302 The Story of the New England Whalers 



Alexander had thrown into it, together with sev- 

 eral pieces of timber that had been embedded 

 in its head when it broke in the side of the ship. 

 The injuries thus sustained had tamed its spirit, 

 and it made no fight when struck by the Sims. 



The Essex sailed from Nantucket on August 

 12, 1819, under the command of Captain George 

 Pollard, Jr., who, by the way, was already some- 

 what distinguished through having been one of 

 the crew of Fulton's Clermont in her first voyage 

 up the Hudson. The Essex followed the usual 

 course around the Horn, and when, on November 

 20, she was in latitude o 40' south and longitude 

 119 west, whales were raised. Three boats were 

 lowered. The mate's boat got an iron into a 

 whale, but at the next instant the animal struck 

 the boat with its tail, and opened a hole so large 

 that the mate was obliged to cut the warp im- 

 mediately. By stuffing their clothes into the hole 

 the crew of the boat managed to keep it afloat 

 while they pulled back to the ship for repairs. 



On reaching the ship the mate saw that the 

 captain and the second mate were fast to a whale, 

 and he headed the ship down toward them. 



