ABNER'S WHALE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3677, 1 March 1899, Page 3

ABNER'S WHALE.

AN ADVENTURE IN THE SOUTH • ATLANTIC. (From “The Cruise of the Sachalot,” by F. T. Bullcn.) In a previous chapter I have referred to the fact of a bounty being offered to whoever shall first sight a useful whale, payable only in the event of the prize being secured by the ship. In consequence of our ill-success, and to stimulate the watchulness of all, that bounty was now increased from ten pounds of tobacco to twenty, or fifteen dollars, whichever the winner chose to have. Most of us, the white members of it crew, regarded this as quite out of the question for us, whose untrained vision was as the naked eye to a telescope when pitted against the eagle-like sight of the Portuguese. Judge, then, of the surprise of every - body, when one forenoon watch, three days after we had lost sight of Trinadad, a most extraordinary sound was heard from the fore crow’s nest. I was, at the time, up at the main in company with Louis, the mate’s harpooner, and we started across to see whatever was the matter. The watchman was unfortunate Abner Cushing, whoso trivial offence had been so severely punished a short time before, and ho was gestulating and howling like a madman. Up from below came the deep growl of the skipper, tt Foi'emast head, there, what d’ye say ?” “ B-b-b-blow, s-s-sir,” stammered Abner; “a big whale right in the way of the sun, sir/’ “See anythin’, Louey ?”roarod the skipper to my companion, just as we had noth “raised” the spout almost in the glare cast by the sun. “Yessir,” answered Louis; “but I kaint make him eout yet, sir.” “ All right; keep your eve on him, and lemme know sharp;” anJaway ho wont aft for his glasses.

The course was slightly altered, so that we headed direct for the whale, and iu less than a minute afterwards vsaw distinctly the great column af a sperm whale’s head rise well above the sea, scattering a circuit ,v,f foam before It, and emitting a bushy tufted burst of vapour into the clear air. “,Tuer’e she white-waters ! Ah bl-o-o-o-d-o-w, blow blow !” sang Louis; and then in auothei tone, “Sperm whale, sir; big, ’lone fish, headin’ beout east-by-notho.” “ All right. ’Way down from aloft,' answered the skipper, who was alrou' I '' half-way up the main rigging; and like squirrels wo slipped out of our hoops and down tho passing the skipper like a flash as ho toiled upwards, bellowing <jrders*as ho went. Short as our journey, down had been, when wo arrived on deck we found all reads for a start. But as the whale was at lea«t seven miles’ away, and we had a fair wind for him, there was no hurry to lower, so we all stood, at attention by our respective boats, waiting for the. signal. “ Lower away beats I” came pealing down from the skipper’s lofty perch, succeeded instantly by the rattle of the patent blocks as tho falls flew through them, while tho four beautiful, craft took the water with an almost 1 simultaneous/ splash. To shove off and hoist sail was the work of a few moments, and with a fine working breeze away we went. As before, our boat, being the chief’s, had tho post of honour; blit there was now only ono whale, and I rather wondered why wo had all left the, ship. According to expectations, down he went when we were within a couple of miles of him, but quietly and with groat dignity, elevating his tail perpendicularly in the air, and sinking slowly from our view. - Again I found Mr Count talkative.

