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THE

WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

•• • I iiri •(• '-lit hl<«\\ x ! 1 iici r --he hlo\\ s !

Man \niir boat>'. tor in'thing -t;iy '.
Such a pri/.r \\c> must not '.

I ay {« MMIV «ai^ ' A\vay 1 away !"

THE

WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES

IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN;

AS GATHERED, BY THE REV. HENRY T. CHEEVER, ON THE
HOMEWARD CRUISE OF THE " COMMODORE PREBLE."

EDITED BY

THE REV, W. SCORESBY, D.D., F.R.S.,

MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE,

OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHILADELPHIA, AUTHOR OF THE
ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS, ETC.

" Oh ! the rare old whale, 'mid storm and gale,

In his ocean home will be
A giant in might, where might is right,

And king of the boundless sea."

LONDON :
SAMPSON LOW, 169, FLEET STREET,

AND

DAVID BOGUE, 86, FLEET STREET.

LONDON I

HENRY VIZETELLY, PRINTER AND ENGRAVER,
QOUOH 8QVARE, FLEET STREET.

Bancroft Library

THE following pages comprise, in substance, the
private notes of a pious and observant American
clergyman, whilst embarked, on account of his health,
on a whaling voyage to the South Seas and Pacific
Ocean. Whilst the original work was in progress,
a copy came into the hands of the present publishers,
who, considering the matter of it to be novel and
interesting, as well as calculated for conveying use-
ful moral impressions, applied to the Editor in re-
spect to his approval of it, with a view to his super-
intendence of an edition for the British public.

Finding, on undertaking this task — which the
sound and excellent character and lively spirit of the
work inclined him to do — that revision and altera-
tion would be necessary to adapt it for the class of
readers designed; application was made to the
Author (the Rev. Henry T. Cheever) for the requi-
site permission, which was so fully and frankly
conceded, as to leave the discretion and taste of the
Editor quite unfettered.

Of this kind confidence he has freely availed
himself wherever he has deemed alteration or cor-

VI

rection needful. And thus, so far as pertains to the
natural history of the " right whale," or mysticetus,
or to the usual practices of the northern whale fish-
ery, or to the general character of the Arctic re-
gions, he has made himself, in a considerable de-
gree, responsible. But in respect to the natural
history of the sperm whale, with the modes, adven-
tures, dangers, and conflicts of the southern whale
fishery, he has not ventured on any essential altera-
tions ; for what the Author states respecting what
he himself saw, or what, from credible information,
he received as facts, the statements given will, no
doubt, carry that favourable impression to the minds
of the readers which a credible, conscientious, and
intelligent witness has a right to expect.

In respect to certain surprising incidents herein
recorded, the Editor has not felt himself authorized
to offer either opinion or comment ; first, because in-
cidents are not unfrequent in the whaler's hazardous
pursuits so special as to be deemed almost marvellous
in comparison of the occurrences of ordinary sea-
faring adventures ; and, secondly, because he him-
self, being in possession of no more information than
the reader, could merely offer, at the best, an un-
certain judgment. The terrible combats, for ex-
ample, described in Chapter VII., betwixt the whale

vii

and its various enemies, are thus inserted without
observation, the Editor having no knowledge per-
sonally of these conflicts ; not, indeed, that his own
negative experience can guide in forming a judg-
ment thereon, further than in indicating the pro-
bable fact, that such combats are vastly less frequent
in the Arctic regions, if they occur there at all, than
in the regions traversed by the southern and north-
western whalers.

Whilst the Editor has taken much liberty with
the construction of the work, and occasionally with
its phraseology, he has been careful not to interfere
with the free, frank style, and lively spirit, of the
Author, either in the descriptions of what he per-
sonally witnessed, or in his interesting reflections
on the circumstances with which he was sur-
rounded.

These explanations having been given — both in
justice to the confiding Author, and for the guidance
of the public as to the real integrity of this London
edition of his work — it only remains to the Editor
to commend this publication as embodying, he be-
lieves, a considerable quantity of novel incident and
curious information, which can hardly fail to inter-
est the youthful, and, he hopes, the general reader ;
and as having interwoven, (to adopt a hope expressed

by the Author, when addressing his own country-
men in America,) " moral hints and lessons,
which may catch the eye and touch the heart
of the casual reader, like sober threads of green
in tapestry of gold."

THE EDITOR.

TORQUAY, Nov. IBth, 1850,

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

Tho Whale Fishery— Early History— Dutch Fishing Settle-
ment at Smeerenburg — The Rise of the New England
Whale Fishery : its temporary suspension and rapid recov-
ery— The American Whaling Fleet — -Statistics of the
Trade — Sources of information respecting Cruising Grounds
— The Author's intention in the present Work . 1

CHAPTER II.

CORAL ISLAND OF RIMATARA.

The Commodore Prehle at Rimatara — An Invitation to the
Author — He goes on Shore — Bimatara Beauties — King
Temaeva — His House and Chapel — A Rimataran Feast —
The King visits the Ship — Contrast between the Chris-
tianized and Heathen Islanders of the South Seas — Treach-
ery of the latter — Reception of a Wrecked Crew by Chris-
tian Islanders — An Islander's Argument for the Bible 14

CHAPTER III.

CAPTURING AND CUTTING-IN OF A WHALE.

" There she blows !" — The Boats start in pursuit — Capturing
of a Whale— The process of Cutting-in— A flock of Alba-

X CONTENTS.

trosses — Other Sea-birds — Trying-out — The Whaleman's
delight — Magnitude of the "Whale .... 34

CHAPTER IV.

NEW ZEALAND CRUISING GROUND.

The Whale': its habits and resorts — Points of difference be-
tween the " Right" and "Sperm" Whales — Food of the
Whale — Arctic Animalcules— Anatomy of the Whale —
Physiology of the Whale — Loss of Whales by sinking —
The Cause assigned for it — An unsuccessful Attempt to
Float Dead Whales— Reflections on Suicides . . 45

CHAPTER V.
THE WHALE'S PHYSIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY,

The Whale's Physiology — Natural History — Trying-out —
Discovery of a Whale — " Give way my lads" — The Chase —
The fast harpoon — The Capture— Towing a dead Whale 62

CHAPTER VI.

DIFFERENT CRUISING GROUNDS AND NORTH-WEST
WHALING.

Different cruising grounds — Variety of Whales — Gambols of
the Fin-back — Various resorts of the Whale — A veteran
Whaler — Boat destroyed — History of North-west Whaling
— Yearly destruction of Whales — Diminution of Whales 76

CHAPTER VII.
THE WHALE'S BIOGRAPHY, AND INCIDENTS IN THE

CAPTURE.

Account of Whales — Care for their young — Sperm Whale
feeding — Sperm Whale dying — Ambergris — Deformities of

CONTENTS. XI

Whales— Size of Whale's Calf— Natural enemies of the
"NVhale— Fight with a Killer— Sword-fish and Thrasher —
Sea Serpent and Whale — Opinion of an old Sailor — Sab-
bath desecration 89

CHAPTER VIII.

ATLANTIC OCEAN MAMMOTHS AND MONSTERS.

Cape Horn — A shoal of Sperm Whales — Our first Atlantic
Whale — Capture of a Whale's Calf — Dimensions of a
Whale's Calf — A Sun-fish — Varieties of fortune — Our Cap-
tain's hazard —Sperm Whale lost — Concord of Whales 106

CHAPTER IX.

EPISODES IN THE FORTUNES OF WHALEMEN.

Gam of Whales — Grounding on a Whale's back — Captaiu
overboard — His narrow escape — The Captain's story —
Accidents by boat-lines — Dangerous progress — Fruitless
perils— Whaler's Journal — Fatal result— The Heart under
the Pea-jacket 115

CHAPTER X.

CONQUEST AND DISPOSAL OF A SPERM WHALE.

Large Spermaceti captured — Description of Sperm Whale —
Cutting-in -Spermaceti— Sharks— Tenacity of Life of
Sharks— Sperm Candle Manufactories— New England
Enterprise — Hopeful future . . . . 132

CHAPTER XI.

AUTHENTIC TRAGEDIES AND PERILS OF THE WHALING
SERVICE.

A moving incident —Whale harpooned — Boats dragged far
a.vuy— Boats out of sight— A man overboard — Seaman lost

Xll CONTENTS.

— Search for missing boats — Joy out of Despair — Story of
Captain "Warrens — The Ancient Mariner . . 143

CHAPTER XII.

YARNS FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF OLD WHALEMEN.

Whaling Sailors' Yarns — Dead Whale — Competition for dead
Whale— Successful Stratagem — Recovery of sunk Whales —
Chase hy rival Whalemen — John Bull and Brother Jona-
than— Romance of rival Whaling — Dashing exploit of a
Yankee 161

CHAPTER XIII.

PECULIAR VOCABULARY AND HAZARDS OF WHALEMEN.

Leisure Occupations — Mode of stowing away our gigantic
Game — Matter for the Dictionary — Material for Illustra-
tion— Treatise on Gamming — Appalling Forms of Danger
— Fatal Incident— Reflections . . . . 181

CHAPTER XIV.

REMARKABLE EVENTS IN THE ANNALS OF WHALING.

Remarkable Events — Whaling of the "Royal Bounty" — Loss
of the Essex by a Whale — Ships destroyed by Whales —
Other Incidents — Fearful Enterprise — Incidents of Whaling
— Dangers of the Fishery 196

CHAPTER XV.

CLAIMS AND ADVANTAGES OF THE SABBATH IN A
WHALE SHIP.

Sabbath for a Whale Ship— Whale Ship Sabbath-breaking—
Pretexts for — Pretexts answered — False Pleas refuted —
Inconsistent Profession— Experience of a Pious Sailor —

CONTENTS. Xlll

Testimony as to the Sabbath— A Word to the Sabbath
Keeper 22

CHAPTER XVI.

A PLEA IN BEHALF OF THE SABBATH FOB WHALEMEN.

Plea for Whalemen's Sabbath— Eeligion and Sabbath Whaling
— Responsibilities of Sabbath Whaling — New England
Sabbath — Scoresby*s experience — Sabbath-keeping Whaler
— Providential Testimonies — Rational Conclusions — Hopes
of Good Times for Seamen 237

CHAPTER XVII.

N EARING HOME, AND ANALOGIES FROM THE SEA.

Hopes and Fears on nearing Home — Dangers of the Coast —
Religious Exercises and Fruits — Spiritual Lessons . 267

CHAPTER. XVIII.

KNITTING OF THE LESSONS OF THE VOYAGE
AT ITS CLOSE.

Lessons and Reflections — Spiritual Illustrations — News of
Sorrow — Birthdays of Eternity . . . . 277

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES pp. 293-304

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

I. THE LOOK OUT— \ ^ ^

" There she blows ! there she blows !" /

PAGE

II. THE CHASE ...... 73

III. VIEW OF A WHALE SHIP— CUTTING IN or A )

WHALE )

IV. A RIGHT WHALE TURNING A BOAT OVER )

f go

WITH HIS NOSE j

V. A WHALE-BOAT CRUSHED BY A WHALE . 128

VI. A POLAR RIGHT WHALE ON THE ICE . . 152

VII. RIVAL WHALING 173

VIII. BOAT AND MEN THROWN INTO A WHALE'S i

MOUTH j 20S

THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

CHAPTEE I.

INTRODUCTION.

" The mighty whale doth in those harbors lye,
Whose oyle the careful merchant dear will buy."

Old English Poem.

he Whale Fishery— Early History— Dutch Fishing Settle-
ment at Smeerenburg — The rise of the New England
Whale Fishery : its temporary suspension and rapid reco-
very— The American Whaling Fleet — Statistics of the
Trade — Sources of information respecting Cruising Grounds
— The Author's intention in the present Work.

FKOM very early times it is probable that
North-west Indians, Esquimaux, and Nor-
wegians were in the habit of capturing whales
in their rude way, in order to supply themselves
with fat and food. There is a curious tradition
extant of one Ochter, a Norwegian, who, as
long ago as King Alfred's time, " was one of
six that had killed sixty whales in two days,

B

THE WHALE FISHERY.

of which some were forty- eight, some fifty
yards long."* But the Biscayans are believed
to have been the first people who prosecuted
the whale fishery as a commercial pursuit, so
far back as the twelfth century. In the north
of Europe, and all around the Bay of Biscay,
whale's tongues were among the table delica-
cies of the middle ages.

When this branch of industry failed with
them, by reason of whales ceasing to visit the
Bay of Biscay, the English and Dutch, taught
by the Biscayans, " who were best experienced
in that facultie of whale -striking/' took it up in
the Northern Seas, where the gigantic game
was then everywhere found in vast numbers by
navigators in search of a northern passage to
the Indies. By the middle of the seventeenth

* The record of this exploit, though literally derived from
ancient documents, is of much uncertainty because of its im-
probability. The fact, however, is shown in Scoresby's Arctic
Regions (vol. ii., p. 10) as not unlikely to have occurred in
respect to a species of Delphinus, so frequently driven on
shore and captured by the inhabitants of Orkney, Shetland,
and Iceland in the present day. In the work referred to, the
early history of the whale-fishery is given at considerable
extent. — ED.

EARLY HISTORY.

century the Dutch had built the considerable
village of Smeerenburg, on the Isle of Amster-
dam, along the northern shore of Spitzbergen,
within little more than ten degrees of the North
Pole, where the unbroken night lasts for four
months in the winter, and perpetual day as
long in summer. This was the great rendez-
vous of Dutch whale-ships, and it being their
practice to boil the blubber on shore, it was
amply provided with boilers, tanks, and all the
apparatus then used for preparing the oil and
whalebone.

This fishing colony of the frozen zone, an
incidental fruit of those daring adventures after
a north-east or transpolar route to India, was
founded nearly at the same time with Batavia
in the East, and it was for a considerable time
doubtful which of the two would be most impor-
tant to the mother country. When in its most
flourishing state, near 1680, the Dutch whale
fishery employed two hundred and sixty shij><
and fourteen thousand seamen. This singular
village and Bay of Smeerenburg, where tli
were seen at one time by the Dutch navigator

B 2

4 NEW ENGLAND WHALE FISHERY.

Zorgdrager no less than one hundred and eighty-
eight vessels, afford, perhaps, the most remark-
able instance on record of what commerce can
do against unyielding laws of Nature, and over
obstructions which it would seem impossible to
surmount. But how soon does Nature, if ever
temporarily displaced, resume her sway. Now
that the whales have long since deserted those
parts, even the site of the old Arctic colony is
hardly discernible, and even the English branch
of the Greenland whale fishery, of late years
the principal and most prosperous, has become
quite insignificant, indeed all but extinct.

The first person that is recorded to have
killed a whale among the people of New Eng-
land was one William Hamilton, somewhere
between 1660 and 1670. In the town records
of Nan tucket there is a copy of an agreement
entered into in the year 1672, between one
James Lopar and the settlers there, " to carry
on a design of whale fishing." But whether
the first proper whaling harpoon used in Ame-
rica was wrought there or on Cape Cod cannot
be ascertained. From this time onward, when-

EARLY HISTORY.

ever whales were descried in the bay or offing
from the rude " look-outs" constructed along
shore, notice was instantly spread, and they
were attacked by boats then manned mostly by
.e Indians, who early evinced an aptitude and
fondness for this business. Shore- whaling
seems to have reached its height by 172G,
during which year eighty- six whales were taken,
eleven in one day. It was continued with
declining success up to 1760, and for seventy
years preceding that date not a single white
man is known to have lost his life in the
hazardous pursuit.

As early as 1700, they began to fit out ves-
sels from Cape Cod and Nantucket to " whale
out in the deep for sperm whales." These
gradually crept alcmg, emboldened by expe-
rience, north to the Labradors and south to
the Bahamas, where New Providence became
famous as a whale fishing station, through the
skill and daring of New England enterprise,
while, as Burke said, " but in the gristle, and
not yet hardened into the bone of manhood."
By the year 1771, New England, through

6 THE WHALE FISHERY.

her adventurous whale fishery, both in the
North and South Atlantic Oceans, began to
command the admiration of the world, and
was eulogized by the highest eloquence of the
British Parliament. From the year 1771 to
1775, Massachusetts alone employed in it, an-
nually, three hundred and four vessels, of an
aggregate burden of twenty-seven' thousand
eight hundred and forty- six tons. The quan-
tity of oil brought into Nantucket yearly, at
the time of the breaking out of the Eevolu-
tionary war, was thirty thousand barrels,

Stimulated by their success, both France
and Great Britain now entered anew into this
lucrative enterprise ; Louis XVI. himself fitting
out six ships from Dunkirk on his own account,
in 1784, which were furnished with experienced
harpooners and able seamen from Nantucket.
In 1790, France had about forty ships em-
ployed in the fishery, but the wars consequent
upon the French Revolution at once swept
them all off, and the whaling fleet of Holland
also; as did the War for Independence likewise
suspend this lucrative branch of the commerce

GENERAL HISTORY. 7

of New England. By reason of it, no less
than one hundred and fifty of her vessels were
either captured or lost at sea, and great num-
bers of her seamen perished.

In 1788 Great Britain had the honour of
opening the Pacific to the sperm whale fishery,
through the Amelia, Captain Shields, fitted out
at vast expense by Mr. Enderby, of London.
Her unprecedented success started numbers on
her track both from New England and the Old
Country ; and by 1820 the whole South Pacific
and Indian Oceans were traversed by intrepid
whalemen. In the seas of China too, and on
the coasts of Japan, they were adventuring on
the same enterprise, and striking the harpoon
into those mammoth denizens of the deep.

Prostrated, however, by the Revolutionary
war, the New England branch of the whale
fishery had hardly recovered its former pros-
perity, when the last war with Great Britain,
from 1812 to 1815, again broke it up. But
upon the restoration of peace its recovery was
rapid; so that, by 1821, there were owned in
Nantucket alone (which had lost during the

8 NEW ENGLAND WHALE FISHERY.

war twenty-seven ships), seventy-eight whale
ships, and six whaling brigs. In 1844, the
entire American whaling fleet amounted to six
hundred and fifty ships, barks, brigs, and
schooners, tonnaging two hundred thousand
tons ; and they were manned by seventeen
thousand five hundred officers and seamen.
At the same time, the English whale fishery,
which in 1821 employed one hundred and
fifty- nine ships, was reduced to about one -half.
But the New Holland branch of the English
whale fishery was rapidly growing — the proxi-
mity of those whaling ports of Australia to
some of the most productive cruising grounds
enabling the ships fitted out there to perform
three voyages while the English and Americans
are performing two. The number of whale
ships from French, German, and Danish ports,
at the same time, was between sixty and seventy.
The estimated annual consumption of the
American whaling fleet was $3,845,500. Va-
lue of the annual import of oil and whalebone
in a crude state $7,000,000, increased by manu-
facturing to $9,000,000. The number of

PROGRESS AND STATISTICS. 9

vessels in the American whale fishery, the last
year, 1849, as gathered from the "Whaleman's
Shipping List," was estimated at six hundred
and ten, or one hundred and ninety-six thou-
sand one hundred and thirteen tons, nearly one-
tenth of the navigation of the Union. Eeceipts
of sperm oil in the year 1848, one hundred
and seven thousand nine hundred and seventy-
six barrels, at an import value of $3,455,232.
Keceipts of " right-whale" oil in the same time,
two hundred and eighty thousand six hundred
and fifty- six barrels, at an import value of
$3,429,494. Whalebone, two million three
thousand six hundred pounds, worth $508,762.
Crude value of the whale fishery in 1848,
$7,393,488.

The average yearly quantity of sperm oil
taken for the last nine years, has been one hun-
dred and forty- two thousand two hundred and
forty- two barrels ; of right- whale oil, two hun-
dred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and
fifty- six barrels ; of whale-bone, two million
three hundred and twenty-four thousand five
hundred and seventy-eight pounds. Average

10 NEW ENGLAND WHALE FISHERY.

yearly value for nine years, $8,098,360. There
was a falling off in 1848, from the previous
year, of thirteen thousand barrels of sperm,
thirty- three thousand barrels of right- whale, and
one million pounds of bone. Nineteen years
ago it was estimated, by taking into account all
the investments connected with the American
whale fishery, that property to the amount of
$70,000,000 was involved in it, and that
seventy thousand persons derived from it their
chief subsistence ; a valuation which should be
much augmented rather than diminished at the
present time.

The New Bedford district now supplies to
the whale fishery one hundred and two thou-
sand three hundred and five tons of shipping.
All other ports, including sixty- six ships, or
twenty- three thousand tons from Nan tucket,
give ninety- three thousand eight hundred and
eight, in all one hundred and ninety- six thou-
sand one hundred and thirteen tons. The
exports of oil to foreign ports in 1848, from
New Bedford, were seventeen thousand and
ninety- three barrels.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 11

To those who are in quest of definite
information concerning the various cruising
grounds, and the times of finding whales there,
the closing chapter of the Annals of the United
States' Exploring Squadron is the most satis-
factory of any thing to be found. It should be
printed in pamphlet form, and kept in the
chart-box of every whaler. Other interesting
matter, of a miscellaneous character, pertaining
to the southern whale fishery, is to be found in
the appendix to a work of J. E. Browne, called
"Etchings of a Whaling Cruise," and in a
volume entitled " Incidents of a Whaling Voy-
age," by F. A. Olmsted. As to the Northern,
or Greenland Whale Fishery, Scoresby's History,
in vol. ii. of his account of the Arctic regions,
stands alone.

Without superseding or conflicting with any
of these instructive or entertaining books, the
course pursued in the present volume is an in-
dependent one, whereby it is aimed to finish
tin1 complement of whaling literature, and
supply what was wanting, in order to put the
r< Deling public in possession of a full length

12 NEW ENGLAND WHALE FISHERY.

portraiture of the whaleman as seen in the
actual pursuit and garb of his perilous occu-
pation. Personal narrative and incident, other
than what bears directly upon this, are there-
fore omitted, together with those minute de-
scriptions of whaling implements, outfits, modes,
customs, and sea usages to be found elsewhere.
Neither does it enter into our purpose to
portray a sailor's life and manners in the fore-
castle or before the mast, below or aloft, for
this is a department of marine literature in
which books are so numerous, both in the form
of the novel and the sea journal, that little
remains to be told. In adventures, however,
almost every whaleman's voyage is an original,
certainly so to himself. We begin, therefore,
at once, with the peculiar lights and shadows
of a homeward cruise in the Pacific and Atlan-
tic, from the Sandwich Islands to Boston, in
the good ship Commodore Preble, Captain
Lafayette Ludlow.

In a voyage of two hundred and thirty- six
days there will always be lights and shadows,
good and evil, pleasures and displeasures, inter-

THE AUTHOR'S EXPERIENCE. is

locking one another. To the author the com-
forts of this long voyage far exceeded its
discomforts, by the constant blessing of Provi-
dence, making it eminently conducive to the
recovery of health, and through the personal
kindness of a skilful captain and esteemed
friend. Would that every wanderer in quest
of health could be cheerfully returning home-
ward under circumstances as favourable !

" Now, little book, with prosperous tide and gale,
I'll pledge thee to a voyage round the world.
Buoyant and bounding like the polar whale,
That takes his pastime, every joyful sail
Here to the freedom of the wind unfurl,
While right and left the parted surges curl !'

14 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.
CHAPTEK II.

CORAL ISLAND OF R1MATARA.

" Happy they were, and without a care,
Who had made their home for ever there ;
Happy they were, and calm and free,

Living upon their island-home,
Whose heach was girt with a silvery sea,

That sprinkled it ever with starry foam.
Their life was a moving melody,
Their season a long serenity."

Story.

The Commodore Preble at Rimatara — An Invitation to the
Author — He goes on Shore — Rimatara Beauties — King
Temaeva — His House and Chapel — A Rimataran Feast —
The King visits the Ship — Contrast between the Chris-
tianized and Heathen Islanders of the South Seas — Treach-
ery of the latter — Reception of a Wrecked Crew by Chris-
tian Islanders — An Islander's Argument for the Bible.

THE first view we have of the Commodore
Preble is as she is lying off and on the
lone island of Kimatara, in quest of the fresh
supplies which whalemen covet in order to
keep at bay the scurvy. This is one of those
fascinating South Sea Islands, which, on their
first discovery by Europeans in the latter part
of the last century, quite turned the heads of

RIM A TAR A. 15

many, and at once started so much speculative
nonsense and sentimentality about primeval in-
nocence and bliss embosomed in the Pacific.

" A coral rock, by gentle Nature made
Verdant and beautiful, through tropic sun,

And fertilizing rain, and grateful shade ;
Placed far amid the melancholy main."

It is about seven miles long, one and a half
or two wide, and lies in 152° west longitude,
and 22° 45' south latitude ; about five hundred
miles southwest from Tahiti. It is properly,
perhaps, one of the Society Island group, being
a mere pile of corallite and wave-washed coral
sand. We came in sight of it in the after-
noon, a blue hummock on the bosom of the

ocean, and ran on till we discovered, to our

•
great delight, what could not be mistaken for

a meeting house and a white flag flying on
a post near by, to indicate the friendliness of
the natives, and induce us to stop for trade.

The sea broke so high upon the northeast
and southwest points of the island, and, indeed,
;ill along shore, that our captain did not deem
it prudent to attempt landing that night. We

16 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

therefore stood off until twelve o'clock, mid-
night, and then tacking, were up with it again
by ten o'clock next morning, on the leeward
side.

The island presented a beautiful appear-
ance, being thickly wooded to the water's edge,
and elevated in some parts into gentle hills,
crowned with all the various and luxuriant
growth of the tropics. Canoes soon launched
out through the boisterous surf, and came along-
side of us, having two or three lads and men in
each, much fairer- skinned and better looking
than the majority of Hawaiians.

The captain's boat anchored off the reef,
while the natives brought their articles of trade
in their pigmy canoes. By four in the after-
noon he had procured a boat-load of pigs and
cocoa-nuts, with which returning to the ship,
we stood off again until next morning, when the
captain gave orders for two boats.

One of our sailors by the name of Johnson,
who had lived on Tahiti, and could talk a little
in their tongue, had told the natives the day
before that there was on board a missionary, or

RIMATARA. 17

a missionary's friend, from Hawaii, and there
I accordingly sent off through him, on a slip
of paper, very legibly written by the native
teacher, a Kimatara letter, of which the follow-
ing is a literal translation :

" Dear Friend and Father, —

" May you be saved by the true God. This
is our communication to you. Come thou
hither upon the shore, that we may see you
in respect to all the words of God which are
right with you. It is our desire that you come
to-day.

" From Teutino and his brethren."

Eager to know something more of a people
from whom came so cordial an aloha, and

" My very heart athirst
To look on Nature in her robe of green,"

I made ready to go ashore. The breakers were
not formidable enough, though beating with
fearful violence, to make me forego the novelty
of setting foot on a coral South Pacific island,
and the pleasure of a stroll among the trees
: seven weeks at sea. Taking, therefore,

c

is THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

a life-preserver, I ventured into one of the little
canoes that came alongside the boat, and was
paddled and handed by a narrow cleft, through
roaring breakers and ragged rocks that threat-
ened instant destruction, among which a com-
mon boat could hardly live a moment. Those
frail canoes, however, only nine and eleven feet
long, carried safely through, one by one, all that
ventured ashore.

Immediately on our landing, the natives
gathered around and formed a ring, naturally
curious, like savages every where, to notice
every thing, and I not less so to observe their
own eager attitudes, expressive gestures, and
fine looks. The women have an uncommonly
pleasing aspect of countenance, clear skin, but
a shade or two darker than a dark brunette,
black eyes, hair, and eyebrows, and a capti-
vating beauty of form, and bashful turning
away when looked at, that is not a little attrac-
tive. Their nostrils are not so negro-like, nor
their lips so thick as those of the Hawaiians,
but still they bear to them a close resemblance.
Many of the little girls and maidens were truly

LANDING AT RIMATARA. 19

beautiful, and would be deemed paragons, even
in the artificial state where beauty is not left
so much to itself, but has to be busked, bustled,
and corseted by omnipotent fashion.

I soon made my way to the island king,
Temaeva, who sat apart from others upon a
block of coral, and leaning on a staff, his only
dress being a shirt and kihei (mantle). He
was a benevolent-looking, well-made man, hav-
ing the port and presence of a king, and, if
that were all,

" With Atlantean shoulders fit to bear
The weight of mightiest monarchies."

He offered me his hand with much apparent
cordiality, and immediately led the way to his
house in the interior. The path was at first
rugged as the volcanic clinkers of Hawaii, over
heaps and swells of broken and sharp coral,
overgrown with huge roots of the Kamani and
Koa trees, in the borrowed terms of Words-
worth,

" A growth

Of intertwisted fibres serpentine,
Up-coiling, and inveterately conyolved."

c 2

20 THE WHALEMAN S ADVENTURES.

This barrier passed, there was a subsidence
and inclining of the island inward, and the path
went through a meadow of bulrushes, in time
of rain flooded. The soil was a rich black
loam. Next came beds of wet kalo (Arum es-
culentum), very luxuriant and large, beyond
which were the houses of the king and native
missionary teachers, the chapel, school-house,
and principal settlement. These were prettily-
made buildings of kamanu posts, wattled be-
tween, lined on both sides with a good coat
of white-washed plaster, and thatched on the
roof with grass. Being clustered tastefully to-
gether, they make a very pleasing appearance
outside.

The chapel and house of the king were fur-
nished with flooring and settees. In the former
was a round pulpit, very much like those seen
in Koman Catholic cathedrals, wherever is seen
at all what popery is by no means fond of — the
pulpit. They had been built eleven years, it
being more than twenty, we were told, since the
island was first Christianized by native mission-
aries from Tahiti. They were all surrounded

LANDING AT RIMATARA. 21

by a low paling of posts driven slightly into the
ground, merely to keep out hogs ; while cocoa-
nut trees and giant bananas were dropping their
fruits all around. The whole scene, in every
feature, was most pleasingly corroborative of
the representations quoted by Harris in " The
Great Commission," to show the temporal
utility of missionary exertions in the South
Seas. "Instead of their little, contemptible
huts along the sea-beach, there will be seen a
neat settlement, with a large chapel in the cen-
tre, capable of containing one or two thousand
people ; a schoolhouse on the one side, and a
chiefs or the missionary's house on the other ;
and a range of white cottages a mile or two
long, peeping at you from under the splendid
banana trees or the bread fruit groves. So that
their comfort is increased and their character
elevated."

Soon after reaching this little metropolis of
the island, the king had baked pig and delicious
kalo placed upon a massive rude table, and
plates of English crockery, with knives and
forks. A blessing was asked by the native

22 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

teacher, and I was invited to eat. It was, in their
view, an important piece of courtesy, which a
recent breakfast rather unfitted me for ; yet I
ate, with compliments, of the mealy kalo, and
tasted of the pig, while the king was taking
huge morsels that would almost sink a common
man.

The wine of this feast was the delicious
milk of young cocoa-nuts just from the tree ;
and I will venture to say that Hebe never
poured such nectar into the goblets of the
gods, It was more like that which Eve made
ready once in Eden, as the poet tells, where-
with to entertain their angel guest :

" With inoffensive must and meathes,
From many a berry and from sweet kernels pressed,
She tempers dulcet creams ; nor them to hold
Wants her fit vessels pure ; then strews the ground
With rose and odours from the shrub unfumed."

This entertainment over, we repaired to the
teacher's, where again was served up the same,
with the addition of banana made into &poiy of
which the king ate freely. I was here pre-
sented with a couple of rolls of white kapa by

LANDING AT RIMATARA. 23

the good woman of the house. After survey-
ing the premises, getting a specimen of the
king and teacher's handwriting, and giving
them a card to certify any other chance ship
of their hospitality, I returned to the shore
by another path, through a dense wood, coming
out of it on the windward side of the island,
by the old church and grave-yard, where Te-
maeva pointed out the tomb of a former wife,
having the date of her death rudely cut in a
coral slab.

The cocoa-nuts passed were numberless,
shedding their fruit by thousands ; also lofty
and straight pandanuses, kukuis, and milo
trees. Following round the shore to the point
at which we had struck off into the woods,
we found the captain there busy trading. I
pleased myself a-wbile with looking at those
mixed and motley groups, and trying to com-
municate with the harmless Arimatarians, and
then went off to the boat through the out-
rageous surf, only wishing I could leave with
them some substantial and enduring testimony

24 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

The king and his wife, together with the
captain, came, one by one, soon after, and we
all pulled off to the ship, where the king
seemed highly gratified with his entertainment
and presents. He is manifestly king but in
name, having to promise a recompense even
to the men that brought him off to the boat
in their canoe. The Gospel has abolished all
tyranny, and, as the sailor interpreted it, " all
there are for themselves, and without distinc-
tions." They are four hundred all told, and
live, according to their own telling, in much
peace, being visited two or three times a year
by whale ships for recruits, whose trade just
keeps them (the adults) with a single cloth
garment, or kihei, a-piece.

A roughly-made schooner, of kamanu wood
(much like our mahogany), was on the stocks,
for which they were very anxious to get tar,
oakum, and a compass. No white missionary,
we were told, has ever resided upon the island,
but all their imperfect Christianization and
acquaintance with the arts have been effected
by native teachers from Tahiti. White men

FRIENDLY RIMATARANS — REFLECTIONS. 25

have stopped on the island occasionally, but
they say they do not want them, unless they
know the language and have some trade.

I could not leave this secluded and lovely
island, — though but the stopping-place of a day,
and, ere long, as I hoped, to mingle with humanity
in a wider and more populous field, — without
a feeling of sadness, I hardly knew why. But
so it is in the voyage of life, especially in that
of a traveller, sailing down the stream of time,
we hail a friendly bark, or touch here and
there at a pleasant landing-place upon its
banks, pluck a few fruits and flowers, exchange
good wishes and kind words with the friends
of a day, truly love and are loved by some
congenial hearts, both drop and take some
seeds of good and evil, to spring up when we
are in our graves, and then we are away ; the
places that now know us know us no more
for ever, and the faces that now smile upon
us we never see again. Who can help sighing
a- lie thinks of it, and wishing to leave, where-
ever he goes, some durable evidence that an
immortal spirit has passed that \

26 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

" Oh, at what time soever thou

(Unknown to me) the heavens wilt bow,

And, with thy angels in the van,

Descend to judge poor careless man,

Grant I may not like puddle lie,

In a corrupt security,

Where, if a traveller water crave,

He finds it dead, and in a grave ;

But as the clear running spring

All day and night doth flow and sing ;

And though here born, yet is acquainted

Elsewhere, and, flowing, keeps untainted —

So let me all my busy age

In thy free services engage.

And though (while here) of force I must

Have commerce sometimes with poor dust,

Yet let my course, my aim, my love,

And chief acquaintance be above ;

So when that day and hour shall come

In which Thyself will be the sun,

Thou 'It find me dressed and on my way,

Watching the break of thy great day."

How different now our reception here by
islanders that had been blessed with the Bible,
from that which a whale ship had while sail-
ing along in this same Pacific in the year
1835, from barbarians that had never received
the Gospel. A large number of natives came
off, as to us, for purposes of trade. No trea-
chery was suspected, and all for a while went

UNCHKISTIANIZED ISLANDERS. 27

on amicably. But, upon a signal from a chief,
the natives sprang for the harpoons, whale-
spades, and other deadly weapons at hand,
and a desperate contest immediately ensued.
The captain was killed hy a single stroke of
a whale-spade ; the first mate also, soon after.
The second mate jumped overboard and was
killed in the water, and four of the seamen
lost their lives. A part of the crew ran up
the rigging for security, and the rest into the
forecastle.

Among these last was a young man, the
third mate, by the name of Jones, the only
surviving officer. Ey his cool intrepidity and
judgment, after a dreadful encounter, the ship
was cleared of the savages, the chief killed,
and many of his companions, both of those
on board and those who came alongside to
aid in securing the ship.

Jones now became the captain, buried the
<Kud, dressed the wounded, put the ship in
order, and made sail for the Christianized Sand-
Nvidi Islands with the surviving crew. With a
skill and self-possession worthy of the man that

28 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

could accomplish such a rescue ; and, with a
favouring Providence, he navigated the bereaved
whaler to Oahu, where the survivers were hos-
pitably entertained. The ship, however, had
to be sent home, the voyage being completely
broken up for want of the necessary officers,
and thousands of dollars lost to owners and
underwriters.

I remember once to have listened to the
narrative of a captain who was wrecked in the
Pacific on a sunken rock, and for fourteen days
and nights himself and crew, twenty- two in
number, were exposed in their boats, and had
quite given up hope of ever again reaching the
land. But, on the morning of the fifteenth day
after the loss of their ship, they found their
boats nearing an unknown island. They were
almost spent, and saw the shore, which was
guarded by a reef, lined with natives, whether
cannibals or Christianized they could not tell.

While their lives were in doubt, and they
were questioning whether a worse death by
savage violence did not await them than if
they had perished at sea, one of the natives

CHRISTIAN ISLANDERS. 29

came out toward them through the surf, hold-
ing in his hand a book, and cried, with a loud
voice, "Missionary ! missionary!'' An answer-
ing shout of recognition, and beckoning from the
poor mariners, immediately brought the natives
through the waves to their aid, by whom they
were carried on shore in their arms, supplied
with food, and generously entertained with more
than human, with Christian kindness.

It so happened, according to the captain's
statement, that this was an island whose in-
habitants had been first brought to the know-
ledge of Christianity by the brother of this
captain, who had been some years before cast
away on this very island, and with one other of
the ship's company, was saved. They were
taken by the natives to be offered up as a sacri-
fice to their gods. But while on their way to the
place where human victims used to be sacrificed,
they remembered the tradition that a god should
come to them from the sea.

Overruled, doubtless, by a divine impulse,
they now entertained the white man as a god,
and he instructed them concerning the only

30 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

true God and Saviour. They invited the mis-
sionary from another island, and in Heaven's
blessings upon his instructions was read the
secret of all their after-kindness to the white
men who visited or were cast upon their shores.
All whalemen may see in this contrast, as we,
to our joy in the Commodore Preble, saw, what
a difference there is between islands that have,
and places that have not the " BOOK."

It is THE BOOK which has brought it to pass,
that the adventurous, weary whaleman can now
traverse the entire Pacific, and land with im-
punity at most of its lovely islands, and be
supplied on terms of equity with all he needs.
Let, then, those that owe to it the most, be
loudest in their praises, and warmest in their
love, and most ca,reful in their obedience to the

BOOK OF BOOKS.

It was the reasoning of one of this great
family of South Sea Islanders (with whom our
ship had such pleasant intercourse), soon after
he came into possession of the BIBLE : —

" When I look at myself, I find that I have
hinges all over my body. I have got hinges to

ISLANDERS ARGUMENT FOR THE BIBLE. 31

my legs, my jaws, my feet, my hands. If I
want to lay hold of anything, there are hinges
to my hands, and even to my fingers, to do it
with. If my heart thinks, and I want to make
others think with me, I use the hinges to my
jaws, and they help me to talk. I could nei-
ther walk nor sit down if I had not hinges to
my legs and feet. All this is wonderful. None
of the strange things that men have brought
from England in their big ships are at all to be
compared to my body, He who made my body
has made all those clever people, who made the
strange things which they bring in the ships ;
and he is God, whom I worship.

" But I should not know much more about
him than as a great hinge-maker, if men iii
their ships had not brought the book which
'they call the Bible. That tells me of God, who
makes the skill and the heart of man likewise.
And when I hear how the Bible tells of the old
heart with its corruption, and the new heart,
and a right spirit, which God alone can create
and give, I feel that his work in my body and
liis work in my heart fit each other exactly. I

THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

am sure, then, that the Bible, which tells me
of these things, was made by him who made
the hinges to my body. I believe the Bible to
be the word of God.

" The men on the other side of the great sea
used their skill and their bodies to make ships
and to print Bibles. They came in ships, and
brought iron hoops, knives, nails, hatchets,
cloth, and needles, which are very good. They
also brought rum and whisky, which are very
evil. They moved the hinges of the jaws, and
told lies and curses, which are abominable. At
last some came and brought the Bible. They
used the hinges of their bodies to turn over its
leaves and to explain God's blessed word. That
was better than iron- ware and stuff for clothing.
They were the servants of the living God, and
my heart opened to their words as if it had
hinges too, like as my mouth opens to take
food when I am hungry. And my heart feels
satisfied now. It was hungry, God nourished
it; it was thirsty, God has refreshed it. Blessed
be God, who gave his word, and sent it across
the sea to bring me light and salvation."''

CHRISTIAN ISLANDER. 33

Now we say that this unsophisticated native
thinker, working thus all by himself at the1
great theological argument from evidences of
design, could hardly have done better had he
been going to school to Calvin or Chalmers all
his days. He might have written in his Poly-
nesian Bible the lines which are said to have
been found on the blank leaf of a copy of the
Scriptures belonging to a great English poet.
And, ah ! how much better had it been for the
world if Byron had loved his Bible as there is
reason to believe the unknown Tahitian did his.

" Within this awful volume lies
The mystery of mysteries :
And bless' d, for ever bless* d are they
Who read to hope, and read to pray.
But better had he ne'er been born,
Who reads to doubt, or reads to scorn."

34 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.
CHAPTEK III.

CAPTURING AND CUTTING-IN OF A WHALE.

" Here leviathan

Hugest of living creatures, on the deep
Stretch'd like a promontory, sleeps or swims,
And seems a moving land ; and at his gills
Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea."

Milton.

" There she blows !" — The Boats start in pursuit — Capturing
of a Whale — The process of Cutting-in — A flock of Alba-
trosses— Other Sea-birds — Trying-out — The Whaleman's
delight — Magnitude of the Whale.

FOE the first time in our ten weeks' passage
from the Hawaiian Islands, on this New
Zealand Cruising Ground, we now heard that
life-kindling sound to a weary whaleman,
" THERE SHE BLOWS ! " The usual questions and
orders from the deck quickly followed. "Where
away ? " " Two points on the weather bow ! "
"How far off?" "A mile and a half!"
"Keep your eye on her!" "Sing out when
we head right ! " It turned out that three
whales were descried from aloft in different

CAPTURING OF A WHALE. 35

parts, and in a short time, when we were deemed
near enough, the captain gave orders to " Stand
by and lower" for one a little more than half
a mile to windward.

Three boats' crews pulled merrily away, glad
of something to stir their blood, and with eager
hope to obtain the oily material wherewith to
fill their ship and make good their " lay." The
whale was going leisurely to windward, blow-
ing every now and again two or three times,
then " turning tail," " up flukes," and sinking.
The boats " headed" after him, keeping a dis-
tance of nearly one quarter of a mile from
each other, to scatter (as it is called) their
chances.

