THE SKETCHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2360, 18 May 1899, Page 55

THE SKETCHER.

fHE 'CRUISE OF THE CACHALOT.

' It is immense — there is no other word. I've never read anything to equal it in its deep-sea wonder and mystery; nor do 1 think that any book before has so completely covered' the whole business of whalefishing, and, at the same time, given such real and new sea-pictures. You have thrown away material enough to make five books, and I congratulate you most heartily. It's a new world that you've opened the door to."

This most flattering letter was written by Rudyard Kipling to Mr Frank T. Bullen, whose book, "The Cruise of the Cachalot," has just been published by Smith, Elder, and Co., and when Kipling says "immense," the world says "Amen."

At the age of 18, the writer, once a ragged London arab, found himself roaming the streets of New Bedford, Massachusetts. He had no money, and was hungry for a ship, when a long, lean-looking man with a goat-like beard came up to him and said : " Looking for a ship, stranger? " Without inquiry, or making terms, the boy jumped at "the offer, but coon found that he was booked "for the sailor's horror — a cruise in a whaler." The voyage lasted over two years, in which time they sailed right round the world, and caught whales which gave them no less than 3000 tons of oil. That was a shipful. The captain was "a perfect devil."' As the fourth mate, an.old negro, declared, "Dis yer ole man's de beiy debbil's own chile, 'n his farder's lookin' after him well. So jes' yew keep yer lamps trim* 'fer him, sonny — ' taint healthy ter "rile him." ■ One of the sailors stole a few potatoes from the ship's store, and the captain ordered him to be suspended in the weatherrigging by his thumbs with two small pieces of fishing line. This was done "in such a manner that when the ship was upright his toes touched the deck, but when she rolled his whole weight was hung from his thumbs." So fearful was the punishment that the man fainted.

The negro already mentioned was an extraordinary man. "' Ise de fourf mate ob dis yar ship, en my name's Mistah Jones, 'n yew just freeze on to dat ar ef yew want ter lib long 'n be happy." His mother was a pure African, and a woman of great power, and venerated exceedingly by her own people for her prophetic abilities. " Before her death she had told him that he would die suddenly, violently, in a struggle with a white man in a far-off country, but that the white man would die by his hand.' All this he told young Bullen one night, and the next day it all came true. Mr Bullen was making his way for the crow's nest, when .unusual sounds arrested him. "All hands were gathered in the waist. In the midst of them, as I looked down, two men came together in a fierce struggle. They .were Goliath (the negro) and the skipper. Captain Slocum's right hand went naturally to 'his hip-pocket, where he always earned a revolver ; but before he could draw it the long black arms of his adversary wrapped around him, making him helpless as a babe. Then, with a rush that sent every one "flying out of his way, Goliath hurled himself at the bulwarks, which were low, the top of the rail about 33in from the deck. The two bodies struck the rail with a heavy thud, instantly toppling overboard. That broke the spell that bound everybody, so that there was an instantaneous rush to the lide. Only a hardly noticeable ripple remained on the surface of the placid sea. The two men had struck tin water locked in the closest embrace, which relaxed not even when far below the surface. The last thing I saw was Captain Slocum's white face, with its starting black eyes looking their last upon the huge, indefinite hull of the ship whose occupants he had ruled so long and rigidly."

But the captain's death did not interrupt the voyage — indeed, it made it far more pleasant than it otherwise would have been.

All the incidents in this book, it must be remembered, are told by a man who was before the mast when they took place; but he is now a first mate. But no one could have told them more vividly. Here is an account of how one of the first whales was caught : Two harpoons had been buried deep into the whale, when it made a sudden dive at a terrific rate. It ran off with no less than 7200 ft of l£in rope which had been put on — equal to the "drag of 16 30ft boats ! Square pieces of. plank are sometimes attached to the harpoon lines, and one of these planks, or " drogues," is supposed to hinder a whale's progress at least as much as four boats.

When the whale reappeared it started off to windward, dragging one of the boats at a tremendous pace. " The speed at which he went," says Mr Bullen, "made it appear as if a gale of wind was blowing, and we flaw along the sea surface, leaping from

crest to crest of the waves with an incessant succession of cracks like pistol-shots. The flying spray drenched us, and prevented us from seeing him.

"After what seemed a terribly long chase we found his speed slackening, and we 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 unerring lance with such hearty goodwill that every inch of its slender shaft disappears within the huge body. ' Lay off ! Off with her, honey ! ' screamed the mate. And we gave a wide sheer away from the whale — not a second too soon. Up flew that awful tail, descending with a crash upon the water not two feet from us."

Then the leviathan settled, and Mr Bullen drew his sheath knife out and plunged it repeatedly into the blubber as if he were assisting in his destruction. Suddenly the mate gave a shout, " Starn all ! Starn 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. Up, up it went, while my heart stood still, until the whole of that immense creature hung on high, apparently motionless, and then fell — 100 tons of solid flesh! — back into the sea.

