1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



369 



tain Travers. Her compleinent of men 

 when ready tor sea was 38, but so wide- 

 spread was her taiiie as a lucky ship that 

 there were over 7UU applicants for the 

 38 places. 



Three mouths after she arrived home 

 on her third cruise the Rainbow weut 

 to sea again Up to this time 1 liad 

 never seeu the bark, but had heard all 

 about her a dozeu times over from men 

 aboard of our whaliug ship, the Nancy 

 Lee of Marblehead One day as we were 

 cutting in a whale to the north of St. 

 Helena the Rainbow came up from the 

 east, and the two craft remained in com- 

 pany for thrue or four hours. The lucky 

 ship had then been out of port; 40 days 

 without a capture and all were disgust- 

 ed. More than that, .she had been through 

 a severe gale and had three men hurt 

 and lost sails and topmasts. Her luck 

 had changed Captain Travers was a 

 fine seaman, an old whaler, and had 

 never brought an empty ship into port. 

 but the tact remained that the Rainbow 

 had not yet even lowered for a whale. 



Just as she was ready to leave us, 

 however, two large whales spouted wa- 

 ter within a half mile of the ships. 

 They were a quarter of a mile apart, 

 and while we lowered for one the bark 

 took the other. We had but little trou- 

 ble in killing our prey, which was a 

 female and good for TO barrels of oil. 

 The other was a bull whale and evi- 

 dently in bad temper He tirst led the 

 boats a chase of three miles to the south 

 and then slowed around and waited for 

 them to come up. When the mate's 

 boat was within 500 feet of him, ho 

 rushed forward and ran it down, and 

 as it floateil astern of him he smashed 

 It with a b'ow of his flukes. Two men 

 were killed by this blow. 



Two weeks later, just as we bad 

 scrubbed our decks, aud while we were 

 under easy sail to the south of St. Hel- 

 ena, we lowei'ed for a school of whales 

 and got two. There were 12 in the 

 school, and 10 went off to the south- 

 west. We were making our captures 

 fast to the ship wh' u the Rainbow came 

 down on us from the south. She was 

 now 54 days ont, and ill luck still pur- 

 sued her. After parting from us she 

 lowered for a whale and lost two har- 

 poons and lines and had half a day's 

 work for nothing. Two men had fall- 

 en from aloft, had broken arms or legs, 



aijd her ^i' u. i; had to come ahcarc! nt 

 us to buy oiJ u keep his lan-ps ali{.l.t. 



As 1 v.'as il.mi iiiate ol the Kuiicy 

 Lee. 1 lii.u aii Cp^.i^ unity to htai of l_j 

 feclii.^ \\!_i(.L i^ievaiitd abcu.u lLo 

 baiL Ilei cie'.v were on the'. cigjcf 

 u:r.''i:y. iLid Cuptr.in Travers ha:1 Ic- 

 con:e alan^'-rd for his own safety Tl:"" 

 men had ( or e to reeard him as a Jciia'v 

 and on the day he ran down to ns I ;<! 

 come to the decision that if the run ut 

 ill luck was not IroLtu they wor.iU 

 compel him to return to Bristol wi.j 

 an empty ship Captain Tiuve:s wiio 

 still ab( ard ol as Vv Ltu a monster \ hale 

 broke water V, it hiu half a n.ile of t!:e 

 two craft. We got him aLoard of bis 

 ship as .«oon as possible, but InvT 

 enough belore he reached her his mrr s 

 had lowered aud were a%Aay Ihe hour 

 was 2 o'clock in the alitruoou, una wo 

 kncckid ofi work to ste iht fun. 



There were those aLoard of the Rail.- 

 bow who said it was the same wLa! • 

 which ha.l l.illr d two men and sr.iasl;i rl 

 a boat to the north of St Fleleiia r<> 

 that as it may. he had a harpoon stick 

 ing in him and was badly tangled ui> 

 in a whale line. He was rolling on the 

 surface when both boats came up ai:d 

 made fast at the .same moment. For \?j 

 seconds the u.custt.i did not move a llu 

 Then l.e st; r'.ed off with a rush i;ml 

 made a comi kte circle al :ov.t botli ship\ 

 leaving such a wake behind him tbft 

 there were times when we lost si^bt of 

 the boats in the foam Having i-om- 

 pleted the circle the monster slewed 

 about until he was head on to the iir.'iC 

 mate's boat. He lay for a i:ioii.e^.c 

 swiLgiug his lower j.w to ri^lt a^d 

 left and then niade a rush The I lu't : t- 

 tempted to .-Ijo( t ahead and a\<.iil Liii:.. 

 but he cai;ght her wirb a sv.nii.' i t i;;at 

 ttrrible .law :.nd hit r.nlv Ira.' ;!.(Lr> !i'-. 

 himl as i.t- c.ii.ic rlnwu L.i iwt u u.i l^>o 

 ship.- a.Lid \ ,i.t inj to tLe si alb '1 Le 

 second luai > liut \\\i:i (.llii.eii cot-i.t 

 ln( sc ti' pic-l\ up the otbei cuv I , t 

 tliice I in, i.iu- I t wl-iim w..,- \va t.ist 

 mate, liad I'.-t tluir iim> W ! • n . L.e 

 lilcnt (.1 tie (al;iii!iiv tieciiUie ku v. n. 

 open nintun iMiutri 



The men demanded that the Ha. I'lx w 

 be lieaoed ' t i.n-tol. aud tun i..;ars 

 later she la; ' l,; i course t>i thai i i rt 

 aud lett u.' ^|'\er did a lUMie <iis- 

 grnutled crew n ;.i 1; I'nit Tlie owners 

 at cnce lenuivi rl i. apiaiu 'Iraxrs tinni 