Fortunately, as the oarsmen were " hove
up/' that is, had their oars a-peak, about the
place where they expected the whale would next
appear, the huge creature rose hard by the cap-
tain's boat, and all the harpooner in the bow
had to do was to plunge his two keen cold
irons, which are always secured to one tow-line,
into the monster's sides. This he did so well
as to hit the "fish's life" at once. It was the

D2

36 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

first notice the poor animal had of the prox-
imity of his powerful captors, and the sudden
piercing of the barbed harpoons almost to
his vitals, made him flounder and run most
furiously.

The boat spun after him with singular swift-
ness, now diving through the seas and tossing
the spray, and then lying still whi]e the whale
sounded ; anon in swift motion again, when
the game arose, for the space of an hour.
During this time another boat " got fast" to
him with its harpoons, and the captain's cruel
lance had several times struck his vitals. He
was killed, as whalemen call it, that is, mortally
wounded, an hour before he went into " his
flurry," and was really dead or turned upon his
back.

The loose boat then came to the ship for a
hawser to fasten round his flukes ; which being
done, the captain left his irons in the carcass
and pulled for the ship, in order to beat to
windward, and, after getting the fish alongside,
to " cut him in." After the whale was thus got
hold of, and the mammoth carcass secured to

CUTTING-IN OF A WHALE. 37

the ship by a chain round the bitts, they
proceeded to reeve the huge blocks that are
always made fast for the purpose to the fore
and main mast head, and to fasten the cutting-
in tackle. The captain and two mates then
went over the sides on a well secured stage,
and having each a breast-rope to steady him
and lean upon. The cooper having passed
them the long-handled spades, which he was all
the time grinding and whetting, they fell lustily
to work to chop off the blubber.

First came one of the huge lips, which,
after they had nearly severed close to the crea-
ture's eye, was hooked into by what they call
a " blubber hook," stripped off, and hoisted on
board by the windlass. It was very compact
and dense, and covered with barnacles.

Next came one of the fore-fins ; after that
the other lip, and then the upper jaw, along
witli all that peculiar substance called wlmle-
bone, through which the animal strains his

food. It is all fringed with coarse hair that

i *

detains the little shrimps and small fry on

which the creature feeds. The bones, or

38 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

rather, slabs of whalebone, radiate in leaves that
lie edgewise to the mouth, from each side of
what may be called the ridge-pole of the
mouth's roof, forming a house almost big
enough for a man to stand up in. Outside
it is crowned by what they call a bonnet, being
a crest or comb in which burrow legions of
barnacles and crabs, like rabbits in a warren,
or insects in the shaggy bark of an old tree.

Next came the lower jaw and throat, to-
gether with the tongue, which latter alone must
have weighed fifteen hundred or two thousand
pounds ; an enormous mass of fat, not, however,
so firm and tough as the blubber. Whalers
often have to lose it, especially from the north-
west whale, it being impossible to get it up on
deck, detached and alone, because it would not
hold by the tackling ; and it is generally too
large and heavy to be raised along with the
throat.

After this was got on deck, the rest of the
way was plain sailing, the blubber of the body
being cut and peeled off in huge unbroken
strips as the carcass rolled over and over, being

CUTTING-IN. 39

heaved on by the power of the windlass,
then hooked into by the blubber hooks, and
hoisted in.

As often as a piece, nearly reaching to the
top of the main rnast, was got over the deck,
they would attack it with great boarding- knives,
and cutting a hole in it at a place nearly even
with the deck, thrust in the strap and toggel of
the " cutting blocks," that they might still have
a purchase on the carcass below. Then they
would sever the huge piece from the rest, and
lower it down into the "blubber-room," between
decks, where two. men had as much as they
could do to cut it into six or eight pound pieces,
and stow it away. It was from nine to eleven
inches thick, and looked like very large fat pork
slightly coloured with salt-petre.

The magnificent, swan-like albatrosses were
round us by hundreds, eagerly seizing and fight-
ing for every bit and fragment that fell off into
the water, swallowing it with the most carni-
vorous avidity, and a low, avaricious greed of
delight, that detracted considerably from one's
admiration of this most superb of birds, just

40 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

as your veneration for one whom the colouring
of a youthful imagination has made a little
more than human, is not a little ahated hy
finding him subject to the necessities and
passions of poor human nature. Gonies, stink-
ards, horse-birds, haglets, gulls, pigeons, and
petrels, had all many a good morsel of blubber.
For at any time in these seas, though eight
hundred or a thousand miles from shore, the
capture of a whale will allure thousands of
sea-birds from far and near. Sharks, too,
appeared to claim their share; but it was not
until after a man had been down twice on the
wave-washed carcass, to get a rope fast to a
hole in the whale's head, or I should have
trembled for his legs.

Before the blubber was all off, the huge
intestines of the whale burst out like barrels,
at the wounds made by the spades and lances.
I hoped the peeled carcass would continue to
float for the benefit of the gonies and other
birds. But no sooner was the last fold of
blubber off the flukes hoisted in, and the great
chain detached, than it sank plump down.

TRYING-OUT. 41

About the same time two ships bore down to
speak us, the Henry of Sag Harbour, and the
Lowell of New London. Their captains came
on board to congratulate us on our success,
and " learn the news." They had just arrived
on the ground, and had not yet taken any
whales.

Soon after we had finished cutting in, about
eight o'clock in the evening, the wind increased
almost to a gale, making it impossible " to try
out" that night. But the next day, while the ship
was lying-to, the business was begun in good
earnest : the blubber-men cutting up in the
blubber-room ; others pitching it on deck ;
others forking it over to the side of the " try-
works ;" two men standing by a "horse" with
a mincing knife to cleave the pieces into many
parts for the more easy trying out, as the rind
of a joint of pork is cut by the cook for roast-
ing ; the boat-steerers and one of the mates
pitching it into the kettles, feeding the fires
with the scraps, and bailing the boiling fluid
into copper tanks, from which it is the duty
of another to dip into casks.

42 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

The decks, meanwhile/ present that lively
though dirty spectacle which whalemen love,
their faces all begrimed and sooty, and smeared
with oil, so that you cannot tell if they be
black or white. A farmer's golden harvest in
autumn is not a pleasanter sight to him, than
it is to a whaler to have his decks and blubber-
room " blubber-log," the try- works a-blazing,
cooper a-pounding, oil a-flowing, everybody
busy and dirty night and day. Donkey-loads
of Chilian or Peruvian gold, filing into the
custom-house at Valparaiso and Lima, or a
stream of Ben ton's yellow-boys flowing up the
Mississippi, or bags of the Californian dust
riding into San Francisco, have no such
charms for him as cutting-in a hundred-barrel
whale, and turning out oil by the hogshead.

The whale now taken proved to be a female
or " cow whale," forty-five feet long and twenty-
five round, and it was calculated to yield be-
tween seventy and eighty barrels of " right
whale" oil. This is about the ordinary size
of the New Zealand whale, a mere dwarf in
comparison with that of the northwest, which

MAGNITUDE OF THE WHALE. 43

sometimes yields, it is said, three hundred
barrels, ordinarily one hundred and fifty, or
one hundred and eighty.

Though so huge a creature, a very small
part of its bulk appears out of water, and that
continually bending with the undulations of the
waves ; nor have you so fair a view of this
immense mass of organized matter, as of a ship
afloat in comparison to one on the stocks. To
have a just idea- of its greatness, it should be
seen on dry land. As is usually the case, the
observed reality of this mammoth animal, pro-
digious as it is, hardly comes up to the pre-
conceived vague idea of it, still less to the
poetic notion of

" That sea-beast

Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created hugest, that swim the ocean stream.
Him haply slumbering on the Norway foam,
The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff,
Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell,
"With fixed anchor in his scaly rind,
Moors by his side under the lee, while night
Invests the sea and wished morn delays."

They used to tell some "big fish stories"
in Milton's day, and I have no doubt they had

44 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

something to do in his mind with the creation
of that image of Satan on the burning lake.

" "With head uplift above the wave, and eyes

That sparkling blazed ; his other parts beside,

Prone on the flood, extended long and large,

Lay floating many a rood ; in bulk as huge

As whom the fables name of monstrous size,

Titanian, or earth-born, that warred on Jove :

Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool

His mighty stature : on each hand the flames,

Driven backward, slope their pointing spires, and rolled

In billows, leave in the midst a horrid vale.

Then, with expanded wings, he takes his flight

Aloft incumbent on the dusky air,

That felt unusual weight."

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE WHALE. 45

CHAPTEK IV.

NEW ZEALAND CRUISING GROUND.

" Oh, the whale is free, of the boundless sea ;

He lives for a thousand years ;
He sinks to rest on the billow's breast,

Nor the roughest tempest fears.
The howling blast, as it rushes past,

Is music to lull him to sleep :
And he scatters the spray in his boisterous play,

As he dashes — the king of the deep."

Sea Song.

The Whale : its habits and resorts — Points of difference be-
tween the "right" and "sperm" Whales — Food of the
Whale — Arctic Animalcules — Anatomy of the Whale —
Physiology of the Whale — Loss of Whales by sinking —
The Cause assigned for it — An unsuccessful Attempt to
Float Dead Whales— Reflections on Suicides.

recent capture of one "right whale,"
-L getting fast to another, and pursuit of
several more, and the sight of them blowing all
around, close at hand and at a distance, naturally
puts one upon inquiring into the habits and
resorts of this sea monster. It is of the class
mammalia, order cetacea, warm-blooded, bringing

46 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

forth its young alive, generally one at a time,
and giving them suck. It is not, therefore, a
fish, is without scales, breathes the air through
enormous lungs, not gills, and respires by what
is called its spout or blow-holes, a kind of
nostrils, or, in other words, two apertures situ-
ated on the upper part of its head, through
which is forcibly expelled all the warm air and
vapour of the lungs.

The character of the spout serves to distin-
guish at a distance the kind of whale, whether
"right whale" (Balaena mysticetus), or " sperm"
(makrocephalus). The "right whale," having
two large orifices on the top of the back part of
its head as it lies along in the water, the dense
vapour ejected is forced up perpendicularly till
dissipated in the air, or carried off by the wind.
The "sperm whale," on the other hand, has but
one external blowhole, and that a little on one
side or corner of its head, from which the
ejected stream of breath issues a little obliquely,
and not straight up, as in the " right whale."
Being only the confined air of the lungs, and con-
densed into a white mist, it vanishes instantly.

DESCRIPTION OF RIGHT WHALE. 47

Two fins, planted a little behind the head,
one on each side, with a broad and powerful
tail, constitute at once the propelling apparatus
and means of defence of the whale. The
juncture of these "flukes," or tail, with the
main body of the whale is comparatively small,
and a skilful whaler will try to cut the tendons,
as in hamstringing, with his spade, when the
whale is violent. If successful in this, the flukes
will be still, and the danger of approaching the
whale greatly diminished. The natural work-
ing of them on their joints by the waves, after
the animal is dead, will always propel the car-
cass directly to windward.

Of a small one that I measured, the fins
were five feet long each, and the flukes twelve
feet across, horizontally. Of another, and that
by no means fully grown, the body was thirty-
nine feet long and nineteen feet round, the
head seven feet from its tip to the spout-holes,
three feet wide just behind the same, and three
feet from the upper outside superficies to the
roof of the mouth inside, — making its entire
head, with the mouth closed, seven feet in di-

48 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

ameter, or twenty- one feet round. The length
of one of another species, a " sperm whale,"
which I exactly measured, was fifty-nine feet,
and thirty round.

The ear of the whale is extremely small,
and so hidden, like a mole's, that you would
not find it without diligent search. Still the
creature is thought by seamen to be quick of
hearing as well as sharp of sight. The organ
for the latter sense is about as large as the eye
of an ox. The head of a " right whale," when
his mouth is open in feeding, or when he brea-
ches, as I have sometimes seen him do quite out
of water, is a most uncouth and formidable
sight. The huge lips close from below upward,
and shut in, when the monster has got a mouth-
ful, like the great valve of a mammoth bellows,
or the water gates of a canal lock.

The living of this vast animal is thought to
be upon a substance which I hear universally
called by whalemen " right whale feed." It ap-
pears in the water as a red-coloured insect,
which, with the medusae associated with it, as
Captian Scoresby has described, is in trapped by

FOOD OF THE WHALE. 49

the hair that fringes the leaves of whalebone, ay
the whale swims along with mouth open. It is,
in fact, a little red shrimp, sometimes seen float-
ing on the surface in these seas alive, oftener
dead, when it has the appearance at a distance
of patches or clots of blood, only yellower. I
have seen it in both states, when entangled in
the hair of dead whales. The quantity neces-
sary for the animal's support must be prodigeous.

I can doubly appreciate now that amusing
passage in the Holy War, where Bunyan says,
" Silly Mansoul did not stick nor boggle at a
monstrous oath that she would not desert Di'a-
bolus, but swallowed it without chewing, as if
it had been a sprat in the mouth of a whale."
This " feed " is supposed to He generally rather
deep under water in these southern seas, as
whales are often taken in greatest numbers
where none of it is to be seen on the surface.

A volume of the Family Library, on " Polar
Seas and Regions," which I read with great
interest on ship board, says, that the basis of
subsistence for the numerous tribes of the
Arctic world is found in the genus medusa,

E

50 THE WHALEMAN S ADVENTURES.

which the sailors graphically describe as sea-
blubber. The medusa is a soft, elastic, gelat-
inous substance, specimens of which may be
seen lying on our own shores, exhibiting no
signs of life, except that of shrinking when
touched. Beyond the Arctic Circle it increases
in an extraordinary degree, and is eagerly de-
voured by the finny tribes of all shapes and
sizes. By far the most numerous, however, of
the medusan races are of dimensions as small as
a pin's head; whilst some species', not observ-
able without a microscope, have been shown by
Captain Scoresby, to be the cause of certain
peculiar colours which occasionally tinge con-
siderable extents of the Greenland Sea. The
colour produced by the larger and more preva-
lent kind is olive- green, and the water is opaque
compared to that which bears the common cer-
ulean hue.

These olive-coloured waters occupy about a
fourth of the Greenland Sea, or above twenty
thousand square miles, and hence the number
of medusan animalcules which they contain is
inconceivably great. Captain Scoresby, to whose

ARCTIC ANIMALCULES. 51

researches we are indebted for a knowledge of
these minute creatures, informs us that they
are so numerous, in many extensive tracts of
sea, as to be but the fourth of an inch asunder.
In this proportion, he calculates, that a cubic
inch of water must contain 64 ; a cubic foot,
110,592: a cubic fathom, 23,887,872; and a
cubic mile, 23,888,000,000,000,000 ! And as
these medusae extend obviously to a great depth,
from the opacity produced by them in the
water, such a vast number as this might
be actually comprised within an area of two
miles square — supposing them to extend in a
sea above a mile deep to the depth of only 250
fathoms. As such a number, as this compara-
tively minute portion of olive- green sea might
afford, is far beyond the ordinary conceptions
of the human mind, he illustrates its vastness
by observing, that it would have required 80,000
persons, starting to count at the period of the
creation of man, to complete the enumeration
at the present time.

What a stupendous idea this fact gives of
the immensity of Creation, and of the bounty

E '-?

52 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

of the Divine Economy and Providence, in
furnishing such a profusion of minuter life,
remote from the habitations of man, for the
ultimate subsistence of the giant occupants of
the great deep ! This green sea may be con-
sidered as the Polar Pasture ground, where
whales are usually seen in greatest numbers.
These prodigious animals cannot derive any
direct subsistence from such small and all but
invisible particles ; but these form the food of
other minute creatures, which then support
others, till at length marine insects and medusae
are produced of such size as to afford, by means
of the whale's beautiful food- gathering appar-
atus, the requisite nourishment for their mighty
devourers *

"The genus cancer, larger in size than the
medusa, appears to rank second in number and
importance. It presents itself under the vari-
ous species of the crab, and, above all, of the
shrimp, whose multitudes rival those of the
medusa, and which in all quarters feed and are
fed upon. So carnivorous are the propensities

* Scoresby's Arctic Regions, vol. i., p. 179.

ANATOMY OF THE WHALE, 53

of the northern shrimps, that joints of meat
hung out by Captain Parry's crew from the
sides of the ship were in a few nights picked
to the very bone, and nothing could be placed
within their reach except bodies of which it
was desired to obtain the skeleton. Many of
the zoophytical and molluscous orders, particu-
larly Actinia sepia, arid several species of ma-
rine worms, are also employed in devouring and
affording food to various other animals."

We learn, then, that the law of mutual con-
sumption holds throughout the wide domain of
the deep. And Byron was literally correct when
saying, in his apostrophe to the Ocean,

" Even /row out thy slime
TJie monsters of the deep are made."

The internal anatomy of a whale is to me
a subject of great curiosity, and I wish it were
in my power to report a full and accurate, lei-
surely post-mortem of the subjects we have
discussed. But a few clinical notes, roughly
taken by the bed-side, as the whalemen were
operating between wind and water with their
professional spades and lances of dissection.

'54 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

are all I have to exhibit. From the barrel-
like size of the protruding intestine of one
of the whales we dissected, or more properly
peeled, it is reasonable to infer by the law of
relative proportions on which Agassiz constructs
a fish from a single scale, that the great aorta
of one of the .largest kind of whales can be
but little less in diameter than the bore of the
main pipe of the Croton water- works ; and the
water, as pursuing its passage through that
pipe, must be inferior in impetus and velocity
to the blood gushing from the whale's great
heart, when his pulse beats high in the conflict
with his captors.

In Dr. Hunger's account to the Koyal So-
ciety of the dissection of only a small whale
cast upon the coast of Yorkshire, this aorta is
stated to have measured a foot in diameter. In
that proportion, fifteen or twenty gallons of
living blood must be ordinarily thrown out of
the heart of a large whale at a stroke, with an
immense velocity, through the great bore of a
blood-vessel, or rather blood aqueduct, a foot
or two in diameter.

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE WHALE. 56

How, then, with such a prodigious current
of blood constantly flowing and needing oxygen-
ization by the air, the whale can remain under
water so long, (respiration being sometimes
suspended in the case of a sperm whale, an
hour and a half), it was difficult to conceive,
until dissection discovered that in the cetaceous
animals, the arterial blood, instead of passing
into the venous circulation, the ordinary way,
had provided for it, by Creative wisdom, a
structure which is nothing less than a grand
reservoir for the reception of a quantity of
arterial blood, which, as occasion requires, is
emptied into the general circulation, and thus
for a time supersedes the necessity of respira-
tion. Tt may be that the accidental piercing,
now and then, of the walls of this reservoir of
arterial blood, by the harpoon or lance, has
something to do with the whale's occasional
sinking after being killed, a circumstance not
atisfactorily explained.

Until within a few years this gigantic game
has been so abundant in the general ocean,
that whalemen have used no special means to

56 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

keep their rich prizes from sinking ; but when
one has gone down worth $1500 or $2000, or
even $3000, they have taken it as the whale-
man's fortune, and, with but little lamentation,
have sought compensation by the capture of
others instead. In some voyages, they say,
more whales have been sunk than have been
saved. The useless devastation thus caused
among these huge denizens of the deep has
been very great. One practical whaleman cal-
culates the number of whales killed in one
season on the north-west coast of America and
Kamtschatka at 12,000, out of which, it may be
thus assumed, several thousands to have been lost.
Would whalemen go provided with buoys of
India-rubber or other light material, ready to
be bent on to harpoons to be darted into a
whale's carcass as soon as et turned up/' or when
he is perceived to be going into " his flurry,"
we are persuaded that many thousands of bar-
rels of oil might be saved, and not a few poor
voyages would be made good ones. According
to Commander Wilkes's Narrative of the United
States' Exploring Squadron, the Indians of the

LOSS OF WHALES BY SINKING. 57

north-west coast take a number of whales an-
nually, by having their rude fish spears fastened
to inflated seal-skin floats, four feet long and
one and a half or two feet broad, which tend to
keep the whale on the top of the water, and
allow him to fall a comparatively easy prey.
The same thing used to be effected by the In-
dians of Cape Cod, having their fish spears
fastened to blocks of wood — in lieu of which
sperm whalemen now use, instead of a buoyant
float, only what is called a " drag." Now that
whales are getting scarce, we think it impossible
but that Yankee sense and forehandedness will
soon see to this, and go prepared against such
disheartening catastrophes as losing their game
by its sinking, after unsurpassed skill and dar-
ing have made it fairly their own.

If owners knew how much might be saved
by it, they would never let a ship go from port
without buoys to hold up dead whales, and long
hawsers to lay- to with by them in gales of wind.
The Commodore Preble lost, in the course of
tins voyage, seven whales by sinking after they
were " turned up," and three from alongside in

58 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

rugged weather, from the want of a long and
strong hawser to secure them by to windward
while lying- to. Six of our boats were stove in
one season on the north-west coast, some of the
crew were badly hurt, and the men got so afraid
of a whale, that some of them would hide away
when the order was given to lower.

The only cause I have ever heard assigned
for the right whale's sinking so often, is by hav-
ing the air-vessel, which Nature is thought to
have provided this animal with, pierced by the
lance or harpoon. Any one can see that a few
buoys fastened to them would counterweigh
this tendency to sink; for so moderate is the
downward force, that I have heard of whales
being hauled up, when out of sight below, by
four boats' crews pulling upon the tow-lines
that were fast to the harpoons buried in the
sinking carcasses.

Till we know more of the natural history of
the whale than we yet do, its sinking so appa-
rently without regular cause cannot be certainly
accounted for. One whaleman says that he has
known a whale of the largest size, which, in

LOSS OF WHALES BY SINKING. 59

cutting him in, proved to be a dry-skin — that
is, the blubber containing much of a milky
fluid instead of oil, — and yet the whale floated
" quite light." Again, he has killed a whale
with a single lance, which sunk like a stone,
whilst another, after lancing a hundred times,
likewise sank.*

An ingenious Frenchman, I am told, in

* The tendency of the whales killed in tropical climates to
sink after death, admits, perhaps, of the simplest explanation
on the supposition that the ordinary specific gravity of the
animal is hut very little less than that of sea- water. Hence in
the Arctic regions, where the specific gravity of the water is
increased by a freezing temperature, the cases of sinking are
very unusual ; whilst the same description of animal, being
immersed in water 30° to 50° warmer, might, from the effects
of temperature alone, become ordinarily of a specific gravity
so nearly the same as that of the supporting element as some-
times to sink, sometimes to swim.

But to illustrate the extent of this influence of tempera-
ture : — The mean specific gravity of the Greenland Seas, as
shown in Scoresby's Arctic Regions (vol. i., p. 182, 183) is
1-0265 at the temperature of 60°. This density, reduced to
the freezing temperature, would be 1*0281, or to a tropical
temperature (80°) 1'0243. The difference, in its effect on the
Imoyancy of a full-grown whale of 50 tons weight, would be
about 4 cwt. ; that is, a whale with a floating power of less
than 4 cwt., in the Arctic regions, would, in a sea of like salt-
ness of a tropical temperature, sink.

It has been ascertained, however, by the above authority,
that the icy seas of the north are somewhat less salt than those

60 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

these seas, once rigged swivels in the heads of
his boats, and had bladders and other gear to
float dead whales ; but he succeeded with it all
so poorly, that, in mortification and despair,
when he put into one of the ports of New Zea-
land, he went out into the woods and shot
himself with a brace of pistols through both
his eyes. I think some quick-witted Yankee
would do better to give his attention to experi-
menting in this line ; and, even if the whales
would not be killed or floated, he would not be
such a fool as to blow his own brains out. It
is a true saying of Massinger :

" Who kills himself to avoid misery, fears it,
And at the best shows a bastard valour ;

which, forasmuch as the crime is becoming

of the temperate and torrid zones ; and Dr. Marcet has con-
cluded, from numerous specimens of sea-water examined,
that the mean specific gravity of the equatorial seas is 1-02777.
But this density, though greater by 0-0013 than that of the
north polar seas at the temperature of 60°, would be less by
0-0025 than the latter, if compared at their actual existing
temperatures. This difference would yield a diminished power
of notation after death of about 300 pounds in a full-grown
whale in seas of the tropical temperatures, probably sufficient
to account for the greater proportion of whales sinking in
those regions than in those of a perpetually freezing tempera-
ture.— ED.

REFLECTIONS ON SUICIDES. 61

popular now-a-days, it would not be amiss to
put a stop to, by enacting a law, as they once
did in ancient Eome, to expose the body of
every suicide naked in the market-place after
death.

62 THE WHALEMAN S ADVENTURES.

CHAPTEE V.

THE WHALE'S PHYSIOLOGY AND NATURAL
HISTORY.

" Spout ! spout ! spout !
The waves are purling all about,
Every billow on its head
Strangely wears a crest of red.
See her lash the foaming main
In her flurry and her pain.

Take good heed, my hearts of oak,
Lest her flukes, as she lies,
Swiftly hurl you to the skies.

But lo ! her giant strength is broke.
Slow she turns, as a mass of lead ;
The mighty mountain whale is dead."

The Whale's Physiology — Natural History — Trying-out —
Discovery of a Whale — The Chase — The Capture — Towing
a dead Whale.

THEEE are some points in the whale's
physiology, and in the way of disposing of
the blubber, not noted in previous chapters,
which are so well described in parts of " a
sailor's yarn" that I have found in a loose num-
ber of the Sailor's Magazine, that I will take
from it, here and there, with corrections, what

WHALE'S PHYSIOLOGY. 63

may be wanting to complete the integrity of
our description. Although it is difficult to de-
scribe the head of a right whale without the
assistance of a drawing, yet a tolerably cor-
rect idea may be obtained of it, by comparison
with known shapes and objects, and by accurate
dimensions.

It is curiously adapted to the habits of the
animal, and is unlike any other head in nature.
Its general shape is not unlike a flat-soled,
round-toed shoe, the sides being straight, and
the widest part, or heel, joining the body. The
lower jaw is, say, eight or ten feet wide, where
it joins the body, and grows narrower toward
the nose, so that when the jaw-bones are clean-
ed from the flesh, they form a bluntly-pointed
arch, and are often preserved and used as gate-
posts ; many of them may be seen, about New
Bedford and Nantucket, applied to this use.
The skull or crown bone, constituting the upper
jaw, is a single bone rounded on its roof or top,
about four or five feet wide at the neck, and
gradually lessening to its outward extremity.
To this bone is attached the whalebone of com-

64 THE WHALEMAN S ADVENTURES.

merce, which is in slabs averaging about a
quarter of an inch thick. The longest are near
the middle of the series, and are eight or ten
inches wide where they join the skull, and are
in a large whale ten to twelve feet long, nar-
rowing to a point as they approach the lower
jaw.

They hang perpendicularly from the crown
to the lower jaw, with their thickest edges put ;
they are set about half an inch apart, some-
thing like the slabs of a Venetian blind made
very close. The inner edge of each slab has a
fringe of hair several inches long, so that on
looking into the cavity of the head, the sides of
it appear as if lined with felt or hair- cloth.
Upon the lower jaw lies the enormous tongue,
which is a mass of fat containing six or eight
barrels : it appears like a large cushion of white
satin, so exceedingly soft and delicate is it.
The lips are attached to the sides of the lower
jaw, and extend nearly the whole length of
the head on each side. Except when feed-
ing, they are closed over the sides of the
head, their upper edges fitting to the skull or

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE WHALE. 65

crown, and the whole head appearing as a solid
mass.

The food of this whale, as we have already
observed, is a species of shrimp, of a blood-red
colour. Some of them are very minute, and
few are found more than half an inch long;
these float in immense shoals on the surface of
the ocean, and sometimes colour the water for
miles. When the whale is disposed to break
his fast, he rushes through a field of shrimps
with open mouth, until he has received myr-
iads of the little animals; then the water is
forced out between the slabs which I have de-
scribed, leaving the shrimps attached to the
hairy strainer within ; by means of the tongue
they are collected, and the delicate mouthful is
conveyed to his capacious stomach.

When "cutting in a whale," as the carcass
rolls over by the power of the windlass, the lips,
which are composed entirely of hard blubber,
are cut off and hoisted on board as they present
themselves. The crown bone is also disjointed
from the body, and is hoisted in with tin1
whalebone attached to it. A very large head

66 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

produces near two thousand pounds. The
tongue and the fins are also saved ; so that
when the carcass is turned adrift, after being
properly stripped, very little oily matter falls
to the share of the birds, who make a ter-
rible clamour, however, in quarrelling for that
little.

The "blubber-room" is a space under the
main hatch, between decks, capable of receiv-
ing the blubber of two or three whales ; into
this every piece is lowered as it comes from
the whale : these are called " blanket pieces/'
and some of them weigh one or two tons.
As they are piled one on another, the press-
ure of their own weight, with the motion of
the ship, which is never at rest, causes the
oil soon to exude, and, mixing with the blood,
more or less of which comes in with each piece,
the blubber-room soon presents an indescrib-
able mess.

Into this odorous retreat it is the duty of
one man immediately to descend with a cut-
ting-spade, to commence cutting the " blanket
pieces into "horse pieces; " these are about a foot

TRYING OUT. «7

square, and by means of a pike or fork, are
pitched up on deck for mincing, and taken to
the " mincing horse/' a small table secured to
the rail of the ship, where a boy with a short-
handled hook, holds the piece to keep it from
sliding, while the mincer, with a two-handed
knife slashes it nearly through into thin slices,
which just hang together; the piece then be-
comes a " book," and is pitched into a large
tub ready for boiling.

A fire is now kindled in the arches under
the pots, which are two or three in number,
firmly set in brick-work, and each capable of
Containing a hogshead of oil. A small quantity
of oil is first put in each, and, as soon as it be-
• •onios heated, fresh blubber is added, until
the pots are full, when a portion from each
is baled out with a large ladle into a copper
cooler, from whence it is received into c;
and stowed below. The operation of boiling
continues day and night until the whole is
finished, and sometimes, when whales are
jil'-ntiful, the fires are scarcely put out until
-iiip is lilh'd.

F '2

68 THE WHALEMAN S ADVENTURES.

With such an intense fire over a wooden
deck and frame for weeks together, and, with
tarred cordage and canvass above, both of
which would burn like tinder, it may seem
strange that so few ships take fire. Close atten-
tion and untiring vigilance can alone prevent
it. If the "pen" under the works, which
should be kept full of water, happen to
spring a leak in the night without being ob-
served, a short time only would be sufficient
to envelop the ship in flames. Sometimes,
too, a pot full of boiling oil will burst with-
out any apparent cause, and let its contents
into the fire beneath. Several ships have
been destroyed by such an accident.

Frequently the oil in a pot rises at once and
boils over, communicating fire to the others:
this is generally checked by means of covers
which are kept at hand to smother the flame ;
but, though not an uncommon occurrence, it is
attended with considerable danger. The colour
of the oil depends much upon the mode of
boiling it. Unless the pots are kept perfectly
clean, and no sediment permitted to adhere to

TRYING-OUT.

the bottom, the oil will be dark and of inferior
value. It is necessary, therefore, that one man
be constantly employed in stirring the mass,
whilst it is the duty of another to skim out the
scraps as fast as they are " done :" these are
used for fuel, no wood being necessary after the
fire is fairly started.

The blubber on a fat whale is sometimes, in
its thickest parts, from fifteen to twenty inches
thick, though seldom more than a foot ; it is of
a coarser texture and much greasier than fat
pork.

Both the sperm and right whale are usually
of a jet black colour, but not unfrequently the
right whale is found with irregular spots of a
milky whiteness, very like those on a pied
horse. The skin of both kinds is similar.
Outside of the sensible skin, which has no
peculiarity, there is a coat of something re-
sembling fur, very close and compact, and the
fibres united by a glutinous matter, so as to ivn-
der it about as hard as the rind of a new cheese:
tins is termed the "black skin," and is about
half an im-h thick. Still outside of this is a

70 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

very thin and delicate skin, which when first
detached from the body, whence it is easily
stripped, very nearly resembles a glossy black
silk ; and when the whale basks in the sunbeams
on the surface of the water, its smooth outer
covering glistens as if it were from the looms of
France or Italy, so much is it like the shining
silk.

As soon as the business of the voyage is
fairly commenced by taking the first whale, the
appearance of the ship and her crew wofully
chaoges for the worse. The decks, which have
hitherto been kept scrupulously clean, are now
covered with oil, and it is only by keeping
a thick coat of sand scattered over them, that
the crew are enabled to get about without slip-
ping. The smoke from the try-works blackens
every face, so that the watch on deck resembles
a party of colliers. Each rope, too, exposed to
its influence, is coated with lamp-black, and the
clothing of the men saturated with oil. Even
the sails, which on the passage were of a snowy
whiteness, receive their share of defilement;
for, as they are handed every night, the men,

TRYING-OUT. 71

as they spring aloft from the try-works with
besmeared hands and clothes, cannot furl them
without leaving a mark wherever they touch.

Your ship, perhaps, has been thoroughly
scrubbed and cleansed, crew cleared of " gurry,"
and all again made ship-shape and tidy, when,
just after dinner, as all hands are on deck, the
welcome cry is raised, "There she blows!"
" Where away ?" says the captain, hailing the
man aloft. " About two points on the lee bow,
sir/' " There she blows ! There she blows ! "
is shouted again, and echoed back by a dozen
voices all agog. The mate, if lively, is soon

aloft. "What do you make them, Mr. ? '

says the captain, mounted on a thwart in the
quarter boat, and scanning the horizon with the
most eager interest. " I can't make 'em out
yet, sir. There 's three or four of 'em ; and
they're going quick to windward."

Presently there sings out one from the fore-
iMp-^ill;int yard, "There goes flu-u-u-kes —
flukes." This is always decisive of the kind ;
t«»r the rnjht whale, after breathing or blowing
,i iVw moments on the surface, pitches down

72 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

head foremost into the deep, and as the head
descends, the tail rises with, a graceful curve
above the water, and for a moment is seen in
nearly a vertical position, and then slowly dis-
appears. All now in your ship is eagerness
and engrossment in the motions of your game,
and every man is intent at his station. The
tubs of lines have just been put into the boats ;
the harpoons and lances adjusted in their proper
places, ready for action.

"Lower away!" at length cries the mate,
and every boat is instantly resting on the water,
manned by their respective crews. " Give way,
my lads !" is the next you hear, and the boats
are leaping as if alive toward the point where
the whale was last seen. All orders are now
given in a low tone ; every man is doing his
utmost, and the boats are springing over the
smooth swells, each striving to be headmost in
the chase. " Now we rested, with our oars
apeak," says a sailor, narrating an actual scene
like this, "for the whales, who had gone down,
to break water again. Presently they were up
and blowing all around, and very much scattered,

CHASE OF THE WHALE. 73

being alarmed by the boats, so that it was im-
possible to get near enough for a dart. But at
one time five of the monsters rose close to our
boats. The mate motioned us all to be silent,
when we could have fastened to one, and the
only reason, as we supposed, why he did not,
was because he was so frightened.

" The whale now ran to the southward, and
every boat was in chase as fast as we could
spring to our oars. The first mate's boat was
headmost in the chase, ours next, and the cap-
tain's about half a mile astern. The foremost
now came up with and fastened to a large
whale. We were soon on the battle ground,
and saw him struggling to free himself from
the barbed harpoon, which had gone deep into
his huge carcass. We pulled upon the mon-
ster, and our boat-steerer darted another har-
poon into him. * Stern all !' shouted the mate.
k SUTII all, for your lives!' We steered out
of the reach of danger, and peaked our oars.

" The whale now ran, and took the line out
<'f tin- boat with such swiftness that we were
obliged to throw water on it to prevent its

74 THE WHALEMAN S ADVENTURES.

taking fire by friction around the loggerhead.
Then he stopped, and blindly thrashed and
rolled about in great agony, so that it seemed
madness to approach him. By this time, how-
ever, the captain came up and boldly darted
another harpoon into his writhing body. The
enraged whale raised his head above the water,
snapped his horrid jaws together, and in his
senseless fury lashed the sea into foam with
his flukes. The mate now, in his turn, ap-
proached near enough to bury a lance deep
in his vitals, and shouted again, at the top of
his voice, 'Stern all!' A thick stream of
blood, instead of water, was soon issuing from
his spout-holes. Another lance was buried ;
he was thrown into dying convulsions, and ran
around in a circle ; but his flurry was soon
over ; he turned upon his left side, and floated
dead. We gave three hearty cheers, and took
him in tow for the ship, which was now about
fifteen miles off."

This towing of captured whales is no boy's
play; although it is one of the pleasantest
parts of a whaleman's duty, it is also often

TOWING A DEAD WHALE. 7-3

the most laborious, and fraught, too, with
danger, when the ship is distant and nightfall
at hand. Under a fierce equatorial sun, to row
for hours, perhaps right to windward or in a
dead calm, with a carcass of seventy tons' weight
dragging astern, will blister the hands and
strain the muscles of the hardiest whaleman,
and wearied nature will sometimes give out.
But it is cheerfully endured for the end in
view, of cutting in, and trying out, and stowing
down a " hundred barreler," that will net to
the ship three thousand or fifteen hundred
dollars, according as it is a sperm or a right
whale. If "money makes the mare to go,"
so does oil the crew of a " blubber hunter,"
from the green cabin-boy to the sable doctor.

76 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

CHAPTER VI.

DIFFERENT CRUIZING GROUNDS AND NORTH-
WEST WHALING.

" Thou didst, 0 Lord ! create the mighty whale,

That wondrous monster of prodigious length :
Vast are his head and body, vast his tail ;

Beyond conception his unmeasured strength.
When he the surface of the sea hath broke,

Arising from the dark abyss below,
His breath appears a lofty stream of smoke,

The circling waves like glittering banks of snow."

Anon.

Different cruizing grounds — Variety of Whales — Gambols of
the Fin-back — Various resorts of the Whale — A veteran
Whaler — Boat destroyed — History of North-west Whaling
— Yearly destruction of Whales — Diminution of Whales.

IT will be readily surmised that none but a
genuine son of the sea, a veritable Cape
Homer, " homeward bound," in the great
South Pacific could make these characteristic
rhymes, and many other rude but expressive
ones, which we have not room to transcribe
here. The sailor that made them says of him-
self, in the course of some doggrel staves of
autobiography,

VARIETY OF WHALES. 77

" I twice into the dark abyss was cast,
Straining and struggling to retain my breath ;

Thy waves and billows over me were past ;
Thou didst, 0 Lord, deliver me from death."

Different practised whalemen tell of twelve
or fourteen different species of this great sea
monster : right, sperm, black-fish, hump-back,
r;i/or-back, fin-back, grampus, sulphur-bottom,
killer, cow-fish, porpoise, narwhale, scrag whale,
and elephant whale. In the attempt to cap-
ture one of the latter kind, a New London ship,
not long since, lost eleven men, including the
first mate. The first four, only, of this cata-
logue are much sought after for their oil ; now
and then some of the others are taken by chance.
The razor-back is sometimes met with one
hundred and five feet long, but not so large
round as the right whale, bearing about the
same comparison to the latter that a razor-faced
fellow you now and then meet with among
men does to a fair, round alderman. The por-
]>oise, as every one knows, is harpooned from
a ship's bow, hauled on board, and its carcass

n by the name of " sea beef." Its oil,

78 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

like the ship's slush, is a perquisite of the
cook's.

The fin-back, so called from a large fin on
the ridge of its back, looking just like the gno-
mon of a dial, is a large whale found all over
the ocean, and could it be taken, would add
greatly to the productiveness of the whale fish-
ery. It often comes near a ship with a ringing
noise, in spouting, like the sound of bell-metal
but it can seldom be so closely approached by a
boat as to dart a harpoon ; and when it is struck,
it is said to run with such amazing swiftness
as to render the safe management of line im-
practicable. Its spout at a distance, especially
near the Falkland Islands, where I have seen
them in great numbers, flashes up from the
ocean just like smoke from the breech of a gun
fired on a frosty morning. I have seen the
horizon thus, for an extent of many miles,
smoking with them, and the ocean all alive with
their gambols. It is not a thing beyond the
reach of probability that this hitherto unmolested
sea-rover may yet be brought within the all-
powerful grasp of predatory man by swivels or

VARIOUS RESORTS OF THE WHALE. 79

air-guns, that shall fire harpoons or poisoned
arrows into him, from a distance.

The places where the right whale is now
most sought by the adventurous American
whalemen are, in the Atlantic Ocean, on what are
called Main and False Banks, between Africa
; iml Brazil, the parts around the Falkland Islands
and Patagonia, and the region of ocean in mid-
Atlantic, in the vicinity of the Island of Tristan
d'Acunha ; in the Southern Ocean, south of the
Cape of Good Hope, near the uninhabited
Crozettes Islands, St. Paul's, and other parts of
the Indian Ocean ; in the Pacific Ocean, about
the New Zealand, New Holland, Chili, and the
North-west, cruising ground ; from the coast of
America clear over to Kamtschatka.

This last is now the great harvest- field of
American whalers from May to October ; and it
will bo likely to last longer than any other, be-
oause of b»'ing prohibited by the Russians from

whaling, \vhich destroys the cows about tin-
nine of calving. Almost all ships fill up there.
Son if have even thrown overboard useful stores
to make way for oil. The havoc they make of

whales is immense. There were ships
during the season of 1848, obtained twei
to even thirty- three hundred barrels of <
few months. I have heard of one ship tl
twenty- six whales by sinking after the
killed ; of another that killed nine bef<
saved one; of another that killed six
day, and all of them sunk; of anotb
had three boats stove, and all the men ]
into the sea, without any one being lost,
forced trial of hydropathy is, indeed, so c<
an occurrence, that whalemen make r
of it.

Those huge north-west whales art
vicious, and less easily approached aftt
are struck, than the whales of other lai
It is considered no disgrace to be run aw*
by one of those jet-black fellows, found ii
five or fifty degrees north ; and many
whaler, who had made his boast that ne
did a whale run off with him, has been con
to give in as beaten when fast to one o
" Northwest Tartars."

One captain says he has seen instai

A VETETIAN WHALER. 81

the most wonderful strength and activity in
these whales, greater than he ever saw before in
( itlin- right or sperm. He was once fast to a
large cow whale, which was in company with a
small one, a full-grown calf. They kept together,
and after a time the captain hauled his boat up
between them. When they were both within

- h, he shoved his lance " into the life " of the
cow, at which she threw her flukes and the
small part of her body completely over the head
of the boat without touching it (although they
were half- drowned with the water she scooped up),
and the full weight of the blow, intended for
tin.1 boat, fell upon the back of the other whale.
It sunk immediately, going down bent nearly
double, and, the captain thinks, must have been
killed by the blow. The same person has seen
a stout hickory pole, three inches in diameter,
and six feet long, broken into four pieces by a
blow from a whale's tail, and the pieces sent
fixing twenty feet into the air, and that, too,
when no other resistance was offered than that
of the water upon which it floated.