“Thot whale ’ll stay down fifty minutes, I guess," said he, “ fer he’s every gill ov a hundred en twenty bar’l; and don’t yew fergit it.” “Do the big whales give much more trouble than the little ones ?” I asked, seeing him thus chatty. “Well, it’s jest ez it happens, boy—jest cz it happens. I’ve seen a fifty-bar’l bull make the purtiest fight I ever hoarn tell ov—a fight thet lasted twenty hours, stove three boats, ’n killed two men. Then, again, I’ve seen a hundred ’n fifty-bar’l whale lay ’n take his grooel ’thout hardly wunMn ’n eyelid—never moved ten fathom from fust iron till fin eout. So yew may say boy," that they’re like peepul—got their individooal pekyewlyarities, an’ thars no countin’ on ’em for sartih nary time.” I was in great hopes of getting some useful information while his mood lasted; but it was over, and silence reigned. Nor did I dare to ask any more questions ; ho looked so stern and fiefee. The scene was very striking. Overhead, .a bright blue sky just fringed with fleecy little clouds ; beneath, a deep blue -sea with innumerable tiny wavelets dancing and glittering in the blaze of the sun; but all swayed in one direction by a great solemn swell that slowly rolled from east to west, like the measured breathing of some worldsupporting monster. Four little craft in a group, with twenty-four men in them, silently, waiting for battle with one of the mightiest of God’s creatures—one that was indeed a- terrible foe to encounter were he but wise enough to make the: best use of his opportunities. Against him we came with our puny weapons, of which I could not help reminding myself that “he laugheth at the shaking r a, spear.” But when the man’s brain was thrown into the scale against the instinct of the brutp, the contrast looked less unequal than at first sight, for there is the secret of success. My musmgs rore very suddenly interrupted. Whether we had overrun our distance, or the whale, who was not “ making a passage,” but feeding, had changed his course, I do not know; but anyhow, he broke water close ahead, coming straight for our boat. His great black head, like the broad bow of a dumb barge, driving the waves before it, loomed high and menacing to me, for I was not forbidden to look ahead new. But coolly, as if coining alongside the ship, the mate bent to the big steer-ar, and swung.the boat off at right angles to her carse, bringing her hack again with another broad sheer as the whale passed foaming. This manoeuvre brought us side by side with him before he had time to realise that we were there. Tip till that in-

stant he had evidently not seen us, and his surprise was correspondingly great. To see Louis raise his harpoon high above his head, and with a hoarse grunt of satisfaction plunge it into the black, shining mass beside him up to the hitches, was indeed a sight to be remembered. Quick as thought he snatched up a second harpoon, and as the whale rolled from us it flew from his hand, burying itself like the former one, but lower down the body. The great impetus we had when we reached the whale carried us a long way past him, out of all danger from his struggles. No hindrance was experienced from the line by which we were connected witli the whale, for it was loosely coiled in a .space for the purpose in the boat’s bow to the extent of two hundred feet, and this was cast overboard by the harpooner as soon as the fish was fast. He made a fearful to-do over it, rolling completely over several times backward and forward, at the same time smiting the sea with his mighty tail, making an almost deafening noise and pother. But we were comfortable enough, while we unshipped the mast and made ready for action, being sufficiently far away from him to escape the full effect of his gambols. After the usual time spent in furious attempts to free himself from our annoyance, he betook himself below, leaving us to await his return, and hasten it as much as possible by keeping a severe strain upon the line. Our efforts in this direction, however, did not seem to have any effect upon him. Flake after flake ran out. of the tubs, until \ve were compelled to hand the end of our line to the Second mate to splice his 'end on to it. Still it slipped away, and at last it was handed to the third mate, whose two tubs met the same fate. It was now Mastah Jones’ turn to “ bend on,” which he did with many chuckles as of a man who was the last resource of the unfortunate. But his face , grew longer and longer as the never-resting line continued to disappear. Soon he signalled us that he was nearly out of line, and two or three minutes after he bent on his “ drogue,” a square piece of plank with a rope tail spliced into its centre, and considered to hinder a whale’s progress at least as much as four boats,- and let go the end. ,We had each bent on our drogues in the same way, when wo passed our ends to one another. So now our friend was getting along somewhere below with 7200 feet of U-inch rope,. and weight additional equal to the drag of sixteejs 30-feet boats.

