WHALE FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND 55 



whaleboat. Then ensued a fight, and every time the monster swam for 

 him he was obliged to dive. The mate rushed into the encounter with 

 his boat and finally succeeded in killing the whale. Another captain 

 described how the crew of his whaleboat was obliged to cling all night on 

 the body of a dead whale until help came at daybreak. It happened 

 to be Christmas evening, and the famished men obtained their Christ- 

 mas dinner by digging from the back of the dead animal enough meat to 

 satisfy their hunger. If a whaleboat were upset, and it was seen that 

 the crew had something to hold on to in order to prevent going under, 

 it was often a long time before the other boats rendered assistance, it 

 being a truism among whalemen that whales were of much higher com- 

 mercial value than men. 



Captain Hosmer, of the bark "Janet" of Westport (near New Bed- 

 ford), met with a horrible experience off the coast of Peru in 1849. He 

 had just secured a whale, and in towing it back to his ship his boat was 

 capsized. He immediately displayed distress signals, and the "Janet" 

 sailed towards the men who clung to the small boat, when suddenly, to 

 his amazement and horror, the ship swung off and headed in another 

 direction. They could see her sailing about searching for them, but 

 were unable to attract her attention, and finally, as the distance between 

 them increased, they set sail towards the nearest land, after bailing out 

 their boat with difficulty, and having lost one man by drowning. The 

 nearest coast was over one thousand miles away, and they had not a 

 drop of water or a morsel of food. At the end of seven days lots were 

 cast to decide who should be killed in order that the rest might live. 

 Four more of the crew died, and after twenty days the two survivors 

 landed on an island and were later picked up by the "Leonidas" of New 

 Bedford. 



There are three cases known to history of a whale sinking a ship. 

 The "Essex," of Nantucket, was attacked by a huge whale in 1819, 

 and twice did the animal make a rush at the ship, which became sub- 

 merged in a few minutes. Owen Chase, the first mate, wrote an account 

 of the accident and subsequent sufferings of the crew. Three whale- 

 boats set sail for the Marquesas Islands. One boat was never heard 

 from; another was picked up by an English brig with only three 

 of the crew alive ; and the third with only two survivors, having sailed 

 over twenty -five hundred miles, was picked up by a Nantucket vessel, 

 three months after the accident. Captain Pollard, who was in command 

 of the "Essex" at this time, had previously been one of the crew on 

 Fulton's "Claremont" on his first trip up the Hudson. He survived 

 the frightful experience, but nothing could induce him ever to refer 

 to it. He finally abandoned the sea and became a police officer in 

 Nantucket. 



The "Ann Alexander" of New Bedford, which is shown in the next 

 cut, met a similar fate in 1850, and the ship sank so quickly that only 

 one day's supplies were saved. With the horror of the "Essex" star- 

 ing them in the face the crew set sail in the small boats, and with great 

 good fortune in two days sighted the "Nantucket" and were taken 