The first whale this man struck in that fish-

82 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

ing region turned him over in two different
boats, and afterward " knocked them into kind-
ling wood," while spouting blood in thick clots;
and yet this whale, with singular tenacity of life,
lived four hours afterward. He came up along-
side the boat, and turned it over with his nose,
and then, with his flukes, deliberately broke it
up. Of course the crew had to take to Nature's
oars, and they all marvellously escaped unhurt,
although one of them was carried, sitting upon
the whale's flukes, several rods, till he slid off
unharmed from his strange sea-chariot. This
man could say, in one of the sailor's rude rhymes
whom we have already quoted,

" Although he furiously doth us assail,

Thou dost preserve us from all danger free.

He cuts our boat in pieces with his tail,
A.nd spills us all at once into the sea."

This northwest cruising ground was first
visited in the spring of 1836 by two or three of
the Chilian whalers, who saw, indeed, numerous
whales, but gave it as their opinion that the
fishery could never be prosecuted there with any
success, by reason of constant and dense fogs.

HISTORY OF NORTH-WEST WHALING. 83

The following year several more of the Chilian
fleet started to the northward, "between seasons,"
and, looking further to the north and westward,
found better weather, and made a good cruise.
During the three years following few ships were
found there ; but, upon the almost entire failure
of the southern whale fishery, the right whale-
men were forced to turn their prows to those in-
hospitable seas, and the north-west became a
very El Dorado to the intrepid American
whalers. This cruising ground extends properly
from the thirty-fourth to the fifty-ninth degree of
north latitude, and from the coast of America,
in west longitude say one hundred and thirty, to
the meridian of one hundred and seventy <
longitude, or about sixty degrees. The largest
whales are said to have been found between fifty
and sixty degrees north latitude, and from one
hundred and forty-five to one hundred and
eighty degrees west longitude. At the I
I slands, in latitude fifty-two degrees north, sperm
\\lialesof the largest size have been found,
uell as ri^ht whales ; and near the peuinsul;.
Al;i>ka tlu-y are very \\\\

84 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

Intelligence from the northern whaling
ground of latest date shows that the Arctic
Ocean has been entered at Behring's Straits by
our intrepid American whalemen. Captain
Boys, of the bark Superior, from Sag Harbor,
was thus reported in the Sandwich Island
Honolulu Friend : " I entered the Arctic Ocean
about the middle of July, (1848), and cruised
from continent to continent, going as high as
latitude seventy, and saw whales wherever I
went, cutting in my last whale on the 23rd of
August, and returning, through Behring's Straits,
on the 28th of the same month. On account
of powerful currents, thick fogs, the near vicinity
of land and ice, combined with the imperfection
of charts and want of information respecting
this region, I found it both difficult and danger-
ous to get oil, although there were plenty of
whales. Hereafter, doubtless, many ships will
go there, and I think there ought to be some
provision made to save the lives of those who
go there, should they be cast away."

During the entire period of his cruise no
ice was seen, and the weather was ordinarily

NORTH-WEST WHALING. 85

pleasant, so that the men could work in light
clothing. In most parts of the ocean there was
good anchorage, from fourteen to thirty-five
fathoms, and a part of the time the vessel lay
at anchor. The first whale was taken at twelve
o'clock at night. It was not difficult to whale
the whole twenty-four hours, it being so light
that it was easy to read in the cabin at midnight.
The whales were quite tame, but different from
any Captain Koys had ever before taken. He
captured three different species, one of the
largest yielding two hundred barrels of oil.
The first species much resembled the Greenland
whale, affording one hundred and sixty or
seventy barrels. The second was a species
called Polar whale, a few of which have been
taken before on the North-west Coast ; and the
the third was a small whale peculiar to that
ocean. The last three whales which were taken
yielded together over six hundred barrels.

It is the opinion of Lieutenant Maury of the
United States National Observatory, that all
the whales in the Pacific Ocean have particular
resorts at certain seasons of the year, where the

86 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

whalers may generally expect to find them, just
as the shad, salmon, herring, and other fish are
periodically found. He is endeavouring to work
out this conclusion, and to fix the localities of
whales' resorts by a comparison of the logs of
a vast number of whalers. It is easy to see
that, if he should succeed, it will be of great
importance to the whaling interest, as it will
reduce the expense of outfits by shortening the
time of voyages, and making their results more
sure and speedy,

If we inquire into the probable duration of
the North-west whaling, including this Arctic
opening, there seems good reason to believe,
from the extent of ocean it embraces, greater
than all the other cruising grounds together,
that it will continue good at least twenty or
twenty-five years from its commencement. An
experienced captain thinks that as there is not,
nor is likely to be, any bay whaling on this
cruising ground, the whales will be less con-
stantly hunted, and nearly all the calves born
will arrive at an age when they can take care of
themselves before the old whales are encountered

YEARLY DESTRUCTION OF WHALES. 87

in the summer season by their most formidable
enemy, man. He estimates that by three hun-
dred ships capturing or mortally wounding forty
whales each, twelve thousand whales are killed
in a season ; and as many of these, perhaps full
half, would probably be cows with calf, the
number of whales to be born and arrive at
maturity, in order to make up for this sweeping
destruction among them, must be not less than
eighteen thousand. He thinks, therefore, that
the poor whale, chased from sea to sea, and from
haunt to haunt, is doomed to utter extermina-
tion, or so near it, that too few will remain to
tempt the cupidity of man.

The history of the sperm whale fishery, from
the first, when only five or six months were
necessary to complete a cargo upon the Brazil
ground, and fifteen upon that of Chili, to its
present almost entire abandonment as a separate
business, confirms this calculation. Before the
end of the present century, therefore, judging
from the past, is it not likely that the hunting
of whales on the sea will be any more prosecuted
as a commercial business, than the hunting of

88 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

deer on the land ? In one part of the world
they have been driven to the deepest recesses of
Baffin's Bay, and in another to the very confines
of the Pacific, and off to the icebergs of the
antarctic zone. " Whether their mammoth
bones in some distant century shall indicate to
the untaught natives of the shores they now
frequent that such an animal was, or whether,
lurking in the inaccessible and undisturbed
waters north of Asia and America, the race shall
be preserved, is almost a problem/'

" They roamed, they fed, they slept, they died, and left
Race after race to roam, feed, sleep, then die,
And leave their like through endless generations :
So HE ordained, whose way is in the sea,
His path amid great waters, and his steps
Unknown !"

ACCOUNT OF WHALES.

CHAPTEK VII.

THE WHALE'S BIOGRAPHY, AND INCIDENTS IN
THE CAPTURE.

" The -whale he shall still be dear to me,
When the midnight lamp grows dim ;
For the student's book, and his favourite nook,

Are illumined by aid of him.
From none of his tribe could we ere imbibe
So useful, so blessed a thing,
hen hand in hand we '11 go on the land,
To hail him the ocean king."

Sailor's Song.

Account of Whales — Care for their young — Sperm Whale
feeding — Sperm Whale dying — Ambergris — Deformities of
Whales — Size of Whale's Calf — Natural enemies of the
Whale— Fight with a Killer— Sword-fish and Thrasher-
Sea Serpent and Whale — Opinion of an old Sailor — Sab-
bath desecration.

IN continuing our inquiries into the peculiari-
ties of whales and incidents of whaling, it is
to be remarked of the great right whale (Balaena
Mysticetus), that, like the hugest of all land
animals, its disposition is mild and inoffensive.
It never shows fight except when wounded, and
then in an awkward, and blind way, that proves
it is not used to war either offensively or defen-

90 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

sively. Its immediate recourse is to flight, ex-
cept when it has young to look out for, and then
it is bold as a lion, and manifests an affection
which is itself truly affecting. It grazes quietly
through the great deep, never using its prodigi-
ous strength to seize or lord it over other inhab-
itants of the seas, but strains its insect-like food
through its admirably contrived apparatus of
bone and hair, that strikingly evinces His bene-
ficence and wise design,

" Whose creating hand
Nothing imperfect or deficient left
Of all that he created."

It makes one think of the couplet we used to
read when boys, in the New England Primer :

" "Whales in the sea

God's voice obey.

Even the mute fish that swim the flood,
Leap up, and mean the praise of God."

I have heard of one of these whales with a
cub, when driven into shoal water, being seen
to swim around its young, and sometimes to
embrace it with her fins, and roll over with it in
the waves, evincing the tenderest maternal soli-
citude. Then, as if aware of the impending

MATERNAL AFFECTION OF WHALES. 91

peril of her inexperienced offspring, as the boat
drew near, she would run round her calf in de-
creasing circles, and try to decoy it seaward,
showing the utmost uneasiness and anxiety.
Reckoning well that, the calf once struck, the
dam would never desert it, the only care of the
harpooner was to get near enough to bury his
tremendous weapon deep in its ribs, which was
no sooner done than the poor animal darted
away with its anxious dam, taking out an hun-
dred fathoms of line. It was but a little time,
however, before, being checked, and the barb
lacerating its vitals, it turned on its back, and,
displaying its white belly on the surface of the
water, it floated a motionless corpse.

The huge dam, with an affecting maternal
instinct more powerful than reason, never quit-
ted the body till a cruel harpoon entered her
own sides; then, with a single tap of her tail,
she cut in two one of the boats, and took to
flight, but returned soon, exhausted with loss of
blood, to die by her calf, evidently, in her last
moments, more occupied with the preservation
of her young than herself.

92 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

The habits and living of the sperm whale
are quite as different from those of the right as
is its structure. Its head is enormously large
and unshapely, and furnished with an immense
under jaw, that is armed with two rows of mam-
moth teeth, forty-eight and fifty-four in number.
It seizes its prey with these teeth, having no
whalebone seive or strainer, like what has been
already described in the right whale, and it is
supported principally by the squid, otherwise
called cuttle-fish, or Sepia Octopus, of which
one sperm whale that we captured disgorged
pieces, or congeries of pieces, almost as long as
the whale boat, before going into its flurry.

From what I have observed myself and have
been told by others, it appears that when this
whale is inclined to feed, he goes to a certain
depth below the surface, and there remains in
an oblique position, as quiet as possible, open-
ing his vast elongated mouth until the lower
jaw hangs down perpendicularly, or at right
angles with the body. The roof of his mouth,
the tongue, and especially the teeth, being of a
glistening white colour, must of course present

SPERM WHALE DYING. 93

a remarkable appearance, which seems to be
that which attracts his prey. When a sufficient
number of other fish, or quantity of the squid,
as the case may be, are within the mouth, he
rapidly closes his jaw and swallows the contents.
When this creature is fatally struck or killed
while in the act of feeding, the whalemen will
soon know the items of its last bill of fare ; for,
while the waters around are purpled with its
gore, and a crimson tide is flowing from its spi-
racles, portions of its lance-lacerated lungs, and
the contents of its capacious stomach also, are
being vomited at the mouth. The sea, too,
will be lashed by its mighty tail with a sound
that may be heard in calm weather, for some
miles distance.

It is painful to witness the death-agony of

'

any creature, even the smallest that God has
given life to, much more that of one in which
life is so lively and tenacious, and animating so
vast a bulk. And though it might be true what
the dramatic poet said,

" The sense of death is most in apprehension,
And the poor beetle that we tread upon,

94 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

In corporal sufferance feels a pang as great
As when a giant dies ;"

yet I am not one that can coolly observe the
last agony of so mighty an organized creature
as the whale, with as little emotion as some
persons feel at the crushing of a reptile or the
writhing of a worm ; nor do I believe that the
suffering in the one case is as great as that in
the other. But it is painful enough to see any-
thing forcibly bereft of the boon of life, the gift
of Him that made us all,

" Who gives its lustre to the insect's wing,
And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds."

Cowper's principle in regard to animals and
insects is the right one : —

" The sum is this : if man's convenience, health,
Or safety interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs.
Else they are all — the meanest things that are —
As free to live, and to enjoy that life,
As God was free to form them at the first,
Who in His sovereign wisdom made them all."

The substance called ambergris, and highly
prized in perfumery, is obtained from the sperm
whale, being formed, it is thought, in that state

AMBERGRIS. 95

of the system which calls for a cathartic. From
the Materia Medica, we learn that, in Asia and
parts of Africa, ambergris is not only used as a
medicine and a perfume, hut considerable use
also is made of it in cooking, by adding it to
several dishes as a spice. A great quantity of
it also is constantly bought by the pilgrims who
travel to Mecca, probably to offer it there in
fumigations, as frankincense is in the worship
of the Church of Home.

Suffering from the state of disease which
causes the accumulation of this secretion, a
whale, when struck by the harpoon, will often
throw up or discharge the substance, and it will
be found floating about him. It is said to have
been a Nantucket whaler that thus accidentally
ascertained the origin of a substance which had
been known before vaguely as an unaccountable
product of the sea. Pieces have been picked up
by sailors about a dying whale worth nearly five
pounds ; and masses of it have been found of
from sixty to two hundred and twenty-five
pounds' weight, floating on the surface of the
ocean, in regions much frequented by the sperm

96 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES,

whale. We were not so fortunate as to light
upon any.

The gigantic denizens of the deep are sub-
ject both to disease and deformity, some having
been taken that were entirely 'blind, both eyes
being completely disorganized, and the orbits
occupied by fungous masses protruding con-
siderably; rendering it certain that the whale
must have been deprived of vision for a con-
siderable space of time, yet not so as to inca-
pacitate him for feeding, blind whales being
found as fat as the seeing ones.

The deformity referred to is a crookedness
of the lower jaw, which old whalers say is caused
by fighting. Sperm whales have been seen to
light by rushing, head first, one upon the other,
their mouths at the same time wide open, their
object appearing to be to seize their opponent
by the lower jaw. For this purpose they fre-
quently turn themselves on the side, and become,
as it were locked together, their jaws crossing each
other, and in this manner they strive vehemently
for the mastery, with a force compared to which
not even Milton's wars of the angels

SIZE OF WHALE'S CALF. 97

" Could merit more than that small infantry
Warred on by cranes ; though all the giant brood
Of Phlegra with the heroic race were joined
That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side
Mixed with auxiliar gods ; and what resounds
In fable or romance, of Uther's son,
Begirt with British and Armoric knights."

The size of a sixty foot right whale, which
is, perhaps, that of the average, can be some-
what clearly apprehended by Captain Scoresby's
estimate of its weight at seventy tons, or equi-
valent to the weight of near two hundred fat
oxen, of which the blubber in a fat subject will
be nearly thirty tons. Some whalemen judge
it does not attain its full size until twenty-five
years, by certain notches which they think they
can observe in the slabs of whalebone. But
this cannot be clearly ascertained. The natural
life of the animal is undoubtedly much longer.
Analogy would lead to the inference that it
might be as long lived as the elephant, to which
it bears a resemblance in certain other parti-
culars besides its size.

The calf of a large right whale at birth is
about fourteen feet long, and weighs a ton. The
milk of the cow is then very abundant. I have

H

98 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

heard those who have seen it say, that, when
the mammae of a nursing cow whale are cut, the
flow of milk will whiten the ocean. The ascer-
tained fact that it brings forth its young only
one at a time, or at most two, and probably
once a year, or after a period of nine or ten
months' gestation, together with the rapid de-
crease of the numbers by slaughter of these
animals, on every cruising ground in the
ocean where whalers have found them, would
seem to be evidence of a slow growth and
long life.

The only natural enemies it is known to have
are the sword-fish, thrasher, and killer. This
latter is itself a species of whale that has sharp
teeth, and is exceedingly swift in the water, and
will bite and worry a whale until quite dead.
When one of them gets among a gam or school
of whales, he spreads great consternation, and
the timid creatures fly every way like deer chased
by the hounds, and fall an easy prey to whale-
boats that may be near enough to avail them-
selves of the opportunity. I have heard a
captain detail with great interest a scene of this

FIGHT WITH A KILLER. 99

kind, in which the killers and harpooners were
together against the poor whales, and the
killers actually succeeded in pulling under and
making off with one prize which the whalemen
thought themselves sure of.

In the United States' exploring squadron, on
board the Peacock, as we learn from the narra-
tive of Commander Wilkes, they witnessed a
sea-fight between a whale and one of these
enemies. The sea was quite smooth, and
offered the best possible view of the combat.
First, at a distance from the ship, a whale was
seen floundering in a most extraordinary way,
lashing the smooth sea into perfect foam, and
endeavouring apparently to extricate himself
from some annoyance. As he approached the
ship, the struggle continuing and becoming
more violent, it was perceived that a fish, about
twenty feet long, held him by the jaw, his

ulings, contortions, and throes all betokening
the agony of the huge monster.

The whale now threw himself at full length
upon (he water, with open mouth, his pursuer
btill hanging to his under jaw, the blood issuing

II ';>

ioo THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

from the wound, and dyeing the sea for a long
distance around. But all his flounderings were
of no avail ; his pertinacious enemy still main-
tained his hold, and was evidently getting the
advantage of him. Much alarm seemed to be
felt by the many other whales about. These
" killers" are of a brownish colour on the back,
and white on the belly, with a long dorsal
fin. Such was the turbulence with which they
passed, that a good view could not be had of
them to make out more nearly the description.
These fish attack a whale in the same way that
a dog baits a bull, and worry him to death.
They are endowed with immense strength, armed
with strong, sharp teeth, and generally seize the
whale by the lower jaw. It is said the only
part they eat of them is the tongue.

The sword-fish and thrasher have been also
seen to attack the whale together, the sword-
fish driving his tremendous weapon into the
belly of the whale from beneath upward, and
the thrasher fastened to his back, and giving
him terrific blows with his flail. The thrasher
not having any power to strike through the

SWORD-FISH AND THRASHER. 101

water, it has been observed by all who have
witnessed these strange combats, that it seems
to be the instinctive war policy of the sword-fish
to make his attack from below, thus causing the
whale to rise above the surface, which, under the
prick of the cruel sword of his enemy, he has
been known to do to a great height, the unre-
lenting thrasher meanwhile holding on like a
leech, and dealing his blows unsparingly through
the air with all the force of his lengthy frame,
sometimes twenty feet.

In a statement made by a Kennebec ship-
master in 1818, and sworn to before a justice of
the peace in Kennebec county, Maine, it was
asserted that the notable sea serpent and whale
are sometimes found in conflict. At six o'clock
in the afternoon of June 21st, in the packet
Delia, plying between Boston and Hallowell,
when Cape Ann bore west southwest about two
miles, steering north north-east, Captain Shubael
West, and fifteen others on board with him, saw
an object directly ahead which he had no doubt
was the sea serpent, or the creature so often
described under that name, engaged in fight

102 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

with a large hump-back wha]e that was endea-
vouring to elude the attack.

The serpent threw up his tail from twenty-
five to thirty feet in a perpendicular direction,
striking the whale by it with tremendous blows
rapidly repeated, which were distinctly heard and
very loud for two or three minutes. They then
both disappeared, moving in a west southwest
direction, but after a few minutes reappeared in-
shore of the packet, and about under the sun,
the reflection of which was so strong as to pre-
vent their seeing so distinctly as at first, when
the serpent's fearful blows with his tail were re-
peated, and clearly heard as before.

They again went down for a short time, and
then came up to the surface under the packet's
larboard quarter, the whale appearing first and
the serpent in pursuit, who was again seen to
shoot up his tail as before, which he held out of
water some time, waving it in the air before
striking, and at the same time, while his tail
remained in this position, he raised his head
fifteen or twenty feet, as if taking a view of the
surface of the sea. After being seen in this

SEA SERPENT AND WHALE. 103

position a few minutes, the serpent and whale
again sunk and disappeared, and neither were
seen after by any on board. It was Captain
West's opinion that the whale was trying to
escape, as he spouted but once at a time on
coming to the surface, and the last time he
appeared he went down before the serpent
came up.

Between all these natural foes and its preda-
tory human enemy, the great mammoth of
ocean seems doomed to extinction. But I have
no scruple at confessing that, since I have be-
come closely acquainted with the habits of the
great right whale, how quietly it grazes through
the great pasture- ground which God has or-
dained for it and fitted so well to be its home ;
and since I have observed the hazards that have
to be encountered and the perils to be sur-
mounted in its capture by men, and have
coupled with this the consideration of the
various other sources from which the human
family can now be supplied with oil, whether
for burning or the arts, — I begin to be somewhat
doubtful about the lawfulness and expediency

104 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

of the whale fishery. As an old whaleman once
said in his own way, " Whales has feelings as
well as anybody. They do'nt like to be stuck
in the gizzards, and hauled alongside, and cut
in, and tried out in them 'ere boilers no more
than I do/'

This may seem foolish, and let it go for
what it is worth. But if the business cannot
be successfully pursued without the flagrant
violation of the Sabbath now caused by it, and
the consequent disastrous effect upon the moral
and religious characters of those engaged in it,
no well-grounded Christian will be in doubt as
to its ^lawfulness and mmorality. Whale
ships, almost without exception, desecrate the
Lord's day, by taking their game and making
way with it just as on any common day. They
pay no practical regard whatever to the great
law of the Sabbath, seeming utterly to forget
the combined prophecy and principle,

" Who resteth not one day in seven,
That soul shall never rest in heaven !"

But of this more hereafter. Meanwhile, let me
say to any seamen that may chance to read these

SABBATH DESECRATION. lOo

pages — hold fast to the Sabbath ; claim it of
your employers as a right ; stipulate before-
hand that it shall be yours for rest, religious
reflection, and worship, and refuse on principle
to desecrate it by any other labour than may be
necessary for the safety and proper working of
the ship.

" Wanderers on the dark blue sea !

As your bark rides gallantly,

Prayer and praise become ye well,

Though ye hear no temple bell.

The Sabbath hours which God has given,

Give ye to worship, rest, and heaven !"

106 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

CHAPTEK VIII.

ATLANTIC OCEAN MAMMOTHS AND MONSTERS.

" In the free element beneath me swam,
Flounder'd, and dived, in play, in chase, in battle,
Fishes of every colour, form, and kind ;
Which language cannot paint, and mariner
Had never seen ; from dread leviathan
To insect millions peopling every wave :
Gather'd in shoals immense, like floating islands,
Led by mysterious instinct through that waste
And trackless region, though on every side
Assaulted by voracious enemies,
Whales, sharks, and monsters, arm'd in front or jaw,
With swords, saws, spiral horns, or hooked fangs."

The World before the Flood.

Cape Horn — A shoal of Sperm "Whales — Capture of a "Whale's
calf — Dimensions of a "Whale's calf — A Sun-fish — Varieties
of fortune — Sperm "Whale lost — Concord of "Whales.

False Banks, Atlantic Ocean, lat. 36° £., Ion. 46° W.

AFTER doubling Cape Horn, Providence
was propitious, as to our enterprise, in the
offer of whales. We lowered off the notable
Cape itself, when in sight of the islands called
Diego Ramirez. Although so near to that

A SHOAL OF SPERM WHALES. 107

formidable out-jutting barrier of Nature, be-
tween two great oceans, which the reports of
weather-beaten mariners have made the abiding-
place of storms, it was the loveliest day we had
known since leaving the southern tropic ; the
sky cloudless, the sun genially warm, its place
in the heavens away off to the north of us, and
the ocean nearly calm. The short night, too,
was one of surpassing splendour, the whole
southern hemisphere lit up with all the glorious
lamps of heaven, never seen by those who dwell
at the north, the Magellanic clouds, and the
sightly constellation of the southern cross, and
a brilliant though small comet visible in the
south-west, its tail pointing upward to the
zenith, and about twice as long as the belt of
Orion.

In the afternoon a shoal or " school" of sperm
whales passed us, making for the Pacific with all
the speed of flukes and fins. They showed them-
selves, for a few minutes, about a quarter of a
mile off, and three boats were soon lowered in
pursuit ; but they never let us see them again,
it being the habit of the sperm whale to stay

108 TPIE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

under water much longer than the common
whale, Poor fellows ! they would find keen
human enemies enough where they were going,
and not unlikely the blubber sides of one or
more of them would soon be headed up in the
hold of some whaler, and biding their time to
fill honourable lamps with light ten thousand
miles off.

We felt the cold on this side the American
continent, in the rude Atlantic, more than ever
we did in that other ocean, which does not belie
its name, or even than at the pitch of the Cape,
in sixty degrees south. One morning, just after
breakfast, I had the pleasure of climbing the
mizzen rigging to witness the capture of our
first Atlantic whale. The ocean was in its
stillest, loveliest mood, its breast heaving only
like a sleeping infant's ; the morning sun most
glorious; the sky without a cloud, and that
glimmer of reflection from the molten steel
mirror beneath, which I remember being so
much struck with the first time I ever saw the
sublime sight when a boy.

There were two whales, which proved, as

CAPTURE OF A WHALE'S CALF. 100

•was thought, to be a cow and a yearling calf.
They were putting their heads together as in
love, or to rub off the crab-lice and barnacles
that adhere by millions to the top and sides of
their heads. The calf was soon struck, and
made little ado of being killed — not going into
a flurry, or sounding long, or making the water
foam, fly, or splintering the cedar with strokes
of his tail, and "spilling the men," as they
sometimes do.

The one thought to be the dam prudently
made off a mile and a half to windward, whilst
we got the cub alongside the ship about eleven
o'clock. His proportions were respectable for
a youngling — thirty-nine feet long and nineteen
feet round ; his head seven feet from its tip to
the spout-holes, and three feet wide just behind
the same, and three feet thick to the inside
roof. The thickest of the blubber was eight
inches. His fins were each five feet long, and
he was six feet across the throat. They rifled
him of his blubber and bone in the way already

rribed, and some time before evening the
refuse scrap-mutter of his blubber was burning

no THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

brightly under the try-works, and affording all
the fuel for trying jout.

Just after sundown that evening, while we
were lying to, and the try-works were blazing,
there was seen going slowly by the ship, a rod
or two off, a large sun- fish. The captain cau-
tiously lowered his boat, and, paddling lightly,
came up to him, and had effectually darted his
cruel iron before danger was suspected. Find-
ing it impossible to hoist him into the boat or
warp him along, they made fast another iron,
and came to the ship with the tow-line, which
the men at once reeved in a block, and soon
merrily hauled him in, singing the while a
sailor's song.

We found our prize a singular- looking ich-
thyological wonder as ever was seen. His form
is that of an ellipse, or like an elliptical shield,
about four and a half feet in the longest diame-
ter, three feet across, and one foot thick. His
mouth is small and round, like a sea-porcupine's,
and sucking constantly with great force like a
sucker. His eye is large as a bullock's, and
very prominent. He has two curious fins to

SUN-FISH. Ill

scull with — one on his belly, or on one rim of
the ellipse, the other on his back, or the other
rim of the ellipse — and a sort of steering oar in
the middle of one of the sides. He moves edge-
wise through the water. He is covered to the
depth of three or four inches on both sides with
a white elastic case, like the meat of a cocoa-
nut, and very much resembling the sturgeon's
nose that boys put into balls to make them
bounce well.

Under this case lies some excellent white
meat, which was dug out, and supplied all hands
fore and aft, with several excellent meals, re-
lishing as nobody can tell how who has not
been as long at sea as we had been, without
anything fresh. The liver of the sun-fish con-
tains a large quantity of yellow oil, which is
thought to be excellent as an external unguent
or embrocation for the rheumatism.

The next morning our captain made fast to
another much larger right whale than our for-
mer capture, turned him up dead about half past
ten, after a hard fight, but in less than twenty
minutes thu huge carcass sunk bodily, with all

112 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

the irons in it — a dead loss of more than a
thousand dollars, which could easily have been
prevented, had there heen buoys or floats to
have bent on to harpoons, and darted into him
as soon as dead.

A few days after this mortifying event, we
had much better success in the capture of a
large whale, of the sperm kind, worth to the
ship at least twenty-five hundred dollars. The
captain's boat was also fast to another, that ran
off very swiftly upon being struck, along with the
rest of the school, making the deep boil like a
pot and terrifying all his comrades by the ex-
travagant and mad antics which the prickings of
those cruel irons naturally goaded him to.
They would have been glad enough, I have no
doubt, to help their brother whale in his distress,
and as it was they greatly endangered the lives
of all his pursuers. But after being lanced
several times, and dragging the lone boat quite
out of sight from the mast-head, and tiring
them all out, he was cut loose from, and left
with two harpoons buried in his blubber.
They would probably prove the death of him in

SPERM WHALE LOST. 113

a few days, and waste his oil upon the ocean
like that of thousands before.

I felt not a little anxiety for the captain and
boat's crew, engaged thus alone and out of sight
amid a horde of infuriated and frightened
whales, all the time fastened to one of them by
his harpoons, and momently liable to be struck
and upset. It was a pleasurable relief to hear
them announced from the masthead as returning,
though I could not help regretting that they
should have to come back with only their labour
for their pains; and, when seemingly in the
very arms of victory, after all the hazard and
toil of the chase, to be compelled to abandon
the lawful prize, which perhaps an hour's lon-
ger holding to would have made their own.
But such, time and again, is a whaleman's
fortune. To him, emphatically,

" There 's many a slip
'Tween the cup and the lip."

From the conduct of those whales, from what
I before observed, and from what others, well in-
formed, have told me, it was evident to me that
the societies of these great sea monsters seldom

i

114 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

go to war, but live together in cordial and happy
amity, and render each other all the help in their
power when in distress. They read to predatory
and contentious man the same lesson that
Milton derives from the concord of the fallen
angels :

" 0 shame to men ! devil with devil damn'd

Firm concord holds ; men only disagree

Of creatures rational, though under hope

Of heavenly grace ; and, God proclaiming peace,

Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife

Among themselves, and levy cruel "wars,

Wasting the earth, each other to destroy :

As if (which might induce us to accord)

Man had not hellish foes enow "besides,

That, day and night, for his destruction wait."

(,\M OF WHALES. H5

CHAPTEK IX.

EPISODES IN THE FORTUNES OF WHALEMEN.

" There she lies ! there she lies !
Like an isle on ocean's breast ;
' Where away ?' West south-west,
Where the billows meet the skies.
Port the helm ! trim the sail !
Let us chase this mighty whale."

Whaler's Song.

Gam of Whales — Grounding on a Whale's back — Captain
overboard — His narrow escape — The Captain's story —
Accidents by boat-lines — Dangerous progress — Fruitless
perils — Whaler's Journal — Fatal result — The heart under
the Pea-jacket.

THE mortifying event referred to in the last
chapter, of loosing our whale by sinking,
after all the toil and hazard incurred in its cap-
ture, is paralleled only by a like occurrence in
the fortunes of another whale ship on these very
False Banks, some two or three years ago, which
I will give, partly in the words of one who was
himself an actor in the scene described,
one of the hands in the captain's boat.

I 2

116 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

Upon getting into a " gam" of whales, this
boat, together with that of one of the mates,
pulled for a single whale that was seen at a dis-
tance from the others, and succeeded in getting
square up to their victim unperceived. In a
twinkling the boat-steerer sprang to his feet, and
as he darted his second harpoon, the bow of the
boat grounded on the body of the whale, but
was instantly " sterned off," and before the
whale had sufficiently recovered from his sur-
prise to show fight, the "cedar," (viz. the boat,
so technically called from the material of which
it is usually built,) was out of the reach of his
flukes.

The captain, who now took his place in the
bow of the boat, seized his lance, and the oars-
men again shot the boat ahead, but before he
could plunge the lance the whale pitched down
and disappeared. The line attached to the har-
poon, being of great length, is coiled very care-
fully and compactly in a large tub in the centre
of the boat ; from thence it passes to the stern,
and around a post called the loggerhead, firmly
secured to the frame of the boat ; and it is used

CAPTAIN OVERBOARD. 117

for checking the line by friction as it runs out,
a " round turn" being taken for that purpose.
From the loggerhead the line passes along the
whole length of the boat between the men, and
leads out through a notch in the bow to the
harpoons, two of which are always attached to
the line's end.

As soon as the whale disappeared, the line
commenced running out of the tub so rapidly,
that, as it rubbed around the loggerhead, sparks
of fire flew from it in a stream. As the different
coils run from the tub, they sometimes, when
not well laid down, get " foul" or tangled, in
which case there is great danger, for, in attempt-
ing to clear the line, a turn may get by accident
around an arm or a leg. As any one can see,
there is little hope for the unhappy man thus
entangled, for, unless the line be cut instantly,
either the limb is lost or the man goes over-
board.

A few years since, one of the most active and
energetic of our whaling captains was thus taken
overboard by the line, and had the singular
good fortune to survive to tell the story. The

118 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

whale was sounding very swiftly when the line
became entangled. The boat-steerer, who was
at his post in the stern of the boat, tending
the line, instantly threw the turn off the log-
gerhead, and the tangled part ran forward and
caught in the bow. The captain was seen to
stoop to clear it, and then at once disappeared.
The boat-steerer seized the hatchet, which is
always at hand, and chopped the line, with the
faint hope, that, when it slackened, the captain
could extricate himself.

The accident being so sudden and dreadful
as almost to stupify the amazed crew, none of
them spake a word, but each eye was fixed upon
the sea with fearful interest. Several minutes
had elapsed, and the last hope was expiring,
when an object was seen to rise to the surface
a short way from the boat, which, though ex-
hibiting no sign of animation, was speedily
reached, and the body of the captain, apparently
lifeless, was lifted into the boat. It was evi-
dent, however, that vitality was not extinct, and,
to the joy of the little crew, symptoms of con-
sciousness became visible in a few minutes, and

CAPTAIN'S NARROW ESCAPE. 119

the oars were lustily plied to reach the ship.
By means of the usual remedies, the resusci-
tated captain was, in a few days, in his own
words, " as good as new."

In giving an account of the accident and
his singular escape, he said that, as soon as he
discovered that the line had caught in the bow
of the boat, he stooped to clear it, and attempted
to throw it out from the " chock," so that it
might run free. In doing this he was caught
by a turn round his left wrist, and felt himself
dragged overboard. He was perfectly conscious
while he was rushing down, down, with un-
known force and swiftness ; and it appeared to
him that his arm would be torn from his body,
so great was the resistance of the water. He
was well aware of his perilous condition, and
that his only chance of life was to cut the line.
But he could not remove his right arm from his
side, to which it was pressed by the force of the
element through which he was drawn.

When he first opened his eyes, it appeared
as if a stream of fire was passing before them ;
but as he descended it grew dark, and he felt a

120 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

terrible pressure on his brain, and a roaring as
of thunder in his ears. Yet he was conscious
of his situation, and made several efforts to
reach the knife that was in his belt. At last,
as he felt his strength failing, and his brain
reeling, the line for an instant slackened ; he
reached his knife, and instantly that the line
again became taut, its edge was upon it, and by
a desperate effort, of his exhausted energies he
freed himself. After this he only remembered
a feeling of suffocation, a gurgling spasm, and
all was over, until he awoke to an agonizing
sense of pain in the boat.

Eut to come back from this digression ; —
the whale to which our hero's boat was now fast
took out a large portion of the line with great
rapidity before it was deemed prudent to check
it; then an extra turn was taken around the
loggerhead, and the strain upon it became very
great; for the whale continuing to descend,
would bring the bow of the boat down, till the
water was just about to rush over the gunwale
and fill it, when the line would be "surged,"
or slacked out.

ACCIDENTS BY BOAT-LINES. 121

Sometimes, when the line is nearly spent,
and there is great danger of losing the whale
by having it all run out, the disposition to hold
on has been fatally indulged too far, and the
boat taken down. I have heard of one boat
being thus lost on the "False Banks," and her
whole crew drowned. And very lately the
whaling bark, Janet, of Westport, lost her cap-
tain and a boat's crew of five men, they being
all carried down and drowned by the boat-line
getting foul while they were fast to a whale.

In the present instance, before taking all
their line, the whale began to ascend, and as
it became slackened, the line was hauled in
"hand over hand," by the boat's crew, and
coiled away by the boat-steerer. The moment
the whale came to the surface, "he went smok-
ing off like a locomotive with an express."
They held manfully to the line, and with oars
peaked, ready to be seized in a moment, they
dashed along in the track of the whale. Had
they been fast yoked to a team of wild horses
on a plank road, their rate of travelling could
hardly have been quicker. Mile-stones, trees,

122 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

and rails were all one in their Gilpin race ; and
Mazeppa-like, as they dashed along at the rear
of the monster, they could only see one white
bank of foam, which rolled up before them
higher than the bow of the boat, as if it would
momently rush aboard.

The whale, in this instance, decided that
their ride should not be altogether barren of
variety, for they soon found themselves rushing
into the midst of loose whales, which, having
been disturbed by the other boats, were merrily
fluking and snorting all around, and playing their
mad antics and gambols. The other boats had
also fastened, and as their whale, too, seemed to
have a fondness for company, they all became
congregated in one wild and excited troop.

At length, as the first whale slackened his
speed, they hauled up to him, and the captain
darted his lance adroitly, which took effect.
The second mate, who had kept as near as
possible during the chase, now fastened with
his barbed irons, and whichsoever way the har-
assed whale turned, he met an enemy. Weak-
ened with the loss of blood, which was now

FRUITLESS PERILS. 123

jetted forth from his huge nostrils in torrents,
the subdued monster soon became passive, and
his- captors lay off at a safe distance to wait the
last struggle. This was speedily over; for,
after a few moments of convulsive writhing,
there came the final spasm, which is always
terrible to see. The surrounding waters were
lashed into foam, and all previous exhibitions of
power were as nothing compared with the in-
credible strength put forth in the flurry.

At last, leaping almost clear from the water,
the whale pitched down head foremost, and
before their lines tautened, they commenced
hauling in hand over hand, expecting that an
impulse to the surface would begin, should he
die under water, so that the body would rise
directly ; but in this they were deceived. The
strain upon the lines soon indicated that the
whale was sinking, and it was all in vain they
endeavoured to check its downward tendency.
It would sink like lead in spite of all their
efforts, and they were obliged at last to cut the
lines in order to keep the boats from going
down with it. Thus they lost not only the

124 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

fruits of many hours of severe toil, but a large
quantity of line and the harpoons also, besides
realizing the moral detriment and loss of spirits
necessarily connected with such a disappoint-
ment.

Bad as this luck was, it was not attended
with loss of life like the following case I have
met with in "Fragments of a Sailor's Journal" —
being a contribution to " The Sheet Anchor :"
We were cruising, says the author, somewhere
between the latitude of thirty-six and thirty-seven
degrees south, and the longitude of sixty-eight
degrees east, in search of right whales. It was in
the afternoon, and the ship was moving along
under her top-gallan tsails at the rate of about
five knots the hour. The most hardened grum-
bler could not find fault with the day. At the
fore and main top-gallant cross-trees were two
men on the look-out for whales. It was now
nearly four o'clock, when the man at the main
sung out, " There she blows !" He repeated
the cry regularly five or six times. All was
now excitement among the officers and men.
Every one was anxious to know if it was the

WHALER'S JOURNAL. 125

kind of whale we wanted. The mate hailed
the man at the mast-head, " Where away is that
whale ? What do you call her ?"

" Eight whale, sir, on the lee beam, two
miles off; look out sharp for her !"

" Sing out when the ship heads for her !"
" Ay, ay, sir."

" Keep her away !" said the captain to the
man at the helm. "Boy, hand me the spy- glass."
" Steady !" sung out the man at the mast-head.
" Steady it is !" answered the wheel. The cap-
tain then started to go aloft. " Mr. A. (to the
mate), you may square in the after yards, and
then call all hands."

"Forward, there !" shouted the mate. "Haul
the main- sail up and square the yards ! Bill !"
(to an old sailor). " Sir ?" " Call all hands !"
" Ay, ay, sir. All hands, ahoy !" shouted old
Hill, in a voice like a tempest. " Stand by the
boats !" In less than no time the deck was
alive with men.

" Boat-steerers, get your boats ready !" In

a moment, as it were, the boats were in readi-

B, the tubs put in, the lines bent on to the

126 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

harpoons, and the crews standing by, ready
to follow the boats down to the water, when
the word came from the captain to lower
away.

" There she blows !" sung out the man at
the fore ; " not half a mile off."

"Down helm !" shouted the captain. "Mr.
A., brace up the mizen top-sail. Hoist and
swing the boats ! Lower away !" Down went
the boats, and down followed the crews. As
the boats struck the water, every man was on
his thwart, with his hand on the loom of his
oar, and all at once the three boats were cutting
their way through the water in the direction of
the whale.

It was my duty to steer the mate's boat, and
she happened to be the fastest puller, so that,
although we all left the ship together, and for
a few rods kept nearly head and head with each
other, still we knew well enough that, as soon
as the word came from the mate to " give way,"
we should drop the others in a moment. So
we did not fret ourselves, but kept cool for a
tight pull when the whale should show himself

WHALER'S JOURNAL. 127

on the surface of the water again, which he did
the moment after.

" Here she is !" cried the mate ; " and not
over ten rods from the boat. Now, my dear
fellows, lay back hard ! Spring hard, I tell
you ! There she blows ! Only give way, my
boys, and she is ours !" The boat bounded
forward like a thing of life. "Spring like
tigers !" said the mate, his voice sinking almost
to a whisper. I looked over my shoulder to see
what kind of a chance I was about to have, at
the same time pulling at my own oar with all
my might. We were going on her starboard
quarter; just the chance I liked to fasten to a
whale.

" Stand up !" shouted the mate ; and in a
moment I was on my feet, and in the next
moment I had two harpoons to the hitches
into her. " Stern ! stern all !" sung out the
mate, as he saw the irons in the whale. " Come
here, my boy !" said he to me. We shifted
ends ; he to the head, and I to the stern of the
boat. The whale started off like lightning.

" Hold on, line !" said the mate ; and away

128 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

we shot after her, like an arrow from the bow.
The mate by this time had his lance ready.
" Haul me on to that whale !" he shouted ; and
all hands turned to hauling line., while I coiled
it away in' the stern sheets. We had got
nearly up to the whale when she took to sound-
ing, taking the line right up and down from the
head of the boat. I had two turns of the line
round the loggerhead, and was holding on as
much as the boat would bear, when, all at once,
another large whale, that we knew nothing
about, shot up out of the water nearly her whole
length, in a slanting position, hanging directly
over the boat. I threw off the turns from the
loggerhead, and shouted to the men to " stern."
But it was of no use ; she fell the whole length
of her body on the boat.

I heard a crash ! and, as I went down, I felt
a pressure of water directly over my head,
caused, as I thought, by the whale's flukes as
she struck. How long I was under water I
know not ; but I remember that all looked dark
above me, and that I tried very hard to shove
my head through in order to breathe. At last

FATAL RESULT. 129

I succeeded ; but what a sight was that on which
I gazed when I found myself on the surface of
the water ! About a rod off was the whale that
we were fast to, thrashing the water into a foam
with his flukes, the ocean red with" blood, and
the crimson streams pouring from the wounds
in the whale's sides made by the harpoons. In
another direction I could see pieces of the boat
floating around. At the distance of two or
three miles, I could occasionally get a glimpse
of the ship as I rode on the top of a swell, and
not a human being in sight.

