48 The Story of the New England Whalers 



hero of the island is described. Captain Chris- 

 topher Hussey, probably a son of one of the 

 "Twenty Purchasers," while in command of an 

 open boat, in 1712, was blown away to sea. That 

 all hands labored with all their might to reach land 

 is not to be doubted, but a time came when they 

 could do no more. 



As they were drifting away through the deadly 

 perils of a winter's storm on the open sea, however, 

 a school of sperm whales suddenly appeared. 

 These Nantucket men had seen one whale of that 

 kind. It had drifted ashore, dead, and they had 

 probably shared in the product. A sperm whale 

 was to them like a "pay streak" to a Rocky Moun- 

 tain prospector, for "sperm," taken from a cavity 

 in the head, was "thought to be of great value 

 for medicinal purposes, ... a certain cure for all 

 diseases, . . . esteemed to be worth its weight in 

 silver," or eight shillings an ounce. 



And there within reach of the drifting Hussey 

 and his crew was a school of sperm whales. 

 Forgotten was the danger ! Though the devil 

 himself were knocking the spume from the wave 

 crests, Hussey would go in chase of such a prize, 