'■' On either side of that mountainous mass the waters rose in shining towers of snowy foam, which fell in their turn like a chip in a whirlpool. Blinded by the flying spray, baling for life to free the boat from the water with which she was nearly fiiU, it was some minute^ before I was able to decide whether we were still uninjured or not.

"Then I saw at a little distance the whale lying quietly. As I looked he. spouted and the A r apour was red with his blood. ' Starn all ! ' again cried our chipf , and we re- , treated to a considerable distance. The old warrior's practised eye had detected the coming climax of our efforts, tlie dying agony, or ' flurry;' of the great mammal. " Turning upon his side, he began to move in a circular direction, slowly at first, then faster and faster, until he was rushing round at tremendous speed, his great head raised quite out of the water at times, clashing his 1 enormous jaws. Torrents of blood poured from his spout-hole, accompanied by hoarse bellowings, as of some gigantic bull, but really caused by the labouring breath trying to pass through the clogged airpassages. " The utmost caution and rapidity of manipulation of the boat were necessary to avoid his maddened rush, but this gigantic energy was short-lived. , In a few minutes he subsided slowly in death, his mighty body reclined on one side, the fin uppermost waving limply as he rolled to. the swell."

That catch was worth £800!

Mr Bullen was, of course, often struck by the contrast between the size of the whale to his captoi's. " Four little craft in a group, with 24 men in them, silently waiting for battle with one of the mightiest of God's creatures I—one1 — one f hat ' was indeed a terrible foe to encounter were he but wise enough to make the best use of his opportunities. . . . But when the man's brain was thrown into the scale against the instincts of the brute, the contest looked less unequal than at first sight, for there is the secret of success."

But the book contains stories of terrible catastrophes. Several times a blow from the whale's tail smashed a boat to atoms, throwing the crew into the sea, and causing one or more deaths. Here is one story :

" The strain was telling upon our nerves. So Mr Count got out his bomb-gun, shouting at the same time to Mr Ance to do the same.

" Our chief had hardly got his gun ready before we came to almost a dead stop. All was silent for just a moment ; then, with a roar like a cataract, up sprang the huge creature, head out, jaw wide open, coming direct for us. As coolly as if on the quarter deck the mate raised his gun, firing the bomb directly down the great livid caverng. of a throat fronting him. Down went £hat mountainous head not six inches from' us, but with a perfectly indescribable motion — a tremendous writhe, in fact. Up flew the broad tail in the air, and a blow which must have sufficed to stave in the side of the ship struck the second mate's boat fairly amidship. "It was right before my eyes, not 60ft away, and the sight will haunt me to my deatli. That awful blow put an end summarily to all ' the earthly anxieties of one of the crew.' As it stove obliquely through t^he centre of the boat, it drove his poor body right through her timbers — an undistinguishable bundle of what was an instant before a human being. The other members of the crew escaped the blow."

In one of his chapters Mr Bullen tells an extraordinary tale, which made this particular chapter come " uncomfortably near being the last."

A whale was at hand. "Before I had time to think, the mighty mass of gristle (the tail) leapt into the sunshine, and curved back from us like a huge bow. Then, with a roar, it came afc us, released from its tension of heaven knows how many tons. Full on the broadside it struck us, sending every soul but me flying 1 out of the wreckage as if fired from a catapult. I did not go because my foot was jammed somehow in the well of the boat, but the wrench nearly pulled my thigh-bone out of its socket. I had hardly released my foot when towering above me came the colossal head of the great creature, as he ploughed through the bundle of debris that had been a boat. There was an appalling roar of waters in my ear and darkness that might be felt all around.

" My hands touched and clung to a rope. Presently I came butt up against something solid. It was the whale S ' Any porL in ;>, storm,' I murmured, beginning to haul away again on my friend the line. By dint of hard work I pulled myself right up the sloping, slippery bank ot blubber, until I reached the iron, which, as luck would have it, was planted in the side of the carcase now uppermost;. Carcase, I said — well, certainly, 1 had no idea of there being any life remaining- within the vast mass beneath me: yet I had hardly time to take a couple of turns round myself with the rope when I felt the great animal quiver all over and begin to forge ahead.

" Then I remembered the flurry. Almost at the same moment it began. There was I, who, with fearful admiration, had so often watched the titanic convulsions of a dying cachalot (whale), actually involved in them.

" Then all was lost in roar and rush, as of the. heart of some mighty cataract, duiv ing which I was sometimes above, sometimes beneath the water, but always clinging with every ounce of energy still left to the line. Now, one thought was uppermost: 'What if he should breach?' I had seen them do so when in a flurry, leaping full 20ft in the air. Then I prayed." But # he was rescued just in time. When the negro mate saw him he blurted out :

"Whar yo bin all de time ennyhaw? 'Cause ef you bin hangin'' on to dat ar wale cv' sence you boat smash, w'y de debbul you harn't all ter bits, hey? " — Answers.