Not losing heart or hope, I struck out for a
piece of the stern of our once beautiful boat a
few rods distant. The crew came up one after
another, catching at anything they could see to
help to keep them afloat. One poor fellow
came paddling along with two or three oars un-
der him, crying out that his back was broken.
Another of the crew and myself got him on a

•«• of the boat that we had hold of. His
thiicli was broken, and he could not move his
legs at all.

The second mate soon after picked us up in

j

130 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

his boat, and so much had we been engaged in
looking out for ourselves, that we did not per-
ceive one of our number was missing. But
alas ! it was too soon found out. He was a
young man, about seventeen years old, and did
not belong to the boat, but went in the place of
the midship oarsman, who was sick at the time.
The whale fell directly over him, and probably
killed him in a moment.

With what feelings we pulled around and
around the spot where the boat was stove, un-
willing to believe, even after we knew there was
no hope, that our shipmate was gone, never
more to return ! How silently we glided along-
side of the ship, and hoisted in our other poor
shipmate, now lamed for life !

" Ah, that some of those people who look
upon sailors as little better than brutes, and
who know little or nothing of the kind feelings
and strong affections that are hid under their
rough outside, could have seen what I saw on
board that ship. Even their hearts would melt;
and they would find it is not always the polished
and educated, the smooth-faced and handsome

THE HEART UNDER THE PEA-JACKET. 131

man, that has the warmest heart or the most
generous feelings/'

How true is all this, and how often has it
been proved in my own intercourse with seamen.
Under many a rough pea-jacket bosom there
beats a heart, which you will be feeling long
for, and be slow in finding under the pur-
ple, and silks, and satins of fashion and frivol-
ity. The poet Burns knew it when he sang so
sweetly: —

"The heart aye's the part, ay,

That makes us right or wrang :
Nae treasures, nor pleasures,

Could make us happy lang.
It's no in titles nor in rank ;
It's no in wealth like Lon'on bank,

To purchase peace and rest :
It's no in making rnuckle mair ;
It 's no in books ; it 's no in lair,

To make us truly bless' d.
If happiness hae not her seat

And centre in the breast,
We may be wise, or rich, or great,

But never can be bless' d."

J 2

132 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.
CHAPTEE X.

CONQUEST AND DISPOSAL OF A SPERM WHALE.

" Ye gentlemen of England, that live at home at ease,
Ah, little do you think upon the dangers of the seas !"

Ocean Song.

" I love thee— when I see thee stand,

The Hope of every other land :

A sea-mark in the tide of Time,

Rearing to heaven thy brows sublime.

I love thee — when I contemplate

The full-orb'd grandeur of thy state ;

Thy laws and liberties, that rise,

Man's noblest works beneath the skies ;

To which the Pyramids are tame,

And Grecian temples bow their fame."

Montgomery.

Large Spermaceti captured — Description of Sperm Whale —
Cutting-in — Spermaceti — Sharks — Tenacity of life of
Sharks — Sperm Candle manufactories — New England
enterprise — Hopeful future.

Brazil Banks, Atlantic Ocean, off the Eio de la Plata.

IN this region of fishing enterprize, we cap-
tured a large whale, a genuine makrocepha-
lus, which I found by measurement to be sixty
feet long and thirty feet round.. His lower jaw-
bone was sixteen feet long, and it had forty-eight

LARGE SPERMACETI CAPTURED. 133

large teeth, some of them a foot long, three of
which were broken off, and others much worn.
There were also several very large scars on the
outside of the jaw, and sundry other marks upon
his body, that showed him to have been in the
wars. All these things, and the way in which
he slued his flukes whenever the boat came near,
were thought by his captors to prove him an
old cruiser in these seas, and to have known a
whale-boat, and, not unlikely, to have had a
taste of cold iron before. It would seem, in-
deed, as if there could be very few of the full
grown, or aged sperm whales in the ocean, that
have not been, some time or other, chased by a
whaler ; and their numbers are getting so greatly
reduced, that the sperm whale-fishing alone will
not be much longer attempted.

What goes under the name of the sperm
whale's head, is nearly one third of the mon-
ster's length. It is customary to sever this
entirely at first, and let it tow astern, while the
rest of the carcase is being stripped of its very
valuable blubber. Utterly unlike the right
whale, which has no teeth, the head of a sperm

134 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

whale is square, the end of it something like
the largest timber-log ever seen, sawed off
straight. It is truly a prodigious mass of or-
ganised, compact matter, with which this animal
has been known sometimes, to butt like a ram
against the sides of a ship, and break it in.
They often go in this way "head on" to boats,
but are generally pricked off and turned with a
lance, or dexterously avoided.

From what may be called the top of the
forehead, to the roof of the mouth of this
square-faced sui generis monster, it measured
nine feet in a straight line, and there was a cor-
responding breadth and depth of forehead ; so
that, with its prodigious volume of brain, (head
matter), and so large a facial angle, the bust of
this creature is most favourably commended to
the fingers of phrenologists. Is it not a little
surprising, that in the researches of comparative
phrenology, the cranium of the great sperm
whale should be overlooked ?

For the matter of room or space, a phreno-
logist might keep shop in it, and light it up, if he
chose, with its own brains, and there point out

CUTTING-IN OF SPERM WHALE. 135

to visitors, by the self-maintained light, the
places in the walls and ceiling, where the differ-
ent organs lay. It would be like a painter at
Rome who should open his studio in the Par-
thenon ; the celestial gods would be eyeing him
from the ceiling ; deified men and the infernals
would be looking on him from all around. And
if the aforesaid phrenologist and favoured artist
should not alike become masters under circum-
stances so imposing, it would be nobody's fault
but their own.

But to finish the disposal of our present
prize : — The lower jaw, with the teeth all in it,
was first separated by the sharp spades in the
hands of the officers, from the head, and hoisted
in upon deck ; then the upper jaw was separated
from the mass of crown, forehead, and head-
matter, or spermaceti; and then what whalers
call the junk, or the mighty mass of blubber,
was separated from the case, which is the name
they give to the brain-pan, white horse, integu-
ments, and flesh of the head. The junk was
hoisted in on deck, weighing, I will not say
how many thousand pounds. The former cap-

136 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

tain of this ship on another voyage, found a
large barnacle in the centre of a sperm whale's
junk, which must have got there in the same way
that stones, and deers' horns, and toads, get into
the solid heart of trees, by being lodged in the
bark, and then overgrown by it.

When old Captain Bunker, of New Bedford,
of whom almost everybody in America has
heard, was on a cruise in the ship Howard, in
north latitude thirty degrees thirty minutes, and
east longitude one hundred and fifty-four de-
grees, he threw a harpooon into a large whale,
but the whale was not captured, and the har-
poon of course lost. It was about five years
afterwards, that, being precisely in the same lati-
tude, and east longitude one hundred and forty,
he made fast to a noble whale, and, after a hard
struggle, succeeded in getting him alongside.
And lo ! when cutting him up, a harpoon,
rusted off at the shank, was found fast anchored
in the old fellow's " cut- water." "Hallo !" said
Captain Bunker, jesting, " here is my missing
old iron." What he said in joke proved to be
very truth, for the blubber-kept harpoon was

SPERMACETI. 137

the identical one he had lost five years before,
having on it the ship's name, and his own pri-
vate mark.

But to come back to our great subject of dis-
section now in hand : — The case was raised par-
tially out of the water, so as to keep the waves
from washing into it, and an incision was then
made through the membrane of one of the ven-
tricles of the head, into which they let down
great buckets, as into a well, dipping them full
of pure sperm, and pouring it, as whipped up,
into hogsheads. It has a slight rose tint, and
looks like ice cream, or white butter half churned.
There was about sixteen barrels of these brains(?)
alone, and ninety, or ninety-five barrels of oil
in all. The sea became all white on the cutting
in side of the ship, with the spermaceti and
blubber that escaped. Thousands of albatrosses,
gulls, and haglets more than got their fill, so
tluit they flew heavily, and with difficulty, and
probably might have to spend three or four
d.i ys, if not weeks, in digestion, like the sloth.
Sperm whalers are provided with large scoops,
by which, in good weather, they save a great

138 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

deal of what we lost, some of the boys being
sent out in a boat to dip it up.

The boat steerers were down upon the car-
case four times, to secure hooks and hawsers
into the great holes they cut in the blubber
from above. Eight or ten sharks were seen
prowling round, of the piked-nose kind, some
of them eight or nine feet long. They will
come right upon the whale's body with a wave,
bite out great pieces of flesh, turn over on their
bellies, and roll off. Several of them were har-
pooned, and two went off with irons in their
backs, which seemed as little to annoy them,
as a small splinter in the thumb of a wood
sawyer.

The tenacity with which the shark holds to
life, or, rather, life to the shark, is astonishing,
and hardly to be credited by one who has not
himself observed it. We caught a number on
this passage for their skin, which, cleansed and
dried, is an excellent substitute for sand-paper,
and is much used in whale ships to smooth and
polish the various things they make up out of
whale's bone and teeth. One that we hauled

TENACITY OF LIFE IN THE SHARK. 139

upon deck, after it was cut open, and the heart
and all the internal viscera were removed, still
continued to flap and thrash with its tail, and
seemed to try to bite it off. The heart kept
contracting for twenty minutes after it was taken
out and pierced with the knife. And, from
what I have myself seen, I could not ridicule or
deny a story that was told me of a shark's being
known to swim off, upon being thrown overboard,
after it was opened, gutted, and had its tail
chopped off. Sailors don't like them a bit, but
kill them whenever they can ; and there is little
wonder, considering they are so likely to be
themselves eaten by these greedy rangers through
the paths of the sea.

But to have done with our whale : — It re-
mains to finish " bailing" the case, and to cut
out the blubber of the junk from the part of it
called " white horse" which is a tough, stringy,
and slightly elastic substance interposed with it,
that contains little or no oil, and is as good as a
cotton bale to shield a sperm whale's head from
blows. Then follow the trying-out, stowing
down, overhauling, and coopering again the

140 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

hogsheads of this valuable fluid of which they
on land, who are turning night into day by
means of its clear light, little know the hazard
and labour of American whalemen in procuring.
At the completion of the voyage this oil will be
drawn from the casks, and after a process of
boiling and cooling, will be put into vats with a
strainer which detains the spermaceti mixed
with oil.

This valuable residue is then a yellow viscous
substance, which is afterward put into strong
canvas bags, and subjected to a screw press,
and next to the pressure of the hydraulic engine,
whereby the oily matter is all expelled, leaving
the spermaceti in -hard, concrete masses. This,
after boiling with potash, and purifying, is mould-
ed into those beautiful oilless candles which are
sold under the name of spermaceti.

The first manufactory of sperm candles in
America was started in Ehode Island, in 1750,
by one Benjamin Crab, an Englishman. By
the year 1761 there were eight in New England,
and one in Philadelphia. Owing to the in-
creased influx of sperm, by reason of the ener-

NEW ENGLAND ENTERPRISE. 141

getic and widely extended prosecution of the
sperm whale fishery, the number of spermaceti
candle manufactories is now greatly increased.
In 1834 it was estimated that there were sixty
of them constantly in operation, and the quan-
tity of sperm candles in that year made was
three millions of pounds.

For the well-deserved commendation of this
branch of American industry, all persons in
any way connected with it will be as pleased,
as we in the Commodore Preble were, at the
way in which New England enterprise was
toasted at the New England Society's dinner
of 1848, in New York. We had an account of
the Anniversary of the Pilgrims' Landing, and
the festivities of the occasion, in a paper to
which we were treated by an outward-bound
whale ship which we fell in with. How
greedily we devoured it, none but a news-
hungry whaleman knows. The toast was —
' Now England enterprise: It grapples with
tlu' monsters of the Pacific to illuminate our
1 lings, and with the problems of science to
-ii our minds."

H2 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

Now, if the lines of commercial enterprise
can be only kept from parting with the recti-
linear of moral propriety and the law of God,
our career of greatness as a nation is clear and
glorious. The great future is before us, full of
hope, if old Puritan principles be only at the
head with modern New England enterprise.

" Far, like the comet's way through infinite space,
Stretches the long, untravelled path of light
Into the depth of ages ; we may trace, afar,
The brightening glories of its flight,
Till the receding rays are lost to human sight."

" I love thee, next to heaven above,
Land of my fathers ! thee I love ;
And rail thy slanderers as they will,
"With all tiny faults, I love thee still.

I love thee when I hear thy voice
Bid a despairing world rejoice,
And loud from shore to shore proclaim,
In every tongue, Messiah's name ;
That name at which, from sea to sea,
All nations yet shall bow the knee."

A MOVING INCIDENT. 143

CHAPTEK XL

AUTHENTIC TRAGEDIES AND PERILS OF THE
WHALING SERVICE.

" At length his comrades, who before
Had heard his voice in every blast,
Could catch the sound no more.
For then, by toil subdued, he drank
The stifling wave, and then he sank.
And he, they knew, nor ship nor shore,
Whate'er they did, should visit more."

Cowper's " Castaway.'

A moving incident — Whale harpooned — Boats dragged far
away — Boats out of sight — A man overboard — Seaman lost
— Search for missing boats — Joy out of Despair — Story of
Captain Warrens — The ancient mariners.

IN this Daguerreotype gallery of Life and Ad-
ventures in a Whale Ship, it is but fair that
our late experience of the bright side of whale-
men's fortune, in the safe capture and stowing
down of a noble hundred -barrel spermaceti, as
told in the last chapter, should be set off by
incidents of another character that are by no
means uncommon. A writer in the London

144 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

Quarterly, a few years ago, described an adven-
ture in the pursuit of a whale, which, given
here for substance with some additions, will be
read with deep interest by all who are in any-
wise familiar with the " hair-breadth 'scapes and
moving accidents" in the ordinary career of
whalemen.

One of a ship's company or officers in the
North Pacific, near the close of a day that had
been rather stormy, says, that a school of young
bull whales made their appearance close to the
ship, and the weather having cleared up a little,
the captain immediately ordered the mate to
lower his boat, while he did the same with his
own, in order to go in pursuit of them.

The two boats were instantly lowered, for
they were unable to send more, having had two
others ( ' stove " the day before. They soon got
near the whales, but were unfortunately seen by
them before they could dart the harpoon with
any chance of success, and the consequence was,
that the school of whales separated, and went
off with great swiftness, in different directions.
One, however, after making several turns, came

BOATS DRAGGED AFAR AWAY. 145

at length right toward the captain's boat, which,
li« observing, waited in silence for his approach,
without moving an oar, so that the "young
bull" came close by his boat, and received the
blow of the harpoon some distance behind his
" hump," and so near to the ship as to be seen
by all on board.

The whale appeared quite terror-struck for
a few seconds, and then, suddenly recovering
itself, darted off like the wind, and spun the
boat so quickly round when the tug came
upon the line, that she was within a miracle
of being upset. But away they went, " dead
to windward," at the rate of twelve or fifteen
miles an hour, right against a " head sea," which
flew against and over the bows of the boat with
uncommon force, so that she at times appeared
to be ploughing through it, making a high bank
of surf on each side.

The second mate having observed the course
of the whale and boat, managed to waylay
them; and when they came near to him, which
they speedily did, "a short warp" was thrown,
and both boats were soon towed at nearly the

K

146 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

same rate as the captain's boat had been
before.

The captain was now seen darting the lance
at the whale as it almost flew along, but he did
not seem to do so with any kind of effect, as
the speed of the whale did not appear in the
least diminished, and in a very short time they
all disappeared together, being at too great a
distance to be seen with the naked eye from
the deck. The officer ran aloft, and, by the aid
of a telescope, could just discern from the mast-
head, the three objects like specks upon the
surface of the ocean. At an alarming distance
he could just observe the two boats, with the
whale's head occasionally darting out before
them, with a good deal of " white water," or
foam, which convinced him that the whale was
still running. He watched with the glass un-
til he could no longer trace them, even in the
most indistinct manner, and then called to those
on deck, that they might take the bearing, by
the compass, of the direction in which he had
lost sight of them, so that they might continue
to '"beat" the ship up to that quarter.

A MAN OVERBOARD. 147

It was now, says the story, within half an
hour of sunset, and there was every appearance
of the coming on of an " ugly night ;" indeed,
the wind began to freshen every moment, and
an "awkward bubble" of a sea soon to make.
I remained aloft until I saw the sun dip, angry
and red, below the troubled horizon, and was
just about to descend, when I was dreadfully
shocked at hearing the loud cry of "a man
overboard ! " from all upon deck. I looked
astern, and saw with horror one of our men, by
the name of Berry, grappling with the waves,
and calling loudly for help.

The ship was soon brought round, but, in
doing so, she unavoidably passed a long way
from the poor fellow, who still supported him-
self by beating the water with his hands, al-
though he was quite unacquainted with the
proper art of swimming. Several oars were
thrown overboard the moment after he fell, but
he could not reach them, though they u
near to him ; and directly the ship brought up,
a Sandwich Islander, who formed one of the
crew, K'aprd overboard, and swam toward him.

148 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

while at the same time the people on deck
were lowering a spare boat, which is always
kept for such emergencies. I could be of no
service, except to urge their expedition by
many calls, for it was only the work of a few
minutes.

The good Sandwich Islander struck out most
bravely at first, but, finding that he was some
distance from the ship, and being unable to see
Berry on account of the agitated surface of the
sea, actually turned back through fear— find-
ing, as he said, that the " sea caps" went over
his head. The men in the boat now plied their
oars with all their strength, and were making
rapidly towards the drowning young man, who
now and then disappeared entirely from view
under the seas, which were beginning to roll.
A sickening anxiety pervaded me, as my
thoughts seemed to press the boat onward to
the spot where the poor fellow still grappled,
but convulsively, with the yielding waters.

The boat urged by man's utmost strength,
sprang over the boisterous waves with consid-
erable speed, but they arrived half a minute

SEAMAN LOST. 149

too late to save our poor shipmate from his
watery grave. I saw him struggle with the
waves until the last, when the foam of a broken
sea roared over him, and caused him to disap-
pear for ever ! The boat was rowed round and
round the fatal spot again and again, until
night fell, and then she was slowly and reluct-
antly pulled to the ship by her melancholy
crew. As they returned, the turbulent waves
tossed them about as if in sport, making the
boat rebound from the beating and dashing
waters which flew against her bow.

The moment the unfortunate seaman dis-
appeared, a large bird of the albatross kind came
careering along, and alighted on the water at
the very spot where the poor fellow was last
seen. It was a curious circumstance, and only
served to heighten our horror, when we saw the
carnivorous bird set itself proudly over the head
of our companion ; and which also served to
remind us of the number of sharks that we had
so frequently seen of late, and of the horrible
propensities of which we could not dare to
think.

150 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

By the time we had hoisted in the boat it
was quite dark ; the wind, too, had increased to
half a gale, with heavy squalls at times, so that
we were obliged to double reef our topsails. We
had lost one of our men who had sailed with us
from England, the bare thought of which, in
our circumstances, aroused a crowd of heart-
rending ideas. Our captain and second mate,
with ten of the crew, had disappeared, and were
by that time all lost or likely to be so, in the
stormy night which had set in : being, too, sev-
eral hundred miles away from land. We, how-
ever, kept beating the ship to windward con-
stantly, carrying all the sail she could bear,
making " short boards," or putting about every
twenty minutes. We had also, since night fell,
continued to burn lights ; and we had likewise
a large vessel, containing oil and unravelled
rope, burning over the stern rail of the ship,
as a beacon for them, which threw out great
light.

But although all eyes were employed in
every direction, searching for the boats, no
vestige of them could be seen ; and, therefore,

SEARCH FOR MISSING BOATS. 151

when half-past nine P.M. came, we made up our
minds they were all lost; and, as the wind
howled hoarsely through the rigging, and the
waves beat savagely against our ship, some of
us thought we could hear the shrieks of poor
Berry above the roaring storm ; others ima-
gined, in their melancholy, that they could
occasionally hear the captain's voice ordering to
"bear up;" while the boats had been seen
more than fifteen times by anxious spirits, who
had strained their eyes through the gloom,
until fancy robbed them of their true specu-
lation, and left her phantasmagoria in ex-
change.

There were not many on board who did
not think of home on that dreadful night ;
there were not many among us who did not
curse the sea, and all the sea-going avocations,
while with the same breath they blessed the
cheerful fireside of their parents, which, at that
moment, they would have given all they pos-
sessed to see. But at the moment despair
was firmly settling upon us, a man from aloft
cried out that he could see a light right ahead

152 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

of the ship, just as we were " going about/' by
which we should have gone from it.

We all looked in that direction, and in a
few minutes we could plainly perceive it ; in a
short time we were close up with it, when, to
our great joy, we found the captain and all the
men in the boats, lying to the leeward of the
dead whale, which had in some measure saved
them from the violence of the sea. They had
only just been able to procure a light, having
unfortunately upset all their tinder through the
violent motion of the boats, by which it became
wet, but which they succeeded in igniting after
. immense application of the flint and steel, or their
lantern would have been suspended from an oar
directly after sunset, which is the usual practice
when boats are placed under such circumstances.

After securing the whale alongside, which it
was feared they would lose during the night,
from the roughness of the weather, they all came
on board, when the sudden end of poor Berry
was spoken of with sorrow from all hands, while
their own deliverance served to throw a ray of
light amid the gloom.

STORY OF CAPTAIN WARRENS. 153

" They thought of his worth, but no words found birth,

To tell of the love they bore him ;
But the sea-bird's wail, and the stormy gale,

And the roar of the ocean wave,
Sung deep and long the funeral song

O'er the seaman's traceless grave."

In this connection, it is not unsuitable to
give place to what an accredited writer in the
Westminster Review relates of an incident, or
rather a dread tragedy, in the Greenland whale-
fishery, which is almost too appalling and un-
paralleled, not to say impossible, to be be-
lieved : —

One serene evening in the middle of August,
1775, Captain Warrens, the master of a Green-
land whale ship, found himself becalmed among
an immense number of icebergs, in about 77°
of north latitude. On one side, and within a
mile of his vessel, these were of immense height,
and closely wedged together, and a succession
of snow-covered peaks appeared behind each
other as far as the eye could reach, showing
that the ocean was completely blocked up in
that quarter, and that it had probably been so
for a long period of time. Captain Warrens

154 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

did not feel altogether satisfied with his situa-
tion ; but, there being no wind, he could not
move one way or the other, and he therefore
kept a strict watch, knowing that he would be
safe as long as the icebergs continued in their
respective places. About midnight the wind
rose to a gale, accompanied by thick showers of
snow, while a succession of thundering, grind-
ing, and crashing noises gave fearful evidence
that the ice was in motion.

The vessel received violent shocks every
moment, for the haziness of the atmosphere
prevented those on board from discovering in
what direction the open water lay, or if there
actually was any at all on either side of them.
The night was spent in tacking as often as any
case of danger happened to present itself, and
in the morning the storm abated, and Captain
Warrens found, to his great joy, that his ship
had not sustained any serious injury. He re-
marked with surprise that the accumulated ice-
bergs, which had the preceding evening formed
an impenetrable barrier, had been separated and
disengaged by the wind, and that in one place a

STORY OF CAPTAIN WARRENS. 155

canal of open sea wound its course among them
as far as the eye could discern.

It was two miles beyond the entrance of
this canal that a ship made its appearance
about noon. The sun shone brightly at the
time, and a gentle breeze blew from the north.
At first some intervening icebergs prevented
Captain Warrens from distinctly seeing any-
thing but her mast ; but he was struck with the
strange manner in which her sails were dis-
posed, and with the dismantled aspect of her
yards and rigging. She continued to go before
the wind for a few furlongs, and then, ground-
ing upon the low icebergs, remained motionless,
Captain Warrens's curiosity was so much ex-
cited that he immediately leaped into his boat
with several seamen, and rowed toward her.

On approaching, he observed that her hull
was miserably weather-beaten, and not a soul
appeared on the deck, which was covered with
snow to a considerable depth. He hailed her
crew several times, but no answer was returned.
Previous to stepping on board, an open port-
hole near the main-chains caught his eye, and,

156 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

on looking into it, he perceived a man reclining
back in a chair, with writing materials on a
table before him, but the feebleness of the light
made everything very indistinct. The party
went upon deck, and having removed the hatch-
way, which they found closed, they descended
to the cabin.

They first came to the apartment which
Captain Warrens viewed through the port-hole.
A tremour seized him as he entered it. Its in-
mate retained its former position, and seemed
to be insensible to strangers. He was found
to be a corpse, and a green damp mould had
covered his cheeks and forehead, and veiled his
eye-balls. He had a pen in his hand, and a
log book lay before him, the last sentence in
whose unfinished page ran thus : — " November
J 1th, 1762. We have now been inclosed in the
ice seventeen days. The fire went out yester-
day, and our master has been trying ever since
to kindle it again without success. His wife
died this morning. There is no relief."

Captain Warrens and his seamen hurried
from the spot without uttering a word. On

STORY OF CAPTAIN WARRENS. 157

entering the principal cabin, the first object
that attracted their attention was the dead body
of a female, reclining on a bed in an attitude
of deep interest and attention. Her counte-
nance retained the freshness of life, and a con-
traction of the limbs alone showed that her
form was inanimate. Seated on the floor was
the corpse of an apparently young man, hold-
ing a steel in one hand and a flint in the
other, as if in the act of striking fire upon
some tinder which lay beside him. In the fore
part of the vessel several sailors were found
lying dead in their berths, and the body of a
boy was crouched at the bottom of the gang-
way stairs.

Neither provisions nor fuel could be dis-
covered anywhere ; but Captain Warrens was
prevented, by the superstitious prejudices of his
seamen, from examining the vessel as minutely
as he wished to have done. He therefore car-
ried away the log-book already mentioned, and,
returning to his own ship, immediately steered
to the southward, deeply impressed with the
awful example which he had just witnessed of

158 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

the danger of navigating the polar seas in high
northern latitudes.

On returning to England, he made various
inquiries respecting vessels that had disappeared
in an unknown way, and, by comparing these
results with the information which was afforded
by the written documents in his possession,
he ascertained the name and history of the im-
prisoned ship and of her unfortunate master,
and found that she had been frozen in thirteen
years previous to the time of his discovering her
imprisoned in the ice.

If this strange tale be true, we see that
Coleridge's wonderful Rime of the Ancient
Mariner may not be all fancy, but may have
a substantial basis of fact. Witness the fol-
lowing verses, eliminated from it here and
there . —

" And now there came both mist and snow,

And it grew wondrous cold ;
And ice, mast high, came floating by,

As green as emerald.

" And through the drifts the snowy clifts

Did send a dismal sheen ;
Nor shapes of men, nor beasts we ken —

The ice was all between.

THE ANCIENT MARINER. 159

" The ice was here, the ice was there,

The ice was all around ;
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,

Like noises in a s wound !

" Alone, alone, all, all alone,

Alone on a wide, wide sea !
And never a saint took pity on

My soul in agony.

" I closed my lips, and kept them close,

And the balls like pulses beat ;
For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky,
Lay like a load on my weary eye,

And the dead were at my feet.

" The cold sweat melted from their limbs,

Nor rot nor reck did they ;
The look with which they looked on me

Had never passed away.

" All stood together on the deck,

For a charnel dungeon fitter ;
All fixed on me their stony eyes,

That in the moon did glitter.

*' But soon I heard the dash of oars,

I heard the pilot's cheer;
My head was turned perforce away,

And I saw a boat appear.

44 The pilot and the pilot's boy,

I heard them coming fast !
I )i -ar Lord in heaven ! it was a joy

The dead men could not bl

160 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

" The boat came closer to the ship,
But I nor spake nor stirred ;

The boat came close beneath the ship,
And straight a sound was heard.

" Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound,
Which sky and ocean smote,

Like one that hath been seven days drown* d
My body lay afloat,

But swift as dreams, myself I found
Within the pilot's boat.

" 0 wedding guest ! this soul hath been

Alone on a wide, wide sea :
So lonely 'twas, that God himself

Scarce seemed there to be.

" Farewell, farewell ! but this I tell
To thee, thou wedding guest !

He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man, and bird, and beast.

" He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small ;

For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."

WHALING SAILORS' YARNS.

CHAPTEK XII.

YARNS FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF OLD
WHALEMEN.

" Row ! row ! row !

In our vessel she must go,

Over the broad Pacific's swell,

Round Cape Horn, where tempests dwell ;

Many a night and many a day,

Hence with us she must away,

Till we joyful hail once more

Old Nantucket's treeless shore."

Whaler's Song.

Whaling Sailors' Yarns— Dead Whale— Competition for dead
Whale — Successful Stratagem — Recovery of sunk Whales —
Chase by rival Whalemen— John Bull and Brother Jona-
than— Romance of rival Whaling — Dashing exploit of a
Yankee.

Brazil Banks, lat. 24° £., Ion. 40° W.

SOME few years ago, in the same region of
ocean where we were now cruising, and
about the same month of the year, an old
weather-worn and barnacled whale ship was
working slowly along on a wind, homeward
bound, or after another sperm whale, 'if one
should heave in sight. Her try-works were

L

162 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

sending up a smoke black as night in huge vol-
umes, for they were trying out an eighty-barreler
not long taken.

The deck was lined with casks, and the main
hatches off; men were engaged in the blubber-
room cutting up the blanket pieces into horse
pieces, ready for mincing ; others piking the
pieces from one tub to another, ready for the
mincers; some tending the fires, some filling
up casks with hot oil from the cooler ; every
man busy, and each at his place, but the decks
confusedly strown with barrels, and tubs, and
whaling gear, like a street with goods in it after
a fire.

All at once, says an old whaler, in a yarn of
random recollections of his youth, all at once,
a voice clear as the lark, and to the ear of the
whaleman far sweeter, rang through the ship,
" There she blows ! " Again and again it is
repeated, at regular intervals. Now the captain
hails the mast head : " Where away is that
whale, and what do you call her ?"

" Sperm whale, sir, three points on the
weather bow, not over two miles off"

WHALING SAILORS' YARNS. 163

" Get your boats ready ; slack down the fires ;
and stand by to lower away ! "

The boats' crews each stand by their own
boat, some of the men help to put in the tub of
line, others lay down the boat- tackle falls, in
such a way that they will run clear. The boat-
steerer bends on his harpoons, the gripes are
cast clear of the boats, and now comes the word,
" Hoist and swing ! " In a moment the boats
are hanging by their tackles, and clear of the
cranes, ready for the word " Lower away ! "'
The mates, in the mean time, were aloft, watch-
ing the movements of the whale, in order to
judge how to pull for her.

Now comes the word, " Lower away ! " In a
moment all the boats are off, and in chase at a
good speed, in order to see who will be up
with the whale first. However, at this time, it
did not make so much difference which boat
pulled the best, as the whale peaked her flukes
and went down before any boat came up with
her. Now each boat-header uses his own
judgment as to where the whale will come up
next, for a sperm whale is almost always shifting

L 2

164 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

her ground when she is down or under water.
The whale was gone an hour, when we caught
sight of the signal at the main, which said
plainly that the whale was up. All eyes gaze
eagerly around in all directions for the whale.

" There she is," cries one of the men, " not
twenty rods from the chief mate's boat! There,
he sees her!"

"Down to your oars, lads!" said the captain,
in whose boat I was. " Give way hard ! " Now,
then, the little boat jumps again, sending the
spray in rainbows from the bows. " Spring hard,
my dear fellows ; if she blows a dozen times
more, the mate will fasten. There she blows !
Oh, she *s a beauty ! A regular old sog ! A
hundred-barreler ! There she lays like a log !
Oh, what a hump ! There she blows ! Stand
up, David ! (the name of the mate's boat-
steerer.) There goes one iron into her, and
there he gives her the second one ; he is fast
solid. Now, then, my boys, let us be up among
the suds. Stand up ! " shouted the captain to
me, as he laid his boat square on to her. In
goes two more harpoons, and our boat is fast.

WHALING SAILORS' YARNS. 165

I thought I had seen large sperm whales,
but this old chap beat them all; he cut and
thrashed with his flukes a while, but did not
take to sounding or running, as some whales
do, The mate pulled up to lance him ; but.
let him go on as he would, the whale would
head for his boat, and prevent his getting a
chance at her with his lance.

" Now, then, Mr. ," said the captain to

me, " you must kill that whale." The captain
steered me this day, as he had done several
times before, as we were short of a boat-steerer.
We pulled up to her, and I set my lance into
her life, as I thought, the whole length ; she
spouted a little thin blood. " You are not low
enough," said the captain ; " set your lance
lower down ; this fellow is deep, and you must
lance lower."

The whale settled away under water after
she felt the lance, and I kept a look-out for her,
expecting she would break water near the head
of the boat. Pretty soon I saw her whiten
under water, and got my lance ready as soon
as she should come to the surface ; the next

166 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

moment I was flying in the air, and a moment
after was several fathoms under water. The
whale came up head foremost, hitting the boat
a tremendous knock under my feet, sending me
all flying. The captain at the same time
seized his steering oar, and overboard he went
also.

Fortunately I could swim well, and soon
came up to blow ; but I had hardly time to
spout, before I found that I was in a very dis-
agreeable situation. Putting out my arm to
swim, I hit the whale on his head, and at the
same time saw the boat three or four rods from
me. I confess I did not feel exactly right; but
it was no use for me to lie still, and be picked
up like a squid ; so I made a regular shove
off with my feet against the whale's head, and
struck out for the boat. I saw that all was
confusion in the boat, and that the men did not
notice me at all. I had on thick clothes, and
found it hard swimming. Finally, one of the
men saw me, and stopped the boat, which some
of them were steering away from me as fast as
they could.

WHALING SAILORS' YARNS. 167

As I got in at the bow, I saw the captain
come over the stern. " Hallo ! " said he, " where
have you been to ? " " After the whale/' said
I. " And I have been after you/' said the cap-
tain. We had a good laugh, wrung our hair,
and started for the whale again. She lay still,
with her jaws open, and head towards the boat;
the rest of her body was under water, so that
she gave no chance to kill. We lay still, watch-
ing her motions. All at once she let her jaws
fly back, striking the boat in the bow, and
smashing a hole through her. The boat began
to fill; but, fortunately, we had a jacket ready,
and stopped the hole up, and so we kept from
filling, and pulled up to the whale again.

This time she headed the mate, and lay her
whole length broadside toward us. We had
nothing to do but to pull up and in lance, the
whale lying perfectly still all the time. In
twenty minutes she went into her flurry, and
soon after lay fin out. We took her alongside
the ship, and commenced cutting her in ; but
it took all the next day to get her all in. She
measured over seventy-five feet in length, and

168 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

between fifty and sixty feet round the largest
part of the body ; her jaw was seventeen and
a half feet long, and her flukes seventeen feet
broad. She stowed us down one hundred and
twenty-five barrels of sperm oil.

In the vicissitudes of whaling fortune, a prize
like this now and then offers itself to a ship, in
the form of a dead whale afloat. Such a for-
tunate wind-fall once came to the Cremona of
New Bedford, in 1839, while cruising on the
coast of Peru, in the latitude of three degrees
south. Her master there fell in with two whal-
ing ships belonging to the same port. Being
old acquaintances, they were happy to see each
other — compared notes — talked of old times ;
and whales being in sight all around, although
rather shy, they agreed to keep company for
the night, hoping for good luck on the morrow.

At early dawn the mast heads were manned,
and the horizon carefully scanned in every di-
rection ; and the survey increased in interest
and care as the hour of sunrise drew nigh. But
no whales were in sight.

The wind was light, and they packed on all

DEAD WHALE. 169

sail, steering to the northward, in company with
the ships they had fallen in with the day be-
fore— the Orion being about five miles distant,
broad off on the weather bow, and the Lupin
about three points under the lee — not more than
two or three miles off. Being in the north-east
trade winds, and standing along to the north-
ward, they all, of course, had the starboard
tacks on board.

On board the Cremona, said her Captain, in
giving this account, we had our mast heads
doubly manned ; and at the main- top -gallant-
head was stationed Webquish, a smart, active
Gay Head Indian, who was a faithful sentinel on
such occasions, with a restless eye, and a keen-
ness of vision seldom surpassed by any of his
race. All hands were on deck, and expectation
was exhibited in the grave demeanor and semi-
smiling countenances of the crew.

It was about nine o'clock in the forenoon
that Webquish, the Indian, who had been look-
ing steadily in one direction for some minutes,
called out that he saw some object afloat away
to windward. It was bobbing up and down,

170 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

arid looked something like a boat, but he could
not tell what it was.

This excited the curiosity of every man on
board ; and, as is usual in such cases, all made
a spring into the rigging, with a view to run
aloft, and get a squint at the mysterious object
reported by Webquish. But I ordered them to
remain on deck, and sent up my first mate — a
man of good judgment and sharp eyes — with a
spy- glass, to the fore- top-mast-head. He soon
got sight of the object, and immediately reported
that it was a large dead spermaceti whale. ,

This was an event, the announcement of
which created quite a sensation on board the
Cremona; and the question asked of each other
was, whether we could secure it for ourselves ?
In order to do this, it was necessary, not only to
see it first, but to get fast to it first ! From
the favourable position of the Orion, being to
windward, it was clear that the whale would
inevitably fall a prize to her, if it should be seen
by the look-out before it could be reached by
our boats. It was a matter which required a
little management.

COMPETITION FOR DEAD WHALE. 171

I directed my mate, Mr. Hopkins, to come
down to leeward, and keep the mast between
him and the Orion, that he might not be seen
from that ship, which might excite suspicions
that something was in the wind ; and, in the
same manner, I went myself aloft to take a
look at the object to windward — an object of
much interest to us, as it was probably of great
value.

The other ships quietly kept on their course.
The Lupin, being to leeward, could not possibly
see the whale; and on board the Orion, the
look-out aloft seemed to be taking a nap, for
no indications were given that the whale was
seen from the ship. This gave us hopes that
we might secure the prize ; and all was anima-
tion on board the Cremona. The mate's boat,
being the fastest, was got in readiness, and a
good coat of tallow was applied to her bottom —
a set of the best oars was selected — and all due
preparation made for a race.

For nearly an hour we kept on our course,
occasionally going a little to windward, but not
in a manner to excite observation. By this

172 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

time the dead whale was abaft the weather
beam. And now, without heaving to or alter-
ing the ship's course, the boat was lowered to
leeward. Mr. Hopkins and his stalwart and
eager crew stepped into it, seized their oars —
the word was given — and hurrah, whiz ! away
they darted toward the whale with the swiftness
of an arrow.

We watched the boat with much interest
and no little anxiety ; for even now, if the prize
should be discovered from the Orion, that ship
would be filled away, and, running down before
the wind, would be able to reach it before Mr.
Hopkins could get fast to it with his harpoon.
And this reflection seemed to add vigour to the
arms of the boat's crew, for they pulled away
heartily — with a right good will — and forced
the boat merrily through the water. But their
fears were groundless. For nearly half an hour
they pulled with a degree of strength and skill
seldom equalled, and were close on board the
whale, and still neither the whale nor the boat
was seen by the sleepy look-out on board the
Orion !

SUCCESSFUL STRATAGEM. 173

Under these circumstances, I considered
that manoeuvring was no longer necessary, and
gave the orders to tack ship, which enabled us
to steer almost directly for the whale ! This
opened the eyes of the Orion ; for our yards
were hardly trimmed before that ship squared
her yards, and came running down directly
across our track, and in a few minutes the
Lupin hauled her wind, and came creeping up
to windward.

But it was of no use. The Orion was just
in time to see Mr. Hopkins strike his harpoon
into the whale, and take possession of the prize
in the name of the good ship Cremona, of New
Bedford ! And it was not long before we had
the whale alongside, and forthwith commenced
" cutting-in " upon this noble specimen of the
class Mammalia, which proved to be an eighty -
barrel whale, and was worth to us twenty-four
hundred dollars, about £500 sterling.

By the time we had made fast to our prize,
the Orion was within speaking distance. Evi-
dently chagrined at the success of our ma-
noeuvre, she lavished no compliments upon our

174 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

enterprise, and soon resumed her former course.
In about an hour or so the Lupin came up to
inquire the news, but soon made sail after the
Orion ; and before night both were out of sight
to leeward, and our oil was mostly boiled out
and cooling to stow away below.

The fortunate captain of the Cremona thinks
that, in this instance, and others like it, the
whale, having been harpooned and deprived of
life, sunk, we know not why, and remained
below the surface until its specific gravity had
diminished, by the generation of gases within
the animal tissues, to such a degree that it rose
from indefinite depths below.

Multitudes of the right whale sink immedi-
ately after capture, as we have already learned,
and are a dead loss ; but this is seldom the
case with the sperm ; and the Cremona's lucky
prize in this instance may have been a sperm
whale that had to be abandoned by some other
ship, after being mortally wounded and dying
on the surface without ever sinking.

In what is called shore whaling, where there
are soundings, they fasten buoys, like as to an

CHASE BY RIVAL WHALEMEN. 175

anchor, to the sinking right whales, and then
watch the spot or the buoy, till the dead animal
rises after the expiration of two or three days.
It is probable that old age, reducing the whale
to leanness, or any other cause that diminishes
the animal's adipose or oily matter, tends to
increase his specific gravity, and, consequently,
the tendency to sink when killed.

A chase similar to that described above, but
for a living whale, once came off in the South
Pacific between four ships of different nations,
becalmed together within the neighbourhood of
a mile, English, French, Portuguese, and Ameri
can. The officers of the American ship were
making preparations to visit their English neigh-
bours. The men were amusing themselves be-
low, or loitering about the decks, when the look-
out on the mast head gave intelligence of a whale
by the exciting and familiar cry of " There she
blows!" "There she blows!" "Oh, she 's a
beauty ! " " There she blows again ! "

"Where away?" hailed the officer of the
deck.

" West of south, heading <

176 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

" How far, and what is she'?"

" Three miles — a real sperm/' was the reply.

The men of the American had not been idle
during this dialogue. As soon as the first
"There she blows" was heard, each man had
sprung to his station in the boat. Stopping
for a moment to have a keg of water placed in
the stern sheets, the boat-steerer, who gives the
account, sprung into the boat, and, casting all
clear, they were soon under weigh. " Our
neighbours had also been on the alert. A well-
manned boat from each ship was in the chase.

