarn is, doubtless, partly true; but you know by this time, that a story loses nothing in his telling. He has, very likely, seen two or even three boats stoven by one whale, so that his romance is, like many others, 'founded on facts.'""Do you think he believes his own stories, sir?" I asked."I really can't say. It is a phenomenon that has puzzled me for many years. I don't mean in his particular case, for he is only one of a class, and I myself have sailed with two or three others who could equal him in drawing the long bow. Sensible menthey were, too, in other respects, and, even remarkably free from some other vices to which seamen are addicted; but lying seemed to be constitutional with them, or else they had cultivated the habit till they had lost all control of themselves. And they seemed impervious to shame in this one particular only. You have read Peter Simple, I suppose?""Yes, sir," I answered. "You are thinking of Captain Kearney, sir?""Yes. When I first read it, I thought Marryatt had sketched a very extravagant character in Captain Kearney, but I have since become more reconciled to it, and don't think it much caricatured after all. I think that a man may contract an absorbing passion for lying as well as for strong drink, and be ready to go all lengths to gratify it. We see every day instances of men, with a thousand noble qualities, who are slaves to liquor, and seem to have lost all self-control in that one respect. Now the cooper is a steady, sober man and a capital fellow, aside from this singular propensity; but I firmly believe that, like Captain Kearney, he will die with a lie in his throat. How do you head, Kelly?""South-east, sir.""Knocking off, eh? Well—stand by to wear ship!"The conversation was broken off, and was not resumed again for this watch.The next morning, it being more moderate, spouts were seen to leeward, and the ship kept off for them. The new boat was pronounced ready for action atshort notice, and all was excitement and expectation for a few minutes; but the cry of "forked spout!" put a damper on our hopes."Right whales!" said the old man. "Brace up and let her come to again!""Let's go down and try 'em?" petitioned Mr. Dunham."No, I sha'n't bother with 'em. If we can't get sperm oil, we'll go home empty-handed. Keep her along full and by!Look sharp there aloft for another kind.These whales have got too many spout-holes for my use."It was even so with Nantucket whalemen at the period of which I am writing. A whale who showed evidence of having two spiracles was not worth bothering about. And even for years after the great North-west whaling grounds were opened, and rich returns were pouring into New Bedford, New London and other whaling ports, the islanders, the pioneers of whaling, still clung to their old faith and plodded on over their old grounds, picking up a sperm whale now and then, and spending four years or more to get, in most instances, about half a cargo. They ignored the great Nor'west; it was a myth; the very sound of it a great bugbear. "Spermaceti or empty casks" was their platform for many years; and then at last they woke from this delusion, it was too late; the cream had been skimmed from the northern grounds, and the palmiest days of right whaling were over."Have you ever been right whaling, Cooper?" I asked after the stir was over and all was quiet again."Right whaling? yes, two voyages on the Banks. Talk about fighting whales! You ought to see one of those fellows pick his teeth with the corner of his flukes.""How's dat, when dey's got no teeth?" asked the cook, who stood within hearing."They've no teeth, strictly speaking, that's true; but they've slabs of bone which amounts to the same thing for all the purposes of the story. I've seen 'em do it many a time—slat their flukes from eye to eye. Whip-lashes are nothing to 'em.""Make more oil than sperm whales, don't they?" I asked."Yes, such as 'tis—make four or five hundred barrels sometimes!""Do they ever eat up boats?" I inquired."No, never fight with their heads; they wear 'bonnets' on their heads, and I suppose they don't like to rumple them.""What are they made of?" asked Fisher. "Gauze and ribbons?""No—lice and barnacles," said the cooper."Do the bulls wear bonnets, too?""Yes, of course.""Do they have new bonnets as often as the fashions change?"The only answer was a warlike demonstration with a squilgee that lay at hand; and Fisher beat a retreat.We met the strong westerly winds as we approached the latitude of the dreaded Horn, which is seldomto be caught asleep on the outward passage, the prevailing winds having almost the regularity of trades as to direction; and for three weeks they blew south-west and west, so that all hands were well initiated to the beauties of this delectable corner of the world. We were obliged to keep mostly on the starboard tack, and stretch to the southward nearly to the latitude of sixty degrees, which brought us completely out of the track of homeward-bound ships, who, with the same winds would hug the land and give it the go-by under a press of canvas. "Begins with strong gales from west-south-west and rugged sea," became a standing form of entry in our journals till we tired of the sight of the words; and day by day our stout ship struggled, and wallowed and tumbled about, till our patience was well-nigh exhausted. Heavy squalls, accompanied by a peculiar, sharp hail, which cut our flesh like small shot, sometimes varied the entertainment. Yarns, as usual, whiled away the dreary night watches; the experiences of former voyages were referred to, and the changes rung upon them; the cooper drew his bow with a strong hand and heaped Pelion upon Ossa in the way of falsehood; while Father Grafton entertained us with more reliable stories, not only of his own experiences, but of those of other voyagers, going back to the days of LeMaire and Schouten, who gave the cape its name, and coming down through the eras of Anson and Cook to the voyage of the little ship Beaver, of Nantucket, the pioneer of Pacific whaling, which doubled the Horn in 1791, and made her voyage in seventeen months. His memory was well stored with facts ofthis kind, and so arranged that he could draw freely upon them as they were wanted. A most entertaining companion was our worthy chief officer, and the night watches slipped away much more pleasantly to me since my change of station had brought me nearer to him.After standing so far south, we could do something on the other tack, taking the advantage of slants of wind. Our progress was slow and wearisome; but perseverance at last prevailed over all obstacles, the redoubtable headland was doubled without further accident than the loss of another boat washed off the waist cranes in a gale, and a few days more saw the gallant Arethusa doing her best to make up for her lost time; as, seemingly conscious of her tardiness, and rejoicing in her freedom from Antarctic thraldom, she went rolling down the coasts of Patagonia and Chili before a "long and strong souther."
PROMOTION.—"COOPER'S NOVELS."—THE MATE MORALIZES.—CAPE HORN.
The vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Johnson was filled by the promotion of Bunker to be third mate; and the next matter for consideration was the selection of a boatsteerer for the larboard boat. The two Nantucket boys were not, as yet, old enough or stout enough for this duty. Old Jeff and the two Portuguese, from their experience, were eligible candidates; but it seems Father Grafton had determined, so far as he was concerned, to promote his bowman to that office. Captain Upton, as I afterwards learned, was disposed to leave the choice in the mate's hands, merely reminding him of the necessity of due consideration in a matter so important. "You know," said he, "we can't afford to have whales missed. However, 'Blacksmith' seems a likely young man about the ship, and as for his conduct in a boat you are better qualified to judge than I am, as he has been at your bow oar. So, if you think he will do his work, try him. Let him have one chance, at any rate; we must run a risk with somebody."
The weather had moderated at this time so that the ship was running under whole topsails; and a newboat had already been taken from overhead, and was in process of fitting for service to take her place on the starboard cranes.
The word was passed for "Blacksmith" to appear on the quarter deck. The old man and Father Grafton were in consultation as I came aft and stood under their lee, respectfully waiting for orders.
