192 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



infuriated animal that the vessel soon settled and compelled 

 the crew to take to the boats. And only after a week at sea, 

 with an inadequate supply of food and water, did they succeed 

 in landing on the island of Flores, in the Azores. Almost a 

 full century later, on March 1 7, 1 902, when American whaling 

 was rapidly approaching extinction, the crew of the bark Kath- 

 leen underwent a similar experience. Again the vessel sus- 

 tained a heavy blow from a cachalot while cruising in mid- 

 Atlantic, and again there was scarcely time to save a little 

 bread and water and to take to the boats before the bark dis- 

 appeared from sight. Thereafter, however, fortune was kind. 

 For three of the boats were sighted during the following morn- 

 ing by a Scotch steamer 3 and the fourth made the Barbadoes, 

 distant about a thousand miles, after nine days at sea. 



But the two classic cases in which whales turned and de- 

 stroyed the vessels pursuing them concern the Essex and the 

 Ann Alexander. The adventures of the crew of the Essex, 

 of Nantucket, George Pollard, Master, form a tale astonish- 

 ing even in an industry replete with ghastly legends. On 

 November 20, 18 19, while cruising in Latitude 40 minutes 

 South and Longitude 119 degrees West, three boats were low- 

 ered after sperm whales. Soon the mate's boat was damaged 

 so seriously that he was forced to return to the vessel. As 

 if awaiting this event as a signal, a huge cachalot bore swiftly 

 down upon the craft and struck a tremendous blow, followed 

 at once by a second staggering onslaught. The two impacts 

 were so powerful that the ship rapidly filled with water and 

 fell over on her beam-ends. After a consultation with the 

 other two boats, which had returned without securing their 

 game, it was decided to obtain water and provisions from the 

 wreck, strengthen the three small craft as much as possible, 

 and attempt to make for the coast of Chile or Peru. 



Then began one of the most ill-fated journeys on record. 

 The three boats, containing fourteen white men and six blacks, 

 all on the most meager allowance of bread and water, half- 

 sailed and half-drifted from November 20 until December 

 20 without encountering the slightest cause for hope. On the 

 last-mentioned date they sighted land, but only to find a small, 

 uninhabited rock, known as Ducie's Island. Here were such 