" These ships laying somewhat in advance,
we found they had the advantage of from fifteen
to forty rods the start of us. Speaking a few
words of encouragement to the men, we were
soon passing over the water with a velocity
which is hardly conceivable to a landsman.
The American whaleman is the only man who
never turns his head to look while in the chase
of a whale — that part belongs to the boat-steer-
er. They are thus enabled to give their whole
energy to the oar, laying themselves to the
work with a hearty good will. Placing the

RIVAL WHALEMEN. 177

palm of my left hand under the abaft oar, while
with my right I guided the boat, and at each
stroke threw a part of my weight against it,
our boat would ' skim the water like a thing of
life/

" A few moments from the start brought us
up with the Portuguese. The crews of the dif-
ferent ships witnessing the chase, the excite-
ment was tremendous. Our shipmates cheer-
ed us as we came up with the first boat, and as
we passed, the whale again made its appear-
ance. Singing out to the men, ' There she
blows ! She 's an eighty-barrel — right ahead.
Give way my boys ! ' &c., we were soon along-
side the Frenchman. The Frenchman was too
polite to oppose us, and we passed him with
ease.

" The English boat was now about ten rods
in advance, and the whale about one and three
fourths of a mile. Now came the trial. The
English boat was manned by the same number
of stout, active hands as our own, and seeing
us pass the other boats, their whole strength
and force were put to the oar. We gained on

M

178 THE WHALEMAN S ADVENTURES.

them but slowly ; and such was the excitement
of the race, that we were in danger of passing
over where the whale had last 'blowed.' At
this moment the English boat-steerer noticed
the manner in which I had placed my left hand
and weight against the oar. Instantly laying
hold of his own in like manner, his first effort
broke it short at the lock. Thus disabled, he
gave us a hearty curse, and we shot past him
like a meteor.

" We had been so excited with the race that
we had lost sight of the whale. As luck would
have it, at this instant she 'blowed' but a few
rods ahead. In a moment we were fast, and
( all hands stern/ Soon she was in a f flurry,
and in the course of an hour we were slowly
returning to our ship. That whale stowed us
down eighty- five barrels of oil, and shortened
our voyage two months."

It is easy to see that there must be a thrilling
excitement, in the adventurous chase of game
like this, that has a tinge of the romantic to
young and eager minds. There was romance
surely, as well as reality, in a whaling feat I

DASHING EXPLOIT OF A YANKEE. 179

have read of, that came off in Delego Bay, South
Africa, a smooth nook of ocean much frequent-
ed a few years ago, by whalers, and ships from
different nations. A mammoth whale rose, and
was observed in those still waters at the same
moment, and about equi- distant from an Amer-
ican and an English ship. From both, the boats
were lowered, manned, and off in an instant
with the speed of the wind.

The English, at first ahead, perceiving their
rivals gaining on them, wisely bore wide off
from their common game, in order to keep the
Americans out of reach of the whale. But when
the two boats were nearly abreast, the English
of course inside, one of the American sailors
sprang from his seat, and with extraordinary
agility hurled his ponderous harpoon right over
the English boat. Thrown with unwonted force
and precision, it struck the monster in a vital
part, and was buried to the socket.

The English boat, thus strangely intercepted,
and balked of its prize, shrunk back under the
warp of its Yankee rival. The waves were soon
crimsoned with blood, and the daring American

M2

180 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

took possession of the mastered Leviathan,
while Delego Bay echoed and re-echoed with
shouts of applause.

All honour to whalemen, bold and brave
We will sing for them, in passing, Park Ben-
jamin's song : —

" How cheery are the mariners —

Those lovers of the sea !
Their hearts are like its yeasty waves,

As bounding and as free.
They whistle when the storm-bird wheels

In circles round the mast ;
And sing when, deep in foam, the ship

Ploughs onward to the blast.

" What care the mariners for gales ?

There's music in their roar,
When wide the berth along the lee,

And leagues of room before.
Let billows toss to mountain heights,

Or sink to chasms low,
The vessel stout will ride it out,

Nor reel beneath the blow.

" GOD keep those cheery mariners !

And temper all the gales
That sweep against the rocky coast

To their storm-shattered sails ;
And men on shore will bless the ship

That could so guided be,
Safe in the hollow of His hand,

To brave the mighty sea ! "

LEISURE OCCUPATIONS. 181

CHAPTER XIII.

PECULIAR VOCABULARY AND HAZARDS OF
WHALEMEN.

" A perilous life, and hard as life may be,
Hath the brave whaleman on the lonely sea ;
On the wide water labouring, far from home,
For a bleak pittance still compelled to roam ;
Few friends to cheer him through his dangerous life,
Or strong to aid him in the stormy strife ;
Companion of the Sea and silent air,
The hardy whaleman has no envied fare.

Anon.

Leisure occupations — Matter for the Dictionary — Material
for Illustration — Treatise on Gamming — Appalling Forms
of Danger— Fatal Incident — Reflections.

Midway between the False and Main Banks, Atlantic Ocean
lat. 34° W S., Ion. 47° W. Homeward Bound.

I LIKE the eagerness and activity, and can
very well put up with the smell and dirt
which having dead whales alongside makes in a
whale ship. When in the position just noted,
we had a good measure of these contingents of

182 THE WHALEMAN S ADVENTURES.

successful enterprise. Though not myself head
and ears over in blubber-juice like all the rest,
nor in for any share of the profits, I ever took,
perhaps, as curious and eager an interest in the
processes going on as any one on board. All
the ordinary muxing and skimshander with
which active ones keep themselves busy on board
whale ships when there is no work to do, are
laid aside now. The cooper's driver is merry a-
going on the great oil casks; the decks are
lumbered, and full of gurry and dirt ; and every
body and everything is besmeared with oil, and
will be so until a strong ley they make from the
ashes of the scraps has washed all clean.

It is almost worth taking one cruise in a
whale ship to see how they capture and dispose
of their gigantic game, and to learn some odd
things a man can never know otherwise. Had
Noah Webster ever gone a whaling, he would
have been able to add some five or six notable
and genuine English words to his Dictionary,
which may never be known off salt water unless
we record them here.

Mux and skimshander are the general names

MATERIAL FOR ILLUSTRATION. 183

by which they express the ways in which whale-
men busy themselves when making passages,
and in the intervals of taking whales, in working
up sperm whales' jaws and teeth and right whale
bone into boxes, swifts, reels, canes, whips, fol-
ders, stamps, and all sorts of things, according
to their ingenuity.

Gurry is the term by which they call the
combined water, oil, and dirt that " cutting-in "
a whale leaves on deck and below. The yellow-
ish stuff

"That creams and mantles on a standing pool, "

and affords such a favourite, nice comparison,
ready to hand, and hackneyed, for writers that
want to express the odiousness of moral putres-
cence and stagnation, is nothing to this sui
generis composition elaborated on board a
whale ship. Hereafter, if any one should wish
to illustrate morals by physicals in a way par-
ticularly new and original, let him say that the
filth and foulness of Mr. So-and-so's mind, or
the daily scum and dregs of Mr. Slabbering
Editor Such a One, or the hebdomadal black

184 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

vomit of this and that member of the " Satanic
Press/' look and smell like gurry.

Gaily, or Gallow, as it is found in Shakes-
peare, is the term by which they express a
whale's being frightened. Thus you often hear
" that whale's gallied," as they pronounce it.

Gam is the word by which they designate
the meeting, exchanging visits, and keeping
company of two or more whale ships, or a
sociable family of whales. Thus we gammed
two days on the New Zealand whaling ground
with the Niantic of Sag Harbor. One day the
captain of the Niantic spent with us, the next
our captain spent on board the Niantic, the
boats' crews gamming together at the same time
in the forecastle, and the mates of the ships
meeting and having a gam in the ship that was
left by her captain.

These gams are very pleasant interludes in
a whaleman's life, when abroad upon the desert
ocean, without change of society or scene, a
thousand miles from land. It is peculiarly
grateful for a rusty and barnacled old ship, that
has been absent thirty or more months, to have

APPALLING FORMS OF DANGER. 185

a gam of a day with a fresh competitor just ar-
rived out with all the news from home. Such
a gam gives matter of talk and old newspaper
reading for a month, and nobody can tell how
pleasant it is but one that has experienced it.
A shipmaster has a chance to exchange counsel,
and tell stories, and let himself be familiar with
somebody that's new, and he is always the
milder, and better pleased with himself, and all
about him, for some days after such a gam.

The use of these words is not a little amus-
ing at first to a stranger ; but I have come to
believe them as good and veritable English, and
to have as fair a claim to be placed in our
dictionaries as a thousand words that are spoken
oftener in ears polite.

I like to talk with old whalemen upon the
hair-breadth escapes and perilous adventures of
iln-ir hazardous warfare upon the monsters of
die deep. It is a marvel that death, in its
most appalling forms, is not oftener met with.
Whalers, I think, have to look danger more full
and steadily in the face than any other class of
men, except soldiers.

186 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES,

" Danger, whose limbs of giant mould,
What mortal eye can fix'd behold ?"

Besides the multifarious ordinary perils of
the sea, there is that incurred in lowering boats
so often ; then the risk of being run under and
swamped in the lightning-like speed and evolu-
tions of a seventy foot whale, immediately upon
being struck ; then the danger from a whale's
flukes and fins, as the monster slues and slats
them round, and makes the deep boil like a
pot, to the slightest tap of which a whale-boat
is hardly more than a bubble. Sometimes the
mammoth brute comes up from the depths
right under the boat, and takes it, with all on
board, transversely into his huge mouth, that can
be opened sixteen and twenty feet. To be sure,
the monster does not swallow it, but he crushes
it to pieces as if it were an egg shell, and, per-
haps, some of its crew at the same time — a catas-
trophe, at least, always to be apprehended.

Sometimes a sperm whale will drive " head
on " to his captors with such a speed and force
that they can neither prick him off with the
lance nor have time to sheer away. A blow

APPALLING DANGERS. 187

that would beat in the oak ribs of a stout ship
would hardly, I suppose, give a bull whale the
headache. There are two cases I have heard
of, one in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific,
in which an enormous sperm whale, with malice
aforethought, did thus run three several times
full tilt against a whale-ship, until his butting
had battered in her sides, and the men had to
abandon the ships a thousand miles from land.
But three or four survived the peril in each
case, and got safe to land. One of them, then
a boy, is now master of a whale- ship, still
grappling with dangers, and successfully prose-
cuting this adventurous trade.

I have known of one captain who was killed
instantly in the bow of his boat, by the tap of
a whale's fin upon his skull, when no one else
was at all injured. To have legs and arms
broken, or ribs knocked in, to be drawn over-
board and under water by entanglements of the
line, or to have a whole boat's crew scrambling
together in the water, is, as we have already
seen, very common.

Captain Scoresby, in his voyage of research

188 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

and whaling on the eastern coast of Greenland,
in 1822, gives a touching and characteristic
incident respecting one of those sources of
peril to the whaleman. The story is to this
effect : —

All the boats of the ship (the Baffin of
Liverpool) had been sent out in pursuit of
some whales, which had been discovered by the
glass at the distance of about a league. After a
fruitless pursuit of some hours, several of the
boats returned, but two, which had separated
out of sight, were still abroad. As the ship, by
reason of calm weather, could not make the
requisite search, four of the boats, after their
crews had been refreshed, were sent out to look
for their missing comrades. But, after four
hours spent in this anxious duty, they returned
unsuccessful.

Captain Scoresby then renewed his exami-
nation, by the telescope, of the ice and sea
around, from the elevated post of the " crow's
nest;" and was at length rejoiced by the sight
of the boats in the eastern quarter, pulling
towards the ship.

FATAL INCIDENT. 189

" On their approach," he says, " we were a
little surprised by some unusual appearances,
particularly by the obvious want of the proper
complement of oars, and the solemn counte-
nances of the rowerss; but a deficiency in the
number of men was neither observed nor sus-
pected. As soon as they came within hail, my
anxiety induced me to call out, and inquire
what had happened. " A bad misfortune, in-
deed," replied the officer commanding the first
boat; " we have lost Carr!" This awful in-
telligence, for which we were altogether unpre-
pared, shocked me exceedingly, and it was some
time before I was able to inquire into the par-
ticulars of the accident, which had deprived us
of one of our shipmates. As far as could be
collected from the confused accounts of the
crew of the boat, of which he went out in
charge, the circumstances were as follow : —
The two boats that had been so long absent
had, on the outset, separated from their com-
panions, and, allured by the chase of a whale,
and the fineness of the weather, they proceeded
until they were far out of sight of the ship.

190 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

The whale they pursued led them into a vast
shoal of the species ; they were, indeed, so
numerous, that their " blowing" was incessant,
and they believed they could not have seen less
than a hundred. Fearful of alarming them
without striking any, they remained for some
time motionless, watching for a favourable op-
portunity to commence an attack. One of
them at length arose so near the boat of which
William Carr was harpooner, that he ventured
to pull towards it, though it was meeting him,
and afforded but an indifferent chance of suc-
cess. He, however, fatally for himself, succeeded
in harpooning it. The boat and fish passing
each other with great rapidity after the stroke,
the line was jerked out of its place, and instead
of "running" over the stern, was thrown over
the gunwale ; its pressure in this unfavourable
position so careened the boat, that the side sank
below the water, and it began to fill. In this
emergency the harpooner, who was a fine active
fellow, seized the bight of the line, and at-
tempted to relieve the boat, by restoring it to its
place ; but by some singular circumstance,

FATAL INCIDENT. 191

which could not be accounted for, a turn of the
line flew over his arm, in an instant dragged
him overboard, and plunged him under the
water, to rise no more ! So sudden was the
accident, that only one man, who had his eye
upon him at the time, was aware of what had
happened ; so that when the boat righted, which
it immediately did, though half full of water, they
all at once, on looking round at an exclamation
from the man who had seen him launched over-
board, inquired what had got Carr ! It is
scarcely possible to imagine a death more
awfully sudden and unexpected. The murder-
ous bullet, when it makes its way through the
air with a velocity that renders it invisible, and
seems not to require a moment for its flight,
rarely produces so instantaneous destruction.
The velocity of the whale on its first descent, is
usually (as I have proved by experiment) about
eight or nine miles per hour, or thirteen to fifteen
feet per second. Now, as this unfortunate man
was occupied in adjusting the line at the very
water's edge, when it must have been perfectly
tight, in consequence of the obstruction to its

192 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

running out of the boat, the interval between
the fastening of the line about him and his
disappearance, could not have exceeded the
third part of a second of time ; for in one
second only, he must have been dragged to the
depth of ten or twelve feet ! The accident was,
indeed, so instantaneous, that he had not time
for the least exclamation ; and the person who
witnessed his extraordinary removal, observed,
that it was so exceedingly quick, that, although
his eye was upon him at the instant, he could
scarcely distinguish the object as it disappeared.
As soon as the crew of the boat recovered
from their consternation, they applied them-
selves to the needful attention which the lines
required. From the accompanying boat, on
the rising of the fish to the surface, a second
harpoon was struck, and some lances applied ;
but the melancholy providence that had occurred,
had cast such a damp upon all the men employed in
this business, that they became timid, cautious, and
inactive in their subsequent duties. The fish,
when nearly exhausted, was, in consequence of
this, allowed to remain for some minutes un-

REFLECTIONS. 193

molested on the water, until, having recovered
some degree of energy, it made a violent effort,
and disengaged itself from both the harpoons.

Such is a characteristic specimen of the
whalemen's adventurous experience in the far
north ; whilst those pursuing the commerce in
other regions meet with similar, and, perhaps,
more numerous perils. For there are few that
have been long in the service but have been
banged and broken in some way, and snatched
often from the gaping jaws of destruction.
They can tell of marvellous escapes, and provi-
dential deliverances from the very throat of
death, that make you think a whaler, of all men,
ought to be living with his will made, and ready
for a sudden summons. They can tell too of
fearful incidents of fatal adventure to their com-
rades, when they themselves were privileged
to escape unscathed.

We should naturally think that a man's con-
stant exposedness to sudden death would give a
serious turn to his mind, and induce a cast of
reflection and thoughtful regard to his latter end.
But it is now long time since the practical ob-

N

194 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

servation of men has taught me, that familiarity
with danger and death seldom produces a soften-
ing, monitory effect, except upon the mind of a
Christian, but rather induces a moral hardness
and effrontery that steels the mind against les-
sons of mortality, and sheds an ominous gloom
upon the prospects of the soul. I have talked
with a good many whalemen and common
sailors, and have observed the conduct of irre-
ligious men in times of fatal epidemics and
more than ordinary dangers ; but I never yet
have met with one permanently reformed and
brought to repentance by seeing others drowned
and die before his eyes, and by what would seem
to be the natural consideration of danger in his
own case.

So true it is, in the words of the preacher,
The heart of the sons of men is full of evil ;
madness is in their hearts while they live, and
after that they go to the dead. As the jishes
that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds
that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of
men snared in an evil time, when it cometh sud-
denly upon them. As an old poet hath it : —

REFLECTIONS. 195

" Such is the state of every mortal wight !

In health our glories and our lusts we show ;

We fill ourselves with every vain delight,

And will least think of that which may ensue.

But let us learn to heed as well as know,

That spring doth pass, that summer steals away,

And that the flower which makes the fairest show,

Ere many weeks may wither and decay.

The stoutest form that walks the earth to-day,

To-morrow with the dead may senseless lay."

196 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

CHAPTEK XIV.

REMARKABLE EVENTS IN THE ANNALS OF
WHALING.

" O'er the deep, o'er the deep !

Where the whale, and the shark, and the sword-fish sleep :

On the craggy ice, in the frozen air,

Heedless of dangers if game be hut there,

Encountering all the great whale to snare,"

Anon.

Remarkable events— Loss of the Essex by a Whale — Ships
destroyed by Whales— Other Incidents— Fearful Enterprise
— Incidents of Whaling — Dangers of the Fishery.

rjlHE prodigious speed and strength of the
-*- gigantic whale, and the resulting danger
to his captors referred to, and exemplified in the
]ast chapter, are practically illustrated by two
remarkable incidents, occurring, the one in the
English, and the other in the American whale
fishery. The record of the former is derived
from Captain Scoresby's account of " The Arctic
Eegions and Northern Whale Fishery."

REMARKABLE EVENTS. 197

On the 28th of May, 1817, the Koyal
Bounty, an English ship, fell in with a great
number of whales in 70° 25' north latitude,
and longitude 5° east. There was neither ice nor
land in sight. The boats were manned and sent
in pursuit, and after a chase of five hours, one
of them, which had rowed out of sight of the
ship, struck one of the whales. This was
about four o'clock in the morning. The captain
directed the course of the ship to the point
where he had last seen the boats, and about
eight o'clock got sight of one, which displayed
the signal of being fast. Soon after, another
boat approached the first, and struck a second
harpoon ; and by mid-day two more harpoons
were made fast.

But such was the astonishing vigour of this
whale, that although it constantly dragged
through the water from four to six boats, to-
gether with sixteen hundred fathoms of line,
yet it pursued its flight nearly as fast as a boat
could row, and whenever one passed beyond its
tail it would dive. All endeavours to lance it
were therefore vain, and the crews of the loose

198 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

boats moored to those that were fast, the whale
all the time steadily towing them on.

At eight o'clock in the evening a line was
taken to the ship, with a view of retarding its
flight, and topsails were lowered, but the har-
poon drew. In three hours another line was
taken on board, which immediately snapped.
At four in the afternoon of the next day, thirty-
six hours after the whale was first struck, two of
the fast lines were taken on board the ship.

The wind blowing a moderately brisk breeze,
the top- gallant- sails were taken in, the courses
hauled up, and the top-sails clewed down ; yet
in this situation she was towed directly to wind-
ward, for an hour and a-half, with the velocity
of one and a-half to two knots an hour, the
whale all the while beating the water with its
fins and tail, so that the sea around was in a
continual foam. At length, near eight o'clock,
after forty hours of incessant exertion, this ten-
acious assertor of his vast animal vigour and
territorial rights was killed.

There is also an instance given by Captain
Scoresby, which occurred in his own experience

REMARKABLE EVENTS. 199

in the fishing, where a Greenland whale was at
last killed which had drawn out ten thousand
four hundred and forty yards, or about six miles
of line, attached to eight harpoons, besides
taking one boat entirely under water, which took
above three thousand yards of line, disappeared
and was never again seen, — the harpoon by
which it was held to the whale probably drawing
out under the immense pressure, and leaving it
to sink.

But the most dreadful display of the whale's
strength and prowess, yet authentically recorded,
was that made upon the American whale-ship
Essex, Captain Pollard, which sailed from
Nantucket for the Pacific Ocean in August,
1819. Late in the fall of the same year, when
in latitude 40° of the South Pacific, a school
of sperm whales were discovered, and three
boats were manned and sent in pursuit. The
mate's boat was struck by one of them, and he
was obliged to return to the ship in order to re-
pair the damage.

While he was engaged in that work, a sperm
whale, judged to be eighty-five feet long, broke

200 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

water about twenty rods from the ship, on her
weather bow. He was going at the rate of
about three knots an hour, and the ship at nearly
the same rate, when he struck the bows of the
vessel just forward of her chains.

At the shock produced by the collision of
two such mighty masses of matter in motion,
the ship shook like a leaf. The seemingly
malicious whale dived and passed under the
ship, grazing her keel, and then appeared at a-
bout the distance of a ship's length, lashing the
sea with fins and tail, as if suffering the most
horrible agony. He was evidently hurt by the
collision, and blindly frantic with instinctive
rage.

In a few minutes he seemed to recover him-
self, and started with great speed directly across
the vessel's course to windward. Mean time
the hands on board discovered the ship to be
gradually settling down at the bows, and the
pumps were ordered to be rigged. While
working at them, one of the men cried out,
" God have mercy ! he comes again ! "

The whale had turned at about one hun-

LOSS OF THE ESSEX BY A. WHALE. 201

dred rods from the ship, and was making for
her with double his former speed, his pathway
white with foam. Bushing head on, he struck
her again at the bow, and the tremendous blow
stove her in. The whale dived under again and
disappeared, and the ship filled and fell over on
her broadside, in ten minutes from the first
collision.

After incredible hardships and sufferings in
their open boats, on the 20th of December the
survivors of this catastrophe reached the low
Island called Ducies, in latitude 24° 40' south,
longitude 124° 40' west. It was a mere sand-
bank, nearly barren, which supplied them only
with water and, very scantily, sea-fowl. On
this uninhabited island, dreary as it was, three
of the men chose to remain, rather than again
commit themselves to the uncertainties of the
sea. They have never since been heard from,
the island being seldom visited.

On the 27th of December, the three boats,
with the remainder of the men, put away to-
gether for the Island of Juan Fernandez, at a
distance of two thousand miles. The mate's

202 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

boat was taken up by the Indian, of London,
on the J9th of February; ninety-three days
from the time of the catastrophe, with only
three survivors.

The captain's boat was fallen in with by the
Dauphin, of Nantucket, on the 23rd of the
same month, having only two men living,
whose lives had been eked out only through that
last resort of hunger in the wretched, which
words shudder to relate ! Out of a crew of
twenty, five only survived to make the ear of the
world tingle at their strange, eventful story.*

* The "narrative" of this extraordinary shipwreck was
published at New York in 1821 ; a copy of it is now in my
hand. It is deeply and painfully interesting, and bears every
indication of accuracy, as well as general authenticity. In
one particular, however, I have come to a different conclusion
from that arrived at by the author of the present work, and
that of the original " narrative," this is, as to the first collision
of the whale with the Essex being a designed attack. I do not
myself believe that a whale, not being itself attacked, would
wilfully drive its head against so huge an object as a ship.
All that I have myself ever seen or heard of the habits of
whales, indicates the disposition to flee from any unusual ob-
ject, whether ship or boat, which might approach them, or lie in
their path. I have frequently seen the Mysticetus pass under
the bottom of my own ship, or of boats in which I have been
embarked ; and some of the whale tribe I have seen, when
deep under water (as they may sometimes be so discovered by

SHIPS DESTROYED BY WHALES. 203

There is another instance of the immediate
shipwreck of a whaler by the shock of one of
those mighty leviathans, that of the Union, of
Nantucket, Captain Gardner, which was totally
lost, in the year 1807, between Nantucket and

an observer placed almost perpendicularly above them at the
mast-head), to turn on their side in passing below the keel,
evidently with the purpose of viewing the strange object float-
ing on the surface. In such case, where the ship was lying
te, or tolerably quiescent, the whale would go on its track but
little, if at all disturbed, and might be seen quietly to rise for
respiration at no very great distance from the object which had
engaged its attention.

The collision of the whale with the Essex, therefore, I
believe, in the first instance, to have been purely accidental.
The vessel was going moderately ahead, when the whale, ad-
vancing obliquely across her track, came into contact with her
on the weather bow. The succeeding stroke, not inconsis-
tently with the habits of the sperm whale, to give battle when
attacked or hurt, might be designed. The fatal result of the
double collision is very intelligible, when the class and build
of the vessel are considered. From the small number of her
boats, and comparative fewness of her crew, the ship appears
not to have been of large tonnage, and, probably, was but
slightly built. The southern fishery, indeed, does not require
the strength and solidity of ships which the formidable ices of
the north call for. A stroke from a whale, such as that des-
cribed in the narrative referred to, would, I am well persuaded,
have produced no serious effects upon an Arctic whaler, strength-
ened and fortified as these ships always are, which are perpet-
ually subject to heavy blows, and hard nips whilst navigating
the icy seas of the north. — ED.

204 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

the Azores, by a similar concussion. A merchant
brig also, plying between Panama and one of
the ports of Western Mexico, lately met with the
same disaster, but without loss of life, the pas-
sengers and crew being all rescued by an Ameri-
can whale ship.

Another form of the perils of whaling is
illustrated in the following incidents, taken from
an authentic communication in one of the re-
ligious newspapers of the day, which we insert
here in order to complete this Daguerreotype
Gallery of Life and Adventures in a Whale
Ship.

A few years ago, the captain of a whale ship
was on a cruise in the Pacific Ocean. There
were three boats attached to the ship. Early
one morning a whale appeared. Two boats
were sent to capture it. They fastened to the
whale, and were soon drawn by this monster of
the deep out of sight of the ship. An hour or
two passed along, when, suddenly, another
whale rose in the water, but a few rods from the
vessel. The temptation to attempt its capture
was too strong to be resisted. The captain

FEARFUL ENTERPRISE. 205

ordered the remaining boat to be lowered, and,
leaving but one man and two boys to take care
of the ship, sprang into the boat with the rest
of the crew.

Soon the harpoon was plunged into the
whale, and they were carried, with almost the
speed of the wind, about fifteen miles from the
ship. Then the whale plunged perpendicularly
down into the depths of the ocean. It was not
long ere they saw him, fathoms deep in the
crystal waters, rushing up, with open jaws, to
destroy the boat. By skilfully sheering the
boat, the whale missed his aim, and, thrusting
his mammoth head some fifteen or twenty feet
into the air, he fell over upon his side, and
again disappeared in the fathomless sea. Soon
he reappeared in the almost transparent abyss,
again rushing upward to attack the boat.
Again he was foiled.

The third time he descended, and as he

arose, with invigorated fury, he struck the boat

in the centre of the keel, threw it some fifteen

into the air, and, scattering the crew and

fragments of the boat over the waves, again

206 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

plunged into the deep and disappeared. The
captain and the crew were now in the water,
clinging to the pieces of the demolished boat.
They were fifteen miles from the ship, and could
not be seen from its mast-head. The other boats
were gone, they knew not where. Apparently,
every chance of rescue was cut off, and nothing
awaited them but a watery grave. It was twelve
o'clock at noon. The hours of one, two, three,
four, five, and six passed slowly away, and still
they were floating, almost exhausted, upon the
heaving billows of the Pacific, when the ship
rose on the swelling seas, so that they could
just catch a glimpse of her rolling spars.

" Oh ! how fervently I prayed," said one of
these mariners, when afterward relating the
scene, " that God would in some way providen-
tially interpose and save our lives ! I thought
of my wife, of my little children, of my prayer-
less life, of the awful account I had to render
at the bar of God for grieving the Spirit and
neglecting the Saviour. All the horrors of this
dreadful death were forgotten in the thought
that in one short hour T was to render up an

INCIDENTS OF WHALING. 207

account to God for years of ingratitude and dis-
obedience. Oh ! thought I, if I were only a
Christian, what a solace would it be to me as
I sink into this watery grave ! "

The sun had now disappeared behind the dis-
tant waves, and the darkening shades of a dreary
night were settling down over the ocean. Just
then they descried, dim in the dusky distance,
one of the absent boats returning to the ship.
It was, however, far off, apparently beyond the
reach of their loudest outcries. Impelled by the
energies of despair, they simultaneously raised
a shout, which blended with the wash of the
waves and sighing of the breeze, and the boat
continued on its way. Again they raised an-
other shout, and it was also unavailing.

The shades of the night were deepening, the
boat rapidly passing by them. Almost phrenzied
at their terrible condition, they raised another
cry. The sound of that distant shriek fell
faintly upon the ears of the boatmen, and they
rested on their oars. Another shout, which
almost lacerated their throats, was raised, and
the boat turned in pursuit. They were taken

208 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

from the water, and carried almost lifeless to
the ship !

In another authentic instance, when a boat
was chasing a whale, he suddenly turned to
windward, and made directly for his pursuers,
who were so excited hy the chase as to be blind
to danger. On, therefore, they madly rushed,
without trying to avoid the infuriated monster,
so eager were they to plunge into him their
irons, till the boat struck with such force upon
the whale's head, as to throw the oarsmen from
their thwarts. At the same moment the boat-
steerer let fly his two harpoons into the animal,
which then rolled over on its back, and, before
the boat could get clear of the danger, being to
windward, a heavy sea struck it, and threw boat
and men into the whale's mouth ! All, of course,
sprang for their lives, and they had barely time
to throw themselves clear of the boat, before it
was crushed to pieces by those ponderous jaws,
and its ejected crew were providentially all
picked up by another boat.

But other cases, some with like happy es-
capes, and some with fatal results may be here

INCIDENTS OF WHALING. 209

adduced as illustrations of the perils encountered
by the whalers.

An instance has come to the knowledge of
the writer, of a ship in the North Pacific, from
which there was lost a boat and crew of six men,
under the following circumstances. They had
been lowered after a whale, and had succeeded in
fastening the harpoon, but he had darted off
with them at railroad speed, out of sight of the
ship, which was sailing after them at what rate
they could. Suddenly a fog began to rise, and
enveloped both the ship and her lone boat, in-
ducing a danger of very frequent occurrence to
whalemen in high latitudes.

It was impossible to see any object at the
distance of a ship's length ; and there was an
open whale-boat, with six men in it, perhaps
fifteen miles from the ship, with food and water
for but a few hours' consumption, and utterly
bewildered in the dense fog. The darkness of
night soon came on ; the wind began to rise,
and the billows to swell. Every effort was made
by firing guns and showing lights, to attract the
lost boat. The long hours of the night rolled

210 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

away, a stormy morning dawned, and still no
boat appeared.

For several days they sailed in circles round
the spot, but all in vain. The boat was either
destroyed by the whale, or swamped by the bil-
lows of the stormy night, or, as it floated day after
day upon the desert waste of the Pacific, one
after another of the crew, emaciated with thirst
and famine, dropped down and died.

Another, a sperm whaler, the bark Harriet,
of Freetown, Captain Durfee, when cruising on
the line, lowered her boats one day for sperm
whales. The first and third mates had each
secured a whale, and made them fast alongside,
when they returned to assist the second mate,
who was fast to another. They came up with him
about nine o'clock at night, and succeeded in
killing the whale. They could then see the
ship ; but it soon began to blow, and they were
obliged to lay by the whale all night. In the
morning the ship was not in sight, it still blow-
ing a gale, and raining hard. They lay by the
whale three days, when they ventured to stand
off to the westward, in hopes of falling in with

INCIDENTS OF WHALING. 211

some ship. On the seventh day they caught a
shark, which they ate with a good relish. They
were then standing for the King's Mill group of
islands ; but a new gale coming on, they were
obliged to reef down and stand to the eastward,
and finally to heave to, where they lay for
thirty- six hours, in a gale unusual for those
latitudes. On the morning of the tenth day
they again stood to the west. On the eleventh
they discovered a sail,*and stood for her, which
proved to be the bark Han seat, of Hamburg.
They were taken on board and treated with
great kindness, having had nothing to eat
during the eleven days, excepting the shark
they had caught and one or two flying-fish, and
no water except what they had caught in the
line-tubs. Some of them had lain down to die
two days before they saw the ship, and all of
them were so weak that they could scarcely
support their weight. Captain Durfee, after
cruising for several days in the vicinity, was
making the best of his way to Oahu with the
remnant of his crew, having given up all hopes
of ever seeing any of his officers or crew again,

o 2

212 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTUHES.

when the barque Hanseat spoke him, January
20th. He was not more surprised than de-
lighted to find his men all safe, and receiving
all attention possible, as the third mate was a
brother.

We add a further example of perils to whale-
men of another description, illustrative, at the
same time, of the danger and inexpediency of
the captain's going in the boats. Witness the
recent narrative, from the New Bedford Mer-
cury, of the sufferings of Captain Hosmer and a
boat's crew, of the whaling barque Janet, who
were separated from their vessel while on the
coast of Peru. The account, furnished by the
captain, is substantially as follows : —

On the coast of Peru, 23d June, 1849, in
latitude 3° S., longitude 104° W., while cruis-
ing for whales, a shoal of sperm whales appeared
in sight from the Janet, and three boats, with
Captain Hosmer in one of them, lowered in
pursuit. It blowing fresh at the time, the boats
soon separated, each having made fast to a
whale. After Captain Hosmer had succeeded
in " turning up" his whale, and was towing

INCIDENTS OF WHALING. 213

him to the ship, from some inadvertence on the
part of the third mate in putting about, the
boat capsized, with loss of boat-keg, lantern-
keg, boat-bucket, compass, paddles, &c. The
crew succeeded in righting the boat, and lashed
the oars to the thwarts across the boat, to pre-
vent her from overturning, she being filled with
water, and the sea continually breaking over
her.

Two waifs, or flags, were immediately set as
a signal of distress, the other two boats being in
sight, at a distance of about one and a half
miles. Captain Hosmer saw the other two boats
take their whales alongside of the barque, which
was then kept off in the direction for his boat ;
but, to his surprise and horror, when within
about one mile of him, they kept off on another
course until sundown. The crew of the cap-
tain's boat then got upon the whale alongside,
and tried to bail the boat, but could not suc-
ceed. They then cut the line attached to the
whale, and succeeded in setting some pieces of
the boat-sail, and steered toward the barque,
then about three miles distant.

214 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

During the night they saw a light at in-
tervals, but in the morning the barque was at
about the same distance off. Every expedient
was resorted to, by making signals, to attract
the attention of those on board the barque, but
in vain. They saw them cutting in the whales,
and apparently indifferent to the fate of their
comrades. In this perilous condition, the un-
fortunate boat's crew made another attempt to
bail the water from the boat, but, owing to
their consternation, they did not succeed. They
then continued on their course as above, hoping
to regain the barque, but soon found that she
receded from them, and it was then determined
to put about to the wind, and remain, whatever
the consequence might be.

On the second morning, the weather being
more favourable, all the whale craft was thrown
overboard, and another attempt was made to
bail the boat, which resulted in the loss of one
man, without accomplishing the purpose. The
effort was again renewed in the afternoon, the
weather being yet more favourable, and they
finally succeeded in freeing the boat from water,

PERILS AND INCIDENTS. 215

but with the loss of another of her crew, all on
board having been up to their arms in the
water during the last forty-eight hours. Two
of the survivors were seized with delirium, all
of them having been without a morsel of food
or drink, and suffering painfully from thirst.

Thus disabled, no one on board being able
to ply at the oars, and with only a small frag-
ment of the boat's sail remaining, it was deter-
mined to make for Cocus Island, on the Peru-
vian coast, a distance of about one thousand
miles, as the nearest land. Accordingly, the
piece of the sail was used to the best advantage,
and the ceiling of the boat was torn up, and
also employed as a wind-propeller, and steering
in a north-easterly direction.

Captain Hosmer says, nothing occurred wor-
thy of remark until the seventh day, the crew
having, in the mean time, been without a particle
of food or drink, and not a drop of rain having
fallen. In this dreadful state of suffering, it
was mutually agreed to cast lots as to which of
the number should be sacrificed to prolong the
lives of his companions; and the unfortunate

216 THE WHALEMAN S ADVENTURES.

victim upon whom the lot fell met his fate with
perfect resignation and willingness. At the
close of the day, a shower of rain afforded a
very grateful additional relief.

Being without compass or instruments of
any kind, Captain Hosmer was compelled to rely
entirely upon his judgment respecting the course,
aided only by an occasional glimpse of the
north star and the rolling swell of the sea from
the south. On the eighth day another of the
number died from exhaustion. It was found
necessary to pursue a more northerly course in
hope of rain, none having fallen during the
last four days.

On the next day they were favoured with
another shower, and this benefaction was fol-
lowed up by the remarkable circumstance of a
dolphin leaping from among its finny com-
panions directly into the boat. Several birds,
also, approached so near to the boat as to fall a
prey to the necessities of the crew, administering
greatly to their relief. On the thirteenth of
July, land was discovered in an easterly direc-
tion, which proved to be Cocus Island (un-

PERILS AND INCIDENTS. 217

inhabited), lying in latitude 5° 27' N. longitude
87° 15' W.

Captain Hosmer and the other survivors
succeeded in reaching it, but in an almost help-
less condition. They, however, secured a pig,
and drank its blood, which revived their ex-
hausted strength, and also obtained a plentiful
supply of birds and fresh water. After remaining
two days upon the island, they were overjoyed
by seeing the approach of a boat, which proved
to belong to the ship Leonidas (whaler), Cap-
tain Swift, of New Bedford, then lying in Chat-
ham Bay, for the purpose of procuring wood
and water, and were relieved from their dreadful
sufferings by being taken on board the ship
and treated with every possible attention and
kindness.

The mate of the Janet explained his apparent
neglect of the captain, in a letter to his owners,
as follows. After mentioning the fact of three
boats putting off for whales, as stated above,
he adds : —

" At three P.M. I had my whale alongside,
and soon the ship came to me ; and when I

218 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

got on board there was but one boat in sight,
and that was five miles to the leeward of the
ship. I went down to it with the ship, and
found that it was the second mate's boat. He
had seen Captain Hosmer two hours previously,
fast to a whale, and went to the leeward of
him when last seen from the boat.

"We proceeded in the direction in which
the captain's boat had been last seen, and lay
to all night, with all sails set, and with all our
lights fixed. In the morning saw nothing of
the boat. We cruised three days, but, unfor-
tunately, without meeting any trace of her.
In the meantime, four of our hands were sick
from fatigue, and we were under the necessity of
making the best of our way to this port (Payta).

"We had taken 100 barrels of oil for the
last ten days previously, and lost 200 barrels
during the same time by losing lines. I expect
the captain's boat was taken down by a foul
line, as he had a new line in his boat, coiled
two days previous to the accident ; we saved
one whale the day the accident happened, and
lost another that night."

DANGERS OF THE FISHERY. 219

Such are the dangers which are continually
incurred in the whale fishery, equal almost to
those of the field of battle. We often wonder
that so many escape with their lives from a
battle field ; and we equally wonder that, com-
paratively, so few perish in this most hazardous
pursuit. A boat, almost as frail as a bubble,
approaches the side of a whale, slumbering upon
the ocean, fifty or sixty feet in length, and a
harpoon is plunged into his body. His efforts
to destroy his tormentors or escape from them,
as we have again and again learned, are terrific.
The ocean is lashed into foam by blows from
his enormous flukes, which would almost dash
in the ribs of a man-of-war. Often he rushes at
the boat with lightning speed and with open jaws,
and it is crushed like an egg-shell in his mouth.

In this frightful warfare many are maimed,
and many lives are annually lost. But some
whales are worth between two and three thou-
sand dollars, and this is majestic game to hunt.
He, however, who earns his bread through the
pi'rils and hardships of this pursuit, has truly a
hard lot in life. He is but a transient visitor

220 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

at his home. Amid the solitude of the ocean
he passes the greater portion of his days ; and if
he survives the perils of his adventurous pur-
suit, the storms of the ocean, and the pestilence
of different climes, he usually finds that the
friends of his youth are all gone, and that he is
almost a stranger at his own fireside. And yet
this mode of life has its own joys and emolu-
ments ; for, if ordinarily successful, in the course
of fifteen or twenty years, a whaleman will lay
up a moderate competence for the rest of his
days, and meanwhile, notwithstanding the un-
favourable influences which are often at work
in the whale ship, many are forming noble
characters.

Although it is no genial soil, yet virtue,
humanity, true nobility, and the fear of God,
can live and grow in a whale ship, both fore and
aft. I have met them on this present voyage,
and in some signal instances elsewhere, which
it would be base ingratitude and a denying of
God's grace, not to acknowledge and give credit
for. But who that knows it, as I do, would
choose a life in a whale ship, or life anywhere

WHALEMAN'S HARD LOT. 221

at sea ! Who does not rather say, with one
that knew whereof he spake,

" Eternal ocean ! old majestic sea !
Ever 1 love from shore to look on thee,
And sometimes on thy billowy back to ride,
And sometimes o'er thy summer breast to glide ;
But let me live on land, where rivers run,
Where shady trees may screen me from the sun ;
Where I may feel, secure, the fragrant air ;
Where, whate'er toil or wearying pains I bear,

Those Eyes which look away all human ill,
May shed on me their still, sweet, constant light,
And the hearts I love may, day and night,

Be found beside and safe and clustering still."

222 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

CHAPTEK XV.

CLAIMS AND ADVANTAGES OF THE SABBATH IN
A WHALE SHIP.

" When the Sabbath's peaceful ray
O'er the ocean's breast doth play,
Though no throngs assemble there,
No sweet church-bells call to prayer,
Spirit ! let thy presence be
Sabbath to the mustering sea."

Mrs. Sigourney.

Sabbath for a Whale Ship— Whale Ship Sabbath-breaking—
Pretexts for — Pretexts answered — False Pleas refuted — In-
consistent Profession — Experience of a Pious Sailor — Testi-
mony as to the Sabbath — A Word to the Sabbath Keeper.

Atlantic Ocean, Commodore Prefile, latitude 32° N., longitude
64 J° W. Off the Bermudas.

,A LEADINGr end in the preceding sketches
-OL of whaling life has been to prepare the way,
and secure attention, for certain considerations
upon the wholesale violation of the Sabbath in
this business. By the Whalemen's Shipping
List, at the commencement of 1 844, or there-

SABBATH FOR A WHALE SHIP. 223

abouts, there were employed in the whale fish-
ery, from the ports of the United States, six
hundred and seventy-four vessels, five hundred
and ninety- three of them then at sea, chiefly
from New Bedford, Nan tucket, Sag Harbor,
New London, Stonington, and Newport.