"Blacksmith," asked the captain, turning suddenly upon me, "can you strike a whale?"
"I think I could, sir, if I was within reach of him," I answered.
"Do you want to try yourself?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," said I quietly, and yet confidently, too.
"Remember," said the old man, "if you fail once, with a good chance, you must give it up and let somebody else come in. We can't affort to have any 'foopaws.'[2]Mr. Grafton thinks you will do it well, and has said a good word for you."
I bowed my acknowledgments to the mate for his good opinion, and said something I cannot tell what, to the effect that I would endeavor to justify it. Had I been previously notified, I might have had a "neat and appropriate speech" prepared for the occasion.
"I want you to remember," resumed the old man, "when you go alongside of a whale, that the voyage is depending upon you.Get a good scote, and grit the ends of your front teeth right off!If you do your work, I'll see that you are paid the lay. You maytake charge of the larboard boat's craft, and rig the irons to suit your own hand. Bring your traps aft to-night, and take up your quarters in the cabin; and understand, if you live aft, I expect tofindyou aft, except when your duty calls you forward."
"Thank you, sir," I answered, "I'll do the best I can."
"That's all I want," said the captain, with a wink of intelligence to his mate, as if to say, "he'll do."
The change was soon made. I transferred myself and my effects to the region of forks and dishes, and became, at short notice, a petty officer, and member of the House of Lords, after only three months' actual service at sea. My companions in the "bull-room" were more select and less numerous than in the forecastle, consisting of young Fisher, the boatsteerer, the veracious cooper, and the Portuguese steward and cabin-boy. I had now the full benefit of the cooper's yarns, and he did not fail to entertain me with some choice specimens of Munchausenism during the first watch below that evening.
"Well, Blacksmith," said he, "you've seen a little of the other side of the picture, and you are satisfied that all whales are not taken so easily as that first one off the Western Islands. Not that I think this last one was a bad whale at all, but any whale is liable to get an unlucky clip at a boat when he feels the iron. Then you see, it was rugged weather, and the boat was going to leeward under good headway, so it was awkward work to keep clear of him."
"'Twas all an accident," said Fisher, who had comedown to light his pipe, "as it always is,Ithink. Of course, if you throw an iron into a whale, he'll kick and struggle just as you or I would; and if a boat happens to be right in his way, why, the hardest fends off. And that's the way all boats are stove,Ibelieve. I never saw a whale that I thoughtmeantto stave a boat."
"Didn't you?" inquired the cooper. "Well, hold on, Fisher, perhaps you'll go another voyage and still not see a regular fighting whale. I hope so, at any rate. But it's no use for you to tell me there aint any, because I know better. I could tell you about a scrape we had in the Deucalion, only I don't want to scare you young fellows."
"O, fire away!" said Fisher. "You wont frighten me nor Blacksmith. What was it, that same whale that was so long you had to sling stages over the stern to cut his head off?"
"No, indeed," replied the cooper, "that was in the Bajazet. No, this was only a forty-barrel bull, and the worst of it was, we didn't cut him in at all. He stove all four boats for us, and chawed them up into splinters. We got out the last boat we had from overhead, and picked up the men, and the whale chased us all the way to the ship. We pulled all we knew, and got alongside, hooked on, and had the boat raised out of the water, when the old fellow shoved his jaw out and grabbed her right out of the tackles! Such a crashing and splintering of cedar boards you never saw or heard as when he shut down upon her. The two men that were hooking on grabbed the tacklesand shinned for dear life. But he wasn't satisfied with that mouthful, for he undertook to chaw the ship. But old Captain Harper hadn't forgotten the Essex story, and we made all sail to get out of his way; for, mind ye, if he had started a leak in the old ship, we hadn't a boat left to save ourselves in. He chased us about four hours, but he was somewhat weakened from loss of blood, for he had seven irons and four lances sticking in him. We were in hopes he would turn up in the ship's wake, but he seemed to find out at last that a stern chase was a long one, and gave it up. The last we saw of him he was going to windward, spouting clear. About a fortnight afterwards, we spoke the Termagant, and they gave us our craft. They had picked him up, dead, and when we came to compare reckonings, we found it was about three hundred and fifty miles from where we lost sight of him!"
"How long was it before they found him?" asked Fisher.
"The second day after we struck him," replied the cooper, not seeing the drift of the question.
"Well, he must have picked up his strength amazingly after he started to windward. You say he couldn't go fast enough toleewardto overtake the ship, and yet he went three hundred and fifty milesto windwardin a matter of thirty-six hours: that's about ten knots an hour."
"I don't care if it is; he couldn't keep up with the old Deucalion when we put her off with the wind on her quarter."
"Why, how fast would she go?"
"Seventeen knot, easy," answered the cooper with the utmost gravity.
"There, that'll do," said Fisher. "It's time I went on deck. Whenever I can believe that old wagon of a ship went seventeen knots, then I shall be ready to believe in these eating whales. But you haven't got tobacco enough to make me hoist in either."
"It's no use for him to talk," said the cooper after Fisher was gone. "If he goes whaling as long as I have been, perhaps he'll see an eating whale. I reckon it's breezing on by the sound on deck. Yes, down goes the coil of the maintopsail halyards, and here they come stamping aft. I think the wind will haul ahead before morning, and then we may as well make out our log for three or four weeks, beating and banging to get round the horn. Well, it's all in the course of a voyage. I was seventy days off the Cape in the Bajazet, and it never lulled enough to get the fore and mizzen topsails on her."
"Must have been pleasant," I muttered, half asleep.
"Pleasant! yes. Plenty to eat, and nothing to do but wear round now and then. The worst of it was, the ship was so crank we had to travel on our ankles altogether, and when it did moderate, we'd lost the power of using our feet like human—"
I was by this time fast locked, and I presume that my snoring reminded the inveterate yarn-spinner that he might as well follow suit as to waste his breath.
His predictions proved more reliable that his narratives; for when our watch turned out, the ship wasunder double reefs with the wind at south-west, and squally. There was nothing to do, however, unless it "breezed on" harder. So, after seeing that the watch were all within call and the lookout set, we made ourselves comfortable under the hurricane house for the new ship boasted that appendage among her modern improvements.
"When I first went to sea," said Father Grafton, "we would have laughed at the notion of building such a covering as this, as we would at many other things which are now quite common, and which, a few years hence, will be looked upon as necessary. There's the patent windlass: it's the first one that I have been shipmate with, but I suppose after I have been this voyage, I should hardly know how to go to sea again with an old-fashioned back-breaker. Why, on my first voyage, we didn't even have purchase bars at the windlass ends; nothing but the handspikes, and it was heave, Dick, and heave, Tom, for I hove last."
"And yet you used to get large whales and cut them in," said Mr. Bunker.