Of course, wo knew that,unless he were dead and sinking, he could not possibly remain mitch longer beneath the surface. Tho exhibition of endurance we had just been favoured with was a very useful one, I was told, it being a rare thing for a cachalot to take out two boats’ lines before return-, ing to the surface to spout. Therefore, we separated as widely as j was thought necessary, in order to be near him on his arrival. It was,as might bo imagined, some time before Wo saw the light of his countenance; but when -we did, we had no difficulty in getting alongside of him again. My friend „ Goliath, much to my "delight; got thcro first, and succeeded in picking up tho bight of the line. But, having done so, his chance of distinguishing himself was gone. Hampered by the immense quantity of sunken line which was attached to he whale, he could do nothing and soon received orders to cut the bight of the line, and pass the whale’s end to us. He had hardely obeyed, with a very bad grace, when the whale started off to windward with us at a rtremendous rate.- .The other boats, having no line, could f do nothing to help, so away we went along, with barely a hundred fathoms of line, in case he should take it into-his head to sound again. The speed at which he went made it appear as if a gale of wind was blowing, and wo flew along the sea surface, leaping from crest to crest of tho waves with an incessant succession of cracks like pistol-shots . The flying spray drenched us, and prevented us frqm seeing him, but I fully realised that it was nothing to what, we should have to put up with if the wind freshened much. One hand was kept bailing the water out which came so freely over the bows, but all tho rest hauled with' all their might upon the line, hoping to get a little closer to the .flying monster. Inch by inch we gained on him,, encouraged by tho hoarse objurgations ol • the mate, whose excitement was intense. After what seemed a terribly long chase, wo found his speed slackening, and wo redoubled our efforts. Now we were close upon him; now, .in obedience to the steersman, the boat sheered out a bit, and we were abreast of his labouring flukes ; now the mate hurls his - quivering lance with such hearty good-will that every inch of its slender shaft disappears within the huge body. '‘Lay off ! Off with her, Louey !” screamed the mate; and he gave a wide sheer away from the whale, not a second too soon, . Up fle-HAthat awful tail, descending with a crash upon the water not two feet from us. . “Out oars! Pull, two 1 starn, three !” shouted the mate; and as we obeyed our foe turned to flight. Then might one see how courage and skill were such mighty factors iu the apparently unequal contest. The whale’s great length made if no easy job for; him to turn, while our boat, with two oars a-side, and the, great leverage at the stern, supplied by the 19-foot steer-oar, circled, backed,' and darted ahead like, a living-thing animated by the mind of our commander. When the leviathan settled, we gave a wide birth to his probable place of ascent; when he rushed at us, we dodged him; when he paused, if only momentarily, in we flew, and got hams a fearful thrust of tho deadly lance. ■ •

All fear was forgotten now—l planted, thirsted for his life. Once, indeed, in a sort- of frenzy, when for an instant we lay side by side with him, I drew my sheath-knife, and plunged it repeatedly into the blubber, as if I was assisting in his destruction. Suddenly the mate gave a howl: “ Starn all—stam all ! oh, starn !” and the oars bent like canes as we obeyed. There was an upheaval of the sea just ahead; then slowly, majestically, the vast body of our foe rose into the air. Tip, up it went,

while my heart stood still, until the whole of that immense creature hung on high, apparently motionless, and then fell—a 100 tons of solid flesh—back into the sea. “ Starn all !” again cried our chief, and we retreated to a considerable distance. The old warrior’s practised oyo had detected the coming climax of our efforts, the dying agony or flurry” of the great mammal. Tuning upon his side, he began to move in a circular direction, slowly at first, then faster and faster, until ho was rushing round at tremendous speed, his great head raised quite out of water at times, clashing his enormous jaws. In a few minutes he subsided slowly in death, his mighty body reclining on one side, the in uppermost waving limply as he rolled to the swell, while the small waves broke gently over the carcase in a low, monotonous surf, intensifying the pro ''bund silence that had succeeded 15 tumult of our conflict with the late nonarch of the deep. Hardly had the fury ceased, when _we hauled up alongside of our hard-won prize,- in order to secure a line to him in a better manner than at present for hauling him to the ship.