Allowing, for the average, thirty souls to a
ship, which is a moderate computation, there
were then more than twenty thousand persons
prosecuting this trade. The number has not
diminished since, but has rather increased, until
the year 1849; and it is an estimate much
within bounds, that there are now actually em-
ployed in this business, from the ports of the
United States, eighteen or twenty thousand men.
Among them are men of divers trades and
nations, but a large majority are citizens of the
United States from remote inland and sea-port
towns.

Their characters and relative degrees of in-
telligence and moral worth are different, as are
their origin and education. Some are of vicious
low stock, vicious education, and an incurable
addictedness to vice. Others are of good fami-

224 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

lies, from religious communities, sons of Christ-
ians, and have been taught to fear God and keep
his commandments. A few of them profess
godliness. All of them are alike in this, that
they are rational, accountable men, under
obligation to keep God's law, and having man's
natural right to, and need of, the Sabbath for
rest and religious worship.*

But what is the law to which they are all
alike subjected in whale ships ? With very few
exceptions, to be stated in their place, it is a law
that acknowledges no Sabbath, but compels them
to labour alike on the seventh day and all days,
in order to capture whales and fill their ship. I
repeat it, for the information of those whom it
may concern, there is no Sabbath known in the
whale fishery.

As generally conducted, it makes eighteen
or twenty thousand habitual Sabbath-breakers.
Men are kept at the fore and main mast heads,
boats are lowered, whales are taken and " cut-
in/' and all the work incident thereto is done
on the Sabbath just as much as on any day,
* See Note C.

WHALE-SHIP SABBATH BREAKING. 225

and this without the pretence of a plea of neces-
sity, as in working a ship, but solely in order to
" fill up " as soon as possible, and return to port
with a cargo, taken as it comes, it matters not
how, whether in those sacred hours which the
easy owner ashore has been spending at church,
or in the busy week days which he devotes to
the counting-room, or farm, or workshop.

Owners, too, know this when their ships go
from port, are generally willing it should be so,
and are averse to have it otherwise. Owners,
captains, officers, and men are alike the willing
participators in this gross violation of the Lord's
day, for the sake of the gain they think it brings
them; else either of these parties, by asserting
their right to the Sabbath, and refusing to own
or sail in ships that violate it, could easily pre-
vent it.

But while there is an individual participa-
tion in this sin, the guilt of it rests especially
upon owners and captains ; and it is they who
are chargeable with it, and who are to be
arraigned at the bar of public opinion, as tln-y
will be at the tribunal of Almighty God. It

p

226 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

is they whom we charge with being at the
bottom of a systematic and most gross violation
of one of the plainest commands of the Deca-
logue, and with wilfully involving a great many
others, willingly or not, in the same sin.

The only pretexts of reason we have ever
heard urged to defend it are — " This is the busi-
ness by which I get a livelihood for myself and
family. If I neglect to take whales when God
offers them, my family and employers will be
likely to suffer for it. I am necessarily absent
a long time from home, and I ought to use
every means in my power to shorten that time,
and secure a voyage for myself and owners.
If I do not lower for whales when they are in
sight, the Sabbath will be more desecrated by
the men's grumbling than it would be by
cheerful labour in taking whales. The busi-
ness of whaling is of such a precarious nature,
that, unless all chances are seized, successful
voyages will not be made ; therefore it is neces-
sary also to use the Sabbath in this work when
Providence presents the game. No one regards
the Sabbath more than I do when ashore, but

PRETEXTS ANSWERED. 227

my business exempts me from the obligation
of such a strict observance of it at sea."

Now to all these specious efforts at self-
justification, which we have heard put forth at
different times, and by different persons, and to
every other of a similar sort, it is enough to
reply : —

1 . That there is no lawful worldly calling,
except that whose immediate end is to relieve
human suffering, or minister instruction and
comfort to the soul, which it is right to pursue
on the Sabbath. Six days shalt tJwu labour
and do all thy work. But the seventh is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt
not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy
daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-
servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that
is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord
made heaven and earth, and all that in them
is, and rested the seventh day : wherefore the
Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

'•l. God has revealed no indulgence in favour
of Sabbath whaling, any more than to Sabbath-
breaking railroad companies, steamboat, canal,

r •>

228 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

or stage lines, or Sunday manufactories. Show
us a single Divine statute of limitation yielding
the privilege of Sabbath violation in but one
clear case, and we will yield the argument.

3. The assertion, that if the Sabbath is not
improved for getting whales, the voyage will
be likely to prove a failure, is a mere assump-
tion; for prosperous voyages have been and
may be made, and ships filled without a whale
being struck on the Lord's day. What has
proved true in one instance, other things being
equal, there is reason to believe would prove
true in all.

4. The obligation of the Sabbath is univer-
sal, and extends to all men alike, on the sea
and land. The Sabbath was made for man
universally, as a worker, under all circumstances-
By man, therefore, it is to be always kept. It
was given to the race by God, for rest and holy
worship, and every individual of the human
family, to whom the law comes, is bound so to
use it.

5. The man who conscientiously takes care
to have the Sabbath sanctified by himself, and

PRETEXTS ANSWERED. 229

family, and dependents, will be likely to have
his family blessed, and taken eare of by the
Sabbath's Almighty Lord. Godliness is profit-
able for all things, having promise of the life
that now is, and of that which is to come. In
keeping God's commandments, there is exceed-
ing great reward.

6. It is better to obey God and please HIM,
than to attempt to please men, and get the
favour of owners, by taking oil for them on the
Sabbath, in direct violation of a positive law of
God, made for the good of all men, and in har-
mony with the human constitution.

7. It were better, if need be, to have a voy-
age prolonged, and then come back with a clear
conscience and God's blessing, than to return
sooner a Sabbath breaker, with the ill-gotten
gains of Sabbath whaling, and a conscience
defiled or seared by sin.

8. If men grumble, and swear, and sin be-
cause I do not order boats to be lowered on
the Sabbath day, it is their look-out and blame.
If / have boats lowered, it is mine, and God
will not hold me guiltless.

230 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

9. It is an unfounded presumption, that a
steady and well-grounded refusal to have nothing
to do with Sabbath whaling will produce dis-
content among the men. Experience has proved
that they like the rest of the Sabbath as well as
any other men, and are glad enough to have it
theirs for a constancy, though they would like
now and then to improve any rare chance offered
on that day as well as on any other.

10. If no look-out is kept for whales on the
Sabbath, but the day is devoted to rest, they
will not often be seen that day, so as to be an
occasion of discontent. These two last propo-
sitions are drawn from the experience of this
ship, the Commodore Preble, during its present
Sabbath-keeping voyage, and will, I am well
convinced, be found true of every ship that shall
try the experiment. The captain became per-
suaded at the Sandwich Islands that he would
be wrong, and without excuse, to whale any more
on the Sabbath, and, with a new heart, he re-
solved to do so no more.

He took one season afterward on the North-
west, but, for reasons which it were easy to

FALSE PLEAS REFUTED. 231

mention, not the least of which was not being
well officered or manned for North-west whaling,
the ship did not succeed so well as many others.
Several boats were stove early in the season,
some of the men got upset and frightened, tow-
lines parted, and many things went ill ; but,
so far from repenting of his purpose to keep the
Sabbath, he is more strong in it than ever, well
persuaded and well content that, if God do not
pay him in oil here, durable riches and right-
eousness are his in heaven.

It should be mentioned, in passing, to the
honour of Lynn, that the only two whale ships,
of which this is one, that hail from that port,
now keep the Sabbath. The heaviest owner in
them is a religious man, who says he does not
want any oil taken on the Sabbath. There is
another from New London, the Nantasket, Cap-
tain Smith, and others, it is to be supposed,
with which the writer is not acquainted.

It is painful to have to record the pitifully
different course of another captain from New
Bedford, a professor of religion, and esteemed a
good man. He was convinced, and felt that

232 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

it was wrong to whale on the Sabbath ; and
when he last went from the Sandwich Islands to
the North-west Coast, he proposed in his mind
not to do so. For two Sabbaths he held out,
and on one of them saw whales. By the time
the next Sabbath came round they had done
but little ; he felt uneasy, could not stay below
or on deck with any comfort, his mind running
upon whales.

At length, to get relief, instead of betaking
himself more earnestly to prayer and the Word
of God, he ordered his mate to send a couple
of men aloft, and when they sang out for whales,
he lowered his boats and his purpose to keep
the Sabbath at the same time. Blubber came
in in abundance, and with it came occupation
and content, purchased, I need not say, how
poorly. He soon filled up and went home,
even throwing overboard some provisions to
give place to oil.

This story of his experience he told himself,
while all the time acknowledging it was not
right, his principle and conscience not being
strong enough to carry out his convictions of

A PIOUS SAILOR — A LOOSE PROFESSOR. 233

duty, and keep him from acknowledged sin.
On the other hand, a pious sailor, recently
returned from a two years' voyage, says that
thirty whales were taken by his ship's crew
during their absence, Three of these, to his
sorrow, were taken on the Sabbath. But in
taking these three, five boats were destroyed
and five men were seriously wounded, two hav-
ing their limbs broken, and one his scull frac-
tured. In taking the remaining twenty-seven
whales on the other days of the week, only four
boats were injured, and one man slightly hurt.

Now it needs not that we say positively, of
so easy a professor and loose a conscience as
that of the New Bedford captain just now re-
referred to, that such a man cannot be a Chris-
tian, or to deny that he may be saved so as by
fire. But certain it is, it were a pity for the
world if the goodness in it, and fear of God,
and practical regard to principle and duty, were
no stronger than this man's. The devil might
keep it, for all such Christians, a thousand
years longer, and we don't know that he would
want any better agents than such pliable pro-

234 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

fessors, that seem to take gain for godliness,
and make a " gospel of their maw."

Such men will do well to read and ponder
the following extract from the Narrative of an
Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi,
by Henry Schoolcraft : — " No Sabbath day was
employed in travelling. It was laid down as a
principle to rest on that day, and whenever it
overtook us, whether on land or on water, the
men knew that their labour would cease, and
that the day would be given them for rest.
Such of them as felt an inclination, had the
further privilege of hearing a portion of the
Scriptures read or expounded, or uniting in
other devotional rites. There were but a few
hours of a single morning and a few hours of a
single evening, of separate Sabbaths, at distant
points, which were necessarily employed in
reaching particular places ; and the use of these
appeared to be unavoidable, under the peculiar
circumstances of our local position.

" It may, perhaps, be thought, that the giv-
ing up one seventh part of the whole time em-
ployed on a public expedition, in a very remote

TESTIMONY AS TO THE SABBATH. 235

region, and with many men to subsist, must
have, in this ratio, increased the time devoted
to the route. But the result was far otherwise.
The time devoted to recruit the men not only
gave the surgeon of the party an opportunity to
heal up the bruises and chafings they complained
of, but it replenished them with strength ;
they commenced the week's labour with renewed
zest, and this zest was in a measure kept up
by the reflection that the ensuing Sabbath
would be a day of rest. It was found, by com-
puting the whole route, and comparing the time
employed with that which had been devoted on
similar routes in this part of the world, that an
equal space had been gone over in less time than
it had ever been known to be performed by loaded
canoes or (as the fact is) by light canoes before.
And the whole expedition — its incidents and
results — has been of a character furnishing
strong reasons for uniting in ascriptions of
praise to that Eternal Power who hath been
our shield from the pestilence that walketh in
darkness, and from the destruction that wasteth
at noon day"

236 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

We have become acquainted with the names
or persons of nine men belonging to the Church,
masters of whale ships, and but three of these
keep the Sabbath. Some of the reasons for
this desecration of the Lord's day by whale
ships, or the causes of it, we will endeavour to
give in another chapter ; and we close this with
a voice of good cheer to upright Sabbath-keep-
ing whalemen, as heard in the stirring Mariner's
Hymn by Mrs. Southey : —

" Launch thy bark, mariner !

Christian, GOD speed thee !
Let loose the rudder bands —

Good angels lead thee !
Set thy sails warily,

Tempests will come ;
Steer thy course steadily,

Christian, steer home !

" Slacken not sail yet

At inlet or island ;
Straight to the beacon steer,

Straight for the highland :
Crowd all the canvas on,

Cut through the foam —
Christian ! cast anchor now —

Heaven is thy home ! "

PLEA FOR WHALEMEN'S SABBATH. 237

CHAPTEK XVI.

A PLEA IN BEHALF OF THE SABBATH FOR
WHALEMEN.

" What says the prophet ? let that day be bless'd

With holiness and consecrated rest.

Pastime and business both it should exclude,

And bar the door the moment they intrude ;

Nobly distinguished above all the six,

By deeds in which the world must never mix.

Hear him again ! he calls it a delight,

A day of luxury, observed aright ;

When the glad soul, made heaven's own willing guest,

Sits banqueting, and God provides the feast."

Cowper.

Plea for Whalemen's Sabbath — Religion and Sabbath Whaling
— Responsibilities on Sabbath Whaling — New England
Sabbath — Scoresby's experience — Sabbath-keeping Whaler
— Providential testimonies — Rational conclusions — Hopes
of good times for seamen.

THE all-inclusive cause, which perpetuates
and lies at the bottom of Sabbath whaling,
is that which upholds and furnishes the stimulus
to almost all other forms of Sabbath breaking,
the odious slave-trade, &c., — I mean the lust
of lucre, that deified greedy devil of gain that

238 THE WHALEMAN S ADVENTURES.

in the end troubleth his own house. Whaling
captains and owners are seldom willing, for the
honour of GOD or regard to his law, to forego
the profits which they think accrue from Sab-
bath whaling ; and therefore, once at sea on
whaling ground, they are unwilling to stop and
take breath for a long Lord's day.

Oil got on the Sabbath burns as well, sells
as well, and, they think, spends as well as oil
got lawfully on week days. Not to use the
Sabbath in their gainful business, they think
would be losing one seventh part of their time,
neglecting one seventh of their chances, keep-
ing them one seventh longer out, consuming
one seventh more provisions, exhausting one
seventh more of patience and spirits, and per-
haps, in the end, leaving them with one seventh
less of oil than ships that use all days alike, and
one seventh less of everything but a good con-
science and the favour of God.

To balance these, we have only to offer,
without swelling the list, as might easily be
done, with other items, that keeping the Sabbath
would be likely to make whalers three sevenths

PLEA FOR WHALEMEN'S SABBATH.

better and more respectable men, three sevenths
more easy and peaceful in their minds, and
one seventh the longer lived than those who
persist in profaning God's holy day; and it
would make owners at home all the better
Christians, or more likely subjects of the grace
of God here, and with less to answer for at the
great bar of judgment hereafter.

At present it is said by many whaling cap-
tains, that their owners absolutely require whal-
ing on the Sabbath, as one of the conditions on
which they give them command of their ships.
It is also said that many of these ship-owners
are members of evangelical churches in Nan-
tucket, New Bedford, Fair Haven, Sag Harbor,
New London, Warren, Newport, Stonington,
and other places. Some owners say nothing to
their captains on the subject; but if their ships
do but return full, no inquiries are made how
or on what days the oil was obtained.

Now and then a shrewd Yankee captain
guesses that his pious owners have no objections
to his t ah- ing oil n:1icn lie can get it. A full
ship iills the heart with joy, and lights up the

240 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

countenance with an approving and benignant
smile ; while a half-filled ship often clouds the
brow, deranges the spleen, obstructs the biliary
ducts, and stops the joyful and generous action
of the heart. Especially would this be so had
the crew of the half-filled ship been permitted
to rest one day in the seven, according to the
commandment.

Occasionally a master, an officer, or a sailor
hints that he would be glad to rest on the Sab-
bath, according to the dictates of his conscience ;
but this he may not do, except at the risk of
losing his ship and being thrown out of employ-
ment, and he will therefore conclude that Sab-
bath whaling with him, at least, is a work of
necessity.

Kev. Titus Coan, an honoured missionary at
the Sandwich Islands, who has had much to do
practically with whalemen, says, with not less
truth than with a justifiable irony, that there
are some captains "who will consent to be very
pious, and hold religious meetings on the Sab-
bath, when there are no whales. Of course,
they always keep a man at ' mast head,' on the

RELIGION AND SABBATH WHALING. 241

'look-out' for the oil of joy to the whalemen,
while the rest look up for ' an unction from the
Holy One ;' or, in other words, one man looks
out for worldly, while the rest look up for
heavenly good. Now, should it so happen that
the prayer of this MAST-HEAD MINISTER should
be first granted, by raising a whale during
divine service, and should he, from his lofty
pulpit, cry out, ' There she blows !' then what
a thrill of joy electrifies all his hearers ! How
soon the lesser desire yields to the greater !
How quick and how thrilling the response from
the quarter deck, ' Where away ? Lower the
boats ! Bear a hand, boys !'

" Now the scene changes. Devotion does
not cease, but it is turned into another channel.
Prayer, reading, sacred melody, exhortation, all
give place to the weightier matter of pursuing
this MOVING SEA-GOD ! The object of devotion
thus changed, interest, zeal, fervour, energy,
are all quickened and strongly developed.

" True, most irreligious men ridicule this
kind of piety, and heartily despise its selfishness
and inconsistency ; and Lord's-day whalemen

Q

242 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

often complain that it is hard to maintain reli-
gion, and especially so to keep up divine serv-
ice, at sea. No doubt it is hard, and perhaps
it is impossible to exercise true religion in con-
nection with Sabbath breaking.* The two can-
not be reconciled. No man can serve two mas-
ters. Ye cannot serve God and mammon!'

Another reason why the taking of whales is
prosecuted so generally on the Sabbath, as well
as other days, is, the neglect of ministers, in
whaling ports, to apply God's law to Sabbath
whaling. Captains at the Sandwich Islands,

* A clergyman was once invited to preach on board a
whale ship. The hour for service having arrived, Captain

said to the officer of the deck, " Mr. , call all

hands aft." The crew were soon assembled in the cabin. An
"old salt" remaining behind, the captain inquired, "Where

is S • ?" " Down in the hold, sir ; says he won't come

to meeting, sir." He was then called again, but to no effect.
He had gone down into the blubber-hold, and there intrenched
himself, like a giant in his castle, or a lion in his lair. He
was reasoned with, but all to no purpose. He refused to be
routed. There in his den he sat ; and in his den he growled
defiance : " I won't come up ! " On this the officer left him,
and reported to the captain.

The clergyman now asked the liberty to go himself and in-
vite the old man in the blubber-hold. This granted, he pro-
ceeded to the hatchway, and kindly invited the iron-hearted
tar to come up and attend service. For a moment the old

RELIGION AND SABBATH WHALING. 243

who have been remonstrated with by faithful
ministers there, have said, "We never heard
our ministers at home preach so against Sab-
bath whaling." And it has even been intimated
that a clergyman, who should be faithful in
reproving for this sin, would not be endured
long in any of our whaling ports.

Now, though a poor excuse, this, we believe,
is in fact true. Whether, by reason of mere ap-
athy or inattention, this form of Sabbath-break-
ing not being before their eyes ; or holding, as
some do, that we are only to preach principles,

man was silent ; but it was only the silence of a dark cloud
while it gathers strength for a burst and a roar. At length he
raised his stern brow, and, with a look of defiance, brawled
out, " No ! I won't go !"

A gentle effort was then made to soften his rigid nerves ;
but Jack was not to be taken either by storm or by stratagem.
Again he roared out, " I tell you, no ! I won't go there ! " On
being asked the reasons for his prejudice against religious
services, he again thundered out, " I don't want any of Cap-
tain — — 's religion ! One Sunday it is all preach and pray,
and the next Sunday it is work ! work ! Catch whales ! catch
whales! No ! I won't go aft to meeting, and that's all about
it." The result of this interview was reported to the captain,
the services proceeded, and old Jack remained in the blubber-
room.— TJie Sailor's Sabbath : a Tract. By Rev. Titus Coan.
Honolulu, Onhu. Published by the Hawaiian Tract Society.

Q2

24-1 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

and let them apply themselves ; or, as fearing
to offend wealthy parishioners, whose support
the Church cannot well spare — from one or all
of these reasons combined, ministers in whaling
ports (unless we have been greatly misinformed)
have had little or nothing to say upon the sin
of Sabbath whaling ; and their parishioners
have, consequently, kept on owning and sailing
in Sabbath-breaking ships, kept in countenance
by their own ministers' silence, which has (em-
phatically to them) spoken consent.

I can hardly help reflecting upon the fidelity
of clergymen at whaling ports, in some of which
there have been of late years powerful revivals
of religion, that ship-masters, officers, and men,
converted in those very revivals, have gone out
upon the high seas, organized companies of
Sabbath breakers. Surely, if there be the least
propriety in speaking of a slave-holding Christ-
ianity, this may as well be called a Sabbath-
breaking Christianity. But no ! there is no
propriety in either, when we call things by their
right names. There can be such a strange ano-
maly as slave-holding, Sabbath-breaking Christ-

RELIGION AND SABBATH WHALING. 245

ians, but there is no slave-holding, or Sabbath-
breaking Christianity. She alike eschews both,
as utterly at war with her doctrines and requisi-
tions. They are both alike an incubus upon
her, not her offspring.

At the best, they are but temporary moles
and blemishes upon her fair person, which time,
together with her own internal purity and energy
of constitution, will soon wash off and make
to disappear. They are deforming excrescences
upon the noble tree of the American Church,
which, unless they be soon cut off, may produce
the vegetable gangrene or dry rot. But never
call them her limbs or leaves, for she indig-
nantly denies the parentage, and asserts that they
have fastened on her like leeches, but are not
of her ; and she protests that it would be as unfair
to call the monarch oak by the name of some
parasitical vine that now and then coils over it,
as to give herself epithets from the heresies and
misdeeds that have so struck their roots into
her bark as to be nourished by her juices.

Rather let it be our business to pull off the
unnatural growth, or purge it with the physic

246 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

of truth till it dies and drops away of itself,
than to derive epithets to Christianity from
slave-holders or Sabbath breakers, or any other
class of sinners that contrive to shelter them-
selves under its lee. It is the duty especially
of ministers, in the ports where whalers are fitted
out, to bring the law of God to bear upon this
form of Sabbath breaking; to apply it point-
edly and plainly to this sin, and to preach and
pray against it till it shall cease to be allowed
by owners in their congregations, or committed
by persons going forth from their communities.
Let them, as the constituted expounders of
the law of God, and the guardians of public
morals and religion, boldly attack this sin, and
show its contrariety to the Divine law and the
Gospel of Christ. Let ministerial associations
and societies, formed to promote the better ob-
servance of the Lord's day, pass resolutions ex-
pressing their sense of this sin. Let fathers,
whose sons go down upon the sea in ships, pro-
test against a practice by which those sons are
rendered Sabbath breakers, and the high, home-
bred estimate in which they have been taught

RESPONSIBILITIES OF SABBATH WHALING. 247

to hold that sacred day obliterated, and the way
opened for any and all degrees of moral depra-
vation to which that sin is the natural ini-
tiation.

Let ship-owners, as they fear God and have
a regard to the judgment, separate themselves
from this iniquity by positively instructing their
agents not to whale on the Sabbath day. We
call upon captains and officers to exercise the
manly independence and regard for their rights,
to say that they will not sail except in Sabbath-
keeping ships; and we call upon the men to
stipulate beforehand that they shall be allowed
the rest of the Sabbath. We call upon the
editors of respectable journals, in whaling ports
and elsewhere, to discuss the propriety of this
practice. We ask religious men and good citi-
zens there to express, in the intercourse of
private life, their sense of the wrongfulness of
so plain a desecration of the Christian Sabbath.

It is everywhere popular, at this day, to
praise our Puritan ancestry, and, under God, to
ascribe our liberty, and everything that is dear
to us, to their high principles, and their consci-

248 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES,

entious practical regard to right. But with
how many, it is to be feared, is it like the Jews
building the sepulchres of the prophets, or
like the base Athenians giving the hemlock to
the virtuous living Socrates, and decreeing a
statue and panegyric to upright Phocion, whom
they had themselves put to death.

For it has come to pass that an institution
which our fathers held in highest reverence, and
kept with strictest care, is now, both by precept
and political statute and example, sadly dese-
crated ; and that, too, with a boldness and pub-
licity that prove how wide arid general is our
departure, both from their stern principles and
severe Christian morals. A noble New England
ancestry is justly a nation's boast ; nor can the
praise of our pious forefathers ever become too
popular, or their memory be held in too high
regard ; but we would like better to witness a
revival of their grave manners, and to see a
holier regard paid to that sacred institution
which they prized and guarded above all others,
and therefore have we endeavoured to draw at-
tention to one form of its desecration, which is

NEW ENGLAND SABBATH. 249

doing not a little to vitiate public morals, and
impair that high sense of the Sabbath's sacred-
ness which it is of vital importance to have
maintained.

If the spirits of some of those upright old
Puritans were now again to come among us,
and see the whale ships of New England
unscrupulously profaning God's holy day, steam-
boats and locomotives running, and stage-coaches
carrying the Sabbath mail, would they not be
likely to reproach us in accommodated language
like this ? " In vain we made ourselves exiles,
for conscience and the love of God, from the
servile kingdoms of Europe. In vain we crossed
the boisterous ocean, found a new world, and
prepared it for the happy residence of civil and
religious liberty. In vain we toiled ; we bled
in vain, if you, our offspring, thus need prin-
ciple and purpose to maintain inviolate the
sanctity of the Sabbath, and to defend the
observance of that hallowed institution, which
we kept so strictly, against the encroachments
of hurrying worldliness and greedy gain. The
blessed institutions we transmitted you cannot

250 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

long survive the desecration of that holy day ;
when, too, the penitentiaries and pauper-houses
of Europe are disgorging upon your fair domain.
Up, and rescue it from profanation, or your
precious patrimony of liberty is gone !"

The veteran Captain Scoresby, who, by age,
and experience, and judgment, is entitled to
speak on this subject with authority (having
gone through twenty-one of those perilous
voyages successfully, and killed some hundred's
of whales), says that, in the Greenland whale
fishery, much more perplexing, and more sub-
ject to sudden embarrassments, and far more
dangerous than the voyages commonly pur-
sued, ef I have known public worship to be
carried on so regularly that never a Sabbath
passed over, for several years together, without
one or more full services being performed.
During these voyages severe gales have com-
menced on the Sunday; dangers from rocks,
ice, and lee shores have threatened ; frequent
embarrassments from thick weather have oc-
curred ; yet time and opportunity were always
found for the worship of God. The success

SCORESBY'S EXPERIENCE. 251

of the voyage often seemed to be in the way,
duty to the owners of the ship seemed to forbid,
yet we persevered in waiting upon God, and
certain I am that we found his blessing.

"At three bells (half past nine A.M.) every
Sabbath morning, the hands were ' turned up,'
to prepare themselves for the forenoon service ;
then, according to the state of the weather, or
the accomodations we had in the ship, the
church was either ' rigged' upon deck, or ar-
rangements made for divine worship below.
At eleven the service commenced, and generally
concluded a few minutes after twelve. From
the calling of all hands until this time, every
man was on Sabbath-day duty; and, although
no man was made to join in the prayers against
his will, yet he had only this option, either to
watch or to pray.

" Before each of our services, whenever the
weather was at all unsettled, the ship was put
under a somewhat snug sail, and, the deck
being left to the charge of the proper officer of
the watch, with the assistance of the helmsman,
all the rest of the crew, or nearly all, could

252 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

generally be spared to join the public prayers.
When, indeed, there was any probability of
squalls, or of any change being requisite in the
sails, some few of the proper watch were placed
within observation of the officer on deck, so as
to be easily called up without disturbing their
comrades. But, if circumstances required,
though for several years no such case occurred,
the officer had orders to call up all hands to
assist him."

The same author, now a clergyman of the
Church of England, in An Address to Sea
Captains, published when he occupied the in-
teresting post of Chaplain of the Liverpool
Mariners' Church, gives the following practical
suggestions on the same subject : —

" To the end of furthering the important
object of sanctifying the Sabbath, it is good to
remember it before it arrives. Prepare for the
day of rest, as far as you can, on the Saturday.
Let your men have time on Saturday evening
for those needful acts of personal cleanliness
which are better performed then than in the
morning, so that the Lord's day be not unne-

SUGGESTIONS FOR SABBATH-KEEPING. 253

cessarily broken in upon by these preparations.
In every nautical duty which requires attention
on Sunday morning, bear in mind the hours
fixed for divine worship, that every work which
can possibly be anticipated may be completed.
If your flying sails be taken in, your retirement
will be more* comfortable and secure, and you
will seldom or never find the loss in your voyage.
The Lord's blessing will abundantly recompense
this and every sacrifice made for his sake.

" Then call your men together, as far as
possible, at the appointed hour, either in the
cabin or on the deck, as may be most comfort-
able. Again, in the afternoon, let your crew
and passengers, if any, have the opportunity
of worshipping the Most High God, who made
the heavens, the earth, and the wide sea ; and
whether it be convenient to have any other ser-
vice for the benefit of your apprentices or not,
you will feel it a good thing thus to wait upon
tho Lord. You will experience a benefit tem-
porally as well as spiritually ; your people will
be more orderly and respectful, and Almighty
God will be your shield and exceeding great re-

254 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

ward. Yea, if thou acquaintest thyself with
Him, and return unto Him, the Almighty shall
be thy defence, for then shalt thou delight thy-
self in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face
unto God ; and thou shalt make thy prayer
unto Him, and He shall hear thee."

But having referred to this "testimony and
experience of one who so long and so well put
the principles we now advocate to the strictest
test, we will here adduce an illustrative example
or two, taken from Sabbaths in the Arctic Regions-
being a portion of Dr. Scoresby's work entitled
Memorials of the Sea.

Preliminary to the narratives referred to,
the author remarks : — " It was in the last four
voyages, wherein my personal interest in the
fishing, from holding a considerable share in
the concern, was the greatest, that the Provi-
dential testimonies to Sabbath observance were
the most striking. During this period, the
pecuniary interest to myself alone, in the cap-
ture of a large whale, was, not unfrequently,
near £300, whilst a single day's successful fish-
ing might afford a personal advantage, as in

SABBATH-KEEPING WHALER. 255

one instance or more it did, of upwards of £800.
Consequently, every motive of self-interest with
myself, was in favour of unceasing exertions
during the whole seven days of the week, for
promoting the success of our undertaking. The
practice, moreover, among the northern whalers,
at that time, was almost universal, — with the
exception of one revered individual, now no
more, and occasionally, perhaps, of another
honourable example of forbearance, — to pursue
. the fishery equally on the Lord's day, as at any
other time, whenever whales were astir. Works
connected with the fishery, indeed, but con-
sidered of less importance, were, for the most
part, suspended in honour of the Sabbath ; but
the capture of whales, if opportunity offered,
was considered as such a kind of necessity, as
to justify a departure from the ordinary rest of
the day. For it was argued, and that with rea-
son, that the whales which were seen on the
Sabbath might not remain till another day ;
and, therefore, it was inferred, though by no
means with the same strictness of truth, that
it was a necessary duty to pursue the objects

256 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

of the fishery whenever whales were within
reach.

" Through the goodness of God, however,
I felt the line of duty, personally, to be other-
wise. The strict command concerning the Sab-
bath, rendered, in my apprehension, the duty
imperative, — to refrain from labouring in a
worldly calling, for worldly advantage, on that
holy day ; and this, for several of the latter
voyages in which I was engaged, became our
undeviating rule of conduct. And here it is
but justice to those who were at different times
united with me in the adventure, to mention, that
they all either accorded on the same principle of
reverence to the Divine command, as myself, in
the practice I adopted, or cheerfully acceded to
the plan, leaving me fully at liberty to deviate
from the usual practice, in order to sanctify the
Lord's day. But we go on to one of the various
illustrative incidents given in these Memorials
of the Sea : —

"On the 13th of July, blowing hard, with rain
or sleet, we moored to a large and heavy floe (a
sheet of ice about three orfour milesin diameter),

PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES. 257

in order, the more commodiously, to enjoy the
Sabbath day's repose. A ship from Peterhead,
which had for some days been accompanying us
in our progress through the western ices, fol-
lowed our example, and a considerable number
of her officers and crew joined us in our usual
Sabbath devotions. An evening service, de-
signed chiefly for the instruction and benefit of
the apprentices, had been concluded, the sacred
day of the Lord was drawing to a close, and our
visitors were preparing to return to their ship,
when a large whale was descried by one of our
own seamen in a situation very inviting for at-
tempting its capture.

"No doubt it was contemplated by many
with an ardent and longing gaze ; but the orders
for sanctifying the Sabbath being quite peremp-
tory, no attempt, on the part of any of our
people, was made to pursue the tempting object.
Our fellow- worshippers, however, being less
scrupulous, instantly manned the boat which
had brought them on board of the Baffin, and set
forth, along with some others from their own
ship, in eager pursuit. Nor were their ardent

R

258 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

hopes disappointed ; for in a short time, the
usual quietness of the day, with us, was broken
in upon by the shout of success from the pur-
suing boats, followed by vehement respondings
from the contiguous ship. The attack, being
followed up with the wonted vigour, was suc-
cessful, and the prize, which proved a valuable
one, was fully secured by the middle of the night.

" That such a result should not be exceed-
ingly trying to the feelings of our people, who
saw that their competitors had won the prize
which we had first declined, was more than
could be expected. Nevertheless, both the trial
of their obedience, and the exercise of their
patience, were so sustained as to be at once
satisfactory to me, and highly creditable to
themselves. Their minds, in general, seemed
disposed to admit the principle on which we
acted ; for, in addition to the religious sanctions,
their repeated experiences had testified that the
principle was acknowledged of heaven.

" It was my intention to have ' cast off, ' in
the morning of Monday, to explore the navi-
gable spaces of the ice to the westward, with a

PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES. 2o9

view to the furtherance of our voyage ; but the
day being still stormy, with constant thick
weather from snow, sleet, or rain, we found it
expedient to remain in somewhat anxious idle-
ness, whilst our successful comrades were joy-
ously and usefully occupied in flensing the
valuable fish obtained almost under our stern.
This was doubtless an additional trial of the
good feelings of our crew ; but, whatever might
be the regrets of any in yielding up, for con-
science* sake, our chance of so fine a prize, I
heard of no other dissatisfaction than the mere
expression of a natural anxiety to be ' under-
way/ that we might find a fish for ourselves.

" The state of the weather, however, in-
duced us to continue at our moorings, till forced
off by the movements of the contiguous ices,
which threatened the safety of the ship. Soon
afterwards we set forth on our object ; and, hav-
ing made a stretch to the westward, all hands
were speedily called into exhilarating action by
the discovery of several whales. The eagerness
of the men, indeed, was, in the first instance,
against us ; more than one of the objects of their

n M

260 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTUKES.

anxiety being unnecessarily scared, for want of
that wise and considerate prudence which, under
the circumstances, was peculiarly needed to
temper and direct their excited zeal. At length,
however, after a variety of mortifying failures, a
harpoon was ably struck; and, though the
boat received a desperate heave, and some of its
oars were projected high into the air, happily no
accident ensued.

" The excess of ardour among the men was
now in full demand, being appropriately drawn
off by the vigour with which the wounded
monster vainly struggled for its liberty and life.
Outstripping the utmost speed of its pursuers,
in the beginning of the chase, it obtained shelter
amid a compact accumulation of numerous
masses of ice, where it was most difficult to
reach, and from whence it seemed next to im-
practicable to be dislodged. After encountering
however, a variety of little adventures, as well
as some very threatening obstacles, all of which
were safely overcome, or spontaneously gave
way, as the pursuit and lancing advanced, we
succeeded in subduing the powerful animal;

PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES. 261

and no sooner was it clear of the lines, and in
a condition to be removed, than the compact
aggregation of ices by which it was enveloped,
began to relax, so that, with little further em-
barrassment, a channel was cleared out, and the
prize effectually secured. Thus, before the very
first day available for the fishery, after the Sab-
bath had come to a close, all our anxieties were
relieved, our forbearance compensated, and our
efforts crowned with the desired success.

" After a careful examination of the journals
of my four last voyages in the whale fishery,
being the same to which the foregoing records
chiefly refer, I can only discover three instances
wherein, after resisting the pursuit of whales
seen on the Sabbath, we were not successful in
the fishery of the ensuing week.

" As to those who may yet question the re-
sult of our argument — that the statements here
presented afford decisive evidence of a providen-
tial blessing on the endeavour to keep the Lord's
day holy — we would claim, at least, this fair
and candid admission, that our refraining from
Sabbath violation, when urged to it by the pros-

262 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

pect of great worldly gain, was not the occasion
of either loss or disadvantage in the ultimate
result of our labours. Could, however, the con-
victions of those who accompanied me in the
voyages referred to — consisting, probably, of one
hundred and fifty different men — be conveyed to
their minds, an impression of a much more de-
cisive and satisfactory character, methinks, would
naturally and generally follow ; for, on occa-
sions when we refrained from fishing on the
Sunday, whilst others were successfully engaged
in that object, our subsequent labours, as has
been seen, often succeeded under circumstances
so peculiarly striking, that there was scarcely a
man in the amount of our crew who did not
seem to consider it as the effect of the Divine
blessing !

" Independently, indeed, of the positive duty
of sanctifying the Sabbath, and of the blessing
of Providence connected therewith, we ourselves
oft-times realized the wisdom of the institution,
in the mere physical benefits resulting from
its observance ; for when the preceding week
happened to have been laboriously employed,

PROVIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES. 263

the day of rest became sweetly welcome, and
obviously beneficial in its restoring influ-
ence upon the energies of the people, fitting
them for a renewal of their arduous duties;
whilst the temporary restraint thus put upon
the ardour of the seamen, operated, no doubt,
with no small measure of advantage, by stimu-
lating to additional energy in their subsequent
labours; so that, in every point of view, and in
every relation to the well-being of man, spiritual
and temporal, this sacred appointment stands,
we conceive, eminently commended, both for its
wisdom and its goodness."

Now what rational subject of Almighty God
can doubt these conclusions, having for them
His own WORD ? And what ship-master or
common mariner will turn a leaden ear to this
testimony and expostulation of one of their own
craft, to whom a long and varied experience
gives a right to be heard and regarded. Consi-
derations like these, we fully believe, will yet
have their weight upon owners, officers, and
men. The sea shall yet have its Sabbath ; the

264 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

holy Lord's day shall be rescued from profana-
tion by the great whaling and merchant fleets ;
the abundance of the seas shall be converted
to God, and to the observance especially of this
great ordinance of creation's Lord, THOU SHALT

REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY TO KEEP IT
HOLY.

There 's a good time coming for seamen,
and that, we trust, not far off. We thankfully
recognise the law of progress and reform as
true of them, and already remarkably developed
in this day. We gladly share in the cheering
faith of Dr. Bushnell, that the time is at hand
when all that pertains to commerce is to be
sanctified by virtue and religion, as of right it
should be ; ' ' when commerce itself shall become
religious, and religion commercial; when the
mariners will be blended with all the other wor-
shippers on shore, in the exercise of common
privileges, and as members of a common bro-
therhood ; when the ships will have their Sab-
bath, and become temples of praise on the
deep ; when habits of temperance and banks for
saving will secure them in thrift, and assist to

HOPES OF A GOOD TIME FOR SEAMEN. 265

give them character ; when they will no more
live an unconnected, isolated, and therefore
reckless life, but will have their wives and chil-
dren vested here and there, in some neat cottage
among the hills, to be to them, when abroad,
the anchor of their affections, and the security of
their virtue ; when they will go forth also to dis-
tant climes and barbarous shores, with all their
noble and generous traits sanctified by religion,
to represent the beauty of Christ to men, and
become examples of all that is good and bene-
ficent in his Gospel. Be it ours to aid a pur-
pose so desirable, theirs to realize it in their
conduct and character."

Realized, we believe, it will be in the world's
cheering progress, and that ere long, when MAR-
INERS shall be missionaries from shore to shore,
from the river to the ends of the earth ; when
die isles shall wait God's laws at their hands,
and continents, long wrapped in the darkness of
Paganism, shall be thrown wide open to mes-
sengers of salvation, borne and backed by those
that go down to the sea in ships, and do busi-
ness in the great icaters !

266 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

" Lord ! for those days we wait ; those days

Are in thy word foretold.
Fly swifter, sun and stars, and bring,

This promised age of gold.

" Peace, with her olive crown, shall stretch
Her wings from shore to shore ;

The nations of the earth shall hear
The sound of war no more.

" Beneath the influence of HIS grace,

The barren waste shall rise,
With sudden green and fruits array' d —

A blooming Paradise.

" Then shall bless' d seamen sing and tell

Of all Emanuel's love !
AND SEA. AND LAND, IN SABBATH LIGHT,

SHALL SHINE LIKE HEAVEN ABOVE !"

NEARING HOME. 267

CHAPTER XVII.

NEARING HOME AND ANALOGIES FROM THE SEA.

" When one returneth from a distant land,

Where he hath been in pilgrimage afar,
And seeks once more, his wanderings done, to stand

Beneath the brightness of his country's star,
It is with beating heart and joyful eyes

He views the long-remember'd scenes again,
The mountains far, ascending to the skies,

The verdant hills more near, the flowering plain,

The willow-shaded stream, the fields of golden grain."

T. C. U.

Hopes and Fears on nearing Home — Dangers of the Coast —
Religious Exercises and Fruits — Spiritual Lessons.

Inside Nantucket Shoals.

IF a man be coming off a long voyage, or from
a lengthened absence in any foreign land,
without having been so fixed as to allow of a
frequent interchange of letters with those that
are dear to him, he must be singularly stupid
not to find thickly thronging into his mind many
thoughts, hopes, and fears, imaginations and
apprehensions as he nears his native shores.

268 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

There are few so alone in the world as not to
have some dear friends to love and be anxious
about ; and two or three years will often make
sad ravages in even the smallest circles. All
this every one, that has had much experience
of life's realities, thinks about, and hopes, and
fears; and the flutter of blended anxiety and
joy increases, the nearer one gets to his father-
land.

Moreover, it is true, as matter of fact, that
dangers actually multiply as you make the land ;
and you think how many events may step yet
between you and home ; and you remember
how many that have braved the dangers of
foreign travel, and remote, inhospitable seas,
have been lost in returning, on the rocks and
breakers of their own rude coast. You call to
mind those lines of Dante :

" For I have seen the bark, that all day long
Sail'd straight and steady, perish at last,
Even in the haven's mouth !"

There is not a captain out of Massachusetts
Bay, coming in from the southward and east-
ward, from a long voyage, a little in doubt, per-

DANGERS ON NEARING HOME. 269

haps, about his chronometer, that does not dread
to cross that fog-covered George's Bank, between
a Scylla on one side and a Charybdis on the
other, the George's Shoal on the right, and that
fatal Nantucket South Shoal on the left.