"Yes, that's true. Some people will tell you that they did it as quickly and as easily then as we do nowadays; but I can't confirm that. We used to manage it, after a fashion. It is true enough, there's no knowing what men can do till they are put to it. There is a great deal of nonsense talked by some old-school sailors about the good old fashions and good old days when we made short voyages, and got full ships in almost every instance; and they pretend tosay that there were better whalemen in those days than now. But that's all moonshine. There were more whales to be seen, and they were easier struck than now. If we struck one and lost him, why, ten to one, we saw another next day and got him; and so the lost one was forgotten. But now we see them so seldom we can't so well afford to lose one, and, with our improved gear and increased knowledge, it is unreasonable to suppose that we lose as many as our fathers did. I think, if the statistics of voyages could be collected and compared, we should prove that we are better whalemen than they were; that is to say, that we get much more oil in proportion to the opportunities we meet with. I know that such has been the fact in my own experience of twenty-five years."
"You would find it rather hard to make some of the old retired shipmasters believe that," said Mr. Bunker.
"I know it. Some of them have an idea even now, that they could come out with a ship, and turn them up on Peru and Chili just as fast as they used to. And every now and then some heroic old gentleman takes a start, and comes out here to show us how it's done, and goes home again with half a cargo of oil, and a flea in his ear. More than one instance occurs to me at this moment. Whales are not so plenty now that we can practice the game that Cooper tells us about on his first voyage."
"What was that, sir?" I inquired.
"Cooper tells that they used to throw bricks at them to see whether they would kick, before theywent on to strike them. By the way, he was spinning you a tough yarn to-night. My room door was open and I could hear most of it. What do you think about that eating whale, Blacksmith?"
"I hardly know how much of it to believe," said I. "Are there really any such whales as he tells of, sir?"
"Why, yes, now and then one; though I think the cases are very rare where whales make a deliberate attack. I have never yet seen one myself, but I have sailed with others who have. Captain Upton tells me he has seen two or three in his life, and I don't think he can be mistaken. We have all heard of the Essex affair to which the cooper alluded, and the dreadful sufferings of the crew. I remember it well, for I was cruising on Chili at that time in the Plutarch, and from the statements of the survivors, it is plain enough that that whale went to work deliberately and with malice prepense, as the lawyers would say, to destroy the ship. The cooper's yarn is, doubtless, partly true; but you know by this time, that a story loses nothing in his telling. He has, very likely, seen two or even three boats stoven by one whale, so that his romance is, like many others, 'founded on facts.'"
"Do you think he believes his own stories, sir?" I asked.
"I really can't say. It is a phenomenon that has puzzled me for many years. I don't mean in his particular case, for he is only one of a class, and I myself have sailed with two or three others who could equal him in drawing the long bow. Sensible menthey were, too, in other respects, and, even remarkably free from some other vices to which seamen are addicted; but lying seemed to be constitutional with them, or else they had cultivated the habit till they had lost all control of themselves. And they seemed impervious to shame in this one particular only. You have read Peter Simple, I suppose?"
"Yes, sir," I answered. "You are thinking of Captain Kearney, sir?"
"Yes. When I first read it, I thought Marryatt had sketched a very extravagant character in Captain Kearney, but I have since become more reconciled to it, and don't think it much caricatured after all. I think that a man may contract an absorbing passion for lying as well as for strong drink, and be ready to go all lengths to gratify it. We see every day instances of men, with a thousand noble qualities, who are slaves to liquor, and seem to have lost all self-control in that one respect. Now the cooper is a steady, sober man and a capital fellow, aside from this singular propensity; but I firmly believe that, like Captain Kearney, he will die with a lie in his throat. How do you head, Kelly?"
"South-east, sir."
"Knocking off, eh? Well—stand by to wear ship!"
The conversation was broken off, and was not resumed again for this watch.
The next morning, it being more moderate, spouts were seen to leeward, and the ship kept off for them. The new boat was pronounced ready for action atshort notice, and all was excitement and expectation for a few minutes; but the cry of "forked spout!" put a damper on our hopes.
"Right whales!" said the old man. "Brace up and let her come to again!"
"Let's go down and try 'em?" petitioned Mr. Dunham.
"No, I sha'n't bother with 'em. If we can't get sperm oil, we'll go home empty-handed. Keep her along full and by!Look sharp there aloft for another kind.These whales have got too many spout-holes for my use."
It was even so with Nantucket whalemen at the period of which I am writing. A whale who showed evidence of having two spiracles was not worth bothering about. And even for years after the great North-west whaling grounds were opened, and rich returns were pouring into New Bedford, New London and other whaling ports, the islanders, the pioneers of whaling, still clung to their old faith and plodded on over their old grounds, picking up a sperm whale now and then, and spending four years or more to get, in most instances, about half a cargo. They ignored the great Nor'west; it was a myth; the very sound of it a great bugbear. "Spermaceti or empty casks" was their platform for many years; and then at last they woke from this delusion, it was too late; the cream had been skimmed from the northern grounds, and the palmiest days of right whaling were over.
"Have you ever been right whaling, Cooper?" I asked after the stir was over and all was quiet again.
"Right whaling? yes, two voyages on the Banks. Talk about fighting whales! You ought to see one of those fellows pick his teeth with the corner of his flukes."
"How's dat, when dey's got no teeth?" asked the cook, who stood within hearing.
"They've no teeth, strictly speaking, that's true; but they've slabs of bone which amounts to the same thing for all the purposes of the story. I've seen 'em do it many a time—slat their flukes from eye to eye. Whip-lashes are nothing to 'em."
"Make more oil than sperm whales, don't they?" I asked.
"Yes, such as 'tis—make four or five hundred barrels sometimes!"
"Do they ever eat up boats?" I inquired.
"No, never fight with their heads; they wear 'bonnets' on their heads, and I suppose they don't like to rumple them."
"What are they made of?" asked Fisher. "Gauze and ribbons?"
"No—lice and barnacles," said the cooper.
"Do the bulls wear bonnets, too?"
"Yes, of course."
"Do they have new bonnets as often as the fashions change?"
The only answer was a warlike demonstration with a squilgee that lay at hand; and Fisher beat a retreat.
We met the strong westerly winds as we approached the latitude of the dreaded Horn, which is seldomto be caught asleep on the outward passage, the prevailing winds having almost the regularity of trades as to direction; and for three weeks they blew south-west and west, so that all hands were well initiated to the beauties of this delectable corner of the world. We were obliged to keep mostly on the starboard tack, and stretch to the southward nearly to the latitude of sixty degrees, which brought us completely out of the track of homeward-bound ships, who, with the same winds would hug the land and give it the go-by under a press of canvas. "Begins with strong gales from west-south-west and rugged sea," became a standing form of entry in our journals till we tired of the sight of the words; and day by day our stout ship struggled, and wallowed and tumbled about, till our patience was well-nigh exhausted. Heavy squalls, accompanied by a peculiar, sharp hail, which cut our flesh like small shot, sometimes varied the entertainment. Yarns, as usual, whiled away the dreary night watches; the experiences of former voyages were referred to, and the changes rung upon them; the cooper drew his bow with a strong hand and heaped Pelion upon Ossa in the way of falsehood; while Father Grafton entertained us with more reliable stories, not only of his own experiences, but of those of other voyagers, going back to the days of LeMaire and Schouten, who gave the cape its name, and coming down through the eras of Anson and Cook to the voyage of the little ship Beaver, of Nantucket, the pioneer of Pacific whaling, which doubled the Horn in 1791, and made her voyage in seventeen months. His memory was well stored with facts ofthis kind, and so arranged that he could draw freely upon them as they were wanted. A most entertaining companion was our worthy chief officer, and the night watches slipped away much more pleasantly to me since my change of station had brought me nearer to him.
