HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERY. 145 



able. This may be still another plausible solution of that terrible prob- 

 lem of " missing vessels." A noteworthy instance of the havoc made 

 by these " toilers of the sea " occurred to the ship Minerva 2d, of New 

 Bedford, Captain Swain, in 1857. 



In August, 1850, while off the King's Mill group, she touched on a 

 reef, the water being at the time perfectly smooth and but little wind 

 blowing. So trifling was the sensation of the contact that Captain 

 Swain gave himself no thought that any damage was sustained, and 

 the voyage was continued as usual until February, 1857, when, in a 

 heavy gale, the vessel was found to leak 250 strokes per hour. She 

 reached Norfolk Island on the 19th of March, but was blown off by 

 heavy gales which continued for three days, the leak meanwhile in- 

 creasing to 1,000 strokes, and Captain Swain bore away for Sydney. 

 On the 29th of March she was leaking 2,400 strokes (or about 16 inches) 

 per hour, and Captain Swain had the forehold cleared to examine for 

 the cause of the trouble. Upon cutting through the ceiling several 

 holes were found in the bottom through which the water rushed furi- 

 ously. These the men, though standing in the water up to their 

 middles, succeeded in plugging up and covering with canvas and 

 blankets well tarred. Over these a stream-chain was coiled to prevent 

 the plugs from bursting in from the force of the water, and the pumps 

 were kept going day and night. The ship reached Sydney on the 7th 

 of April and was taken upon the marine railway. Upon examination 

 it was found that two sheets of copper had been rubbed off (probably 

 while off the King's Mill Islands) about six feet from the keel, and 

 a little abaft the bluff of the bow on the starboard side. When this 

 place was laid bare the planks were completely eaten to, a shell by 

 the worms. No person not an eye-witness, said the captain, would 

 have believed the planks would have held together, and it was cer- 

 tainly wonderful that in plugging the whole plank was not driven out, 

 in which case every soul on board must have been drowned before the 

 boats could have been lowered.* 



G.— A MISCELLANEOUS CHAPTER. 



While some vessels on their voyages have made but poor returns, even 

 bringing, in numerous cases, positive and at times damaging loss to 

 their owners, others have done extraordinarily well, and brought in foi'- 

 tunes to those investing in them. The ups and downs of the business 

 made it alternately profitable and, if not positively losing, at least 

 hazardous. This was the fact when no unusual accident occurred, but 

 in case of a disaster it changed the beam of the balance from the specu- 

 lative to the unmistakably negative side of the account. To illustrate 

 the two phases of the owners' business experience, the following exam- 

 ples are given : 



The Wilmington and Liverpool packet, Captain Richmond, sailed from 



"The new ship Niphon, of Nantucket, on ber first voyage, sunk at sea on her passage 

 home, January 12, 1849, in consequence of the depredations of ship-worms. 

 10 