We suddenly emerged from the warm water
of the Gulf Stream right into the mist and cold
of George's Bank, and a heavy north-east gale,
in which we had to lay- to during a most
tempestuous night, and were drifted a long way
to leeward, so as to be in no little danger, un-
certain as we needs must be of our whereabouts,
and our sails being so old and rotten that it
would have been impossible to beat off a lee
shore. (Another ship and two schooners were
wrecked upon the shoal in this same gale.) Two
days before we attained to. this position, there
were occasional glimpses of the sun, just
enough to give us doubtful observations, as his
disc could be caught behind the dense flying scud,

" Dim through the horizontal misty air,
Shorn of his heams."

But the clear blue sky had only once been
visible since getting out of the Gulf. It was ;i

270 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

dense Scotch mist, or else a downright rain all
the time, and quite as cold when we were here
in May, as off Cape Horn in January.

On the Sabbath night, however, after a day of
almost entire calm,

" Sounding on our dim and perilous way,"

through fog and cold, a favourable breeze sprang
up, by favour of which we passed safely those
dangerous shoals when we could not see them,
trusting only to lead and line. From our posi-
tion at that time we steered first north-east,
then north- north- east, then north, then north -
north-west, then north-west, so rounded those
obscure and formidable dangers, sounding every
hour.

The morning light broke clear and cold, and
it was a glorious day. We made the dear land
of New England about three in the afternoon.
Not long after we discovered Chatham light-
house, all as we desired ; and then, gladly run-
ning up Pilgrim Land until nine o'clock, the
noble, large, and steady light of Cape Cod bore
about west.

NEARING HOME. 271

The weary, weather-worn company in the
May Flower, had no such friendly beacons as
this to shed light on their way when they came
as pilgrims to a rock-hound and rude land. It
was spring, too, with us, but we remember,

" That through her chafed and moaning shrouds Decembers

breezes wailed.

Yet, on that icy deck, behold ! a meek but dauntless band,
Who, for the right to worship God, have left their native land."

I now preached for the last time at sea, in
the afternoon. In the evening we had a very
happy prayer-meeting, our final one on ship-
board. The captain, a boat-steerer, one of
the fore-mast hands, and myself, led each suc-
cessively in fervent supplication and thanks to
the throne of grace. The two first, receiving
the Gospel in the power of it, during this ab-
sence from home, returned evidently regenerated
by the grace of God. Would that every pro-
fessing ship -master gave as good evidence of
possessing the reality of religion as ours.

When, during our voyage, we were in the
midst of a herd of sperm whales, it was my in-
ward earnest prayer that God would give him

272 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

good success in their capture, in order that he
might yet realize a profitable voyage for his
owners at its close, and enter port with a full
ship, after all its first losses and misfortunes.
Through no fault of his, however, this was not
so to be. But the voyage was productive to
him, personally, of a better portion than many
ship-loads of spermaceti, for he found, during
the course of it, and partly through the very
discipline of disappointment, the pearl of great
price, which he would not now part with for the
wealth of the Indies or all California's gold.
May he only keep it always, and find it to yield
him a constant revenue of peace and joy !

We prayed and laboured long in hope of a
work of grace in the forecastle : but the power
and mercy of God were not shown that way —
men and officers, too, apparently remaining
dead in trespasses and sins / hardened, I fear,
by the very means of grace they slighted, and the
invitations and pleadings they neglected or
scorned. Alas ! it is they only that will be the
sufferers, as it is they only who are to blame for
neglecting so great salvation !

NEARING HOME. 273

We were now, in God's good providence,
expecting to hail Boston Light by another
evening, rejoicing and thankful to say once
more,

"This is my own, my native land !"

To God be our grateful acknowledgments for
all the mercies of this pleasant voyage, two
hundred and thirty-six days from the Sandwich
Islands, and eighty from Kio de Janeiro, where
we put in for supplies.

The engrossing earnestness with which our
captain, for the few previous days, had studied
the chart and watched the soundings, in order
to make his way safely to port, might teach a
lesson, I have thought, of the way in which we
should all study and watch the answers of God's
word and prayer as we prosecute the voyage of
life, having to steer by a thousand rocks, and
shoals, and quicksands, before we can make the
port of peace. He would himself carefully put
the tallow or soap into the hollow end of the
lead, then heave it himself, or hold the line, and
carefully ascertain when it reached the bottom ;
then he would scrutinize it closely when hauled

s

274 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

up, to see what report it brought from the
bottom, whether it was sand, or gravel, or mud,
or ooze adhering to the end, or whether it were
dented, as if it had fallen on rocks.

Then he would go and sit down to his chart,
with compass, and slate, and slide, to compare
what he had found with what he was told there,
in order to fix, if possible, upon his position on
the great shoal, and shape his course accord-
ingly for the next hour. Then he would lie
down on the transom, in his great watch-coat,
to catch half an hour's sleep, with the chart
unrolled before him on the cabin table, and a
lantern swinging over it with a sperm candle, a
thing we had not had before for the voyage.

Now with the same carefulness, it has seemed
to me, should we all ponder the Word of God,
that we may be shaping our course aright over
the tempestuous sea of life, where

Dangers of every shape and name
Attend the followers of the Lamb.

Yea, not only when we are exceedingly tossed
with a tempest, and neither sun nor stars for
many days do appear, but in the clearest weather

SPIRITUAL LESSONS. 275

and the best of times, how seldom is it, in our
navigation for eternity, that we are not in peril
from some out-jutting reef, or shoal, or sunken
rock, or moving quicksand ; to avoid which we
must heave the lead and watch our soundings,
and study well the Chart, and trim our sails,
and keep a good look-out. I thank God that
our captain, Lafayette Ludlow, has done both
on the present voyage.

With the same steadiness and absorption
that he now studied his chart, and worked and
re-worked his observations, and compared and
reviewed his results, he used to study and pray
over the divine Word, till God showed him the
way of salvation by faith in Christ, and he got
his anchor on the promises, that proved good
holding ground. I trust he will keep fast to
them for life, be buoyed up by them in death,
and afterwards be received up into glory, where
faith is met with fruition, and the ransomed of
the Lord return, and come to Zion with songs
of everlasting joy. May he and I, and those
who are dear to me, and many that have followed
us, it may be with interest, through this gallery

s 2

276 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

of Daguerreotypes, be found in that blessed
company when the voyage of life is up !

When, soon or late, we reach that coast,

O'er life's rough ocean driven,
May we rejoice, no wanderer lost,

BLESS' D WORSHIPPERS IN HEAVEN !

LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS. 277

CHAPTEE XVIII.

KNITTING UP THE LESSONS OF THE VOYAGE AT
ITS CLOSE.

" I saw a wreck upon the ocean flood.

How sad and desolate ? No man was there ;
No living thing was on it. There it stood ;

Its sails all gone ; its masts were standing bare :
Toss'd on the wide, the boundless, howling sea !

The very sea-birds scream'd, and pass'd it by.
And as I look'd, the ocean seemed to be

A sign and figure of Eternity.
THE WRECK AN EMBLEM SEEM'D of those that sail

Without the pilot, Jesus, on its tide.
Thus, thought I, when the final storms prevail,

Shall rope, and sail, and mast be scatter'd wide !
And they, with helm and anchor lost, be driven,
In endless exile sad, far from the port oi Heaven ! ' '

T. C. Upham.

Lessons and reflections — Spiritual illustrations — News of
Sorrow — Birthdays of Eternity.

Rounding Cape Cod, Massachusetts Bay.

IN all probability, this beautiful sonnet must
have been written somewhere at sea, just
after passing such a wreck as we met with in
our progress in the Gulf Stream. Such sad
things (and they are melancholy objects, indeed,

278 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

to behold at sea) are often fallen in with there.
Perhaps more wrecks are made within, and at
the edges of the Gulf Stream, than in any other
part of the ocean ; squalls are so violent there,
the lightning so terrific, and the wind and
current so often opposed, as to raise an ugly,
chopping, " head-beat" sea, that, if long con-
tinued, may beat to pieces, or start dangerous
leaks in the very best of ships.

Wrecks, too, once made there, and ships
abandoned without foundering, will stay for a
long time in the course of the stream, being
carried along and kept within it by the force of
the current. Some captains think that the
same wreck may sometimes go the whole round
of the stream, being kept along in it to where it
is lost, or turns southward by the Western
Islands, then taken by the current from the
north, and borne to the south and west by the
north-east trades, until it falls into the identical
Gulf Stream again, or a current setting into it
off the Windward Islands of the West Indies.

Just so in the political, religious, and philo-
sophical world, you will see the wrecks of certain

SPIRITUAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 279

errors and fallacies exploded, dismasted, water-
logged, or quite foundered in one age, reappear
in another on the revolving current of opinion.
After having floated off into obscurity, and been
quite lost sight of for a time, they will come
round again, and perhaps be taken up and
towed into port by some political novice or
demagogue, or transcendental speculator, pre-
tending to great originality of genius, or by
some novelty-hunter in religion ; by them re-
ribbed, calked, and coppered, perhaps razeed,
and set afloat anew upon the tide of speculation,
with a great boast of newness, and a mighty
press of canvas.

As I happen to be in the mood for illus-
trations, I cannot help writing out one that
occurred to me while observing the behaviour
and management of our ship in the last severe
gale. The conclusion we all came to was, that
a ship in a storm or heavy sea must have sail
enough on to run away from the waves, and
surmount them, or she will be buried by them,
broaching to and being boarded by some disas-
terous wave.

280 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

So with the religious mind in the great
waves of affliction, when the waters roar and are
troubled — mens' hearts failing them for fear and
for looking after those things which are coming —
it is often not so well and safe to lie to and wait
for a lull, brooding meanwhile upon one's
trouble, and anxiously casting eyes over what
seems to be a great, heaving waste of impending
adversity, as to keep busy, if possible, with
carrying sail, and trying to scud before the
gale.

I have learned, too, in the course of this
voyage, that a ship's sails or rigging wear out
more in a calm than in a gale. So the mind
wears out faster in indolence or inglorious rest,
than in well-braced nervous activity and produc-
tiveness.

Here also is an illustration of the workings
of faith gathered from the experience of a young
shipmaster. In first navigating a ship by chro-
nometer and lunars, until he has learned to live
by faith in his observations, and the few figures
he makes daily on his slate, with the tables of
the Nautical Almanac, he is uneasy, doubtful,

SPIRITUAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 281

anxious, and will work his longitude over and
over again, though sure there is no mistake, so
hard is it practically to live on faith — on that
which is unseen, and for which we have no evi-
dence of the senses, until a habit is formed : so
strange is it to be steering one's way straight over
the trackless ocean, without any way-marks, or
sign-posts, or mile- stones, or anything by which
we can see that we are right or wrong. It is
not until a captain has made three or four good
land-falls, at wide intervals, and just according
to his calculations, that the living by faith in
his chronometer and observations, and the re-
sults upon his slate begin to come easy.

Even so, I have thought, in the very nature
of things, it is the experienced Christian only
that can live perfectly the life of faith. Use
must have practically convinced him of the re-
liability of things unseen and eternal, before it
can become the habit of his mind to navigate
confidently the ocean of life, independent of
sense.

While thinking much, lately, of life as a voy-
age, and every Christian the voyager that will

282 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

soon be as close to the port of heaven as we
now were to our desired haven in Massachusetts
Bay, it has seemed to my mind that the pro-
mises are to the Christian voyager what " life-
lines" are to the sailor, for him to hold by to the
yard when reefing or taking in sail, and to keep
him from falling off. Yet, strange to say, many
ships' yards are left without this protection for
the exposed sailor, by reason of which many a
poor fellow in a storm is shaken off that might
have clung to the " life-line" had it been in its
place at hand.

So Christians sometimes attempt the course
of a Christian, and go to sailing over the
troubled sea of life without being provided with
the promises, without having learned how, or
having them at hand, hidden in their hearts, to
use and cling to in a storm. In good weather
and ordinary times they get along without them,
and do not feel the want ; but let a storm arise,
the wind blow fiercely, the sails be flapping,
then it is they want the "life-lines," and are
distressed and lost without them. Yea, it is
not possible for the oldest and most experienced

SPIRITUAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 283

Christian to live without a constant clinging to
the promises, still less is it for younger and
more recent pilgrims : like a young sailor-boy,
they must hold fast to the life-line of God's
word, or they are sure to fall.

Sometimes there happens, even to praying,
faithful Christians, what is true of large sea-
birds. When in the Pacific, we used sometimes,
by hook and line thrown astern, to catch that
most majestic and beautiful of all birds on the
wing, the superb white- winged albatross. I
observed that of itself it could never rise from
the even surface of the deck and soar aloft,
though unconfined and at liberty ; but we must
toss the noble bird overboard, and lift him quite
clear of the ship's rail, before he could use his
glorious pinions and mount aloft into the air.
Then he would stretch those ample wings, and
sail away through the ocean of space as easily
as one breathes, and as if the elastic element
of air and the bird were one, making the gazer
wonder, and fairly long to be taking the same
aerial flight.

Even so is it, in the economy of grace, now

284 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

and then with the real Christian. He is brought
by Providence into straits and perplexities
whence he cannot rise and extricate himself
alone ; where the wings of faith and love seem
to be of no avail to him, until a friendly hand
lifts him up and throws him out upon the deep,
where he must say, with Peter, Lord, save ; I
perish. Then he loses despair; he surmounts
the difficulty; he breaks his prison ; he mounts
up as on eagle's wings ; the pinions of faith
and love sustain him, and bear him away aloft ;
and he wonders now at the nightmare of doubt
and fear that kept him from using them be-
fore.

He is ashamed of the wrong thoughts of
God, that had begun to gather and darken in
his mind like gloomy clouds. He sees that God
was infinitely wise and good in appointing the
discipline to which he has been subjected; and
those un uttered, perhaps, but felt murmurs
against the dispensations of Providence, now
fill him with sorrow and shame. Peculiar and
trying as his case may have been, he now dis-
covers many blessings and beneficial conse-

SPIRITUAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 285

quences to flow from it, which he could not see
before. How happy the man whose sight is
thus cleared, and his heart enlarged to trace
the manifold wisdom and mercy of God in dis-
pensations that once seemed dark and unac-
countable !

We noticed in the late gale, and it is often
observed by mariners in the beginning of bad
weather, before the storm is fairly set in and
fixed in its course, that the needle in the com-
pass-box was considerably affected, and there
was unusual oscillation, probably through the
changing or disturbance of the atmosphere's
electric forces; but after the gale was fairly
formed or at its height, the needle became true
again to its polarity.

There is an analogy to this in the mind of a
Christian under a storm of trial — a mind that
has been once thoroughly magnetized by the
grace of God, and stamped with the law of
DIVINE POLARITY, making it to turn always to
that POLE-STAR OF BETHLEHEM, the great mag-
net of the regenerated soul. Though ordinarily
true to his pole, yet in sudden emergencies, on

286 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

the first storm-burst of trouble, it is seldom or
never that the Christian can at once repress the
flutter and agitation of nature, controul, or un-
derstand its deviations, collect his energies, and
repose calmly on God.

It is rare that Faith, taken by surprise, does
at once steady the soul, and lift a man in a mo-
ment clear above hostile infirmities and fears.
Be it true that, when once magnetized by the
love of Christ, the soul does always point up-
ward by kindred strong attraction, as the com-
pass needle to the north, yet, like that same
needle, suddenly acted upon by a disturbing
force, you must give it time to recover its ba-
lance, and, its oscillations done, to fasten upon
the central point of rest.

I have sometimes known God's own dear
children, when calamities came suddenly in pro-
spect, when huge billows seemed ready to go
over them, and a black cloud of sorrows was
about to burst upon their heads, at first trem-
bling and anxious, swinging a little with trepi-
dation to this side and that of the central point
of rest ; but as the trial became more distinctlv

SPIRITUAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 287

defined, the cloud's lightning began to flash
and its big drops to fall, the palpitating heart
would be still, the vibrations of the will would
cease, faith gather strength, and the eye of the
soul be upturned and fastened on a faithful
God, and its hand grasp firmly the promises,
which neither death nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor
any other creature, can ever loosen.

With an extract, now, from the old poet
George Chapman, lately met with in my sea-
reading, somewhat accommodated and made
pertinent to our present estate on shipboard, on
the look-out for a pilot, these chapters of expe-
rience and observation in a whale ship must
come to an end. The composition of them in
the leaves of my journal has been a fitting em-
ployment for some of the hours of a long but
every way profitable voyage. May they prove
to have ministered a portion of entertaining
knowledge and pleasure to some on the land,
whom neither duty nor decaying health shall
ever reduce to a like necessity with the writer,

288 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

of being an exile so long from country and home.
But if such a necessity do exist in the general
prostration of health, without organic disease, I
know of no means so feasible and hopeful for
its restoration as a cruise in a whale ship, under
as favourable circumstances as those with which
I have tried it.

" Man is a torch borne in the wind ; a dream

But of a shadow, sumni'd with all his substance ;

And as great seamen, using all their wealth

And skills in Neptune's deep invisible paths,

In tall ships richly built and ribb'd with brass,

To put a girdle round about the world,

When they have done it (coming near their haven),

Are fain to give a warning-piece, and call

A. poor stayed fisher man, that never pass' d

His country's sight, to waft and guide them in :

So, when we wander farthest through the waves

Of glassy glory, and the gulfs of state,

Topp'd with all titles, spreading all our reaches,

As if each private arm would sphere the earth,

WE MUST TO JESUS FOR HIS GUIDE RESORT,

OR WE SHALL SHIPWRECK IN OUR SAFEST PORT."

I did not think to have added more, but the
news that awaited me in Boston of Death's visit
to one inexpressibly dear, and that, too, on the

NEWS OF SORROW. 289

very ocean which I had passed over in peace,
and with greatly renovated health,

" Through the dear might of HIM that walk'd the waves,"

induces me to venture a word upon the natural
and Christian graces of that beloved brother,
whose mortal remains now lie treasured in the
deep, till the sea give up its dead.

" His was a lovely soul, formed to be bless' d and bless."

He struggled long, even from early boyhood,
with sickness and pain, but all the while pa-
tiently, even cheerfully, such was the buoyant
energy of his natural temper, and so early was
his trial sanctified by the grace of Christ.

" 0, precious grace ! that made him wise,
And proved affliction, rightly used,
Was mercy in disguise !"

His disposition was so innately cheerful and
lively, so irrepressibly buoyant and genial, that
no weight of either maladies or misfortunes
could keep him under. But still would he carry
his head above the waves, and keep his eye
cheerfully aloft in the saddest times, when the
spirits of others were fainting. If, now and

T

290 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

then, his cheerfulness seemed to suffer a tem-
porary eclipse, it was only like the sun drifting
through vapours that scattered as fast as they
gathered, and it was but a moment before we
would see again, through some open cloud-rift,
the clear beams of his sunny face.

" If a sweet social temper, gushing love

For kindred and for kind, spirits for ever

Sparkling and buoyant as a spring's light bubbles :

Mirth, candour, frankness, and a love to give

Pleasure to friends, and good to every one ;

And, more than all, true love for Christ and souls —

If these be traits that make a blessing man,

Beloved and form'd to bless, through God's rich grace

OUR CHERISH'D BROTHER WAS THAT HAPPY MAN.

"No more the tender offices of love
We pay him here on earth, but all his virtues
Still we cherish ; and that radiant face,
From its calm sphere within the spirit world,
Like a bright star shall still look down and cheer
Our life's sojournings, till at length we come
Where he the promises, through patient faith,
Inherits, and enjoys the rest of heaven!"

It is all well with him now ; and though I
had fondly hoped to have seen him yet once
more in the flesh, and to have knelt again in
prayer with that blessed brother, and it would
have been so comforting, if God's will, to have

NEWS OF SORROW. 291

ministered to him in his last hours, I would not
have it otherwise now. Through the mercy of
Christ, may we soon bow in praise around the
throne of God ! Some of the hirth-day lines
addressed to him years ago by his elder brother,
are, with a slight accommodation, equally ap-
propriate now that he has passed the solemn
threshold and BIRTH-DAY of a BLESSED ETER-
NITY !

"How recollection paints anew

The times when, in our own dear home,

We talk of mercies past, and view
The heavenly life to come !

" 'Tis just in heaven, thy happy dawn —
But ah ! how full the mingled scene

On memory's pictured tablets drawn —
Calm now, and all serene :

" Serene because a blessed faith
Throws o'er each melancholy line

That marks affliction's rugged path,
The gleam of love divine.

" Through all it sees thy Father's form,
His gracious, guiding hand beholds ;

And in the gloomiest of the storm
Some bright design unfolds.

"Amid the sufferings of years,

Thou secst thou didst not walk alone ;

WluTe all was agony and tears,
There most His mercy shone.

T •>

THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES.

u'Twas thus he drew thy buoyant heart

Up to a holier world above,
And bade thee choose thy better part,

A Saviour's wondrous love.

" For this our fervent thanks we raise,
That HE, whose love is wisdom too,

Made thee partaker of his grace,
By trials here below.

" CHRIST held thee* in his powerful hand ;

Now, every foe and fear subdued,
THY FEET DO PRESS THE SHINING LAND

BEYOND DEATH'S NARROW FLOOD !"

* To the American consul of Trinidad de Cuba, where he
had been settled as a physician, he spake the precious words, a
day or two before his death on shipboard, u I wish you to un-
derstand, my faith is strong in Christ, my Redeemer"

NOTES.

A, p. 26.

WHEN the islands of the Pacific Ocean were first discovered by
Europeans, some of the natives were found very timid and
friendly, while others were fierce, treacherous, and warlike.
For many years after their discovery, these islands were visited
only by those who were on voyages of discovery, or who were
in the pursuit of gain. The natives were treated with great
inhumanity ; and drunken seamen, rioting through their vil-
lages, and trampling upon all the laws of right doing, soon in-
troduced all the vices of civilized life to be added to those of
the savage state. The natives generally became exasperated,
and were ever watching for opportunities to cut off the ships
and massacre the seamen. A Nantucket whale ship was at
one time wrecked upon one of the Feejee Islands. The crew»
escaped in their boats to the shore, and, before they were dis-
covered by the natives, succeeded in constructing a fort for
their defence. The natives, however, soon found them ; and,
after a long and bloody battle, all of the sailors were slain ex-
cept two little boys, whose lives were spared. One, after the
lapse of many years, escaped on board a whale ship which
stopped at the island. The other has never been heard from.

Such was the condition of these islands when the English
missionaries, taking their lives in their hands, went among
them to Christianize the inhabitants. The missionaries were
ridiculed, opposed, and traduced by thousands at home, and
they endured every species of privation and hardship from the
habitations of cruelty, in the midst of which they took up their

294 NOTES.

abode. God smiled, however, upon their exertions, and sooii
these wild men and women turned from their idols and their
sins, and cultivated the arts of peace.

A few years after the missionaries had commenced their
labours, an American whale ship came in sight of an unknown
island in the Pacific Ocean. They had been for six months
cruising in search of their gigantic game without having seen
any land. Scurvy, that terrible scourge of seamen, had seized
one after another of the crew, till there were not enough left
in health to navigate the vessel in safety. Scurvy is a disease
caused by living a long time upon salted provisions, without
any vegetables ; and the sufferers are almost immediately re-
stored to health when they can breathe the fresh air of the
land and eat freely of fruits and herbs. Here was this ship,
several thousand miles from the South American coast. The
crew were emaciated and dying.

Before them rose, in all the beauty of tropical luxuriance,
one of those islands of the ocean, which appeared to the mari-
ner, weary with gazing for months upon the wide waste of
waters, like the Garden of Eden. But they dared not ap-
proach those shores. A foe, more treacherous and dreadful
than disease, they apprehended there. The club of the savage,
and the demoniacal revels of the cannibals dancing and shout-
ing around their roasting victims, were more to be dreaded
than death by slow and lingering approaches in the ship.
They dared not draw near the shore, for they were too feeble
to prevent the natives, should they come out in large numbers
in their canoes, from climbing up the sides and taking posses-
sion of the ship. But with their glass they could distinctly
see the clear streams of water foaming down their channels
in the mountains. Meadows faded away in the distance, en-
chanting the eye with their shady groves and their rich verdure.
The cocoa-nut tree reared its graceful head upon the beach,
laden with its precious and its life-giving treasures ; and forests
rich with tropical fruits, juicy and luscious, were everywhere
spread around.

NOTES. 295

These emaciated and dying men crawled from their berths,
and gazed with wistful eyes upon this tantalizing scene.
Slowly they were borne along by a gentle breeze, and forest-
crowned head-lands, and luxuriant valleys and groves, bend-
ing beneath the burden of fruit, glided by, like the changes
of a kaleidoscope, and still no canoe pushed out from the
shore, and no huts of the natives were to be seen. They be-
gan to cherish the hope that the island might be uninhabited,
and cautiously approached it. But ere long they saw canoes
upon the beach, and smoke here and there ascending from the
cocoa-nut groves ; and still, to their astonishment, no natives
made their appearance, and no sound of human voices reached
them from the shore.

As they rounded a promontory, which opened before them
a quiet and lovely bay, a thickly clustered village of the
natives burst upon their view, and in the centre of it was
reared a Christian church. A simultaneous shout of joy rang
through the ship as the cry passed from stem to stern, The
missionaries are here ! It was the Sabbath, and the natives
had learned the Divine command, " Remember the Sabbath
day, and keep it holy." And the temptation of a ship enter-
ing the bay did not lure a single canoe to leave the shore.
The crew were almost crazed with joy at this sudden change
in their prospects. They speedily cast anchor, furled their
sails, and, entering the ship's boats, went on shore. As soon
as the natives were informed of their sick and suffering con-
dition, they received them with the utmost hospitality, and
supplied them with all the fresh fruit and vegetables they
could need.

The next day the natives aided the emaciated crew in taking
a sail from the ship, and spreading a large tent upon the green
grass on the banks of a mountain stream. And here the crew
reposed in inexpressible luxury. They bathed their limbs in
the pure waU-r, and quaffed it in its coolness and its freshness,
like Elysiuu nectar. They rolled with childish glee upon the
green grass. Cocoa-nuts and bananas, and lemons, and oranges,

296 NOTES.

and other luscious fruits of the tropics, were brought to them
in great abundance by the friendly natives. In a few days,
the disease which had brought so many of them to the verge
of the grave began to disappear. The missionaries, from
their little stock of medicines, administered to their wants, and
treated them with fraternal kindness.

In the course of two or three weeks, all were restored to
health and vigour. They filled their casks with fresh water ;
laid in stores of vegetables ; supplied themselves with pigs and
poultry, and then, with invigorated bodies and rejoicing spirits,
they raised their anchors and unfurled their sails, and departed
on their adventurous way.

Thus is fulfilled the declaration of the Scripture, that u god-
liness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life
that now is and of that which is to come." The labours of
these missionaries were not only instrumental in promoting
the moral elevation, and, we hope, the final salvation of these
uncivilized men, but they also saved the lives of these seamen,
and secured the success of the voyage upon which they had
embarked.

What a different world would this be, could the spirit of
Christian brotherhood pervade the hearts of all the inhabitants !
Could woe, oppression, and injustice cease, and every man look
upon his fellow -man as a friend, the larger portion of the sor-
rows of humanity would disappear for ever. And none are
doing more to hasten the advent of this happy day than those
who are aiding by their personal influence and their purse to
extend throughout the world the religion of Jesus Christ.

Ye disciples of Voltaire and of Paine, can you show us such
a triumph as this ? You profess to be humane men, to love
your brethren, to desire to promote their happiness here and
hereafter. Can you show us an instance in which the adoption
of the principles of infidelity has been promotive of the moral
or the physical welfare of an individual, or of a village, or of a
nation ? Have you ever known a young man to become more
dissolute by becoming a Christian ? Have you ever known a

NOTES. 297

village to become less thrifty and prosperous in consequence
of the observance by its inhabitants of the precepts of the
Bible ? Is there, on the surface of this globe, a more intelli-
gent, virtuous, prosperous, and happy community than is to be
found in the dwellings of Xew England, and is there any other
portion of earth's inhabitants over whom the religion of Jesus
Christ has greater supremacy ? Give, then, your influence to
aid this cause, and your fellow-men shall bless you, and con-
science shall reward you, and your heavenly Father shall wel-
come you as his co-workers and his sons.

B, p. 131.

A inAT-STEERER in an American whaler, a man of more than
ordinary thoughtfulncss and intelligence, addressed an inter-
esting communication to the " Honolulu Seaman's Friend," while
the author of these sketches was at the Sandwich Islands. It
is feared that he has since been lost, it being a very long time
since his ship was heard of. The communication referred
to, being a slice of a sailor's autobiography, will be a good
comment on the text that there 's many a warm heart under a
rough pea-jacket.

When I look back (he says) upon my past life, with all its
various scenes and occurrences, both by sea and land, it is on
my lips to say, what hair-breadth escapes from death, what
deliverances from threatening dangers have I experienced,
even from my childhood. Surely goodness and mercy have fol-
lowed me all tlie days of my life.

When a man is placed in a situation where no danger is
apparent, where all is cheerful and happy, how apt he is to
think and talk lightly of death ; but let him be placed in the
midst of the ocean, in a solitary bark, at the mercy of the
winds and waves ; let the tempest arise, and the wild waters
be tossed by the howling winds, and we will suppose that the
ship is trimmed for the storm, her sails furled, her top-gallant-

298 NOTES.

masts are sent down, and when he casts his eye aloft, the
naked spars and rigging strike a sort of chill— an unusual sen-
sation to his heart. He looks to windward and to leeward,
ahead and astern ; there is nothing to be seen save the foam-
clad billows in wild commotion.

Night comes, and no moon — not even a solitary star visible
to cheer his sight ; the land is hundreds of miles distant ; he
casts his eye upward to the heavens, the sky looks black ; he
leans over the bulwarks, and peers away into the awful gloom
around, nothing is to be seen, nothing is to be heard save the
howling blast, the surging waters, and the creaking of the
vessel. Wave succeeds wave, dashing with violence against
the ship's side, the darkness is almost palpable, he cannot dis-
tinguish a shipmate at the distance of a few feet, the ship
labours heavily, and seems to struggle with the angry element
as if conscious of the dread hour.

Then a man will think , ay, and his conscience will some-
times speak; strange thoughts, like unbidden guests, will at
such times intrude themselves into his mind, whether wel-
come or not. He goes to his hammock and tries to sleep, but
from the pitching and rolling of the ship it is almost impos-
sible to rest ; the night passes slowly and uneasily away in
broken dreams and fearful fancies, and at length, when day-
light comes, he discovers that the storm has increased in vio-
lence. Few words pass among his shipmates ; perhaps a loud
oath from some would-be reckless companion salutes his ear,
which, if uttered at other times, would pass unheeded, but
now, for some reason which he is at a loss to explain, sounds
strangely out of place. The cheeks of some of the hardiest
turn pale, and the restless glances of others betray the uneasy
feelings within.

He will at such times reflect on the past, the present, and
the future ; what would have been the consequence if, on the
previous night, some other vessel, imperceptible in the dark-
ness, had come in collision with his ; he shudders at the thought,
and perhaps, at that moment, the idea will suggest itself that

NOTES. 299

there is an overruling Providence who watches over and pro-
tects the poor mariner.

Well do I recollect my own feelings on several occasions of
this nature, one of which happened on the coast of California.
We were sailing in company with another whale ship, when
a gale of wind came on which was favourable for the course
we were steering toward Cape St. Lucas ; both ships were kept
before the wind during the day, but after sunset our captain
thought it advisable to heave to, after which, from the position
of our ship, it appeared probable that the other vessel, which
was still kept on her course, would pass quite close to us, and a
good look-out was therefore ordered to be kept to windward.
In a short time it was very dark, the sea running "mountains
high," and a gale blowing very hard, so that it was impossible
to see any distance to windward.

When the other ship was last visible, she appeared to be
heading right for us ; and well do I remember with what
anxiety I waited until I thought sufficent time had elapsed for
her to pass. I know not why, but the thought seemed at that
time to press very heavily on me, what the consequence would
be should the other ship run into ours; very probably we
should have all gone to the bottom ; and my feelings were the
more acute by the circumstance that the ship in question be-
longed to the same owners as ours, and had on board several
young men who had often been my companions in pleasant
parties.

At another time, while employed in trying out, on the coast
of Kamtschatka, one very dark night the watch was busily
employed on deck ; we were boiling bur last whale, and car-
rying more sail than is usual while boiling, for the purpose of
making a port, when another vessel approached to leeward
unseen by us ; at this time, as it was blowing fresh, and the
ship had a considerable heel, the officer of the deck ordered the
helm to be put up to keep the ship before the wind, and con-
sequently on an even keel, while the watch rolled a very large
cask of oil away from the cooler. While running off for this

300 NOTES.

purpose, we were suddenly hailed by a strange voice from the
surrounding gloom, apparently close aboard of us ; at first we
thought the sound came from under the ship's bows, but for-
tunately it was not exactly there, and it turned out afterward
that, while running off in the manner described, we had uncon-
sciously (but for being hailed) passed quite close to another
ship.

At such times as these, most men will think, and that se-
riously ; but, alas ! it soon passes away ; with the recollection
of such dangerous occurrences vanishes, I may say, the recol-
lection of the superintending care of an Almighty God. Who
can tell how many unseen dangers are passed through by a ship
during a three years' voyage ?

If there be any class of men who ought, more than others,
to feel grateful to God, I think that class is sailors, of whom
many may well exclaim, " Surely goodness and mercy have
followed me all the days of my life."

C, p. 224.

Or the twenty thousand men who go in jeopardy of their lives,
under every accessible line of latitude and longitude, upon the
great highway of nations ; who, on an average, are exiles from
home and country, from the social delights and most of the
comforts of life, for three or four years at a time, on purpose to
bring back the means of enriching the owners of the whale
ships, and of adding to the comforts and embellishments of the
millions who are spared 'these privations, — what can be said ?
what shall be done for them ?

Very encouraging it is that, of late, some attention is given
to this class of men. The fact that they are human beings
begins to be recognised ; nor are they altogether forgotten, as
some notices of their condition and wants clearly prove. It
could not be expected that our stately and dignified quarterlies
would notice, except in the most general and gingerly manner,

NOTES. 301

the worst features of the whaleman's case. You, however,
who are fully committed to the work of the philanthropic and
Christian reforms, who do not fear to speak out plainly and
boldly, who care more for the groans and degradation of
humanity than for the groans of its oppressors ; who love to
plead for the dumb, and whose honest boast it is that you
faithfully hold up the mirror to reflect the evils which require
to be repented of and reformed, as well as the good in which
we may exult, — surely of you and in your columns may be ex-
pected the full unmasking of whatever abuses and perversions
have been allowed to spring up, and for a long time have been
tolerated in silence ?

From one whose position gives him ample facilities for un-
mistaking knowledge of the facts in this case ; who has not,
by a long course of familiar observation of flagrant abuses, be-
come indurated to a sense of their turpitude ; who, on the one
hand, has no interest prompting him to concealment, or gloss-
ing over frightful evils, nor, on the other, any feelings of goad-
ing retaliation for personal injuries, real or supposed, to cause
an exaggerated picture ; surely, from such a one, you ought to
be able to rely on the simple truth. The former position, the
subsequent tendencies, and the present state of the whalemen,
in their physical and intellectual, their moral and religious
condition, shall pass in brief review ; and certain it is, that in
more capable hands, it could not fail, in a surpassing degree,
to awaken the deepest concern of the wise and good.

Only two or three generations since — at the very time when
Burke poured forth, in the British Parliament, his splendid
eulogium on the exploits of this class of men — they were, for the
most part, the sturdy, intelligent, and comparatively virtuous
yeomanry of New England. Not only the officers, but the
crews of whale ships were of this character. But such is
not the case now. Whether the deterioration of character in
the crews especially has resulted from the hardships of the ser-
vice, inducing all but the mentally imbecile to prefer some
other branch of marine adventure, or whether the falling off

302 NOTES.

has been occasioned by the grinding conditions as to the re-
muneration which the ship-owner imposes, who is chiefly
anxious to enrich himself, or perhaps some favourite officer in
his employ, while the poor seamen are left to endure privations,
and expose themselves to hazards of life and limbs in bootless
disinterestedness ; or whether the rapid extension of this enter-
prise has called for men faster than the good and worthy could
be furnished ; or, perhaps, from the joint influence of all these
causes combined, it must be conceded that a lamentable dete-
rioration of character in the crews of whale ships has been
witnessed.

They are now made up to a great degree, and, of course,
with some honourable exceptions, of the very refuse of human-
ity, gathered from every quarter, escaped from poor-houses
and prisons, or gleaned from the receptacle of vagrancy and
lazar-house corruption, with a large admixture of foreigners of
all languages, complexions, and character.

Such constitute the experienced portions of the crew. To
them you may add one third or one quarter part more of land-
lubbers, or raw hands, made up of very heterogeneous mate-
rials. Here will be found the young, roving adventurer, who
pants for opportunity to see the world ; he has heard marvel-
ous stories of the facilities of foreign observation furnished in
this service, while, at the same time, visions of easily- acquired
wealth, golden harvests to be here reaped, have filled his mind,
and he hurried from the interior to ship himself on board a
whaleman. The reckless and impatient, who spurn all salutary
control, are also here, thinking this is just the place to indulge
unbounded license.

Here also you will find the spoiled sons of over-indulgent
parents, who, having made themselves intolerable by their
vicious propensities, and constantly in danger of bringing dis-
grace on themselves and their connections also, by their in-
temperance, their fits of passion, or unbridled licentiousness,
are sent on a whaling voyage as a school of reform ! To each
of these a small advance of cash is made, on signing the ship-

NOTES. 303

ping papers, for the ostensible purpose of paying their travelling
expenses to the port of embarkation, or their board a few
weeks or days before they are ready to sail, or for their partial
outfit; the real object is to tie the poor renegade as firmly as
possible to his new engagement.

With two-thirds of the required number of men of the
above description, the ship sails, relying on making up her
complement in Portuguese sailors at the "Western Islands, or
in Kanakas from the Sandwich or other islands of the Pacific
Ocean. Both these classes are usually as unpromising speci-
mens of humanity as can well be conceived, having this dif-
ference, however, that the former are perfectly incorrigible,
while the latter do sometimes improve.

This motley crew are at length mustered on board, drunk or
sober, though far less intemperance now prevails than in former
years, thanks to the praiseworthy endeavour of reformers in
one much-needed department of their endeavours. Sullen and
sad, or jovial and light-hearted as they may seem, they arc
now in their quarters for several years. What a home ! Look
around for its facilities for comfort and improvement.

In that repulsive hole called the forecastle, of scarce twelve
feet square capacity, not high enough to allow a tall man to
stand upright, with little or no light or ventilation but what
comes down the narrow hatchway (and even this must be
closed in rough weather), here some twenty or five-and- twenty-
men are to eat, and sleep, and live, if such a state can be called
living ; here, in sickness and in health, by day and by night,
without fire in the rigours of the polar regions, or cooling ap-
pliances under the equator, theso men, with their chests and
hammocks, or bunks, arc to find stowage. After again and
again examining this feature of their arrangements, and com-
paring it with the cells prepared for and enjoyed by the felons
in all our principal prisons in more than half the states of our
Union which I have visited, the latter would be pronounced
princely, enviable even in all the requisites of roominess, light,
ventilation, and facility for seclusion !

304 NOTES.

Here, with no possibility of classification and separate
quarters, with, few or no books, or opportunity to use them if
they were possessed, with the constant din of roystering dis-
order and superabundant profanity, with no Sabbath, no
prayer, no words and efforts by superiors to win them to some-
thing better and worthier, three-fourths of their forty months'
absence are passed. "When they are on shore, or lying in port
to refit, intemperance, and other abominations, vary, while
they by no means improve their condition.

r

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Acting Charades ;

or, Deeds not Words. A Christmas game to make a long evening short.
By the Brothers MAYHEW. Illustrated with many hundred woodcuts.
5s. cloth.

The Pottleton Legacy :

a Story of Town and Country Life. By ALBERT SMITH. With Illustra-
tions by Hablot K. Browne. Crown 8vo. 10s. 6d.

Christopher Tadpole :

his Struggles and Adventures. By ALBERT SMITH. With 42 Illustra-
tions on Steel, by JOHN LEECH, and a Portrait ot the Author. 8s.
*** See also COMIC*NATURAL HISTORIES, &c. page 11.

Clement Lorimer ;

or, The Book with the Iron Clasps. By ANGUS B. REACH. Illustrated
by George Cruikshank. Crown 8vo. 7s. cloth.

Gavarni in London.

Scenes and Sketches of London Life and Manners. By Mons. GAVARNT.
Beautifully engraved and tinted. Imp. 8vo. handsomely bound, IDs. 6d.

The Pentamerone ;

or, Story of Stories : an admirable Collection of Fairy Tales. By GIAM.
BASILE. Translated from the Neapolitan by J. E. TAYLOR. With
Illustrations by George Cruikshank. New Edition Revised. Crown 8vo.
6s. cloth.

Village Tales from the Black Forest.

~ r BERTHOLD AUERBACH. Translated b
ustrations by Absolon. Post 8vo. 6s. cloth.

By BERTHOLD AUERBACH. Translated by META TAYLOR. With
Illus

Pen and Ink Sketches of Poets, Preachers, and

Politicians. Second Edition. Post 8vo. 7s. 6d.

The Young Lady's Oracle :

A Fireside Amusement, with coloured Plate. 2s-. 6d. cloth.

[86, FLEET STREET,

DAVID BOGUE S ANNUAL CATALOGUE.

Cntnir

GEORGE CRUIKSHANK'S WORKS.

The Comic Almanack for 1851.

New Series, with coloured Plate. Fcp. 8vo. cloth, 2s. 6d.

My Sketch-book ;

containing more than Two Hundred laughable Sketches. By GEORGE
CRUIKSHANK. In 9 Numbers, 2s. 6d. plain ; 3s. 6d. coloured.

Scraps and Sketches.

In 4 Parts, each 8s. plain ; 12s. coloured.

Illustrations of Time.

8s. plain ; 12s. coloured.

Illustrations of Phrenology.

8s. plain ; 12s. coloured.

The Bottle.

In 8 large Plates, Is. ; or printed in tints, 6s.

The Drunkard's Children : a Sequel to the Bottle.

8 large Plates, Is. ; printed in tints, 6s.

V* These two works may be had stitched up with Dr. Charles Mackay's
illustrative Poem, price 3s.— The Poem separate, Is.

The Comic Alphabet.

Twenty-six Humorous Designs. In case, 2s. 6d. plain ; 4s. coloured.

The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman.

With Twelve Humorous Plates. Cloth, 2s.