After standing so far south, we could do something on the other tack, taking the advantage of slants of wind. Our progress was slow and wearisome; but perseverance at last prevailed over all obstacles, the redoubtable headland was doubled without further accident than the loss of another boat washed off the waist cranes in a gale, and a few days more saw the gallant Arethusa doing her best to make up for her lost time; as, seemingly conscious of her tardiness, and rejoicing in her freedom from Antarctic thraldom, she went rolling down the coasts of Patagonia and Chili before a "long and strong souther."
CHAPTER XII.FISHING AT JUAN FERNANDEZ.—FIGHT WITH AN UGLY WHALE."Blacksmith, how long is it since you read Robinson Crusoe?" asked the mate, as he stopped in his walk near the mainmast, and leaned against the top-sail-sheet bitts. "Some years, I suppose?""No, sir," said I. "The last time I read it was less than one year ago, and I found it as fresh and entertaining as ever.""No doubt of it," replied Father Grafton. "Nothing connected with my schoolboy days has so firmly stamped itself on my memory as the appearance of the old copy of Crusoe, that I owned for many years; indeed, I carried it to sea with me on my first voyage, and it was accidentally lost overboard. I can see the brown paper and the quaint old type with itsfand longsso dangerously alike, and its horrible woodcuts! for it was a copy of a very old edition, and had, no doubt, delighted two or three generations of boys before it fell into my hands. But what reminded me of it to-night is the fact that we shall probably make Juan Fernandez to-morrow.""Yet this island is not mentioned in the story, I believe," said I."No, the scene of the romance lies on the Atlantic side, somewhere near the mouth of the Orinoco; but it is probable that De Foe got the idea from the story of a Scotchman who lived three years on this island.""O yes," said I, "I remember the soliloquy of this Selkirk that I used to read and declaim at the country school,"'I am Monarch of all I survey.'Then I suppose this Selkirk story is really true, is it?""Yes, there is no good reason to doubt it. He was taken off the island by the English circumnavigator, Rogers, in 1709, if I remember right.""Is there any one living on it now?" I asked."I don't know. There was no one there the last visit I made to it. But I have heard since that the Chilian government made use of it as a penal settlement, or something of the kind. But we shall not probably land there. What we want is a good haul of fresh fish, and this is just the place to find it. We must muster all the fishing-lines in the ship; the old man has got plenty of hooks; and, by the way, I want you in the morning to get an iron hoop from the cooper and net it across with ropeyarn ('Cooper' will know just what I want), to catch some crawfish.""What sort of fish are they?" asked I."Why, they are a species of the lobster family, and fully equal to any of our lobsters in flavor.""Juan Fernandez," resumed the mate, "is a name that more correctly belongs to both islands, someseventy or eighty miles apart. The Spaniards called themMas a tierraandMas a fuera, from their relative positions, 'more inshore,' and 'more off-shore.' The westernmost is still known by its name of Masa fuera, but this one seems to have taken 'Juan Fernandez' as its distinctive title."We stood in near this beautiful island, which is invested with a sort of romantic interest from the circumstances to which the mate alluded; and certainly, I thought, if a manmustload a solitary life for a series of years, this would not be the last place he would select for his hermitage. The larboard and waist-boats were equipped and lowered for the fishing excursion, and we shoved off in high feather. We were provided with convenient anchors which we dropped within a short distance of the rocks, where the water was alive with fish of various kinds, which could be plainly seen darting and winding below us. The lines were hardly down among them when some one hauled a fish into the boat; some one else followed with another; and the sport was fairly begun. Pieces of pork furnished bait to start with; then the fish supplied tempting morsels of their own flesh for the hook, to allure their cannibalic brethren to share their captivity. O ye amateur anglers who sit with a rod and fly, tempting little innocent fish to nibble and thinking it not bad sport if you get two or three nibbles an hour, come to Juan Fernandez and find good, hearty, muscular sport, that you will not fall asleep at."Halloo!" shouted Obed B., as he recoiled fromthe haul he had made, staring with disgust, "what the deuce have I got on my hook now?""Conger eel!" said the mate, with a roar of laughter. "That's not the kind you used to spear in Nantucket docks, or stay all night for at Maddaket ditch. Let's see you get clear of him, now you've caught him," for the eel had wriggled and twisted himself into a hopeless snarl with the line, after swallowing the hook firmly; and defied all his attempts to release him, for, as Hoeg expressed it, he "wouldn't be handled."Manoel, the Portuguese, being better acquainted with eels of that sort, soon got him clear. He said they were good eating; but Hoeg slung him overboard again with, "Who in thunder do you suppose wants to eat that flat-headed snake?"And now every one began to haul more or less of these eels, which created much merriment and boisterous laughter, while it consumed much time in clearing lines and getting rid of them.The first haul of my impromptu net brought up one crustaceous monster of the kind I wanted, among a snarl of eels who had writhed and squirmed into and through the meshes of the net, with their teeth fastened among the rope-yarns, and clinging with a pertinacity and muscular power of jaw, which plainly said, "nought but death shall part us." Over it went again, eels and all; and I caught several more crawfish, great, ugly-looking fellows, who added greatly to the confusion under our feet by flinging their claws and feelers about among the fish at the bottom of the boat.A loud hail from Mr. Dunham, whose boat was anchored at some distance from us, suddenly interrupted the sport upon which we had been so intent; and looking up with one accord, we saw that his crew were hauling in their lines for a start, while he himself was gesticulating with his arm extended in the direction of the ship. The ensign was flying at the gaff; a signal of recall."He sees whales!" said Mr. Grafton. "In lines, boys! Make them up at once. Haul in your net, Blacksmith, or cut it adrift, and set the sail, as soon as you can get the anchor aweigh!" The orders were obeyed with all speed, and the two boats were soon nearing the ship as fast as the sails and oars would carry us. The small flag was already up at the main; and the extended "pointer" (a light pole with a black ball on the end of it, to be used at the masthead, when the boats are down) told us that the whale was off the ship's lee bow."There he hauls aback!" said Father Grafton, "and I declare, there goes the starboard boat down. The whale must be in range of the ship from us, and pretty near the ship too, for the old man can't wait for us, and is going to try him alone—Look! Here's another ship hove in sight round that point, and coming under all sail. Spring hard men, and get alongside! If we only had our line tub in, I wouldn't go to the ship at all, I'd take the fish with me, or else throw them overboard."The second mate was but little ahead of us in getting alongside the ship, and we both strove to outdoeach other in getting the lumber out of the boat and the lines in. Fish flew in on deck with the fury of a bombardment; fishing-lines and boat anchors were bundled in among them; we sung out for our line at the same moment Mr. Dunham was shouting for his, and the cooper in the maintopgallant-crosstrees excited us to still greater exertions, by the cry "The old man's most on! If he spouts twice more, he'll have him!""Bear a hand with that tub!" said Father Grafton. "Be careful to keep it upright, and don't break the coil! So; lower handsomely now! Let go! Shove off, and get your oars out as fast as you can!"As we swung