Work of the Fighting Whales 301 



kins, of New Bedford, was sunk by a whale a 

 little north of the equator in the Atlantic, on 

 March 7, 1902, and the newspapers of the day 

 wrote an account of the disaster in which it was 

 said that the attack by the whale was premedi- 

 tated. The facts, as related by Captain Jenkins 

 in a book printed in New Bedford during the 

 same year, show that when the whale had arrived 

 near the ship it plunged down and tried to go 

 under the ship, but he was so near and was 

 coming so fast he did not have room enough to 

 get clear of her. Another ship, the Pocabontas, 

 of Holmes Hole, was attacked by a whale that 

 left off fighting her boats and made a dash at her. 

 It struck a glancing blow on the bow that opened 

 several of her plank ends. She put into Rio 

 Janeiro, leaking at the rate of 250 strokes of the 

 pump per hour. 



In addition to what has already been said about 

 the loss of the Ann Alexander, it may be worth 

 telling that five months after the disaster the 

 Rebecca Stms, of New Bedford, killed the whale 

 that had sunk the unfortunate ship, as was proved 

 by finding the irons which the men of the Ann 