The Bachelor's Own Book :

being Twenty-four Passages in the Life of Mr. Lambkin in the Pursuit
of Pleasure and Amusement. 5s. sewed ; coloured, 8s. 6d.

The Comic Almanack, since its commencement

in 1835 to 1846. Illustrated with upwards of 150 large Plates by George
Cruikshank, and many hundred amusing Cuts. 3 vols. neatly bound in
cloth, 18s.
*** Any of the separate Years (except that for 1835) may be had at One

Shilling and Threepence each.— The Third Volume may also be had separately,

price 6s.

John Gilpin :

Cowper's humorous Poem. With Six Illustrations by G. Cruikshank.
Fcp. 8vo. Is.

The Epping Hunt.

Tin- Poetry by THOMAS HOOD, the Illustrations by George Cruikshank.
New Edition, fcp. 8vo. Is. 6d.

LONDON.]

10 DAVID BOGUE'S ANNUAL CATALOGUE.

Comic Works — continued.

Mr. Bachelor Butterfly :

his Veritable History ; showing how, after being; Married, he narrowly
escaped Bigamy, and became the Stepfather of Eight Hopeful Children.
By the Author of " Mr. Oldbuck." 5s. cloth.

Comic Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck :

wherein are duly set forth the Crosses, Chagrins, Changes, and Calamities,
by which his Courtship was attended ; showing, also, the Issue of his Suit,
and his Espousal to his Ladye-love. Large 8vo. with 84 Plates, 7s. cloth.

The History of Mr. Ogleby :

shewing how, by the polish of his manners, the brilliancy of his repartees,
and the elegance of his attitudes, he attained distinction in the fashionable
world. 150 Designs, 6s. cloth.

The Comic Latin Grammar :

A New and Facetious Introduction to the Latin Tongue. Profusely illus-
trated with Humorous Engravings by Leech. New Edition, 5s. cloth.

" Without exception the most richly comic work we have ever seen." — TAIT'S MAG.

Whims and Oddities.

By THOMAS HOOD. New and cheap edition, containing the whole of the
Original Work, with 80 Plates, 6s.

New Readings from Old Authors.

Illustrations of Shakspeare, by ROBERT SEYMOUR. 4s. cloth.

Tale of a Tiger.

With Six Illustrations. By J. S. COTTON. Fcp. 8vo. Is.

Table-Wit, and After-dinner Anecdote.

By the Editor of " Hints for the Table." Fcp. 8vo. Is. 6d. cloth.

©ottmaltttes.

The Toothache, imagined by Horace Mayhew, and realized by George
Cruikshank : a Series of Sketches. In case, Is. 6d. plain ; 3s. col'd.

An Accommodation Bill, drawn by Watts Phillips, which he trusts
will be Accepted by the Public. In case, Is. plain ; 2s. 6d. col'd.

A Case in Bankruptcy, drawn and etched by Watts Phillips. In
case, Is. plain ; 2s. 6d. coloured.

The Model Republic ; or, the Adventures of Mr. Cato Potts in Paris.
By Watts Phillips. Case, Is. 6d. plain ; 3s. coloured.

The Queen in Ireland ; or, Mr. Smithers' unsuccessful attempt to
follow in the footsteps of Her Majesty. By Watts Phillips.
Case, Is. plain ; 2s. 6d. coloured.

Also, stitched in wrappers,

Domestic Bliss. Is. I Domestic Miseries. Is.

A Special Constable. Is. Comic Art Manufactures. Is.

[86, FJ.EET STREET,

DAVID BOGTJE'S ANNUAL CATALOGUE. 11

atomic Natural

By ALBERT SMITH, A. B. REACH, HORACE MAYHEW, &c. &c.

Profusely Illustrated by the best Comic Artists of the day.

Price One Shilling1 each.

ALBERT SMITH.

The Gent.
The Ballet Girl.
Stuck-up People.

Idler upon Town.
The Flirt.
Evening Parties.

A. B. REACH.

Bores. | Humbugs.

Romance of a Mince Pie.

HORACE MAYHEW.

Model Men. | Model Women.

Chang 3 for a Shilling.

Also, in same style,

Hearts are Trumps. By James Hannay.

Natural History of Tuft-hunters and Toadies.

,, ,, the Hawk Tribe (Swindlers, Blacklegs, &c.)

,, „ a Bal Masque. By the Count Chicard.

The Fourth Estate.

A History of Newspapers and the Liberty of the Press. By F. K. HUNT.
Two vols. post 8vo. 21s. cloth.

Egeria ; or, the Spirit of Nature.

By CHARLES MACKAY, LL.D. Fcp. 8vo. 5s. cloth.

Winterslow : Essays and Characters.

By WILLIAM HAZLITT ; edited by his Son. Fcp. 8vo. 5s.

Sketches of Canadian Life,

Lay and Ecclesiastical, illustrative of Canada and the Canadian Church.
By a PRESBYTER of the DIOCESE of TORONTO. Post 8vo. 8s. 6d.

LONDON.]

12 DAVID BOGUE'S ANNUAL CATALOGUE.

Miscellaneous Books — continued.

Longfellow's Poems, Complete.

The Poetical Works of H. W. LONGFELLOW. Complete Edition, with
Essay by Gilfillan. Square, cloth, 5s. 6d ; morocco antique, 12s.

Narrative of Events in Vienna,

from Latour to Windisgratz. By BERTHOLD AUERBACH. Translated
by J. E. TAYLOR. With an Introduction and Appendix. Fcp. 8vo. 3s. 6d.

History of the Year 1848 :

its Revolutions and Abdications. By W. K. KELLY. Fcp. 8vo. 6s.

The Happy Home :

a Series of Papers affectionately ascribed to the Working People. By
the Author of " Life in Earnest." Sewed, Is. ; cloth gilt, Is. 6d.

The Fountain of Living Waters :

2s. cloth gilt.

French Domestic Cookery,

combining Elegance with Economy; in 1200 Receipts. With numerous
Engravings. Fcp. 8vo. 4s. cloth.

The Stowe Catalogue

Priced and Annotated, by HENRY RUMSEY FORSTER, of the "Morning
Post" newspaper. With numerous Illustrations of the principal Objects.
4to. half-morocco, 15s.

Emma de Lissau ;

or, Memoirs of a Converted Jewess. With Illustrations by Gilbert.
New Edition, 7s. cloth; 10s. 6d. morocco.

Miriam and Rosette ;

or, The Twin Sisters : a Jewish Narrative of the XVIIIth Century. By
the Author of " Emma de Lissau." Illustrated by Gilbert. 3s. 6d. cloth.

Rev. Thomas Dale's Poetical Works.

Including The Widow of Nain, The Daughter of Jairus, &c. New and
Enlarged Edition, fcp. 8vo. 7s. cloth ; 10s. 6d. morocco.

Windsor in the Olden Time :

its Historical and Romantic Annals, from the earliest Records. By
JOHN STOUGHTON. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Margaret Davidson's Remains.

Life and Poetical Remains of MARGARET DAVIDSON. By WASHING-
TON IRVING, Author of"TheSketch-Book." Fcp. 8vo. Frontispiece, 5s. cl.

" Beyond all question one of the most singular and interesting pieces of literary history ever
penned."— BRITANNIA.

Lucretia Davidson's Remains.

Memoirs and Poetical Remains of LUCRETIA DAVIDSON. By Miss
SEDGWICK. Uniform with the above. 5s. cloth.

[86, FLEET STREET,

DAVID BOGUE'S ANNUAL CATALOGUE. 13

Miscellaneous Books — continued.

The Maid of Honour ;

or, Massacre of St. Bartholomew : an Historical Tale of the Sixteenth
Century. With Illustrations by ABSOLON. Fcp. 8vo. 7s.

Madame Guizot's Young Student ;

or, Ralph and Victor: a Tale for Youth, by Madame GUIZOT. Trans-
lated by SAMUEL JACKSON. With Engravings. New Edition, fcp. 8vo.
6s. cloth.

The London Anecdotes for all Readers,

on the Plan of the Percy Anecdotes. 2 vols. 6s. cloth.

The Marriage Looking-Glass :

a Manual for the Married, and a Beacon to the Single. By the Rev. T. S.
BOONE, of St. Peter's College, Cambridge. Fcp. 8vo. 6s.

The Singing-Book.

The art of Singing at Sight taught by Progressive Exercises. By JAMES
TURLE, Organist of Westminster Abbey ; and EDWARD TAYLOK,
Gresham Professor of Music. 4s. 6d. cloth.

Books on Knitting, Netting, and Crochet.

By Mrs. MEE : —

MANUAL OF KNITTING, NETTING, AND CROCHET. 7th Edition, 5s. 6d.
KNITTING AND CROCHET COMPANION. 6d.
EXKRCISES IN KNITTING AND NETTING. 6th Edition, Is. 6d.
CROCHET DOILIES AND EDGINGS. 7th Edition, Is. 6d.
CROCHET EXPLAINED AND ILLUSTRATED. 2d Series, 5s. Gd.
CROCHET COLLARS. 10th Edition, 6d.
CROCHET COUVRETTES AND COLLARS. 5th Edition, Is.
POLKA JACKETS. 6d.
LACE EDGINGS. 6d.

Ewbank's Hydraulics.

Historical and Descriptive Account of Machines for Raising Water,
ancient and modern, including the progressive development of the
Steam Engine. By THOMAS EWBANK. Illustrated by 300 Engravings.
Large 8vo. 18s. cloth.

Town Lyrics.

By CHARLES MACKAY. Crown 8vo. sewed, Is.

The Book of the Months,

and CIRCLE of the SEASONS. Embellished with Twenty-eight
Engravings from Drawings by WILLIAM HARVEY. Beautifully printed
in fcp. 8vo. 5s. cloth ; 8s. 6d. morocco.

Miniature French Dictionary,

in French and English, and English and French : comprising all the
words in general use. The remarkably comprehensive nature and com-
pact size of this little dictionary admirably lit it for the student and
tourist. Neatly bound in roan, 4s. morocco, gilt edges, 5s. Cd.

LONDON.]

,14 DAVID BOGUE'S ANNUAL CATALOGUE.

Miscellaneous Books — continued .

Sharpe's Diamond Dictionary

of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE. A very small volume, beautifully
printed in a clear and legible type. Roan neat, 2s. 6d. ; morocco, 3s. 6d.

May You Like It :

a Series of Tales and Sketches. By the Rev. CHARLES B. TAYLEU,
Author of "Records of a Good Man's Life." Fcp. 8vo. 7s. 6d. cloth;
10s. 6d. morocco. .

Self Sacrifice ;

or, the Chancellor's Chaplain. By the Author of " The Closing Scene,"
" The Bishop's Daughter." &c. Fcp. 8vo. 7s.

Panorama of Jerusalem

and the surrounding Scenery, from a Drawing by the Librarian of the Ar-
menian Convent : with Historical and Descriptive Notices from the works
of Robinson, Keith, Rae Wilson, Buckingham, &c. In cloth case, 2s. 6d.

Recollections of the Lakes ;

and OTHER POEMS. By the Author of " Moral of Flowers," " Spirit
of the W7oods," &c. Fcp. 8vo. with Frontispiece, 7s. cloth ; 10s. 6d. mor.

Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art ;

exhibiting the most important Discoveries and Improvements of the
Year, and a Literary and Scientific Obituary. By the Editor of " The
Arcana of Science." Illustrated with Engravings, fcp. 8vo. 5s. cloth.
*** This work is published annually, and contains a complete and con-
densed view of the progress of discovery during the year, systematically ar-
ranged, with engravings illustrative of novelties in the arts and sciences, &c.
The volumes, from its commencement in 1839, may still be had, 5s. each.

"Ably and honestly compiled." — ATHEN-SUM.

Life's Lessons :

a Domestic Tale. By the Author of " Tales that Might be True." New
Edition, wth Frontispiece, fcp. 8vo. 4s cloth.

Williams's Symbolical Euclid,

chiefly from the Text of Dr. Simson. Adapted to the Use of Students by
the Rev. J. M. WILLIAMS, of Queen's College, Cambridge. New Edition,
6s. 6d. cloth ; 7s. roan. — An 8vo. Edition may also be had, 7s. cloth.
$§t This edition is in use at many of the Public Schools.

King's Interest Tables,

on Sums from One to Ten Thousand Pounds. Enlarged and improved,
with several useful Additions. By JOSEPH KING, of Liverpool. In
1 large vol. 8vo. 21s.

Seven Hundred Domestic Hints,

combining Elegance and Economy with the Enjoyment of Home. By a
LADY. Neatly bound in cloth, 2s. 6d.

Floral Fancies ;

or, Morals from Flowers. With Seventy Illustrations. Fcp. 8vo. 7s. cloth.

86, FLEET STREET,

DAVID BOGUES ANNUAL CATALOGUE.

Miscellaneous Books — continued.

The Game of Whist ;

its Theory and Practice, by an Amateur. With Illustrations by KENNY
MEADOWS. New Edition, fcp. 8vo. 3s. cloth.

Backgammon :

its History and Practice, by the Author of "Whist." Illustrated by
MEADOWS. Fcp. 8vo. 2s. cloth.

The Dream of Eugene Aram.

By THOMAS HOOD, Author of " The Song of a Shirt." With Illustra-
tions by Harvey. Crown 8vo. Is. sewed.

WORKS WITH ILLUMINATED TITLES.

IN THE STYLE OF THE OLD ROMISH MISSALS.

Books of Poetry.

THE POETRY OF FLOWERS.

POETRY OF THE SENTIMENTS.

THE LYRE.— Fugitive Poetry of the Nineteenth Century.

THE LAUREL— a Companion Volume to the Lyre.

3s. 6d. neatly bound in French morocco elegant.

Elegant Miniature Editions.

COWPER'S POEMS. 2 vols.
THOMSON'S SEASONS.
SCOTT'S LADY OF THE LAKE.
SCOTT'S MARMION.
SCOTT'S LAY AND BALLADS.
SCOTT'S ROKEBY.

SCOTT'S SELECT POETICAL WORKS.

4 vols. containing the above Poems

uniformly bound.
VICAR OF WAKEFIELD.
COTTAGERS OF GLENBURNIE.
SACRED HARP.

*#* Each volume, very neatly bound and gilt, 2s. 6d. cloth ; 4s. morocco.

USEFUL WORKS.

One Shilling each, neatly bound.
ETIQUETTE FOR THE LADIES.
ETIQUETTE FOR THE GENTLEMEN.
HAND-BOOK OF PENCIL DRAWING (Plates).
ETIQUETTE OF COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE.
A SHILLING'S WORTH OF SENSE.

THE WEATHER BOOK : 300 Rules for Telling the Weather.
THE BALL ROOM PRECEPTOR AND POLKA GUIDE.

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS, with illuminated covers and coloured Frontispiece.
BALL ROOM POLKA, with Music and Figures.

^Manuals of Instruction antt &mu£emenl.

Price One Shilling each, neatly printed and illustrated.

1. Manual of Flower Gardening for Ladies. By J. B. Whiting,

Practical Gardener. 2d Edition.

2. Chess. By Charles Kenny.

3. Music. By C. W. Manby.

4. Domestic Economy. By John Timbs.

5. Cage Birds. By a Practical Bird- keeper.

6. Oil Painting; with a Glossary of Terms of Art.

7. for Butterfly Collectors. By Abel Ingpen. Plates.

8. Painting in Water Colours.

LONDON.]

16 DAVID BOGUE'S ANNUAL CATALOGUE.

OtoWiwt Sifcrarj)

1. DR. JOHNSON'S LIVES of the ENGLISH POETS.

2. BOSWELL'S LIFE of JOHNSON.

3. OLIVER GOLDSMITH'S WORKS.

4. HERVEY'S MEDITATIONS and CONTEMPLATIONS.

:}:§:£ These "Works are clearly and beautifully printed by Whittingham, and
each comprised in a handsome fcp. 8vo. vol. Their elegance and chcn;
render them very suitable for Presents, School Prizes, or Travelling Com-
panions. Price 6s. each, neatly half-bound morocco ; or 9s. calf extra.
" TILT'S EDITION" must be specified in ordering the above.

%nmi\t

Original Poems for my Children.

By THOMAS MILLER. Profusely Illustrated. 2s. 6d. cloth.

The Boy's Own Book :

a complete Encyclopaedia of all the Diversions— Athletic, Scientific, and
Recreative— of Boyhood and Youth. With several hundred Woodcuts.
New Edition, greatly enlarged and improved. Square crown, handsomely
bound, 8s. 6d.

The Young Islanders ;

a Tale of the Seaward-House Boys. By JEFFREYS TAYLOR. New Edi-
tion, with tinted plates, 6s. cloth.

History of England,

for the use of Young Persons. By ANNE LYDIA BOND. With 80 illus-
trations, 3s. 6d.

The Playmate ;

a Pleasant Companion for Spare Hours. With numerous illustrations.
Complete in One Volume, cloth gilt, 5s.

Little Mary's Books for Children.

Price 6d. each, profusely illustrated : —

History of England. 1 Second Book of Poetry.

Primer.
Spelling Book.
Reading Book

Scripture Lessons. Babes in the Wood.

First Book of Poetry |

Little Mary's Treasury,

Being the above bound in one volume, cloth, 5s.

Harry's Ladder to Learning.

Picture Books for Children. Price 6d. each, plain ; Is. coloured :—
HARRY'S HORN BOOK. HARRY'S NURSERY SONGS.

PICTURE BOOK.
COUNTRY WALKS.

SIMPLE STORIES.
NURSERY TALES.

Or the Six bound in one volume, 3s. 6d. cloth ; or with col'd plates, 6s.

The Church Catechism Illustrated :

With the Order of Confirmation. With numerous Engravings on wood.
Neatly done up in gilt cover as a gift or reward book. Is.

[86, FLEET STREET,

DAVID BOGUE'S ANNUAL CATALOGUE. 17

Juvenile Works — continued.

*. d.

ABBOTT'S CALEB IN THE COUNTRY (Plates) 1 °

ABBOTT'S ROLLO CODE OF MORALS 2 6

ARABIAN NIGHTS, as related by a Mother (many Plates) 3 6

BARBAULD'S LESSONS FOR CHILDREN (Coloured Plates) 1 0

BINGLEY'S STORIES ABOUT DOGS (Plates) 4 0

BINGLEY'S STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT (Plates) 4 0

BINGLEY'S TALES OF SHIPWRECK (Plates) 4 0

BINGLEY'S STORIES ABOUT HORSES (Plates) 4 0

BINGLEY'S TALES ABOUT BIRDS (Plates) 4 0

BINGLEY'S TALES ABOUT TRAVELLERS (Plates) 4 0

BINGLEY'S BIBLE QUADRUPEDS (Plates) 4 0

BOY'S TREASURY OF SPORTS AND PASTIMES (300 Engravings by S.

\\illiams) fcp. 8vo. cloth 6 0

DICK THE LITTLE PONY (many Cuts) 1 6

FAM ILY POETRY, by the Editor of " Sacred Harp," silk 2 6

FIGURES OF FUN ; Two Parts (Coloured Plates) 1 0

FLOWERS OF FABLE (180 Engravings) 4 0

HEROES OF ENGLAND: Lives of celebrated Soldiers and Sailors

(Plates) cloth gilt 4 0

HERVEY'SREFLECTIONS IN AFLOWERGARDEN (12 coloured Plates). . 4 0

LIFE OF CHRIST, New Edition (28 Plates) 4 0

LITTLE FORGET-ME-NOT (Plates) 1 6

MOTHER'S PRESENT TO HER DAUGHTER, silk 2 6

PATENT INDESTRUCTIBLE ALPHABET, printed on calico 1 0

PATENT INDESTRUCTIBLE PRIMER 1 0

PARLEY'S VISIT TO LONDON (Col'd Plates), cloth 4 0

PARLOUR MAGIC, Amusing Recreations (many Plates) 3 6

PICTORIAL BIBLE HISTORY (OLD TESTAMENT) (144 Plates) 3 6

PICTORIAL BIBLE HiSTORY(NEwTESTAMENT)(144 Plates) 3 6

PICTORIAL BIBLE HISTORY, complete in 1 volume, cloth 6 0

PICTURES AND RHYMES FOR CHILDREN, with 48 large Plates and

Descriptions in German and English, cloth 6 0

PRAYERS AND HYMNS FOR CHILDREN (many Illustrations) cloth .. 50
RURAL AMUSEMENTS FOR SCHOOLBOYS DURING THE HOLIDAYS

(Cuts) cloth 3 6

SEDGWICK'S STORIES FOR YOUNG PERSONS (Plates), cloth 3 6

TALES OF ENTERPRISE, neatly bound 2 6

PLEASURE BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG.

Illustrated by ABSOLON, WEHNERT, and WEIR. Price Sixpence each plain,
or One Shilling coloured.

Little Bo-Peep.
House that Jack Built.
Cock Robin and Jenny Wren.
'1 lie Cat and the Mouse.
Death of i'ock Robin.
Old name and her Sixpence.
Death of Jenny Wren.
01.1 Mother Hubbaid.
Little Man ami Maid.

The Three Bears.
Fox and the Geese.
Little Goody Two- Shoes.
The Ugly Duck's Story.
The Charmed Fawn.
Story of Lucky Hans.
Puss in Boots.
History of Robin Hood.
Peter tbe Goatherd.

LONDON.]

DAVID BOGUE'S ANNUAL CATALOGUE.

European Itibrarp*

A COLLECTION OF THE BEST WORKS OF THE BEST AUTHORS.
At the low price of Zs. Gd. per Volume.

Miller (Thomas). - History of the Anglo- Saxons. 1 2 plates, 3s. 6d.
Thierry.-History of the CONQUEST of ENGLAND by the Normans.

By AUQUSTIN 'J.H1ERRY. TWO VOls.

Guizot.— History of the ENGLISH REVOLUTION of 1640, from the
Accession to the Death of Charles I. By F. GUIZOT. One vol.

Guizot.— History of CIVILIZATION in EUROPE and in FRANCE ;

comprising the Cours d'Histoire Moderne complete, and now translated
entire for the first time. Three vols.

Michelet.-Life of LUTHER : written by Himself. Collected and
arranged by J. MICHELET ; with additions from AUDIN. One vol.

Imther.— TABLE-TALK. Translated by W. HAZLITT. One vol.

Michelet.— History of the ROMAN REPUBLIC. By J. MICHELET.
One vol.

Berington.— LITERARY HISTORY of the MIDDLE AGES, from the
Reign of Augustus to the Revival of Learning. By the Rev. JOSEPH
BERINGTON. One vol.

Carrel ) History of the COUNTER REVOLUTION, for the re-establish-
and / ment of Popery in England under Charles II. and James II.,
Fox. 3 by ARMAND CARREL ; and History of the EARLY PART of the
REIGN of JAMES II., by C. J. Fox. One vol.

De Vigny.— CINQ MARS; or, a Conspiracy under Louis XIII.: an
Historical Romance. By Count ALFRED DE VIGNY. One vol.

Duppa 1 Liyes Qf the ITALIAN PAINTERS.— Michael Angelo, by

DeQuincy. j R' DUPPA> LL-B- 5 and Raffaello, by Q. DE QUINCY.

Gand lLife of CARDINAL WOLSEY. By JOHN GALT. With

Cavendish 1 Editions from CAVENDISH. One vol.

Roscoe.— Life of LORENZO DE MEDICI. By WILLIAM ROSCOE.
Edited by W. HAZLITT. One vol.

Roscoe.— Life and Pontificate of LEO X. By WILLIAM ROSCOE.
Edited by W. HAZLITT. Two vols.

Dumas.— MARGUERITE DE VALOIS : an Historical Romance. By
ALEXANDER DUMAS. One vol.

Bouterwek.— History of SPANISH LITERATURE. By FREDERICK
BOUTERWEK. One vol.

Mignet.- History of the FRENCH REVOLUTION— 1789, 1SH. By
F. A. MIGNET. One vol.

[86, FLEET STREET,

DAVID BOGUE S ANNUAL CATALOGUE.

19

MINIATURE CLASSICS:

A Choice Collection of Standard Works, elegantly printed, illustrated with
Frontispieces, and published at extremely low prices, with a view to exten-
sive circulation. The binding is executed in a superior manner, and very
tastefully ornamented.

Any work may be purchased separately. The prices per volume are-
Ornamented cloth, gilt edges. . 1 s. 6d.— Prettily bound in silk 2s.

Very handsome in morocco 3s.

Those to which a star is prefixed, being much thicker than the others, are 6d. per vol. extra.

Bacon's Essays.

Beattie's Minstrel.

Channing's Essays. 2 vols.

Chapone's Letters on the Mind.

Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, &c.
*Cowper's Poems. 2 vols.

Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia.

Falconer's Shipwreck.

Fenelon's Reflections.
*Gems of Anecdote.
*Gems of Wit and Humour.
*Gems from American Poets.
*Gems from Shakspeare.
*Gems of American Wit.
*Gems of British Poets—

1st Ser. Chaucer to Goldsmith.
2d „ Falconer to Campbell.
3d „ Living Authors.
4th „ Sacred.
*Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield.

Goldsmith's Essays.

Goldsmith's Poetical Works.

Gray's Poetical Works.

Guide to Domestic Happiness.

Gregory7 's Legacy to his Daughters.
*Hamilton's Cottagers of Glenburnie.

*Hamilton'sLettersonEducation.2v.

Lamb's Tales from Shakspeare. 2 v.

Lamb's Rosamund Gray.
*lrving's Essays and Sketches.

Johnson's Rasselas.

Lewis's Tales of Wonder.

Mason on Self-knowledge.

Milton's Paradise Lost. 2 vols.
*M ore's Coelebs. 2 vols.

More's Practical Piety. 2 vols.
*Pious Minstrel.

Paul and Virginia.

Pure Gold from Rivers of Wisdom.
*Sacred Harp.

Scott's Ballads, &c.
*Scott's Lady of the Lake.

Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel.
*Scott's Marmion.
*Scott's Rokeby.
*Shakspeare's Works. 8 vols.
*Thomson's Seasons.

Talbot's Reflections and Essays.

Walton's Angler. 2 vols.

Warwick's Spare Minutes.

Young's Night Thoughts. 2 vols.

As there are several inferior imitations of this popular series, it is neces
specify— "JILT'S EDITION.'

ordering, to

The whole Series may be had in a Case, representing two handsome Quarto
Volumes, lettered " LONDON LIBRARY OF BRITISH CLASSICS," which,
when shut, is secured by a patent spring lock, for £5. 5s., forming a very
useful and acceptable

BIRTHDAY AND WEDDING PRESENT.

The Edition of Shakspeare included in the above may also be had
IN LEATHER CASE, WITH GLASS FRONT.

SHAKSPEARFS DRAMATIC WORKS.

COMPLETE IN EIGHT VOLUMES.

Beautifully printed by Whittingham ; uniform in size with " Tilt's Classics."
K;i< h volume embellished with a Frontispiece, designed by HARVEY, and
numerous other Engravings, amounting in all to Fifty-three.

This elegant Edition of the first of English Poets may be had in various
styles of binding, at the following very low prices :— Cloth, gilt edges, and
ornamented, 16s. ; Silk, 20s. ; Morocco, very elegant, 28s. -CASE, 6si

LONDON.]

20

DAVID BOGTJE S ANNUAL CATALOGUE.

Drntmttg innks.

J. D. HARDING.

EARLY DRAWING BOOK: I DRAWING BOOK FOR 1847.
Elementary Lessons. 6 Numbers, I 6 Nos. Is. 6d. ; or cloth, 10s. 6d.
Is. 6d. ; or in cloth, 10s. 6d.

HARDING'S " LESSONS ON ART"

•see page 5.

PROUT'S MICROCOSM ;

Or, Artist's Sketch-book: many
Hundred Groups of Figures, Boats,
&c. Imperial 4to. 24s. neatly bd.

SAMUEL PROUT, F.S.A.

ELEMENTARY DRAWING
BOOK of Landscapes, Buildings,
&c. Six Numbers, Is. Gd. ; cloth.
10s. 6d.

STUDIES OF HEADS :
By Mons. JULIEN, Professor of
Drawing in the Military School of
Paris. Lithographed by T. FAIR-
LAND. Six Numbers, 2s. each;
or cloth, 14s.

MONS. JULIEN.

THE HUMAN FIGURE :

a Series of Progressive Studies,
by Mons. JULIEN. With Instruc-
tions. Six Numbers, 2s. ; or cloth,
14s.

DRAWING BOOK OF OB-
JECTS: Nearly 500 Subjects for
young Pupils, and Drawing-classes
in Schools. Six Nos. ls.;cloth,7s.6d.

LITTLE SKETCH BOOK:

EasyStudiesinLandscapes,Figures,
&c. Improved Edition. Fourteen
Nos. 6d. ; or 2 vols. cloth, 4s. each.

GEORGE CHILDS.

ENGLISH LANDSCAPE
SCENERY: Sketches from Nature
for finished Copies. Six Numbers,
Is. each; cloth, 7s. 6d.

DRAWING BOOK OF
FIGURES : Sketches from Life at
Homeand Abroad. Severalhundred
Figures. SixNos.ls.; orbd. 7s.6d.

DRAWING COPY BOOKS.

A New Method of Teaching Drawing by means of Pencilled Copies, in
progressive lessons. In 12 Nos. 6d. each.

"It is not too much to say that if this method were universally adopted in our schools it
would be attended with complete success."

ANDREWS' ART OF FLOWER-PAINTING. Col. Plates. 6 Nos. 2s. 6d. ; cl. 16s.
BARNARD'S (GEORGE) DRAWING BOOK OF TREKS. 6 Nos. Is.
BARRAUD'S STUDIES OF ANIMALS. Six Nos. 3s. ; coloured, 5s.
COOPER'S (T. S.) SKETCH ES FROM NATURE. 8 Nos. 3s. 6d. ; bound, 31s. 6d.
DIBDIN'S EASY DRAWING BOOK, AND GUIDE TO SKETCHING. 6 Nos.
2s. 6d. ; bound, 18s.

LESSONS IN WATER COLOURS 4 Nos. 4s.

FAIRLAND'S JUVENILE ARTIST. 8 Nos. Is. ; cloth, 8s.
FORD'S EASY LESSONS IN LANDSCAPE. 8 Nos. 9d. ; cloth, 7s. 6d.
GREENWOOD'S STUDIES OF TREES. 6 Nos. Is. ; cloth, 7s. 6d.
GRUNDY'S SHIPPING AND CRAFT. 6 Nos. Is. ; cloth, 7s. 6d.
HAND-BOOK OF PENCIL DRAWING ; or, Self-Instructor in Art. 2 Plates, cl. Is.
PHILLIPS'S ETCHINGS OF FAMILIAR LIFE. 3 Nos. Is. 6d.
PHILLIPS'S ART OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. Col'd plates, bd. 14s.
RAWLINS'S ELEMENTARY PERSPECTIVE. Royal 4to. sewed, 4s.
SUTCLIFFE'S DRAWING-BOOK OF HORSES. 6 Nos. Is. ; cloth, 7s. 6d.
WORSLEY'S LITTLE DRAWING BOOK OF LANDSCAPES, &c. 14 Nos. 6d. ; or
2 vols. cloth, 4s. each.

JULIEN'S NEW SHEETS OF STUDIES IN WHITE CRAYON (Heads,
Hands, &c.) 12 Plates, Is. 6d. each.

[86, FLEET STREET,

DAVID BOGUE'S ANNUAL CATALOGUE. 21

ifotmcefc in

Roman Art. — II Vaticano :

an Historical and Descriptive Account of the Church of St. Peter, and
the Vatican Museum, and Galleries. By ERASMO PISTOLESI. In Eight
Volumes folio, containing upwards of Nine Hundred Plates.
Mr. BOOIJK begs to announce that he has been enabled, under peculiar
circumstances, to purchase from the Directors of the Calcografia Camerale,
at Rome, twelve copies of this manificent work, which he offers at the very
low price of Thirty Guineas, half-bound in morocco, gilt tops. They form a
portion of the sets originally subscribed for by the Papal Government as an
encouragement to the publication of this grand National Work, and are the
earliest impressions. The Plates, engraved in finished outline by the first
Roman artists from extremely accurate drawings, consist of Views of the
Exterior, Interior, and various Chapels of St. Peter's ; of the Galleries and
Loggie of the Vatican ; copies of every painting and sculpture of note con-
tained in the Church and Museum, as well as of the antiquities and other
objects of art, and of fac-similes of the most remarkable inscriptions over
Christian Martyrs found in the Catacombs, with Ground Plans, Elevations,
&c. &c.

The copper-plates of this magnificent work having by mismanagement
now become much defac d, perfect impressions are rarely to be met with
even in Rome.

*** In the catalogue f one of the principal dealers in second-hand books
in London, a copy of this work, bounu in morocco, is priced at .sfe'GO.

The Ages of Female Beauty ;

or, Illustrations of Woman's Life. Ten Plates, with illustrative Letter-
press, 4to. published at 21s. ; reduced to 10s. 6d; coloured, 21s.

Authors of England :

Portraits of the Principal Literary Characters, engraved in Basso-relievo
by Mr. COLLAS ; with Lives by H. F. CHORLEY. Royal 4to. cloth gilt,
published at 31s. 6d. ; reduced to 10s. 6d.

The Georgian Era :

Modern British Biography since the Reign of Queen Anne ; comprising
nearly Two Thousand Memoirs of the most Eminent Persons who have
flourished in Britain from that period to the Demise of George the
Fourth, chronologically arranged. Handsomely bound in cloth. Pub-
lished at 34s. 6d. ; now reduced to 14s.

The Noble Science — Fox-hunting.

By F. P. DELME RADCLIFFE, Esq. Master of the Hertfordshire Hounds.
With highly-finished Portraits of Hugo Meynell and C. Loraine Smith,
Esqs. and beautifully-executed Illustrations of the Chase, the Cover, and
the Kennel, from Original Drawings by the Rev. C. D. RADCLIFFE.
Royal 8vo. Originally published at 28s. ; reduced to 12s.

Water-colour Gallery ;

containing large and highly-finished Engravings of the Works of the most
distinguished I'aiiitrrs in Water-colours, including PROUT,STKPHANOFF,
IT, H.VKDING, CATTIOKMOLK, FIKLDING, &c. 18 Plates,
imperial 4to. cloth. Originally published at ^3. 3s. ; reduced to 21s.

LONDON.]

22 DAVID BOGUE'S ANNUAL CATALOGUE.

Books reduced in price — continued.

Museum of Painting and Sculpture :

a Collection of the principal Pictures, Statues, and Bas-Reliefs in the
Public and Private Galleries of Europe. Drawn and engraved by RKVI.I \..
With Critical and Historical Notices. This splendid work, which <: n-
tains Engravings of all the chief works in the Itnlian, German, Dutch,
French, and English Schools, includes TWELVE HUNDRED PLATES, and
is an indispensable vade-mecum to the Artist or Collector, In 17 hand-
some vols. small 8vo. neatly bound, with gilt tops. Originally published
at ^17. 17s. ; reduced to £5. 5s.

Laconics ;

or, the Best Words of the Best Authors. 3 vols. cloth, published at 12s. ;
reduced to 7s. 6d.

Travels in S. E. Asia, Malaya, Burmah,

and HINDUSTAN. By the Rev. H. MALCOM. 2 vols. 8vo. published
at 16s. ; reduced to 8s.

Puckle's Club ;

or, a Grey Cap for a Green Head. Many first-rate Wood Engravings,
cloth. Published at 7s. 6d. ; reduced to 2s. 6d.

Retzsch's Illustrations of Faust.

Faustus: from the German of GOETHE, embellished with Retzsch's
Series of Twenty Outlines, illustrative of the Tragedy, engraved by
Henry Moses. New Edition, with Portrait of the Author. 10s. 6d. cloth.

The English School of Painting :

a Series of Engravings of the most admired Works in Painting and
Sculpture executed by British Artists, from the days of Hogarth : with
Descriptive and Explanatory Notices, by G. HAMILTON. Four volumes,
containing nearly Three Hundred Plates, neatly bound, with gilt tops.
Originally published at £3. 12s. ; reduced to 28s.

Martin's Illustrations of the Bible ;

consisting of Twenty large and magnificent Plates, designed and engraved
by John Martin, Author of " Belshazzar's Feast," &c. In a large folio
volume, cloth. Originally published at £10. 10s. ; reduced to jfcJ2. 2s.

Martin's Milton's Paradise Lost.

Twenty-four large Mezzotinto Plates, by John Martin. Imperial Svo.
Published at Six Guineas, reduced to £1. 2s. cloth ; j£2. 15s. very neat,
in morocco.

Don Quixote — Johaniiot^s Illustrations.

Beautifully Illustrated Edition, containing Eight Hundred Engravings
on Wood by Tony Johannot. In Three large and handsome Volumes,
neatly bound in cloth. Published at 50s. ; reduced to 31s.

Gil Bias — Gigoux's Illustrations.

In the same style as the preceding, with Six Hundred Engravings, de-
signed by Jean Gigoux ; forming Two handsome Vols. super-royal Svo.
bound in cloth. Published at 32s. ; reduced to 21s.

[86, FLEET STREET,

DAVID BOGUE'S ANNUAL CATALOGUE. 23

New Prints for Framing, the Portfolio, fyc.
THE FOUNDLING.

Fainted by JOHN HAYTER; engd. byW. H. MOTE. Prints. 5s.; col'd. 7s.6d.

AMY ROBSAKT.

Painted by JOHN H\YTER; engraved by W. H. MOTE. lOby 13£ inches
high. Prints, 7s. Gd. ; coloured, 15s. ; India Proofs, 21s.

CHANDOS PORTRAIT OF SHAKSPERE.

Engraved by ROBERT COOPER for the Duke of Buckingham (private
plate). 12 by 154 inches high. 10s. 6d.

FAMILY DEVOTION-MORNING.

Painted by E. PRENTIS ; engraved by JAMES SCOTT. 222 by 17| inches
high. Prints, 21s. ; proofs, 31s. 6d.

FAMILY DEVOTION-EVENING.

Companion to the above. By the same Artists. Same size and price.

THE DEATH-BED OF CALVIN.

Painted by JOSEPH HORNUNG, of Geneva; engraved by W. O. GELLER.
27 by 20. Prints, £2. 2s. ; proofs, ^fcJ3. 3s. ; proofs before letters, £ 4. 4s.

KLNG CHARLES I. IN THE GUARD-ROOM.

PAUL DE LA ROCHE. 154 by 114. 8s.

LORD STRAFFORD GOING TO EXECUTION.

By the same Artists. 14 by 114. Prints, 8s.

Titles. Artists. Size. Priee

A Day's Pleasure Prentis 23 — 18 .. 21 0

Jesus in the Temple Overbeck 14 by 114.. 7 6

Finding of Moses C. H. Kohler 16—12.. 9 0

Jesus Christ ' Paul de la Roche . . 6 — 8 . . 5 0

Christ and the Woman of Samaria Leloir 12—144.. 7 6

The Blind Fiddler Sir D. Wilkie 16 — 19 . . 7 6

John Anderson my Jo W. Kidd 12—15.. 8 0

Auld Robin Gray W. Kidd 12 — 15 .. 8 0

Household Pets Drumraond 13 — 16.. 8 0

Last Tribute of Affection Jones 13 — 16 .. 12 0

The Widower Penley 14 — 17 .. 12 0

Widow's Treasures Penley 14— 17. .12 0

Search the Scriptures Dawe 10—12.. 6 0

Thy Will be Done Dawe 10 — 12 . . 6 0 •

Ways of Pleasantness Dawe 10 — 12 . . 6 0

My Own Fireside Drummond 10 — 12 . . 7 6

Infant Samuel Sir J. Reynolds.. .. 10— 12.. 5 0

Christ Stilling the Tempest Sanders 12— 16.. 7 6

Christ Walking on the Sea Sanders 12 — 16 .. 7 6

Falstatf Tumbled into the River Kidd 8 — 11 . . 6 0

The Last Supper L. da Vinci 15 — 5 . . 10 6

Raleigh's First Pipe Buss 15— 12.. 8 0

Fruits of Industry Prentis 16— 14.. 8 0

Fruits of Idleness Prentis 16— 14.. 8 0

Mother's Grave Hennings 9— 12.. 7 6

The Recruit Farrier 12 — 14 . . 2 6

Tin- Deserter Farrier 12— 14.. 2 6

Tin- Bachelor Jenkins 13— 11.. 7 6

Bads of Promise Drummond 9 — 12 .. 7 6

Col t.-iire .Musicians Kidd 12— 15.. 8 0

Juvi-nilr Toilet Hennings 10— 12.. 7 6

Ilitemftl Affection Timbrell 9—12.. 7 6

Sir Walter Scott Leslie 10— 13.. 10 6

LONDON.!

24 DAVID BOGUE'S ANNUAL CATALOGUE.

©fcofce Italian prints.
THE LAST SUPPER;

ENGRAVED IN THE HIGHEST STYLE OF ROMAN ART,

BY SIGNORE GIOVANNI FOLO,

After the celebrated Fresco of LEONARDO DA VINCI.

Size of the Plate, 36 inches by 17 high, exclusive of margin.

Mr. Bog-lie having recently purchased of the executors of this eminent Roman
artist, every remaining proof impression of this noble print, which for cor-
rectness of drawing and excellence of engraving rivals RAPHAEL MORGHEN'S
well-known chef-d'oeuvre,

They are offered at the following low Prices: —

Plain proofs ^2 5 0

Earliest Proofs with THE WHITE CUP 3 3 0

Proofs before letters 4 4 0

India Proofs (the only 7 ever taken) 5 5 0

Also on Sale,

CHOICE ITALIAN LINE ENGRAVINGS,

FROM THE BURIN OF SIGNORE IGNATIUS PA VON.

THE TRANSFIGURATION Raphael . ... . 19 in. by 28 high. . £% 2 0

ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN Titian 17 in. by 29 high. . 220

THE MADONNA OF FOLIGNO Raphael 18in.by25 220

THE COMMUNION OF ST. JEROMEDomenichino 18£ in. by 28£ in.. 220

THE MADONNA OF DRESDEN ....Raphael 19 in. by 25 2 2 0

MATER AMABILIS Sassoferrato 015 0

BEATRICE CENCI Guido 0 7 6

CONTENTS OF THIS CATALOGUE.

Illustrated Works 1

Practical Works on Drawing and Painting 4

Architectural Works 5

Books of Travel 7

Fiction and Amusement 7

Comic Works 9

Natural Histories 11

Miscellaneous Works 11

Shilling Manuals 15

Juvenile Books 16

The European Library 18

Miniature Classics 19

Drawing-Books 20

Books Reduced in Price 21

New Prints 23

Choice Italian Prints 24

DAVID BOGUE, 86, FLEET STREET.

BOUND BY £

»ONE A SON, I