out by the stern of the ship, the cooper roared again:"There's white wate-e-er!The old man's fast!""Bend on your craft, Blacksmith, as fast as you can," said the mate, "and be sure you have everything clear. Pull ahead, the rest of you."The two boats were pretty equally matched for a pull; for, though ours was a little the fastest when under sail, Mr. Dunham's crew were rather heavier than ours, and the excess of muscular power counterbalanced the slight difference in the models of the two boats. We diverged a little so as to give each other full swing, and then "hooked down" to our work; for the whale was spinning off to leeward at a smart pace, and a stern chase is proverbially a long one."He stays up well," said the mate, who kept his clear eye fixed upon the fast whale; "he hasn'tsounded yet, but he runs so that the old man can't haul up to him. There he 'mills!' he's headed along on a wind now," said he, rapidly altering the boat's course with the steering oar, so as to forereach on him. "Stretch hard men! he's milling more yet! coming to windward! right at us now! All right, we'll take him 'head and head!'"The two boats now converged again, both aiming for the same point of attack, and steering for the nib-end of the whale. The general reader may be surprised at this mode of approaching him, unless informed that the sperm whale cannot see directly ahead of him, but if a boat pulls for his broadside, he is much more liable to take the alarm."Stand up, Blacksmith, and get your craft ready," said the mate, quietly. "See that everything is clear. Be sure and keep cool, and don't dart too soon. Ease pulling, all! He's coming quick enough; there's no need to pull, but stand by your oars, all ready at the word."He was indeed coming, with a vengeance! As I stood up, he was just in the act of rounding his immense back above the water, after blowing, and the white water was flying from his sides in clouds, as he forced himself to windward. The muscular power of an animal like this is fearful to think of; and I must confess to anxious feelings, nay, to a feeling of dread, even, at the novel position in which I had been so suddenly placed. I remembered Father Grafton's injunction to keep cool, and then thought of the old man's expressive and characteristic words, "Get a good scote,and grit the ends of your front teeth off." I had not time to think of much more, for as his spout-hole made its next appearance above the surface, I saw that he had lessened the distance between us fully one half. He blew off his spout, clear and strong, and as his back rose again, I saw that the captain's boat was but slightly fast by one iron. He had his second iron in the crotch, having hauled it in, but had not yet been able to haul near to the whale, so as to use it."Look out next time," said Mr. Grafton in a low, anxious tone. "Don't be in a hurry to dart till you are past his head."I glanced round; the other boat was waiting the crisis like ourselves, on the other side, just giving room for the whale to pass handsomely between us. Fisher stood balancing his first iron, all eagerness for the fray.A roar saluted my ears, and a cloud of spray was blown into the air like very fine rain, so near as to envelop me in its cool shower. I grasped my iron; all feelings of fear or dread had vanished. Not so the feeling of anxiety, but it was only anxiety lest the prey might yet escape me."Steady, my boy!" said the mate again, "Hold your hand!"His massive head drew swiftly towards me; the boat rocked in the swell forced off from his glossy side: and his broad back lay temptingly before me. It was a sure thing."Now Blacksmith!" said the mate, throwing the boat's head off as he spoke.I needed no second bidding; my first iron went in to the socket, and the second followed it, though not quite so deeply."Good!" said Father Grafton. "Heave your box-line overboard!"With his shout was mingled a cry of "Stern! Stern hard!" from the other boat; I saw Fisher's iron cleave its way through the shining blackskin opposite my own, there was a convulsive heaving and rocking of everything about us, then a loud crash and splintering sound. The waist-boat's crew were all swimming amid the chaotic wreck of their frail craft. Her broadside was crushed in clear fore and aft. The whale had thrown himself over towards her, and we had escaped without injury.The monster had disappeared instantly, but was evidently not far beneath us, as all the lines hung slack. The second mate had, of course, cut his, as soon as he could get at it. We sterned off out of the slick where the whale had gone down, and lay just at the outer rim of the bloody water."You are well fast, Mr. Grafton, with both irons; you hold on!" said the old man. "I'll cut off and pick up the crew. Never mind, we'll divide 'em. Take three men into your boat, and we'll both hold on. Never mind the stoven boat; we can't bother about her now."The dripping crew were all rescued; for, by a good fortune which seems almost miraculous in hundreds of similar cases, no one was hurt; and we now prepared for a fresh attack with nine men in each boat;though reinforcements of this kind were not at all desirable as the boats were overloaded, and every one was in every one else's way. But the ship had run down, and was close by us, in case of further accident; we had yet three hours to sundown, and the strange ship was also near, watching our movements, and had hoisted her private or owner's signal, by which we knew her to be the Fortitude; which lay at the "Bar" when we sailed and had shortly followed us."Where is the whale?" said the old man. "Our line is all slack." Then suddenly he roared, "Look out! Stern all! stern, out of the way!"The ponderous head of the whale was standing erect above the water like a milestone; it swayed for a moment, and then seeming to fall over backwards, the lower jaw, with its ugly display of ivory, was thrust up, nearly at right angles with the upper."Stern! Stern hard, and give him room! He'll bear watching, Mr. Grafton. We shall have to look out for slants. I would like to get my second iron in, but I'm afraid he wont give me a chance soon."But he did, however; for after impotently gnashing his jaw two or three times, he rolled over and straightened out, spouting, apparently, as strong as ever. It was plain that he had plenty of fight in him yet, and was fairly brought to bay. He did not intend to run any more.The starboard boat pulled up carefully within dart, and as she did so, leviathan rolled up sidewise to meet her. Captain Upton was not to be daunted, however, but crying "Stern all!" he pitched his second iron innear the fin, and as the whale continued rolling, followed it up with his lance in the breast, between the fins. Quick as lightning, down settled the monstrous body, and the whale again stood on end with his jaw out. He flung the jaw over with a desperate sweep, which would have dealt destruction to the boat and all hands had the range been a little shorter. The starboard boat fell back to her former position with the loss of her midship oar and the gunwale split, but that was a trifle. The whale had received two more severe wounds, at any rate; and it was our turn to take the next round with him, when he should straighten again, which he immediately did, still spouting clear, though not so strong as before.In the language of the ring, Mr. Grafton "was on hand at the call of time;" but the whale "played the drop game on us," and with partial success. He went down like a stone; sinking so quickly that he received the mate's lance much higher in the body than was hoped or intended."He's an ugly customer, Mr. Grafton," said the captain as we sheered off again. "Keep your eyes peeled! there's no telling where he'll come next."But I soon had reason to know where he was. There was a light rippling under the stern of our boat, then a rise of the sea, lifting her a little; and that fatal lower jaw stood like a small tower on one side of the boat, with its double tier of ivory cones towards me, while the tremendous head, full of scars, overshadowed me on the other. I did not stop to investigate their beauties; but, while the tub and stroke oarsmen vanishedover the gunwales, one