306 WHALING 



would pass not far from Ducie's Island. Captain Downes 

 offered Captain Raine $300 to save the three men. 



They found the barren little island, approximately where it 

 was charted, and fired a gun as they neared land. Three 

 desolate-looking men came out from the woods. Accordingly 

 boats were launched, Captain Raine in one of them, but landing 

 proved all but impossible on that rocky shore, and the men were 

 so weak from starvation that they could scarcely speak. One 

 of them, however, managed to swim out to the boat — this sounds 

 a bit "fishy," I must admit — and reported that only one of the 

 two on shore could swim at all. In any case, by repeated efforts, 

 the men in the boats succeeded in getting the two off the rocks 

 and returned with them to the ship. These voluntary maroons, 

 so the story runs, had lived for four months on only wild berries 

 and an occasional seagull for food, and with no water but rain 

 water, which fell very seldom. As a last touch of the pictur- 

 esque we are told: "On the island they discovered the name of 

 the ship Elizabeth of London, carved on a tree, and a cave, 

 with eight human skeletons, lying together.'' 



The one other certain instance of a ship deliberately attacked 

 and sunk by a whale occurred on August 20, 1851. On that 

 day the New Bedford whaler, Ann Alexander, John S. Deblois, 

 master, was cruising on the "offshore grounds" of the Pacific; 

 whales were raised at nine in the morning and two boats 

 were lowered, the captain heading one, the mate the other. 

 About noon the mate's boat had struck a whale and was off on a 

 "Nantucket sleigh-ride." Suddenly the whale turned on the 

 boat, opened his jaws, and "chawed it up." Captain Deblois 

 came to their rescue and started back to the ship with them. 

 The waist boat was lowered, and the three crews divided be- 

 tween the two boats, with the mate in charge of one of them. 

 Off they went for the whale, but again he turned on the mate's 

 boat and smashed it to kindlings. Once more the captain's 

 boat took the other crew from the water and they all re- 

 turned to the ship. As soon as they were all on board, they 

 headed the vessel for this difficult whale and approached and 

 passed, not near enough to strike. The beast sounded; then 