each side, I vaulted a sort of back somersault over the steering strap, just as the monster "shut pan" upon her, crushing her stern up like an egg-shell. This "steel-trap" manœuvre had proved a perfect success, and nine men were swimming for their lives while the captain's boat was already overloaded with the other nine!But reinforcements were not far off. As I looked about me when I rose, the captain's waif was set for help, and the Fortitude's three boats were already splashing into the water. The old man had cut adrift from the whale, and had already thirteen men in his boat formed in close column, the other five clinging to the wreck of the larboard boat, when the three boats of our consort, all abreast, got within hail."Pick up, my men, Wyer, and let some of your boats strike the whale!" said the old man. "You shall have half of him, and welcome, if we can manage to muckle him out before night. But work shy with him, or you will lose some of your boats, too.""All right!" answered Captain Wyer. "Come, Grafton, light into my boat here. Jump in, my boys, all of you. Look out for the whale, Mr. Swain," to his own mate, "and if you get a chance, pitch in. Be a little careful, though, and you too, Mr. Russell, don't go harem-scarem! Whereisthe whale, Upton?""Somewhere under us," returned the old man, as coolly as if he had said he was two miles off. "There he is!" he continued, as the whale broke water within a ship's length of the Fortitude's waist-boat, and Russell's boatsteerer jumped up and down in the excitement of the moment.Fight with an Ugly Whale.Page150.A few strokes sent the boat alongside of him, going on "quartering," but both Russell and his boatsteerer were a little too eager, or "harem-scarem" as his captain termed it. A blow from the monster's immense "fan" swept the two oars from the port side of his boat, ripping out the peak-cleets and splitting his gunwale, while his bowman was considerably hurt by one of the oars striking him in the head. His boat was still tight, however, and the injured man was transferred to Captain Wyer's boat, and I took his place to "bow on" if a chance offered."Never mind, Mr. Russell, try him again!" said our captain. "Here's spare oars, if you want, pick 'em up, all round here. Hold on a bit, though; let Swain have a try, he's got the chance now."The mate of the Fortitude was one of those long-limbed, powerful men, who seemed to have been built expressly to "straighten ten fathom of lance-wrap and do execution." He was wary too, in his approach, and waited for what he thought was a "good time in." He hurled his iron when four fathoms distant, and put it well in, calling, "Stern, stern hard!" As he drew back his lance for a long dart, it seemed to me impossible that he could reach him, as he poised it in his hands, still backing with his oars. When he judged himself at a safe distance, it sped for its mark with a momentum that was positively fearful. He drew it back; a quiver was perceptible in the sides of the vast body of the monster who had fought so valiantlyfor his life; and thirty-six voices greeted the thick clots of blood now faintly gushing from his spout-hole, with glad shouts of victory."He's throwing up the sponge," said Mr. Swain, quietly. "A child can take care of him now."We picked up and secured the wrecks of our boats and gear, while the whale was hauled alongside the Fortitude. It was agreed that Captain Wyer should cut and boil him, and we would divide the oil in Talcahuana, as we both expected to be there soon. We bought a boat of the Fortitude, rigged the spare one overhead, and thus were enabled to lower the complement of three. We stretched across to Massafuera and back, cruising between the two islands, till one more large whale rewarded our efforts; and bore away for the rendezvous, our consort having left the ground the day before. The cooper had added one to his stock of yarns which would require but little embellishment to make it marvellous. Mr. Grafton and Fisher were converts to the "eating whale" theory; and "the doctor" listened with delight as we rehearsed the incidents of the capture of "the Juan Fernandez whale;" displaying, as he listened, an array of ivory almost as formidable as that of the redoubtable whale himself.
FISHING AT JUAN FERNANDEZ.—FIGHT WITH AN UGLY WHALE.
"Blacksmith, how long is it since you read Robinson Crusoe?" asked the mate, as he stopped in his walk near the mainmast, and leaned against the top-sail-sheet bitts. "Some years, I suppose?"
"No, sir," said I. "The last time I read it was less than one year ago, and I found it as fresh and entertaining as ever."
"No doubt of it," replied Father Grafton. "Nothing connected with my schoolboy days has so firmly stamped itself on my memory as the appearance of the old copy of Crusoe, that I owned for many years; indeed, I carried it to sea with me on my first voyage, and it was accidentally lost overboard. I can see the brown paper and the quaint old type with itsfand longsso dangerously alike, and its horrible woodcuts! for it was a copy of a very old edition, and had, no doubt, delighted two or three generations of boys before it fell into my hands. But what reminded me of it to-night is the fact that we shall probably make Juan Fernandez to-morrow."
"Yet this island is not mentioned in the story, I believe," said I.
"No, the scene of the romance lies on the Atlantic side, somewhere near the mouth of the Orinoco; but it is probable that De Foe got the idea from the story of a Scotchman who lived three years on this island."
"O yes," said I, "I remember the soliloquy of this Selkirk that I used to read and declaim at the country school,
"'I am Monarch of all I survey.'
Then I suppose this Selkirk story is really true, is it?"
"Yes, there is no good reason to doubt it. He was taken off the island by the English circumnavigator, Rogers, in 1709, if I remember right."
"Is there any one living on it now?" I asked.
"I don't know. There was no one there the last visit I made to it. But I have heard since that the Chilian government made use of it as a penal settlement, or something of the kind. But we shall not probably land there. What we want is a good haul of fresh fish, and this is just the place to find it. We must muster all the fishing-lines in the ship; the old man has got plenty of hooks; and, by the way, I want you in the morning to get an iron hoop from the cooper and net it across with ropeyarn ('Cooper' will know just what I want), to catch some crawfish."
"What sort of fish are they?" asked I.
"Why, they are a species of the lobster family, and fully equal to any of our lobsters in flavor."
"Juan Fernandez," resumed the mate, "is a name that more correctly belongs to both islands, someseventy or eighty miles apart. The Spaniards called themMas a tierraandMas a fuera, from their relative positions, 'more inshore,' and 'more off-shore.' The westernmost is still known by its name of Masa fuera, but this one seems to have taken 'Juan Fernandez' as its distinctive title."
We stood in near this beautiful island, which is invested with a sort of romantic interest from the circumstances to which the mate alluded; and certainly, I thought, if a manmustload a solitary life for a series of years, this would not be the last place he would select for his hermitage. The larboard and waist-boats were equipped and lowered for the fishing excursion, and we shoved off in high feather. We were provided with convenient anchors which we dropped within a short distance of the rocks, where the water was alive with fish of various kinds, which could be plainly seen darting and winding below us. The lines were hardly down among them when some one hauled a fish into the boat; some one else followed with another; and the sport was fairly begun. Pieces of pork furnished bait to start with; then the fish supplied tempting morsels of their own flesh for the hook, to allure their cannibalic brethren to share their captivity. O ye amateur anglers who sit with a rod and fly, tempting little innocent fish to nibble and thinking it not bad sport if you get two or three nibbles an hour, come to Juan Fernandez and find good, hearty, muscular sport, that you will not fall asleep at.
"Halloo!" shouted Obed B., as he recoiled fromthe haul he had made, staring with disgust, "what the deuce have I got on my hook now?"
"Conger eel!" said the mate, with a roar of laughter. "That's not the kind you used to spear in Nantucket docks, or stay all night for at Maddaket ditch. Let's see you get clear of him, now you've caught him," for the eel had wriggled and twisted himself into a hopeless snarl with the line, after swallowing the hook firmly; and defied all his attempts to release him, for, as Hoeg expressed it, he "wouldn't be handled."
Manoel, the Portuguese, being better acquainted with eels of that sort, soon got him clear. He said they were good eating; but Hoeg slung him overboard again with, "Who in thunder do you suppose wants to eat that flat-headed snake?"
And now every one began to haul more or less of these eels, which created much merriment and boisterous laughter, while it consumed much time in clearing lines and getting rid of them.
The first haul of my impromptu net brought up one crustaceous monster of the kind I wanted, among a snarl of eels who had writhed and squirmed into and through the meshes of the net, with their teeth fastened among the rope-yarns, and clinging with a pertinacity and muscular power of jaw, which plainly said, "nought but death shall part us." Over it went again, eels and all; and I caught several more crawfish, great, ugly-looking fellows, who added greatly to the confusion under our feet by flinging their claws and feelers about among the fish at the bottom of the boat.
A loud hail from Mr. Dunham, whose boat was anchored at some distance from us, suddenly interrupted the sport upon which we had been so intent; and looking up with one accord, we saw that his crew were hauling in their lines for a start, while he himself was gesticulating with his arm extended in the direction of the ship. The ensign was flying at the gaff; a signal of recall.
"He sees whales!" said Mr. Grafton. "In lines, boys! Make them up at once. Haul in your net, Blacksmith, or cut it adrift, and set the sail, as soon as you can get the anchor aweigh!" The orders were obeyed with all speed, and the two boats were soon nearing the ship as fast as the sails and oars would carry us. The small flag was already up at the main; and the extended "pointer" (a light pole with a black ball on the end of it, to be used at the masthead, when the boats are down) told us that the whale was off the ship's lee bow.
"There he hauls aback!" said Father Grafton, "and I declare, there goes the starboard boat down. The whale must be in range of the ship from us, and pretty near the ship too, for the old man can't wait for us, and is going to try him alone—Look! Here's another ship hove in sight round that point, and coming under all sail. Spring hard men, and get alongside! If we only had our line tub in, I wouldn't go to the ship at all, I'd take the fish with me, or else throw them overboard."
The second mate was but little ahead of us in getting alongside the ship, and we both strove to outdoeach other in getting the lumber out of the boat and the lines in. Fish flew in on deck with the fury of a bombardment; fishing-lines and boat anchors were bundled in among them; we sung out for our line at the same moment Mr. Dunham was shouting for his, and the cooper in the maintopgallant-crosstrees excited us to still greater exertions, by the cry "The old man's most on! If he spouts twice more, he'll have him!"
"Bear a hand with that tub!" said Father Grafton. "Be careful to keep it upright, and don't break the coil! So; lower handsomely now! Let go! Shove off, and get your oars out as fast as you can!"
As we swung out by the stern of the ship, the cooper roared again:
"There's white wate-e-er!The old man's fast!"
"Bend on your craft, Blacksmith, as fast as you can," said the mate, "and be sure you have everything clear. Pull ahead, the rest of you."
The two boats were pretty equally matched for a pull; for, though ours was a little the fastest when under sail, Mr. Dunham's crew were rather heavier than ours, and the excess of muscular power counterbalanced the slight difference in the models of the two boats. We diverged a little so as to give each other full swing, and then "hooked down" to our work; for the whale was spinning off to leeward at a smart pace, and a stern chase is proverbially a long one.
"He stays up well," said the mate, who kept his clear eye fixed upon the fast whale; "he hasn'tsounded yet, but he runs so that the old man can't haul up to him. There he 'mills!' he's headed along on a wind now," said he, rapidly altering the boat's course with the steering oar, so as to forereach on him. "Stretch hard men! he's milling more yet! coming to windward! right at us now! All right, we'll take him 'head and head!'"
The two boats now converged again, both aiming for the same point of attack, and steering for the nib-end of the whale. The general reader may be surprised at this mode of approaching him, unless informed that the sperm whale cannot see directly ahead of him, but if a boat pulls for his broadside, he is much more liable to take the alarm.
"Stand up, Blacksmith, and get your craft ready," said the mate, quietly. "See that everything is clear. Be sure and keep cool, and don't dart too soon. Ease pulling, all! He's coming quick enough; there's no need to pull, but stand by your oars, all ready at the word."
He was indeed coming, with a vengeance! As I stood up, he was just in the act of rounding his immense back above the water, after blowing, and the white water was flying from his sides in clouds, as he forced himself to windward. The muscular power of an animal like this is fearful to think of; and I must confess to anxious feelings, nay, to a feeling of dread, even, at the novel position in which I had been so suddenly placed. I remembered Father Grafton's injunction to keep cool, and then thought of the old man's expressive and characteristic words, "Get a good scote,and grit the ends of your front teeth off." I had not time to think of much more, for as his spout-hole made its next appearance above the surface, I saw that he had lessened the distance between us fully one half. He blew off his spout, clear and strong, and as his back rose again, I saw that the captain's boat was but slightly fast by one iron. He had his second iron in the crotch, having hauled it in, but had not yet been able to haul near to the whale, so as to use it.
"Look out next time," said Mr. Grafton in a low, anxious tone. "Don't be in a hurry to dart till you are past his head."
I glanced round; the other boat was waiting the crisis like ourselves, on the other side, just giving room for the whale to pass handsomely between us. Fisher stood balancing his first iron, all eagerness for the fray.
A roar saluted my ears, and a cloud of spray was blown into the air like very fine rain, so near as to envelop me in its cool shower. I grasped my iron; all feelings of fear or dread had vanished. Not so the feeling of anxiety, but it was only anxiety lest the prey might yet escape me.
"Steady, my boy!" said the mate again, "Hold your hand!"
His massive head drew swiftly towards me; the boat rocked in the swell forced off from his glossy side: and his broad back lay temptingly before me. It was a sure thing.
"Now Blacksmith!" said the mate, throwing the boat's head off as he spoke.
I needed no second bidding; my first iron went in to the socket, and the second followed it, though not quite so deeply.
"Good!" said Father Grafton. "Heave your box-line overboard!"
With his shout was mingled a cry of "Stern! Stern hard!" from the other boat; I saw Fisher's iron cleave its way through the shining blackskin opposite my own, there was a convulsive heaving and rocking of everything about us, then a loud crash and splintering sound. The waist-boat's crew were all swimming amid the chaotic wreck of their frail craft. Her broadside was crushed in clear fore and aft. The whale had thrown himself over towards her, and we had escaped without injury.
The monster had disappeared instantly, but was evidently not far beneath us, as all the lines hung slack. The second mate had, of course, cut his, as soon as he could get at it. We sterned off out of the slick where the whale had gone down, and lay just at the outer rim of the bloody water.
"You are well fast, Mr. Grafton, with both irons; you hold on!" said the old man. "I'll cut off and pick up the crew. Never mind, we'll divide 'em. Take three men into your boat, and we'll both hold on. Never mind the stoven boat; we can't bother about her now."
The dripping crew were all rescued; for, by a good fortune which seems almost miraculous in hundreds of similar cases, no one was hurt; and we now prepared for a fresh attack with nine men in each boat;though reinforcements of this kind were not at all desirable as the boats were overloaded, and every one was in every one else's way. But the ship had run down, and was close by us, in case of further accident; we had yet three hours to sundown, and the strange ship was also near, watching our movements, and had hoisted her private or owner's signal, by which we knew her to be the Fortitude; which lay at the "Bar" when we sailed and had shortly followed us.
"Where is the whale?" said the old man. "Our line is all slack." Then suddenly he roared, "Look out! Stern all! stern, out of the way!"
The ponderous head of the whale was standing erect above the water like a milestone; it swayed for a moment, and then seeming to fall over backwards, the lower jaw, with its ugly display of ivory, was thrust up, nearly at right angles with the upper.
"Stern! Stern hard, and give him room! He'll bear watching, Mr. Grafton. We shall have to look out for slants. I would like to get my second iron in, but I'm afraid he wont give me a chance soon."
But he did, however; for after impotently gnashing his jaw two or three times, he rolled over and straightened out, spouting, apparently, as strong as ever. It was plain that he had plenty of fight in him yet, and was fairly brought to bay. He did not intend to run any more.
The starboard boat pulled up carefully within dart, and as she did so, leviathan rolled up sidewise to meet her. Captain Upton was not to be daunted, however, but crying "Stern all!" he pitched his second iron innear the fin, and as the whale continued rolling, followed it up with his lance in the breast, between the fins. Quick as lightning, down settled the monstrous body, and the whale again stood on end with his jaw out. He flung the jaw over with a desperate sweep, which would have dealt destruction to the boat and all hands had the range been a little shorter. The starboard boat fell back to her former position with the loss of her midship oar and the gunwale split, but that was a trifle. The whale had received two more severe wounds, at any rate; and it was our turn to take the next round with him, when he should straighten again, which he immediately did, still spouting clear, though not so strong as before.
In the language of the ring, Mr. Grafton "was on hand at the call of time;" but the whale "played the drop game on us," and with partial success. He went down like a stone; sinking so quickly that he received the mate's lance much higher in the body than was hoped or intended.
"He's an ugly customer, Mr. Grafton," said the captain as we sheered off again. "Keep your eyes peeled! there's no telling where he'll come next."
But I soon had reason to know where he was. There was a light rippling under the stern of our boat, then a rise of the sea, lifting her a little; and that fatal lower jaw stood like a small tower on one side of the boat, with its double tier of ivory cones towards me, while the tremendous head, full of scars, overshadowed me on the other. I did not stop to investigate their beauties; but, while the tub and stroke oarsmen vanishedover the gunwales, one each side, I vaulted a sort of back somersault over the steering strap, just as the monster "shut pan" upon her, crushing her stern up like an egg-shell. This "steel-trap" manœuvre had proved a perfect success, and nine men were swimming for their lives while the captain's boat was already overloaded with the other nine!
But reinforcements were not far off. As I looked about me when I rose, the captain's waif was set for help, and the Fortitude's three boats were already splashing into the water. The old man had cut adrift from the whale, and had already thirteen men in his boat formed in close column, the other five clinging to the wreck of the larboard boat, when the three boats of our consort, all abreast, got within hail.
"Pick up, my men, Wyer, and let some of your boats strike the whale!" said the old man. "You shall have half of him, and welcome, if we can manage to muckle him out before night. But work shy with him, or you will lose some of your boats, too."
"All right!" answered Captain Wyer. "Come, Grafton, light into my boat here. Jump in, my boys, all of you. Look out for the whale, Mr. Swain," to his own mate, "and if you get a chance, pitch in. Be a little careful, though, and you too, Mr. Russell, don't go harem-scarem! Whereisthe whale, Upton?"
"Somewhere under us," returned the old man, as coolly as if he had said he was two miles off. "There he is!" he continued, as the whale broke water within a ship's length of the Fortitude's waist-boat, and Russell's boatsteerer jumped up and down in the excitement of the moment.
Fight with an Ugly Whale.Page150.
Fight with an Ugly Whale.Page150.
Fight with an Ugly Whale.Page150.
A few strokes sent the boat alongside of him, going on "quartering," but both Russell and his boatsteerer were a little too eager, or "harem-scarem" as his captain termed it. A blow from the monster's immense "fan" swept the two oars from the port side of his boat, ripping out the peak-cleets and splitting his gunwale, while his bowman was considerably hurt by one of the oars striking him in the head. His boat was still tight, however, and the injured man was transferred to Captain Wyer's boat, and I took his place to "bow on" if a chance offered.
"Never mind, Mr. Russell, try him again!" said our captain. "Here's spare oars, if you want, pick 'em up, all round here. Hold on a bit, though; let Swain have a try, he's got the chance now."
The mate of the Fortitude was one of those long-limbed, powerful men, who seemed to have been built expressly to "straighten ten fathom of lance-wrap and do execution." He was wary too, in his approach, and waited for what he thought was a "good time in." He hurled his iron when four fathoms distant, and put it well in, calling, "Stern, stern hard!" As he drew back his lance for a long dart, it seemed to me impossible that he could reach him, as he poised it in his hands, still backing with his oars. When he judged himself at a safe distance, it sped for its mark with a momentum that was positively fearful. He drew it back; a quiver was perceptible in the sides of the vast body of the monster who had fought so valiantlyfor his life; and thirty-six voices greeted the thick clots of blood now faintly gushing from his spout-hole, with glad shouts of victory.
"He's throwing up the sponge," said Mr. Swain, quietly. "A child can take care of him now."
We picked up and secured the wrecks of our boats and gear, while the whale was hauled alongside the Fortitude. It was agreed that Captain Wyer should cut and boil him, and we would divide the oil in Talcahuana, as we both expected to be there soon. We bought a boat of the Fortitude, rigged the spare one overhead, and thus were enabled to lower the complement of three. We stretched across to Massafuera and back, cruising between the two islands, till one more large whale rewarded our efforts; and bore away for the rendezvous, our consort having left the ground the day before. The cooper had added one to his stock of yarns which would require but little embellishment to make it marvellous. Mr. Grafton and Fisher were converts to the "eating whale" theory; and "the doctor" listened with delight as we rehearsed the incidents of the capture of "the Juan Fernandez whale;" displaying, as he listened, an array of ivory almost as formidable as that of the redoubtable whale himself.